Nightshift 27: M12

[bond_off_lame]

If anyone had been waiting outside M12’s door they would’ve been sorely disappointed to find out that the entire room was unoccupied. However, there seemed to be several slips of paper poking from underneath the door, all conveying the same message just in case someone decided to take one for any reason. If they choose to pull one of the slips out

Comments

[heavens_too_far]

[From here.]

It wasn't until Dias had Ashton actually inside his friend's own room again - stepping over the small drift of notes still in the open doorway - that he allowed himself to relax. The room was empty - certainly too small and bare to hide any lurking monsters that Dias wouldn't have noticed within seconds - which meant that at least now Dias could guarantee that Ashton didn't have to suffer any more tonight than he already had.

He strode over to Ashton's bed and, with a gentleness that seemed out of place for Dias unless one had seen him doing things like comforting frightened girls or making flower tiaras for his little sisters, set his friend down on it.

[part1of3]

[Jansen and I are trading turns again cause we're awesome]

And the patient did not say any more of the surgery until the little group reentered the relative comfort of his room.

As Ashton was lowered onto his bed, he couldn't help but feel a sense of emptiness that he hadn't expected. The surgery had been rather traumatic for him, and while the bitter tears and the loneliness had passed for the moment, he needed some sort of physical input - he was too mentally and emotionally weak to simply lay there alone. So as Dias set him down, he couldn't help but grab a handful of his friend's shirt - a rather crude way to ask someone to stay, but it would work for now. Ashton was trying so hard to not seem like he needed anyone that saying it would be simply too blunt, but .. Dias had always understood the importance of actions. Maybe more than anyone else.

Ashton thought to himself that it would probably have been fine if it was Claude he was asking to stay close to him, or Leon, or Axel, and he almost felt as if he was imposing on Dias

[full_score]

Mildly surprised, Claude glanced down at Leon as they made their way towards Ashton's room. He could understand the boy's need for reassurance, because, to be honest, he could have used some of his own at that moment. They'd all had a rough day -- even though the conversations he'd had with his friends earlier had taken a place at the back of his mind, they hadn't left him completely, and it just added to how unsettled he felt about everything right now

[heraldric]

It wasn't long after Claude and he had entered the room that Leon had found a nice spot to just fall into a sitting position, hand still clasping the blond's. With Ashton rescued, all the little mage wanted to do was just sleep through what was left of the night. Anywhere would do, really.

He hadn't expected the dismissal. In fact, it hadn't even really occurred to him that anyone would be leaving that room once they'd arrived. They'd just be sent back to their own rooms when the night was over anyway, wouldn't they? Why bother with the extra trip?

So it was with an ever so quiet groan that he got himself back on his feet again. He forced himself to smile, not wanting Ashton to think he was offended or complaining. Because he wasn't. Really! "Get some rest, okay?" he added to Claude's farewells. A little rest wouldn't be enough to help his friend, not really. And he knew this, but it was the principle

[heavens_too_far]

Given Dias' guilt over his not being able to rescue Ashton before - whatever it was had been done to him, it was frankly miraculous he was able to meet his friend's gaze when the brunet's eyes locked with his. The only reason he really had not for looking away was that Ashton seemed to...need it, somehow. It wasn't something he could have expressed in words, but he felt as if he'd helped Ashton in some marginal way through even something as simple as that

[part1of3]

For some reason unknown to him, Ashton was picking up on all of Claude's body language tonight, all of the nuances he was putting in his words, all the meaning he'd stored inside that simple phrase 'I understand.' His gaze lingered on Claude for a good moment. Best friends were able to tell certain things about each other, he supposed. He felt closer to Claude now, possibly more so than he ever had.

This simple bond of understanding between best friends - he wouldn't give it up for the world. It was as important as his relationship with anyone else, even his relationship with Dias.

"Claude, I - ..I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Please, please find me. Don't be a stranger, okay?" He was echoing those words Claude had said in the Salva Drift so long ago, that time that he'd realized that the two of them were destined for the level of awesomeness that only best buddies could achieve.

Then he turned to Leon. The poor kid been through so much tonight, Ashton could tell, and for a moment the unlucky swordsman felt somewhat terrible. He

[full_score]

Claude still held onto Leon's hand as the boy forced himself to stand up. He could sympathize with the quiet groan he heard him give -- he wasn't exactly in a hurry to go anywhere himself. But Ashton had just been through hell, so the least he could do was respect his wishes, even if it unsettled him a little

[heavens_too_far]

Dias watched Claude and Leon depart before turning back to Ashton and noting the obviously pained expression on his friend's face. Unless Axel and the girl made it back soon - and that was only assuming they found a medicine a surgery outpatient could safely take - Ashton probably wouldn't be getting any painkillers tonight. And if the look on the man's face was any indication, he could use some.

Well, Dias couldn't do anything for his pain...however, Ashton definitely still wanted company - he hadn't let go of Dias' shirt since he'd set Ashton down, and hadn't really relaxed since then, either. Not that Dias didn't understand why; regardless of Ashton's feelings for him, he'd had a traumatic night, and anyone would want friendly human contact as a reassurance at this point. In a way, it was similar to Leon's latching onto Claude's arm - a way of reaching out to someone...

Dias felt a miserable wrench in his gut as he followed that thought to its conclusion. Reaching out to someone who he believed could make everything all right.

