damned_institute | Day 39: Music Room

Entry tags:

Day 39: Music Room

Lunch had been fruitful. Celes had chosen not to eat, but that was fine enough for her; she’d eaten plenty at breakfast and it was not very good manners to eat while discussing war (for Celes, it’d always given her a bit of a stomachache), or plotting. Especially if one was in mixed company. Her nurse escorted her to the Music room, citing that her ‘sister’ had suggested that musical therapy would be good for her. Celes rolled her eyes. This was no music room, with their ‘electronic’ instruments; where were the violas and the harpsichords and phonographs? She’d been past this room before, but had never been interested enough to go into it.

The general sat down at the keyboard, staring at the odd device before prodding the buttons with a nail. On, off, rumba, tango, Caribbean (what in the world was ‘Caribbean?’), little numbers that changed the tone. It was the first time Celes wished that there was a real instrument before her, instead of this ridiculous thing. Still, it didn’t stop her from curiously stringing notes together with one hand, and the only song she could bring to mind was the Aria di Mezzo Carattere.

How dreadfully delightful.

[for Adel~]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Guy put the little fon machine away and Luke laughed a little. He'd only been joking, but... didn't stop him. Even if Guy didn't mean to, he could still get distracted looking at something like that during a conversation. And that was annoying.

"I ran into Anise," Luke nodded, recalling the note he'd watched Anise write to Guy. So he'd seen it after all. It might be a good idea to use that after all. "But if I'm 'back' I don't remember it that way." Luke raised a hand and scratched at the back of his head, feeling uncertain about this. "I guess I have amnesia after all...? That's what Anise says, anyway. That they did something to my memory. But I only just 'arrived' today."

Guy had already expected that Luke wouldn't remember anything, so there was no shock there. That was how it always seemed to work, and Asch had been the same this morning. While it was frustrating since there was no way to catch his friend up on everything he'd done when he'd been here before, Guy wasn't going to let that sour the fact that Luke was here again.

"Yeah, whenever people disappear from here, when they come back all of their memories of when they'd been here before are gone," he explained. He wasn't sure if Anise had put Luke through this already, but he didn't mind repeating it to make sure. Though now Guy really had to wonder. Asch had been taken from the same point in time, but would that apply to Luke too? Beforehand, he had been a good deal behind the rest of them.

"In that case, though..." He paused and gave his friend a close stare. "What's the last thing you remember before coming here?"

Luke blinked, at first thinking Guy might be on to his death. And then abruptly remembered Anise had said the 'last' time he'd been here, he'd forgotten everything after the Tower of Rem. "Man, this is going to get confusing. Uh, I remember everything now. I mean, defeating Master Van and..." There wasn't really much after that. "...Everything."

Glancing around, Luke looked for the last person he'd talked to. "Sorry, it's probably a pain to have to tell me everything again. But at least I know that much. And... something else. I just talked to Master Van."

Well, that was different. Having Luke further along in time would make things less confusing, but Guy was still a year ahead of his friend. He had waited all that time for Luke to come back, but it looked like the younger man didn't have much of an idea of what had happened to him back then. Either that, or he was keeping it to himself, and Guy wasn't going to press him about it right now.

"Don't worry about it, I don't mind. You should know that," he said with a smile. Guy was just glad that Luke was here to get things explained to him. Having to go through it again wasn't that big of a deal.

He was in the middle of trying to figure out how to break it to Luke that he had been experimented on before, but that was when Luke mentioned Van. Guy froze in place for a moment, giving the redhead a bewildered stare as he tried to force his words to make sense.

"Wait, you mean -- you talked to him before coming here, or... you..." He trailed off, not sure he could acknowledge the possibility that Van was here. It wasn't that he hadn't considered it before. No, it had popped into Guy's head the moment he knew that people could be brought back from the dead, and he had maintained that Van's presence here was something he definitely didn't want to face.

