Nightshift 45: Basement - The Coliseum
[[from here]]While the transition from night to morning wasn't usually so abrupt, he fully expected to wake up tucked into his bed the following morning. Instead, he woke to hard-packed earth and sand against his cheek. He startled up into a sitting position, momentarily blinded by the bright light streaming in from above in the huge room he'd
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He stared at the back of his hand for a second, more than a little astonished, then glanced down. This was...not the clothing he had been wearing until a moment ago, it was what he should be wearing. Clothing so familiar to him it was like a second skin, but instead of making him feel better it did exactly the opposite. Unless he'd somehow returned home, this wasn't supposed to be happening, and this looked nothing like home.
Fai was nearby as well; Yue could both see and sense his presence, with a clarity that hadn't been present since he'd arrived at the Institute. He could all but feel power coursing through him, ready for his use, making him feel more real, more solid. It was almost like a repeat of when Touya had given his own power to save him - before he'd had just enough to ensure his existence, with a tiny bit to spare, but now? Now he was himself once more. And that worried him more than he could say.
And then it finally occurred to him that Fai wasn't the only person he could sense, and without thinking he spread his wings and lifted from the ground (and spared one tiny second to be pleased at how effortless it was, and how welcome it was to be able to fly again). Sakura? And Touya? They weren't supposed to be here, wherever here was. They were supposed to be back in the hallway, not here.
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When Yue took to the air, there was no mistaking his magic either. Something had been returned to both of them, was that the reward for offering their blood? For making it this far? If that was the case, it was a good thing they'd been chosen. As nice as it might be for Sakura to have her magic back, Yuuhi felt more comfortable knowing they could protect her now.
He turned at the shouting, but had nothing to say to the man in the stands. There was a moment that passed as he regarded the other with a cool expression, then turned back to Yue, content to look at pretty much anything but the seats where Aiden was shouting from. Yuuhi couldn't say why he'd been brought here; he had no answers, but even if he did, he likely wouldn't be sharing them. Whatever was going on here, it wasn't any of the other man's business.
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Yue stubbornly pushed away his growing worries, though, and with a brief glance back at Touya in response to his shout, launched himself toward the stands where Kurogane was, as expected, yelling at Fai. He didn't get very far, though, before he abruptly flared his wings and stopped, hovering in midair to cautiously reach out a hand - and find something solid where there should be nothing. A barrier, a very solid barrier, that kept him from going any higher.
Not for nothing had his powers been returned to him, though, and the guardian drew back slightly before launching a volley of ice crystals at the unseen wall. But then each merely shattered upon impact, forcing him to dodge the fragments, and with absolutely no apparent effect on the barrier. "Sakura!" he called, losing control long enough to raise his voice and even show a touch of worry. She was right there and he couldn't reach her.
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It appeared that everyone was here, at least, most of the people he'd come to know here. If not for the barriers, he might be able to send them all home, or barring that, at least send them to the Time Witch, who could fix things (at a price). But like in Rekord, he knew they couldn't leave with the barriers in place. And he'd have to get them together at least, before he could try to get them out.
There was little he could do to help Yue though. It would take a great deal of magic to break a barrier like that. And at least they were all safe now. There were no monsters, no threats, so maybe there was a puzzle? Yuuhi sighed, glancing around for answers.
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"You were supposed to stay where it was safe," he observed with a deep frown, then abruptly turned away again with a flick of his wings, heading toward the other side of the stands. Someone else was talking to Touya over there, he could see, but - Ken? He'd seen Allelujah of all people with Kurogane, and now his roommate had somehow ended up here as well? If this was them moving deeper into the Institute, as the sphinx had claimed, where were they supposed to go now?
Instead of going up to talk to them as well, though, he dropped to a neat landing on the sands, folding his wings and looking toward Fai. The two of them up there were all right. They would stay all right, he told himself, trying to ignore Yukito's worry that felt like his own. "Do you see a way out?"
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Yue landed nearby and for a while, Yuuhi had no quick answer or easy smile. He thought over the question, glancing up and around them once again, but shook his head after a moment. "Not unless we make one. The barriers seem pretty strong."