[part1of3]

Claude and Leon had disappeared by the time that pressing wave of pain had passed. Ashton had heard Claude's voice, but didn't really comprehend any of the words that had been said until he had exited with the young Fellpool. He was rather saddened that he didn't get to bid the two goodbye before they left, but in their stead Dias remained.

And what was more - he was sliding his hands underneath Ashton's miserably painful body and hoisting him back up into those muscular arms, shifting back on the bed against the headboard. Well, Ashton had to admit that this more than satisfied his base need for physical touch, for closeness. It was utterly comforting, being cradled in Dias' arms. It was all he needed. Dias was here, Dias was here for him

[heavens_too_far]

"We usually work well together, when we have to." This was true enough, and it didn't cost Dias anything in particular to admit it. Claude was one of the few swordsmen he respected enough to be willing to work with at all, with Ashton being perhaps the only other person in that category.

Ashton's question, however, caught him thoroughly off-guard. He hadn't really been aware of his crying while it had been happening - far too immersed in the horrible memories unleashed by the dementor - and afterwards he'd been too busy trying to forget, not to mention rescuing Ashton, to give the matter any thought. He hadn't considered the possibility that his tears had left visible evidence, and he immediately lifted his free hand to run it roughly over his face. "...There was a creature in the hallway just outside where you were. Probably meant to keep us away. It..." He trailed off, more from a lack of knowing how to describe what it had done - what had it done? - than any reluctance to relate it. "I couldn't move. All I could see was the

[part1of3]

Ashton listened to Dias' story of the monster with bated breath, and almost immediately wished he hadn't. The horrors he was describing.. they were all so harrowing. Unlike Dias and Claude, Ashton's life, while unlucky, had not been so horribly eventful. His friends had both been forced to watch in horror as people close to them were destroyed before their eyes. And even here at Landel's, Ashton couldn't even imagine how much more Dias had been through than he had

[heavens_too_far]

Dias stared down at Ashton in his arms, baffled. Always saving him...? Dias had yet to actually save Ashton from anything, except perhaps one undead dog and an untimely encounter with Pyramid Head, and that second was something his friend hadn't wanted to be saved from to begin with. (Indeed, Dias had never seen Ashton want to attack something or someone so much before.) "That's nonsense," he muttered, looking away. "Pretty much all I've been doing is failing to save you."

He let out a breath in a long, measured sigh at his friend's question. He was rarely happy as most people understood it; sometimes he was content, but he recognized the difference. It wasn't simply being in this place that did it, either. Still, he didn't feel anything like what he'd felt when that thing had been bearing down on him...thank Tria. "No, I don't."

[part1of3]

"Not true!" Ashton said as indignantly as he could - which was still incredibly weak, truth be told. His eyes were wide in the darkness, and his jaw was stubbornly set. "There was Xigbar that first night, and all those times on the bulletin board - you're always looking out for me. I .. don't know what would have happened if you hadn't arrived then." Certainly nothing terrible, he was sure, as he had grown to trust Xigbar now, but at the time he'd been literally scared to death that more was going to happen

[heavens_too_far]

Dias listened to Ashton's list of his 'rescues' without comment. He couldn't deny that yes, he'd done his best to protect Ashton, and in some cases had warded off unpleasantness...in a few instances even perhaps saved Ashton's life. But - well, in most instances where he'd saved Ashton's life, he'd still allowed his friend to be hurt, and he couldn't exactly see that as a total victory. Those he wanted to protect, he didn't simply wish from dying, but from any harm whatsoever...

"Whether you need the protection or not, I'm always going to feel as though I have to protect you," Dias replied matter-of-factly. "I don't want anything to happen to you." He was probably misinterpreting what Ashton meant, but...as long as Ashton was important to him, protecting him would be equally important. The only thing that made a difference was Ashton's own competence; thanks to the fact that Ashton was capable of protecting himself, what sort of things constituted a threat Dias actually felt a need to protect him from were vastly different than they

[bond_off_lame]

[From here.]

The trudge back to his room had been far less whimsical than the little spectacle in the bathroom only minutes before. Axel was pretty stumped as to why there was blood coating the porcelain surface of the sink instead of water, regretting taking a sample back with him. Common sense told him that it was probably just a nightly thing, but it certainly succeeded in being a nuisance, just like everything else in this Institute.

As usual, the redhead saw no need to knock on his own door, jiggling the doorknob and twisting it before pushing it open. He made sure to prepare his best grin to greet his roommate, but that quickly fell short when he saw the kind of position Ashton had tangled himself up in. Stopping a few feet into the room, Axel glanced between the two before crossing his arms.

"Oh I see what you did there." Of course, his light-hearted tone betrayed his belittling stare before he let the act slide and replaced it with a small grin. "Subtext? In my room? If you were going to do that then you should've given us

[angels_inflight]

Naminé followed behind, quite shocked by the sight of the blood running through the faucets to really be fazed by how Ashton and Dias were positioned. Axel's words managed to bring her back to reality though, and she focused in on the room.

... Oh. Did they come at a bad time?

"It's more likely than you think," Naminé told Axel, not finding it strange now that she had gotten her bearings back. Actually, she did not blame Ashton for wanting to be held. After what he had been through... At least now, they had something to lessen his pain.

Except...

"Yes, I don't know where else we can get water," Naminé frowned. If blood was running through the faucets instead of water, it was debatable if there was any water left in the institute.