He kept his gaze on Luke, almost scared to look around the room for the other man.

"Uh... Sorry." Luke was sure Anise hadn't known about Van's pretense, and was guessing it was the same for Guy, but he hadn't really thought about how Guy would handle it. He... he knew he'd never been able to change how he felt about Van, however much the man hated him. Luke wouldn't forgive Van, a part of him would always respect the other as 'Master'.

But with Guy it was different. Van had been a friend and a servant, but unlike Luke, he'd never seemed to have trouble regarding Van as an enemy, too.

And Van was dangerous.

"Sorry," he repeated. "Yeah, he's here. I talked to him during lunch. Uh... he's forgotten things too. I think he only remembers as far as when we fought him at the Absorption Gate, for some reason."

Guy was so busy processing the fact that Van had somehow showed up here that he barely registered what his friend had to say about the man's memories. He knew that at some point he was going to have to talk with Van, and that thought got his heart racing more than he would have expected. When they had been facing off against the man before, their interaction had been limited, and Guy had usually only seen Van when he was alongside the rest of the group. Talking to him one-on-one was a whole other story...

Part of the reason that it was so hard for him to swallow was that he knew how close of a call it had been, how easily he could have been on Van's side. Guy realized how wrong the man's philosophies had been, so the idea that he could have been coerced into going along with it was frightening. He knew that he hadn't, but he also knew that in this place, he and Van might not even be real enemies anymore. Landel's had nothing to do with the Score. He didn't want to find himself getting reattached, especially since he knew how persuasive Van could be.

Guy just had to tell himself that with his friends around, nothing like that was going to happen. It was easier to keep on considering Van as an enemy, and so that was what he would have to do for now.

He glanced back to Luke, but he had a distant look in his eye. "Right, well... I guess that means the numbers are a little more even now. Van has Sync, or at least that's what I'd assume, and then there's me, you, and Anise." Jade and Ion were still possibilities, but Guy wasn't going to hold out hope there, especially not after Peony had vanished. "I have no idea which side Asch is on," he finished with a sigh. He wasn't even sure if Luke knew that all of these people were present, and he would have found a gentler way to break it all to the younger man if he wasn't so shaken up by the news of Van's presence.

While Guy seemed to figure out what to think about Van being here, Luke watched him carefully, mouth half tilted into a worried frown. He was glad he had at least thought to wait to talk to the others before forming any alliances. Maybe, even if they didn't have to be enemies, the others wouldn't be willing to be anything else either. Van had hurt all of them a lot.

He was just getting ready to apologize again when Guy seemed to shake it off, and Luke nodded at the fact that Van and Sync would work together. Luke hadn't even told Van that Sync was here pretty much for that reason. He cared about Van, he wanted to see him change, but he wasn't ever going to be stupid enough again to make the mistake of trusting him.

And he was engrossed enough in that line of thought that he almost missed the name of Asch slipping in there. ...And then he almost didn't register what that meant.

It was a slow realization that he played back in his head a few times. What side Asch is on, not was. Anise had been sure Asch wasn't there anymore. She had been in pretty close contact with Guy. If Anise was that sure, they had checked, and she would have reported to Guy. So Asch was... Had to be...

"Asch....

"Asch is here?"

It looked like they both had ended up surprising each other. Guy sent his friend an apologetic look when he realized that Luke hadn't known, and then gave a grim nod. He realized that was someone else who was back from the dead as far as Luke was concerned, and there were obviously even bigger implications. Original and replica - there was a connection and a tension there that Guy had only been witness to. He could never completely understand how it worked.

"He just got here, too. He was also here before. Actually, the two of you disappeared around the same time. We'd thought that maybe there was a connection, and I guess we were right." It made sense, but that didn't mean that Guy liked it. Luke needed to be his own person, and being tied to Asch like that wouldn't help with achieving that.

