Day 56: Bus 3

[rocksthecourt]

Waking carried a sense of disappointment along with it for the first time in a long time. Klavier actually sighed in irritation when he realized where he was. Damn it all. So they hadn't managed to move quickly enough to cover as much ground as they had hoped. It was a shame, really. Last night had actually proven to be relatively productive. If

Comments

[nobleobliged]

Not so immersed in her frustration as to be impervious to outside stimuli, at the sound of her name in a welcome voice, Natalia looked up, her hand falling. "Claude!" she exclaimed in turn, "Good morning!" Her smile was automatic, if a touch shadowed by the effort to appear in good spirits.

He'd already seen her poor show. The sight of Claude, of a friend, caused a surge within her of the awareness of her failure by yielding to difficulty, in permitting herself to express it so obviously. Yet, as she began to resolve to do better, he asked, and she couldn't quite help but to take hold of the card and lift it for his inspection, with a tremendous frown. "Isn't this awful? I don't look anything like myself! I suppose Guy would be more interested in how they managed to make it, but really, couldn't they let us..."

Natalia remembered, in the midst of holding up a rectangular piece of, of plastic, was it? and complaining, that it was morning. The morning after what had doubtless been a trying night for the man, where she had, evidently, had it so easy as to be most perturbed by, of all things, a miniature. She dropped it again.

"I- I apologize." Shaking her head, "I think I... I think I'm a little out of sorts. I must have slept through most of yesterday, though I can't imagine why, as I wasn't so weary, and while I slumbered, everything changed. Please, how are you?"

[full_score]

The indignation practically rolled off of Natalia. Claude guessed he couldn't blame her, her being a princess and all. She probably wasn't used to wearing things like reptile-patterned skirts. In a way, though, it was strange to hear her launch into something so inconsequential when she'd been missing for awhile. It was almost as if she hadn't disappeared at all!

It seemed she realized this, however, and quickly changed the subject.

There was a beat of silence as Claude took in what Natalia said. She'd slept in through more than just yesterday, but it sounded like her sense of time was skewed because of what happened. That must have been so disorienting. Claude held back a sigh and moved to sit down beside her.

"I'm all right," he answered. Truthfully, he was more worried about Natalia. "What was the last thing you remember?"

[nobleobliged]

"That isn't much of an answer," Natalia chided, taking a long look at Claude as he moved to sit. He wore a rather garish coat, but it offended her less than her own outfit. At least it had a shape. These were, happily, peripheral observations, with Natalia most focused on his question. There must have been more to say, and she felt reluctant to allow him to divert the subject, to bring it to her.

But, not reluctant enough. The many changes, the possible time discrepancy. Claude seemed at ease, or as much as one could be in this place, under such circumstances. It may simply have affected him less, or he put on a sturdier face. Natalia suspected otherwise. She shook her head, scooting a little closer to the window, pushing her shoulder back into the seat, even as her chin dipped toward her hands, her hands folded over the pile.

"I was speaking with Guy," she began. "It was after breakfast, and he was telling me that Luke and... and Asch were probably gone. The night before, that is, the night before last, I had been healing Edgar when our shadows began to distort. I don't... remember falling asleep yesterday, but when I woke, it was night, the uniform had changed, and so had my room number."

Natalia lifted her gaze now. The door to the bus was closing, and she glanced down to the men and women in front, to the man at the steering device, before meeting Claude's eyes. "Did this not happen to you? Weren't we all put to sleep while the Institute changed hands? I can only assume something of that nature happened, for the Lieutenant General to earlier speak of Dr. Landel's former staff. That... that the military of this country might step in, but not rescue and release us, speaks very poorly of this country."

Frowning, she wrestled with her disappointment in the unknown leaders of this land. "Very poorly, indeed."

[full_score]

Claude was glad these clothes covered his bandaged arm. Natalia was very much the type of person to concern herself with others instead of looking after her own health. He'd seen that firsthand. And while Claude respected her strong will and compassion, he also knew that meant those around her needed to make sure she didn't push herself too hard. She might not have been happy with his answer, but it was true -- and, well, he wanted to focus on Natalia right now. They needed to get to the bottom of some things, and it sounded like the princess was confused about what had happened over the past few days.

When she explained her situation, Claude paused, and stared down at his sack lunch for a moment. She seemed to think her case wasn't unique. He hated to be the bearer of uncomfortable news, but Natalia needed to know.

"The night the shadows came," he slowly said as he turned to look at her. "Natalia, three nights have gone by since then. Guy said he left a couple of messages for you on the board but you never responded. When Anise checked your room last night, she said you weren't in it anymore. People thought you disappeared."

A lot had happened since then, but Natalia already picked up on that. Scratching his head, Claude tried to figure out where to start. "While you were gone, an important military official came to inspect the institute. There was a riot among the patients that morning, and then Landel got fired. Now the military is in charge, which explains all the weird stuff you've been seeing today."