He'd dealt with things like this before, but at least when Mokona's magic had been blocked, he could make his own barrier with rules of its own and still help them escape. But here?
Yuuhi took a deep breath and gave a low whistle, magic circling around him in thin, transparent wisps. But even then he couldn't make the spell to travel across worlds work. It crackled on the air and was gone a second later. They could always try to break out. His magic seemed best for wanton destruction anyway.
The seal suppressed his magic, even if it wasn't the original one given to him by the King. Would he have enough magic to crack the barriers? Sighing quietly, he sketched the runes of magic on the air with his gloved fingers. The spell shot up toward the brightly lit dome above them with enough force to shake the ground, but not enough to break the barrier.
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Before he could speak again or consider more options, however, another arrived to join those already present. As the greeting echoed out from the stands to his side his eyes widened just slightly, his attention immediately caught and held by this new development.
[dropping down to here]
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While the man's questions hadn't been directed at him, it seemed he and Yue were the ones chosen, or rather, the ones who had chosen to play a game. While he was relieved that it meant the others might not be part of it, just what kind of game was this? His talk of betrayal too; while Yuuhi didn't know about what'd happened the night before, he was quite sure he wanted to keep his own motives secret. While the others wanted to go home, Yuuhi wanted answers to more pressing questions. How could he save Aaron? And if the head doctor could bring people back from the dead, would he be able to bring back Fai?
Those thoughts alone were enough to keep him from acting out as boldly as Yue had. Instead, he glanced up, waiting for answers.
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"Sakura!" Yue's immediate impulse was to fly immediately to her, and his wings lifted - but then fell a moment later as the words sank in, coupled with the realization that the barriers were still in place. He was trapped. He couldn't be trapped. But he had been, left to the Institute's mercy for two weeks now. If he couldn't escape before then how could he get out of this sick little game now?
But he couldn't give in. Kill Fai? Fai? Another he'd given his protection? It was unthinkable. But - Sakura was in danger. Sakura was his first and most pressing concern. To let her be injured further was to deny who and what he was. But it would also be going back on his decision to protect the magician who'd been with him during the time Sakura had not.
He glanced from the stands to Landel to Fai and back, his jaw tightening and feathers ruffling with agitation. What could he do? He couldn't - but he had to.
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He was hurt; hesitant to believe any of it at first, but the moment he heard Sakura's cry, all doubt left him. There was a commotion on Touya's end of the coliseum seats too. Whatever the reasoning, whomever was responsible, it'd come to this. And if he and Yue didn't do something to stop it, Sakura and her brother wouldn't last long.
Yuuhi took a shaky step back. Hadn't he said he couldn't die just yet? There were things he had to do and promises left unkept. He'd never really meant to keep them all, but...
He shook his head. It wasn't his own life he was fighting for, it was Sakura's. But he could barely manage the weight of his own life, how could he be responsible for hers? Yuuhi's smile vanished into a grim line as he raised a shaking arm. The air in front of his fingers sparked with magic, waiting to answer his call. His eyes were cold as they met Yue's and he shook his head.
"I'm sorry," he offered as his eyes lowered and the spell's runes began to glow, hovering around him in a semi-circle. The first shot was a warning, but there would be several more to follow. Would that be enough to spark Yue to fight back?
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No. No, he...he couldn't do that. Even if it left Fai to protect her, she'd never accept it. She would probably blame herself. And yes, I know, he silently told Yukito. I promised.
His wings curved about himself in near-automatic reaction to Fai's attack, summoning a shield that deflected it, if barely. The force pushed him back several feet, but then his wings swept back again and he launched a volley of ice crystals toward the magician. There was no serious intent to the attack, though: he merely hoped that the action of fighting would be sufficient to keep those in the stands safe while he tried to figure out what to do next.
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"That's too weak," he forced a smile, hating that he had to do this, but unwilling to let the other give in. They couldn't prolong this fight. "Come on, just who can you protect with that? Are you a guardian or aren't you?"