"He... remembers dying," he continued awkwardly. He wasn't going to speak for Asch any more than that, since he knew it was inevitable for Luke to run into him. Guy would prefer to be there when it happened, but it was much harder to pull that off at Landel's. He could only hope that Asch had made some reconciliations, considering the way he had sacrificed himself. The God-General was stubborn, though, which meant that he was probably going to end up hurting Luke just like always.

Asch was here. Luke just... breathed on that idea for a minute. He had thought it was possible, then known it was possible thanks to Anise. He only just now realized he had been avoiding contemplating it. Asch being gone hurt enough. Thinking about having missed him, about Asch possibly being dead again...

But if Asch was here, now, and alive. It meant... he was back. And Luke felt... not 'whole'. He wasn't broken without Asch, he wasn't empty. But at the same time Asch was something irreplaceable to him and knowing that he was back felt like... relief. Relief on almost the same level as realizing he himself was alive. Luke didn't even have to consider it as he made a mental promise to himself; he'd never lose Asch again. If the other hated him, he could handle that. But he wasn't going to let him die in this place.

Luke took a deep breath, and felt like he might be shaking a little, but it definitely wasn't from anything other than a very pure, disbelieving sort of gratitude.

"I'm glad. I mean... not that he remembers dying." Luke wasn't sure if it would be kinder to have forgotten that or not. Being told about it from a second party had to suck too. "I'm glad he's... okay."

That was Luke through and through. In a way, Guy felt like he had to be wary of Asch on his friend's behalf. Maybe Luke didn't mind if his original verbally abused him, but Guy certainly did. He wasn't going to stand for that sort of thing. At least there was a good chance Asch would be too busy with Landel's itself to zero in on Luke too much. Plus, with Van being here...

Well, that would open up a whole other can of worms for Asch and Luke. Guy had seen the way that they had fought for the man's attention, and there was a good chance that would continue here. Almost all of them had their own problems in relation to Van, come to think of it. That was what had made the final battle with him so bittersweet.

"I wonder if he feels the same," he muttered, more to himself than to Luke. "Oh, but you should know... I'm not sure if Anise told you, but they do some pretty nasty things here. Like brainwashing people and experimenting on them. When you were here before, you... were taken for experimentation. Me, Asch, and a good friend of mine who I met here went to rescue you, but we only got to you after they forced you to perform a hyperresonance."

He still had to wonder if that was what had caused Luke to disappear, or if it was just a fluke. It wasn't all that important now that Luke was back, but if they decided to take him again...

Well, he was going to cross his fingers that that wouldn't happen. How often did they experiment on the same person twice?

Luke didn't miss Guy's muttered comment, but didn't respond to it either. He didn't expect Asch to be glad his hated replica was alive. That both hurt and annoyed him. It wasn't like he was okay with the way Asch treated him, but he would rather yell at Asch every day than never see him again.

Anyway, it wasn't like Asch didn't have his reasons.

Luke looked up, refocusing on what Guy was saying when it got to the part about how he'd been experimented on. In a way, it wasn't really the first time. Hell, his very existence was an experiment. But the way Guy said it, it sounded too much like what he'd heard about Van and Hod... He swallowed hard. Obviously, the building was still here but... "Dammit. They didn't..." The last time someone had made him use an hyperresonance, an entire city had been destroyed. "Did I... hurt anyone?"

Considering the sort of damage Luke's hyperresonance had caused in the past, Guy could definitely understand the younger man's concern, and so he quickly reassured him with a shake of his head. "No, well... no one but yourself." He didn't like thinking back on the state his friend had been in when they had finally gotten to that room upstairs, but Luke should know about it.

"I'm not quite sure how it works," he admitted, "and you didn't want the news spread, so I never got to ask Jade about it. But since there are little, if any, Seventh Fonons on this planet, the hyperresonance caused you to react with yourself, and it caused a lot of damage. When I got to you afterward, you looked like you were fading in and out. I mean, you were around after that and you seemed fine, but... I do have to wonder if that had to do with you eventually disappearing."