He wondered if the change in regime had anything to do with Natalia being brought back with her memories in tact. Still, Claude wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He was just grateful she was okay.

"I'm not really sure what's happening in this country," he admitted. "I have a feeling this place isn't public knowledge. It's possible the leaders of this country don't even realize it's happening." Frowning, he glanced at the bus driver up front. "But I don't know. In some ways this isn't the Earth I know at all."

He offered her a small smile. "I'm really glad to see you, though."

[nobleobliged]

Three nights?

Three nights? Natalia sat still, her eyes fixed unblinking on Claude's. His words fell against her and permeated slowly, as if fog or miasma, pressing on pores and fonslots, inhaled with every small, instinctive breath. Ignored messages, Anise had looked--Anise must have waited, three nights ago. Her fingers curled hard into her palm, nails prevented from digging by the gloves. That did explain how such a dramatic change could have happened during a few hours time -- it couldn't. Perhaps it was possible, but that hadn't been the case.

As he went on to explain. The military, a riot, Dr. Landel fired. Natalia shook her head. That he could be so easily replaced, when she had assumed, ever naive, that he was the one. The enemy. The man to defeat to put things right. She should have expected that it went farther, at least the possibility. It should have been obvious.

"How," she asked, her voice quiet and only just steady, "could the leaders not know? How could such a..." Natalia trailed off, remembering her surprise in Belkend and Asch's reprimand. Could she truly judge the government of this land for an error she, and perhaps too many, made in complacency?

She swallowed, and tried to return his smile.

"Thank you, Claude. Also, thank you for telling me. I... don't understand. But, it... it could be worse." Her memories could have been taken, she could have been released as Sarah Drew. Or some other unknown fate. Wherever she'd been, however they'd kept her under, there didn't seem to be any effects. She felt fine last night.

Her smile strengthened, genuine. "I am glad I didn't forget you." After a pause. "Is everyone... you mentioned Guy and Anise. Has anyone else...?"

[full_score]

He could tell the news had hit her hard. Claude didn't blame her. What it would it be like, he wondered, to wake up one day and find out you'd dropped off the radar for a few days, and a lot of your friends had assumed you were gone? Claude knew he'd probably feel a myriad of things -- anger at the institute, discomfort at having such a wide memory gap, and anxiety about how his comrades had fared in his absence.

"I'm glad you remember me, too," he said quietly, and he hoped his smile came across as at least a little reassuring. After all, in his experience keeping memories after disappearing for so long was pretty rare. Natalia probably felt like she'd dodged a bullet.

"Everyone's fine," he told her. "Guy, Anise and Tear will be really glad to see you." Of course, his smile dipped a moment when he thought of Asch and Luke, and how they hadn't come back, but now wasn't the time to mention that. They needed to keep their spirits up, especially in the face of what was happening now.

"How are you doing?" Claude asked, studying her for a moment. "If you have anymore questions, I can try to answer them for you." It was the least he could do for her.

[nobleobliged]

Lacking the same amount of experience, Natalia could not appreciate just how rare it was, how comparatively lucky she'd been. In that respect. She understood well enough that when patients disappeared, it was uncommon to see them again. If they returned, it was without memory of their previous time. Natalia had not witnessed it personally, but had been told.

From that perspective, however troubling her memory lapse and brief disappearance, Natalia knew she ought to be relieved. His smile helped her along that path, as did his following words.

Everyone, Guy, Anise, and Tear? Her eyes widened; her lips parted. For a moment, for once, Natalia's attention was not pinned, as if magnetic, to Asch and Luke. She had forced herself to accept it that morning, not yesterday's but those few days ago. She had also resigned herself to Tear's absence. She shook her head at his follow-up, appreciating his concern and offer, immediately accepting it.

"Tear returned?" Natalia asked, disregarding his question. "She's back, she's well? Of course, you said they're fine, but... we thought she'd gone. Anise had-" she couldn't help but smile, wincing, at the similarity between what she now said and what Claude had said of her, "waited for, looked for Tear that night."

[full_score]

So she'd never learned of Tear's return before dropping off the radar herself. Claude smiled, pleased to deliver some good news for a change. Not that it fixed Natalia's unsettling experience, but maybe it helped take the sting out of things a little.

"Yeah, she's fine!" he assured her. "She even has her memories from before." Just like Natalia, interestingly enough. "It sounded like they kept her in the medical wing for a little bit."

Claude didn't understand the criteria for that sort of thing, but maybe that was what they'd done with Natalia, except she'd blacked out the entire time. Stranger things had happened within the institute, after all.

Now probably wasn't the time to mention what happened the night before last, though. Between Anise's temporary amnesia, his own lack of pain, and Tear's strange behavior, it would only serve to heighten Natalia's anxieties. It was better to focus on the positive for now.

"Maybe you'll get to see her today," he said in an encouraging tone. Now that the thought about it, he was supposed to speak with her at some point, too.