damned_institute | Night 48: M81-M90 Hallway

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Night 48: M81-M90 Hallway

[M88]

Leon told himself not to be disappointed that he would be working again tonight rather than getting an extra break. If Jun hadn't disappeared he would have been working anyway. Now he had the opportunity to take care of the offer he'd made Guy a while back. (Which was good, since then he wouldn't have to worry about it any longer.)

He didn't even know if Claude's friend was bringing any metal, and his own supplies were dwindling. Soon he might have to call in a favor from Haseo. The older boy had wanted something to do, hadn't he? The pillowcase was pulled out once more, and the young mage went over his inventory to make certain he'd have enough for a sword of a decent size and weight (assuming that was what Guy wanted). When he was certain he'd be able to manage one more bit of alchemy with what he had, he moved everything aside and sat waiting at his desk.

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Leon watched worriedly as they left. He'd begin working on the sword while they were gone, so they'd better come back for it. If something happened to them and he hadn't been there to help them, he didn't know what he'd do. (Not that he'd probably be a whole lot of help to begin with...)

He looked over the drawing Luke had given him, frowning. Working with this drawing would be possible, even if it wasn't the quality he'd normally prefer. It would be rude of him to point that out; not everyone was graced with his artistic talent.

The process was very familiar by now. The young mage set up the symbol and the metal, trying to ignore the acrid stench of smoke from down the hall. Any distractions and worries could screw him up. He had to forget about all of that and just focus on the task at hand. He'd done this several nights before - this night would be no different.

The glow spread from his hands to the materials laid out in front of him, slowly causing them to take the shape of the weapon Luke wanted. He pushed for as large of a size as he could manage, the effort causing sweat to run down his cheeks. The finished product came out well, or so he hoped. It fit the design as closely as he could manage, with the length being just a slight bit longer then Guy's arm.

Now he'd rather go and check on the other two, but his use of alchemy left him with hardly enough energy to sit up straight, much less stand. Leaning back against the side of the bed, he let his heartbeat slow down to a normal pace again while he waited for the others to return.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/843571.html?thread=67974963#t67974963)]

It might have been nicer, but Luke didn't bother to check to see if Guy could keep up with him. Innately, he knew his friend could outrun him anytime, and they weren't exposed to enough smoke. But right now, his thoughts were focused on the fire and the cause of it—and just who would do that. He wondered if the person who did it would brag about it. Or maybe they would never find out. Sometimes things like that just happened.

He reached Leon's door, and he didn't bother to knock or announce his presence. Sometimes, old habits died hard, and in this case, Luke had never been very good at consistently announcing his arrival. Back home, it sometimes meant they could find things in people's rooms. Here, it just meant he was a little rude.

Only he stopped at the sight of Leon. The image of the boy leaning like that reminded him of Ion. Luke's selfishness connected to the thoughts of the attack slipped away, and he moved toward him quickly to check on him. "What happened?" he asked, and he wished he had some kind of gel to help Leon. At the least, it might return his strength.

It was clear that Luke was pissed, but that wasn't something he could be blamed for. Guy was also upset at the prospect that a patient had purposely set someone's room on fire, but after having to deal with people like Sync, he couldn't say he was surprised. He'd known from a young age just how cruel people could be, and he was able to control his emotions much more effectively than his friend.

Making it back to Leon's room, they came across the boy looking worn out. Before Guy could even say anything, Luke had crossed to Leon's side. It was typical of Luke -- even though he'd only met Leon tonight, he was worried. Meanwhile, Guy couldn't help noticing the finished sword. He really was grateful that Leon was willing to sacrifice his own energy (which was not a small price in a place like this) to see to it that other people got armed.

Figuring that Leon might not be in the mood to explain, Guy kept his distance while he took up that task. There was no point in crowding the boy. "Any usage of power to that extent is going to tire someone out here," he explained. "Making weapons without even a has to be tough. We really appreciate it, Leon." They hadn't even explained about the fire yet, but that was also because no one had actually been injured. Thankfully. Guy would bring it up later, but he wanted to be certain that Leon was all right first.

"I'm fine. It's all right," he reassured Luke, smiling weakly at him. He pointed at the sword. "It should be the size you wanted, but... you'll have to find something to wrap the hilt in. I can only do the metal." Leon sat up a bit straighter, trying to make himself look less drained for the sake of both men. Of course, standing would still be out of the question for the moment.

He glanced toward the door and back. It was good to see them both back in one piece, and apparently the fire wasn't spreading, but... "Is everything all right with you two? Did you... find anything?"

The similarity to Ion made Luke linger near Leon's side a little longer. He knew it was probably too close for someone he just met, but he couldn't bring himself to part ways just yet. This wasn't Ion, but he remembered how selfish he had been in the past with Ion, and how he refused to care for him at first. Now, he couldn't deny that part of himself; it was who he was. Leon's well-being was more important than his sword at the moment. Still, it would be impolite to go without thanking him. "Thank you for doing this for me. I'll do whatever I can for you in the future. Just name it."

After a moment, Luke cast a cautious glance toward Guy, who probably could explain this a lot better. "Someone started the fire," he explained, his features immediately marred with his displeasure at this idea. "We found residue."

Glad to see that Luke was offering up a favor in return for what Leon had done for him, Guy couldn't help smiling. Not that either of them was going to see it, but that wasn't the point. Even though it was in a small way, he was still always pleased when he was given signs of how far his friend had come. A few years back, he would have never imagined that Luke would be so quick to want to repay someone. He'd been entitled; he'd been a brat. But he'd grown out of it.

When Luke started to explain, Guy let out a small sigh and nodded. "It seems pretty likely that it was a patient. Luckily, the fire isn't spreading and we're pretty sure that no one got caught in it." Once again, he didn't bother going into the details of how he knew that. He wasn't going to dump that onto someone so young.

Wanting to make himself useful in some way, Guy moved to collect Luke's sword and then grabbed a sheet off of the unused bed to wrap it in. He wouldn't have done so without asking under other circumstances, but he knew that everything was replaced here. Once the blade was wrapped up neatly, he walked over to Luke and handed it to him. "Here you go." This would do until he fashioned something for the hilt, in any case.

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Night 48: M81-M90 Hallway

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