Luke had never come to him as a visitor or anything like that, so Guy didn't even have any idea as to where his friend had gone during all that time. It was even possible he'd been at the institute all along, but they had been holding him somewhere while they messed around with his memories: taking away some and adding others. There wasn't much point in making conjectures like that, though.

"I... reacted with myself? ...Guess that's one way." Luke had never considered the possibility of what might happen if he tried to use a hyperresonance while he was here, but he supposed it made sense. He could remember what it had been like to see through himself after he had nearly died at the Tower of Rem, but here it wouldn't take that much. He shook his head. "At least no one else was hurt."

It didn't make sense, though. According to what Guy had said he'd nearly died... maybe had died. But then why was he back here. And... how could he have forgotten something like that? It was true that Luke had spent most of his life believing he'd had amnesia, but after learning the truth, and experiencing these things for himself, he found it hard to believe he could just... forget.

"I don't get it... but if I'm here now, I probably didn't disappear... right?" Except that this place had already proven it could reverse those effects. But he'd rather believe he hadn't died twice. It was so frustrating though, Luke grimaced. He couldn't even properly reassure his friend. "Sorry, I just... can't remember any of this."

Guy shook his head when Luke apologized. "Don't worry, it's happened to a lot of people. It's not something you can help." He could understand how frustrating it must be for his friend to be told that all of this had happened to him and yet have no recollection of it. Guy probably would have reacted in a similar way.

"Anyway, it's hard to say what happens to people when they suddenly go missing like you and Asch did. I think some people are brainwashed into thinking that what the nurses are saying is true, but I'm not sure if that's the case with everyone." He shrugged, feeling somewhat guilty that he didn't have all the answers this time. Then again, this way he and Luke could be confused together. He wasn't sure how much of a consolation that was, though.

Guy wracked his brain for anything else that Luke might need to know. There was a good chance Anise had already briefed him on a lot of it, so he didn't want to waste time repeating things he'd already heard. There was one thing Guy needed to know about, though. "Do you have any idea of what you're going to do tonight?" he asked. "I'm sure Anise told you that you'd have to have a death wish to go out on your own."

Luke made a face and looked away, feeling a lecture coming on. "She mentioned it, yeah. But uh... I was thinking I could just run away." He had run away from pretty big monsters before. He could be pretty fast. "I wanted to go visit Ion with Anise, then the Emperor." The first wasn't really up for debate, though he wasn't going to phrase it to Guy like that. But Ion had died and... if he had to be a little risky to go see his friend again, it wasn't the type of choice he would second guess.

Still, he rushed on, hoping Guy wouldn't try too hard to dissuade him. "And uh... I met a guy named Ed, he told me he could make me a sword if I could bring him some metal. And then Anise told me there were metal pipes in this closet. So I thought I would try to get some of those." And then he would have a weapon, and feel a lot more confident.

It looked like Luke had already formulated quite a few ideas about what he wanted to do with his first night, and while that was a good thing, Guy also had some reservations. He let out a sigh, not wanting to deliver more bad news but knowing he had no choice. "About the emperor... he's not here anymore. I checked his room last night right when the doors unlocked and he wasn't there."

Considering Ion was in a similar state, it might be the same case there, but Guy didn't go as far as to say that. There was still a chance the Fon Master would be all right, but he wasn't going to bet on it. Anise and Luke would have to find out for themselves tonight, as troublesome of a thought as that was.

"And running away might work, but it isn't the best solution," he warned. "I'm pretty sure a friend of mine got a weapon made by that Ed guy, though, so it's worth looking into. Do you even know how to get to that closet, though?" Luke had a tendency to jump into things, so Guy wanted to make sure his friend thought it through a little more beforehand.