A ball of magic energy, glowing a soft bluish purple, appeared in each hand. With practiced ease, he sent them both hurtling toward Yue. There'd been no mention of hesitation, or of those they cared for being alright so long as the fight continued, so the thought never entered his mind. For each moment they both lived, the other two would suffer. It was simple as that. One of them would have to end it or they'd be watching both Touya and Sakura die in the stands.
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He folded his wings and dived, dodging the first of Fai's attacks with an ease that he'd sorely missed in the last two weeks. As he started to slip to the side of the second, though, he heard Ken call to him and froze - just for half a second, but it was sufficient to allow the attack to clip one wing, sending him spinning halfway around and frantically beating at the air to keep from crashing into the ground.
Touya? The one closest to him here was Sakura, wasn't it? Landel's threat had come true, apparently, judging from her cry, so why was Touya involved as well? But...wait. Fai knew Sakura as well; that was how Yue had convinced him to come along with this ill-conceived expedition. If Sakura was being hurt to punish Fai, then he...
This is not the time for this! he told himself sternly, working to gain what altitude he could in order to be ready for the next attack, despite the pain shooting up his wing every time he moved it. He needed the room to maneuver, just in case.
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He should push the attack; Yue would be able to tell whether Fai was fighting him seriously or not if he didn't take advantage of an opportunity. However, weakened though his magic might be, it didn't change the fact that using it too much and too many times was going to take a toll. While the effect wasn't as bad as it usually was here, he could taste blood in the back of his throat and coughed a couple of times into his glove. It was enough excuse not to go on attacking, at least.
Magic sparked once more at his fingertips as he gave a commanding gesture and the glowing runes formed in front of him, almost humming with power before sending out a barrage of energy blasts. It wasn't difficult to counter, or even avoid, but it gave an appearance that was certainly otherwise. A majority of the blasts didn't even reach high enough, and instead tore at the walls surrounding them. Two long-range fighters who couldn't even hit one another... the match had too much potential to drag out. Why couldn't either of them have a blade or a simple, tangible weapon? He couldn't keep this up. He couldn't stand to see the other hurt, to see any of them hurt because of him. Sparks flew around him and the ground cracked in places as he fought for control of his own emotions.
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There was no time and no good choice to be made. He didn't want to die, of course, and had several reasons not to, not the least of which was the promise that he'd made (though a promise he already wasn't keeping, from the commotion in the stands). He also had no desire whatsoever to kill someone, much less, well, Fai. But it wasn't so much Fai's attack itself that convinced the guardian that he was attacking in earnest, but the sheer amount of power that he was drawing on. Even if the marking on his back or something else seemed to be causing him pain for use of his powers, he was still doing so, and with enough intensity that Yue was forced to dodge not only energy blasts but shattered fragments of the arena wall.
Even as he did dodge, though, the pain in his wing was growing in intensity, mingling with the injuries he'd sustained earlier that evening on the way to the basement. It was becoming more and more difficult to ignore it, to continue to move as though he was perfectly fine. The final blast in the barrage he couldn't avoid, and was forced to summon a shield that only managed to deflect it instead of blocking it entirely. At that point he finally started to drift toward the ground again, almost automatically shifting his hand to take hold of his bow. This time as he drew the arrow and fired his movements were clearly slower than before, his eyes narrowed with pain more than anger. The crystals had been dodged, earlier, but with a different attack maybe he could distract the magician before he could attack again.
And then what will you do?
He wasn't certain if it was Yukito speaking, worried and upset and equally as far from a good solution to the situation, or just his own thoughts. Either way, he had no answer.
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Yue drew back an arrow and past experience told him just what to expect and just how accurate the guardian was. When he fired, Yuuhi tried to form a barrier to deflect it, but that was weak at best. The arrow shattered it in an instant and the shaft struck his right shoulder with enough force to send him to the ground, despite his efforts to remain standing. Blood seeped into the white fabric of his coat, but he didn't cry out, simply forced himself back up, his left hand over the wound. After last night, the blood loss was enough to make him dizzy, and it took a bit longer than usual to get back to his feet.
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