damned_institute | Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room. He told himself it was so that he could watch the bulletin, him still being fairly new and needing all the information he could get, but the thought rang hollow.

The real reason he was here, he knew, was because he would be out there. Maybe it was weak of him, but he needed a chance to breathe. Ever since he'd arrived it had been nothing but one shock after another, and seeing Zack standing in the cafeteria that morning talking to Aerith had been the final card that caused his tower to crumble. He needed to just sit back somewhere out of the way and start rebuilding.

Being able to watch the bulletin from here was just a perk. Cloud made himself comfortable on one of the sofas, watching people come and go but not really paying attention to them. He took the time to try and rate this on a scale of the biggest messes he'd ever gotten thrown into.

(for Sheena)

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Fai? Alive?

So he hadn't imagined what he'd heard that morning, but still -- that was impossible. They'd seen him lying on the arena sands, felt his life ebb away to nothing; people who'd died didn't suddenly just wake up again after a couple of days. Ever.

Or was this the prize that Landel had spoken of? He would force them to fight to the death, only to revive the loser in the battle as though nothing had happened? If so then what was the point? Was it all just some kind of sadistic game on Landel's part? That wouldn't be terribly surprising, if so, but the idea set a cold kind of rage burning within Yue.

Outwardly Yukito stayed frozen for just a moment too long as both of them struggled to sort that out, then finally blinked, his smile turning somewhat puzzled. "His eye...? Nothing happened to his eyes that night, but...." He shook his head slightly, as though that would settle his thoughts. "You're sure it was really Fai-san?"

Of course she was. She wouldn't have mentioned it if she wasn't sure. But still, it was...difficult to believe. If not outright impossible.

Expecting a smile to stretch across Yukito's face, Sakura was rather disappointed to see a look of confusion and negative disbelief instead. Why wasn't he happy? News that Fai was alive should have made him overjoyed. Maybe he was simply in disbelief like she was when she first saw Fai and simply needed some extra time for the idea to sink in. Yeah. That must be it.

"Yes!" Sakura replied, nodding insistently. "I was confused at first too, but Fai-san explained everything to me. He used his magic to make it only look like he died." She paused a moment, as she wasn't too sure about some of the details, but it did seem to make sense overall. "He said that he spent most of yesterday in his room recovering though."

Impossible, Yue said, before Yukito could even ask. I would have known. There was a note of uncertainty lingering, though; if Fai was alive now, perhaps he had managed to imitate death convincingly enough that not only the guardian but Landel himself had believed it. But still, it...couldn't be possible.

Could it be a new patient? There had been some new faces this morning already, so it was entirely possible that the Fai they knew was gone, but he'd been pulled to the Institute again from another point in his time. That happened occasionally, or so they'd heard.

But Sakura didn't need to think about that. If it made her happier to believe that Fai had only been pretending and was feeling just fine now, Yukito certainly didn't want to upset her. There were plenty of other things to be upset about here. So he just smiled and nodded slightly, as Yue returned to puzzling over that idea. "I'm glad to hear he's all right. We were both worried. But did he say how he hurt his eye?"

A smile finally returned to Sakura's face as she once Yukito acknowledged his happiness. It wasn't on the same scale she was hoping for, but she supposed that not everyone would react in the same way as she, especially Yue and Yukito, the two calmest people she knew.

However, Yukito did raise a valid point. How did he hurt his eye? She shook her head as she responded, "No... Breakfast ended before I could ask. It wasn't something from the coliseum?" If both Yue and Yukito didn't know what caused the injury, there was a good chance that it happened sometime yesterday as opposed to in the coliseum.

As soon as the smile returned Yukito felt both somewhat better and a little worse, for having made it fade in the first place. Of all people, Sakura didn't deserve to be in a place like this, with danger and fear and things that would only upset her around every corner.

It was even worse with her apparently powerless, so she couldn't even do anything to help and would be very aware of the fact. Not that it would stop her, of course -- with an inward smile he recalled the way she'd wielded that spoon like a weapon when they'd made their way down to the basement for the first time.

The question recalled him to the night in the area, however, and any amusement quickly faded. "No," he replied, looking thoughtful. "He wasn't hurt on his face at all, that night." And if he'd been in his room the entire day, he couldn't have been injured. Perhaps it really was a different Fai.

... Strange. If it wasn't from the coliseum, how did Fai get his injury? Maybe Fai hid his injury from Yue just as he had faked his own death. Maybe he went out last night and did some exploring while the rest of them were in their rooms. Either way, Sakura made a mental note to ask Fai about that the next time she saw him.

"Well, I guess we won't be able to find out unless we talk with him again," Sakura said, verbalizing her note. "I'm sure he would be happy to see you and Yue-san." She smiled encouragingly once more. Even though she wasn't sure exactly what happened, Sakura didn't care too much. All that mattered in her eyes was that Fai was okay.

Had the situation been any different, Yue likely never would have wanted to talk to Fai again, since his feelings toward the magician were now so confusingly mixed. He wasn't sure whether to thank Fai for pushing him like that, forcing him to end the battle when the guardian wasn't certain he would have been able to do so on his own -- or to hit him, for the same thing. When uncertain about a situation his preferred method of dealing with it was to avoid it, though Yue had never thought it would ever have come up. In this situation, though, with a Fai who might or might not have been the Fai they'd known lying to Sakura...well. Yue now wanted to find him as soon as possible and try to determine just what was going on here.

If it's a different Fai then he won't know what happened, Yukito pointed out, silently attempting to soothe his other self's ruffled feathers. There wouldn't be any hitting going on when he was around, no matter what; he was just as confused as Yue, but his inclinations were somewhat less violent. And if it is, obviously something happened to him afterwards.

Yukito shook his head slightly and then smiled at Sakura. At least she was happier. That was good. "I'm sure he would," he replied. "And I'm sure he was glad to see you again. He wanted to make sure that you were safe."

Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

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