There was a momentary pause when Luke realized he wasn't getting told he was being stupid, which meant his plans had some merit, and he smiled. He must've gotten a lot better at this planning ahead thing if he wasn't getting beat over the head with any mistakes he was making. Though, Jade was usually the one that did that. Maybe Guy was just feeling nice.

Scratching a bit at his cheek he turned back, the information about Emperor Peony being gone was troubling too. "Emperor Peony is... gone? Like I was gone?" Normally he would have been happy if it meant the Emperor had returned to his kingdom. Now really wasn't the time either Malkuth or Kimlasca could afford to be missing it's leaders. But if the Emperor just disappeared, who was to say he was even alive? That was a grim thought and Luke's mouth set in a hard line.

"I guess if he's not there I won't visit..." He paused, then moved on. "But I still want to check on Ion with Anise. If he's still there, I want to see him, and if not... Anise might need me to be there." He shook his head, Ion would probably still be there. Why would both of them leave at the same time? ...Why would both of them be asleep at the same time...

"Uh, as for the closet, Anise showed me the location on the maps. It's on the second floor, west side." His reply was a little stark, though. Now he was just going to worry about Ion until he'd seen him. "Uh... what do you mean running away isn't best? I can't really fight without weapons or fonons."

"Yeah, probably the same idea," Guy wearily responded in regards to the emperor. Even though it would be nice to assume that the man was in a safer place now, that probably wasn't the case. Maybe Peony would go through the same pattern that Luke and Asch had, and end up back here in a week or two with no memories of his first time here.

Guy already knew there was a chance the same thing could happen to him, but he wasn't going to worry about that. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop it, so there was no point in getting worked up over it.

"Yeah, you should definitely go see Ion," Guy agreed. It was good that Luke was being realistic about it, and he was probably the person who could console Anise the best if the worst happened. Guy would cross his fingers, but after witnessing so many of his friend's disappearances, he couldn't be too hopeful.

If Luke knew how to get to this closet, then that was probably fine. It was wandering around aimlessly that usually led to trouble, but that also didn't mean his friend would be in the clear. "I'm just saying that you should really have a weapon if you're going that far, or at least go with someone who has one. Maybe your roommate?" he suggested. Luke probably hadn't met his roommate yet, so there was no telling what the person would be like, but maybe Luke would get lucky. Guy considered himself pretty fortunate to have been put with Okita, even though the man had his fair share of problems. Didn't everyone?

"I would go with you, except that I already made plans with people and I can't exactly back out," he explained. He could have invited Luke along instead, but he could already tell his friend was set on going to Ion's room, and they couldn't wait around for him to finish with that. While Guy would have liked to spend some more time with Luke, it just wasn't feasible tonight.

"Don't worry about it, it sounds like everyone gets pretty busy as soon as night comes." Luke smiled automatically, gesturing with an open palm and tried to sound reassuring. It felt weird to be going off into a dangerous situation without Guy by his side, but Guy wasn't his servant anymore and more importantly, Luke didn't need to be babysat. It seemed strange, and he would have liked to go with his friend, but without a weapon himself he'd probably just be a burden. That was another reason he wanted to be armed as soon as possible. If this place was that dangerous, he couldn't help anyone if he couldn't even protect himself.

"Anyway, Anise has plans too. So I'll head upstairs after we check on Ion. And if I can find someone else who wants to go, it's better have help, right?" Luke considered the people he had met so far. Anise and Guy had plans, Ed seemed like he knew his way around pretty well, but Luke wouldn't be able to ask him for help unless they just happened to run into each other. He'd been ushered out of his room before he met his roommate, and had no idea who they were. If they weren't a fighter, Luke didn't want to endanger them by bringing them along.

And then, of course, there was Van. Luke was pretty sure that even unarmed Van could hold his own against most monsters. But he wasn't sure he could trust his back to the other, and more importantly, didn't know if he wanted to help Van get armed anyway. He sighed and decided to bring it up. "Master Van is here... I don't know if he'd be willing to help us or not. But... I didn't tell him about how to get a weapon yet. There isn't really any reason we shouldn't work together, but..." But he didn't trust Van to not still take an opportunity to stop them, especially if he couldn't remember that he had already lost.

