damned_institute | Day 48: Courtyard

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Day 48: Courtyard

"I could tell you some stories," Yuffie suggested brightly, "of unquestionable legality." Illegality, that was. Petty little things like the law didn't usually mean very much to her, except for the times when she had to uphold it. Always fun for the breaking, though, the law, and messy for the clean-up. Just the way she liked it.

Her nurse looked like she wanted to rub her temples. With sandpaper. "No, thank you," she said instead. "Why don't you run along, now?" Please!, was the unspoken request. Before I spontaneously combust. Or commit various acts of violence that would have me arrested, or placed in a loony bin. Like this one. Yuffie had quite a bit of fun filling in the blanks other people left. Sometimes she did it outloud, just to see the reaction; sometimes she kept it to herself. It really, really depended.

"Don't mind if I do!"

She took off, bolting out into the Courtyard. The weather was dour, overcast and threatening rain, but Yuffie didn't care. She'd refused a coat on principle, and had found herself bargaining: Fine, fine, Plucky had conced she could go without a coat, but unless she had at least a sweatshirt on, there'd be no outside-time for her. She ran a little ways down the dirt path, then toppled herself into a series of cartwheels. Straighten, run. Cartwheel. Straighten, run, just for the sheer sake of movement, and the whip of the wind. She laughed a little giddily, checking her gait down to a jog. Gawd, Leviathan, she'd needed this. Right from the get-go, she'd needed this. Every day she spent cooped up in side, the more nervous energy she had.

Nanaki had helped, she realized. Sort of. He'd…helped. In a way. His presence and everything that was wrong with it weighed on her, for sure, but he was still Nanaki. He didn't deserve to be here, didn't deserve to be stuck in a body that he hated and couldn't use, but all the same, she found herself glad to have him.

Yuffie started to hum, as she jogged leisurely around the Courtyard. A cheery little tune, one of her favorites; no, it was her favorite. A Wutaian walking song, with the roughly translated title of Pathway After the Rain. The pace stayed even but the tune picked up, and she found herself half-singing snatches of the lyrics to herself. It felt like ages since she'd last said anything in her native tongue, at least outloud; she wrote in it all the time.

[The Doctor]

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He'd managed to endure the interrogation at breakfast and come out unscathed. Kurogane probably just wanted to avoid spending half the day sedated, but it'd been to Yuuhi's benefit. Breakfast had been a test of endurance to say the least. While he felt guilty about the things he'd said, pushing the other man away and running seemed to be what he did best. Luckily the nurses showed up before the conversation got too far or too heated. He didn't plan on getting upset with Kurogane, he didn't plan to feel anything. At least he'd managed to pretend for long enough to get by.

Next shift was outside and while he didn't mind the chill, the nurses insisted on bundling him up in a sweatshirt and jacket. He felt a little stronger though, especially after eating, and he didn't wobble quite as much. Still, he was relieve to see an empty bench and took up residence on it, wondering if he could manage a nap or if it would be too cold.

[Yue/Yuki]

By the time they reached the courtyard Yue was still mildly irritable, though to the outward appearance there probably wasn't all that much difference. He'd shrugged off the nurse's offer of a coat with impatience; he had no need of such a thing, not unless it was far colder than it currently was outside. To get her to leave him alone he'd finally just carried it slung over one arm as he stalked outside. He'd missed the chance to go outside the day before and didn't want to miss this one.

Once outside, though, he noticed a familiar figure sitting on one of the benches and turned in that direction (with a slight grimace as he almost stepped on the end of his braid yet again; as relieved as he was to have his full length of hair restored, it was still difficult and impractical in this situation. Not that he would admit to that, of course). Yue's frown deepened at the sight of the eyepatch; it was a reminder of both the other night and the puzzle surrounding it, but he voiced none of that upon arriving. He merely folded his arms across his chest and examined the magician with a critical air. "Not feeling well?"

Straight from Kurogane to Yue it seemed, with no break in-between. Yuuhi carefully put his smile back in place as he turned to the other man. Even without looking, the tone told him it was Yue, not Yuki, but the man's stance and posture gave it away once Yuuhi glanced in his direction.

"Hnnn?" he appeared puzzled by the question. "Oh- no, I'm fine," he replied automatically. This time he managed to look at least a little more like it wasn't a bold-faced lie. He tilted his head slightly, feigning curiosity, though after yesterday's meeting with Yuki and Touya, he was kind of surprised that Yue wanted to see him.

"How are you?"

"You always say that," Yue replied, though his tone was almost as though talking to himself. He fell silent again after that, his gaze (and frown) unwavering as he stared at the man. If Fai was seriously injured he'd probably smile and claim that he was just fine, judging from past experience, so the only way that he could really be certain was to watch for clues.

There didn't seem to be anything seriously wrong with him, other than what Yue was already aware of, so he finally relented and offered a slight shrug in response to the question. "Perfectly fine," he said, with a hint of bitterness in his voice. He still resented the changes that had been made, in part because he was glad of it.

Another pause, then he added, "You lied to Sakura."

He gave another innocent shrug and a sheepish smile at Yue's accusations. Yue, for his part, seemed to be telling the truth. His hair was long again (well, longer anyway), like the first time they'd met and there didn't seem to be any serious injuries so he didn't press further either. Not that it was any of his business. But the bitterness in his voice was strange. Was it a bluff? Was he hiding an injury? Or was he actually annoyed that he was well? Yuuhi found the reaction strange, to say the least.

As for the lie to Sakura, that seemed even stranger. Did he want her to know about what had really happened? If she was happier not knowing, wasn't that for the best?

"It wasn't something she needed to know about," he said, smile never wavering for a moment. "But if you want to tell her different, I won't mind."

Perhaps it was understandable that Kurogane always seemed so grumpy, if he had to deal with Fai acting like...well, Fai, on a regular basis. It was aggravating to try to get anything useful out of someone who simply smiled and shrugged and bypassed questions of any import. At the same time, however, it wasn't something outside of Yue's experience, though Fai preferred the innocent smile to the enigmatic.

"No." The guardian glanced away finally, attention focusing somewhere down and off to one side. What exactly he thought, he wasn't entirely certain himself, but he was pleased to see Fai was still willing to protect the girl, even after what had happened. "I agreed with the necessity."

While he could sense some things with his magic about Yuki and Yue, there were still a lot of things he didn't understand. Like how much of the conversation the other day the guardian had been privy to or how it was that no injuries remained from the coliseum. Either way, he supposed it didn't matter. At least Yue seemed to agree with him on keeping Sakura from finding out any more than she had to know.

It was hard not to say he was sorry for what had happened. Of them all, he probably owed it most to Yue, whether or not any of them had known about the fight going in, it didn't change what'd gone on once it all began. He hadn't meant the things he'd said and most of all, for forcing Yue's hand. Even if he didn't regret the end result, he still felt guilt for involving someone else.

"Mm," he nodded instead, unable to force the words out. It'd been easier when talking with Yuki. While the body might be similar, it didn't have the same effect as speaking with the person, face to face. "But that doesn't seem like the only thing you came to talk about."

Though the wings were currently not present some mannerisms still persisted. Yue's shoulders shifted a little in an unconscious movement which would have drawn his wings closer about himself, as his attention still remained fixed upon some undetermined spot to one side of the bench. What had he come to talk to Fai about? He hadn't stopped to question the impulse, though perhaps he should have, since he had yet to decide just how he felt toward the magician at the moment.

Certainly, he was pleased that Fai had somehow survived. Despite everything, despite what the guardian himself had done, the one he had chosen to protect still lived. Or had been revived, through whatever power Landel seemed to possess -- there were patients here who claimed to have been dead in their home worlds, but were alive and breathing, so why couldn't that extend to those who had been killed while here? But power always carried with it some kind of balance, which made Yue wonder just what price had been paid to revive Fai. Did the man even know?

At the same time, however, there was still a balance between the two of them. Fai had forced his hand, certainly -- but it was still his hand that had dealt the fatal blow. It was his guilt to be borne, even though (or perhaps because) Fai was alive here and now. He still had to do something about that.

Yue drew himself up, forcing his shoulders to straighten despite the impulse that wanted the missing wings to curve tighter about himself. "I had thought it a good idea for us to visit that place. That it would be safer for the two of us to proceed onward. I was clearly mistaken, and will not make such an error again."

It almost sounded like an apology. It was honestly the last thing he'd expected from Yue. He knew what it was like to be yelled at or threatened and he was certainly accustomed to hearing them when things went awry. But whatever it was, it was much harder to keep a smile on his face as he heard it. Why wasn't he angry? Yuuhi was the one in the wrong, not Yue. He'd forced the guardian to hurt someone, even though it was by himself and by his own choice.

He ought to agree, if only to push the other away, but... couldn't he break ties without hurting people?

"You couldn't have known what would happen," he said, much of the lightheartedness gone from his voice. He turned his head too, as if interested in whatever it was Yue was looking away at.

"And everything turned out just fine in the end," he added quickly, replacing the mask in a second. "It's not worth worrying over."

"Of course it's worth worrying over." Yue finally glanced back at Fai again, eyes narrowed slightly to complement his frown. It was true that Fai had insisted before that he wasn't worth protecting, as though his life was somehow entirely worthless, Yue had and would never believe that, and he rather resented being told what he could and could not think.

He folded his arms across his chest, suppressing the mild annoyance as he had to resettle the coat he was holding in the process, and gave the magician a look stern enough that it approached a glare without quite reaching that level. "Yes, Landel or...whoever, somehow managed to bring you back. But what matters is that you did die. It did happen, and fortunate as it is that you're here now, that will never change."

Yuuhi had no logical explanation for why he was still here. It still felt surreal, like a dream, or more precisely, a nightmare. Waking up in that cold metal box, slowly bleeding out on the table, weak and helpless. His eye missing, taken away or given to his own doctor. Thinking back on it still made him feel sick. Was that the price?

Things shouldn't be so simple, he'd be the first to admit. Death could so rarely be undone, even if it was what he'd been searching for. Somehow he managed to keep living, though his brother had only been given one chance. Why couldn't he give up his sight before to the witch to bring back Fai? If that was all there was to pay, he'd have gladly done it. Or was it just the result of some failed experiment. Was he to be pieced away by the doctors or would he turn on the others one night without knowing how or why? There was no way of knowing what'd happened in that empty gap of time.

"What does it change? I'm the same as always, aren't I?" he asked, giving a shrug and looking for the easy way out once more. What did Yue want him to say? Yes, he'd died and somehow come back, but what'd been done was fixed. Damaged maybe, but still whole.

He shook his head, trying to free his mind of the oppressive thoughts. It was the last thing he wanted to be thinking about. He set a careful smile on his lips, fragile now, but too frightened of what might happen if it slipped. "Anyway, I guess it rules out the basement? Or are there other rooms to explore? At least you can mark that room off the list of possible exits, right?"

Even if Fai did know what had happened he wasn't likely to say anything about it -- even now he was wriggling his way out of any direct questions or statements, trying to deflect attention away from himself. Whether he truly didn't care or was glossing over truths he didn't want to admit to Yue was never certain, and it frustrated him more than slightly. All he wanted was an answer that would make everything...well, make sense again, and those didn't seem very common around here.

"Perhaps you are the same as always," he replied, though in a tone that implied that he didn't entirely believe that no matter what he might say. He paused again, then breathed out what wasn't quite a sigh but was close to it. "The rest of us, however, aren't quite so fortunate."

It was fortunate that Sakura apparently hadn't seen what had happened there that night, and that she believed the kindly-intentioned lie she'd been told. Touya, too, seemed to have missed at least the very end. The fact remained, though, that damages went far beyond simply physical injuries -- especially in his case, where all of his injuries had simply disappeared, new and old alike.

Something like anger flickered in the guardian's eyes, though it was quiet and slow-burning; he was too tired of this to even bother with anything more than that. "It was more than just yet another dead end in exploration." The third floor was out, along with the roof. And now the basement. And all they had left now was ground that had supposedly been trampled by many. Was it even worth continuing to search, at this point?

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Day 48: Courtyard

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