Even though Luke seemed genuinely okay with the fact that Guy was already tied up for the night, he still felt bad about it. He didn't want to leave his friend to try and contend with the night on his own, but he had no other choice. When it came down to it, Guy knew that Luke could take care of himself, but after just getting him back, he figured he was allowed to be a little protective.

Anise was tied up, too? He couldn't blame her for having something to do, but it meant that Luke was probably already out of options for who he could go with. "Yeah, you should definitely find someone," he insisted, even though he knew it wasn't always easy to do that when people usually made plans in advance. There had to be some other fairly new patients who weren't quite as settled, though, right?

The moment Van was mentioned, Guy's expression hardened and he gave Luke a warning stare. "I don't think that's a good idea. We should keep our distance for now, Luke." He could concede that it might be in their best interest to pool their efforts with the man eventually, but he would rather wait and see what Van did here at Landel's before settling on anything.

"You could always try posting to the bulletin board to ask if someone else is heading that way," Guy suggested, realizing that Luke might not even know about the board yet. "And you'll meet your roommate at dinner tonight, so you could ask them about it too." It might take some extra effort, but it should be possible for Luke to find someone. Guy couldn't accept the alternatives.

Luke winced a bit at Guy's flat denial of working with Van, but couldn't argue it. It was true that if Van wanted to be an ally he would be one of the best, but it was also true that he had no reason to assume that. He shouldn't take a gamble like that when the situation was already dangerous enough. "Don't worry, I won't yet. But... you should talk with him soon, Guy. I told him how everything ends, but he didn't really... I don't know how much he believes me. Of course, I'm just the useless replica, he might listen to you more." And despite Luke's words, he honestly didn't sound bitter, a bit tired at best. He'd accepted what he was... or really, everything he wasn't, to Van a long time ago. But there was a good chance they would need Van's help in the future, and Guy would have the best chance of getting it.

As far as finding someone to help him through the night though... "Maybe I'll try the bulletin. People use it for that?" Anise had shown it to him, and it looked like a really useful place, but he hadn't stopped to read much of it, all of the slips of paper were a little overwhelming.

"Don't talk like that," Guy said sharply when Luke started going on about how he was useless. While his friend was stating it as a simple fact, that was almost more worrisome. It meant that he believed it, and believed there was no way to change it. Hadn't Luke learned by now? Hadn't he realized that he'd saved the world?

He couldn't get hung up on that, though. Instead, Guy sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I know I need to talk to him," he confirmed, even though he definitely didn't like the idea. He wasn't going to hide from the man, though. He just had to tell himself that there was nothing to be scared of. It was just that looking Van in the face dredged up all sorts of memories Guy didn't want to face.

"Yeah, people use it for pretty much anything," he said in response to Luke's question about the bulletin. "It's worth a shot, anyway." It was less secure than picking out someone face-to-face, since people were known for being deceptive on the board, but they were out of any other choices.

Before he could continue, the intercom went off, which meant this conversation was going to have to end. Guy didn't want to be separated from his friend after just getting him back, but it was inevitable. "All right, Luke, dinner's next and night will come after that. Be careful, and I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" He was just going to have to believe in that.

Luke was going to explain that even if he didn't believe he was useless, Van did. So to Van he was still a 'useless replica' and probably wasn't going to be seen as anything else. Guy worried too much. But before he got the chance, that annoying director was on the intercom again, and Luke forgot what he was going to say, listening to the announcement and making a face.

One thing he did remember was that he was hungry. He'd barely eaten during the previous meals.

He sighed, but still smiled for Guy. "I'll be fine. We can talk more in the morning." If he was awake at all, anyway. "You be careful too."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 39: Music Room

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject