Night 51: M41-50 Hallway
He hadn't expected to see a note to him from anyone other than his commanding officers. He'd caught the bulletin (from Dean, wasn't it?) addressed to him before the dinner shift. McCoy remembered him well enough. Rough looking kid, thought he could practice some medicine with nothing but a belt and dirty jacket, but generally had his heart in the
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Natalia had grown, hadn't she? Not as much as Luke, maybe, but Guy could still see it clear as day. It made him wonder if he'd gone through a few drastic changes of his own, beyond putting his past behind him even more than he had at the start of their long journey.
Claude seemed a bit overwhelmed, but Guy knew that Natalia would take good care of him. In the end, Guy ended up moving over to stand near Claude's desk, a safe distance away from the pair. Still, the room was small enough that if something went wrong, he'd be able to deal with it, and he made sure to stay focused on both of them.
As for the comment about Jill, he had to agree that it sounded bad for her. Guy wasn't sure how much they could do, though, since chances were that she could already be in Landel's clutches. For the moment, he wanted to take things one at a time. "Just relax," he told Claude as he observed. Natalia would be gentle, and it wasn't as if healing ever hurt. On the other hand, who really knew in this place? It hadn't hurt when Kratos had healed him, but...
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When Claude removed the bandages, Natalia was -- not quite disappointed, but left braced for little reason. She had prepared herself for a more distressing sight, for scars that would indubitably stir her fury with Landel. The lack of physical marring would also make it difficult to gauge success by spell. Recovering from her surprise at how clear his skin was, Natalia began to focus.
It should not have taken much concentration to gather fonons and combine them with verse. Had she not cast them hundreds of times in battle, distracted only when struck by spell or blade? Yet, concentration it took. Her brow creased as she meditated on her fon slots, reaching for seventh fonons in the atmosphere--and were they there, or weren't they? Supposedly not on Earth, but she could feel the power gathering, if slowly, if weakly.
She spoke the verse, targeting his eyes, "O soothing light, Heal!" and smiled, relieved, as fonons glowed around him, highlighting his hair with pale white-green.
Curiously aware of a heaviness in her mind and moisture in her palms, Natalia shook herself as if to dismiss them both, and watched Claude for his reaction.
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He gave a small nod when Natalia reminded him to hold off in showing his gratitude until they got some results. He could see how she wouldn't want to be told thank you before having done anything, even if the fact she had come here at all meant a lot to him. But for now it sounded like it was best to keep that to himself, and so he patiently waited for Natalia to cast her healing spell.
As soon as she said the incantation, he was stunned to sense some light through his eyelids. Soothing warmth bathed his body. The feeling reminded him a lot of all the times Rena had healed him. Part of him ached when he thought back on those times...
But there wasn't any time for him to get lost in his own thoughts. Soon, the light seemed to fade, taking the warmth along with it. Claude took in a small breath when he realized that the pain in his eyes had ebbed a little, even if it wasn't gone. After a brief moment, he slowly cracked them open. The first thing he saw was a patch of light, presumably from a flashlight. But as soon as he opened them wider, Claude realized that the light was all he could identify -- the rest was a hazy darkness that he knew couldn't be attributed to the poor lighting. There was no Natalia in sight, and no Guy for that matter.
His heart felt as though it'd sunk to the pit of his stomach, but the only outward sign he gave was the way his hand balled into a fist at his side. Offering a smile, he turned his face toward where Natalia was sitting across from him, but he knew he couldn't hide the unfocused way he was looking at her, or the abnormal shape his pupils probably had -- much less the moisture collecting at the corners of his eyes because of how sensitive they were.
"I-it doesn't hurt as much now," he told her, trying his best to sound positive.
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In the aftermath, he tried to gauge how both Claude and Natalia reacted. If Natalia had been drained from her efforts, it was difficult to tell -- but the girl knew how to keep her composure in the toughest of situations. Just because she didn't look like she was going to fall over didn't mean she wasn't.
Claude, meanwhile... Well, the fact that he wasn't jumping for joy probably meant that he still couldn't see. From the sounds of it, Natalia's healing had taken away some of the pain, but the medication had also been able to do that, so it didn't necessarily count for much. Guy felt his hands clench in disappointment. Was that it, then? Had it just failed?
Frowning, he moved just the tiniest bit closer to the pair, watching both of them and trying to keep his expression neutral, at least for Natalia's sake. "Natalia," he spoke up, "how are you feeling?" He needed to make sure that she was okay, before anything else.
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"I see..." Natalia inhaled, fighting off disappointment. Diagnosing his injury wasn't easy, given the limited information available - but would it have mattered if she knew? Was this her limit? She refused to think it.
Guy's movement went largely unnoticed, due to her concentration being pooled elsewhere. His words did not escape her, and she turned her face to smileat him, the expression as much exasperated and proud as it was reassuring. "I feel fine, Guy. Honestly. It's no wonder Claude thought me so fragile. I'll tell you if that changes, all right?"
Not that she would. Of course, she understood where Claude's concern was rooted, in the effect this place had one a person's abilities. Natalia spoke as much to refuse herself the perception of weakness, as to refuse it to them. Rolling back her shoulders, she looked again to Claude. A stronger spell? Their warnings had lead to her shying from the High Fonic Arte, Cure.
She began to concentrate the fonons, a significantly larger number, and found that -- that she couldn't. It was a queer sensation, reminiscent of but not precisely like beginning as a student, lacking either talent or skill, stamina or understanding, to cast the higher artes. Natalia frowned, the fonons momentarily dissipating, and focused on another spell, to not allow the new pressures in her mind to take hold.
But, the fonons for Recover, too, not at all a higher arte, would not cooperate. Sweat beaded on her brow, and a quivering in her wrists and fingertips was suppressed only by her clutching, steadying fingers. Very well--if only the one spell would succeed, she would have to keep trying it until it did work.
Now the fonons came, though with more of an effort, fighting and building an ache between her temples. Again, she spoke the verse, and knew relief when the glow of fonons responded, embracing Claude. Again: she watched and waited.
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He would have said as much, but Natalia's comments about him believing she was fragile made him think better of it. While he didn't think there was any shame if someone found their abilities were hampered within the institute, Claude realized that Natalia and Guy probably knew her limits better than he did. He was just going to have to trust that they knew what they were doing, and that Natalia would actually say something if she was feeling too tired to continue.
Claude waited a few moments, wondering if she was going to try again. Then it occurred to him that it was possible that she simply couldn't muster the energy for it anymore. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off when she recited the verse again. As soon as she said those words, he saw light once more, and felt the unmistakable warmth of her healing spell as it spread through his body, and washed over his eyes.
When it faded, Claude slowly blinked, wiping some of the moisture from his lashes as he did so. Once again, he immediately recognized the beam from the flashlight, but -- what was that? The shape of a person?
He took in a small breath and squinted through the darkness enough to realize that Natalia's last attempt had partially broken through the milky haze that had clouded his sight up until now. He could see a shadowed form in front of him, which was much more than what he'd been able to do before.
But other details -- hairstyle, eye color, facial features -- still alluded him, he realized as he closed his eyes. He wasn't sure what he was feeling now. Disappointment? Regret? Resignation? Maybe a mixture of all three. But, regardless, Claude did his best to keep any of that from seeping into his words.
"I can tell you're in front of me now, at least," he said with a small smile. "Given the circumstances, I think this is probably the best we can hope for. Thank you."
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Besides, before he could really say anything more, she was trying the spell again, as if a second try would somehow have a different effect. "Natalia--"
Well, she was still managing to sit straight in her seat, but was that a sheen of sweat that was starting to build on her forehead? Honestly, the fact that she was still upright after two spells in such quick succession was impressive. Not that he could really expect anything different from the princess of Baticul.
But as he witnessed Claude's reaction, he found himself sighing (softly enough that neither of his friends would hear, he hoped) and shaking his head. It seemed that Natalia's spells were progressively bettering Claude's vision, but not fast enough. She was going to hit her limit sooner rather than later, and then only way to perfect Claude's vision was if she kept at it. And so Guy was torn between wanting Claude to be able to see again and wanting Natalia to take it easy.
And so he settled on a compromise as he leaned himself against the side of the desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "It looks like your healing is having some effect, but we might want to put off any further tries until tomorrow, so you have time to rest up," he suggested. That way Claude's vision would eventually get better; it would just take a bit longer. Which would be harder for the younger man, yes, but Guy really would rather Natalia didn't indispose herself when she was still so new to Landel's.
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"The best? But surely you can see that it took two spells to get this far, so it can only help to try again!"
She frowned, at his willingness to call this halfway point optimal -- and also at the sound of her voice. Yet, she refused to attribute the quaver to anything but indignation. Guy's sigh went unnoticed, the princess already strained to a point where perceiving something so quiet was almost impossible, but she certainly saw him move, and heard his suggestion.
"I told you," she began, her eyes flashing, made irritable by that which she wasn't permitting herself to feel, and through her irritation, half-forgetting that Guy wasn't ... well, a servant, "that I would tell you when my condition changes, and it hasn't! I can go on, and I will go on! Must I order you from the room?!"
Huffing, her teeth grit as she pushed her fingers through her hair, and she leveled a glare at her traitorous hand as she returned it to her lap; it had been shaking. Natalia nearly began lecturing herself on how it must be absolutely absurd, beyond unacceptable, to be so drained after two mere Heal spells. Never mind the understood limitations set by this place.
"All right, Claude!" she declared, loudly and brightly, trying to beat back the room's attitude with a false show of strength.
Natalia closed her eyes, though she had not needed to close them to find and concentrate on her fon slots since the very beginning lessons. She closed her eyes and breathed in, a slow, steadying breath, the fonons beginning to respond, but slowly, so slowly. Natalia wondered if the fonons she felt had not been hers all along -- would that explain -- distracting thoughts, the concentrations thinned, thickening as she refocused. Had she not been sitting, had her eyes not been closed, she might have been aware of the ground looking rather less stationary than it ought.
"O soothing light," Natalia intoned, "Heal!"
Her eyes opened on the warm light of the released fonons, bound by verse and arte. That she felt dizzy, both light-headed and struck with the beginnings of an awful headache, went completely unnoticed in the first moment after the glow faded. She was much too intent on Claude.
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When Guy spoke up, Claude turned his face toward the sound of his voice. As expected, his suggestion was the most sensible one, as it was the perfect middle ground between Claude's assurance that she shouldn't push herself, and Natalia's insistence that she keep going. He was about to chime in that he thought that was the better alternative -- that is, until Natalia rebuked Guy for even suggesting it. Claude almost jumped at how stern her answer sounded, though he couldn't help but cringe for Guy's sake. There was no mistaking the sharp, firm tone of her voice, and Claude knew he wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it.
All of that aside, though, he really was worried Natalia would overdo things, and her response didn't help put his mind at ease. Before he knew it, she'd focused her attention back on him, her resolve just as strong as before. Claude's mouth turned into a worried frown. "But--!"
He was too late. She cast her fonic arte, the light momentarily obscuring her faded figure from view, and for the third time his body was covered under a warm glow. Claude briefly closed his eyes as he felt the healing energy work beneath his eyelids. Then, the spell faded, and Claude could sense at least one expectant gaze on him.
Straightening his shoulders and letting out a small breath, he realized he was scared that this hadn't worked, and that Natalia wouldn't be satisfied even though she'd already done more than enough for him. Whatever the outcome, though, there was nothing he could do except meet it head-on. Claude opened his eyes...
He was greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar face -- and all the color and details and came along with it: blond hair, intense green eyes, and a smooth, feminine face. His brows raised at the sudden rush of shapes and textures that met his eyes. He could see. The realization took him a full second to comprehend, but it hit him like a refreshing gust of air once it sunk in. He could see!
Claude's eyes crinkled in the brightest, most genuine smile he'd had in a long time. "It worked!" His words seemed to tumble out of his mouth because of how excited he was. "You did it, Natalia!" The fact he was speaking to a princess seemed to slip his mind, and he giddily reached out with both of his hands to grasp one of hers in a small, warm handshake. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
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Either way, she was supposed to have grown out of that sort of behavior, which meant that she really was feeling drained. She wouldn't have reverted otherwise. Guy let his arms fall to his sides in defeat, though he didn't take her comment too personally. He'd been through this before, and he wasn't one to let his feelings get damaged so easily. Natalia was trying to do what she thought was right, but the problem was that she wasn't even considering her own well-being. What was the point of helping Claude if she then dragged her own health into the ground?
It wasn't up for discussion, though. Even Claude tried to protest, clearly having had enough, and yet Natalia barreled through both of them with the incantation; this time Guy's eyes were focused on Natalia instead of Claude as the arte progressed. At this point there was no way she couldn't be exhausted beyond belief.
Right as he was about to approach once more (against all good judgment, really; she might bite his head off this time), he heard a loud exclamation from Claude, causing him to quickly whip toward his other friend. The happiness on Claude's face was impossible to be faked; he wasn't just acting to get Natalia to stop. Besides, with the way Claude's eyes were darting around, it was clear that he really was seeing them there. It really had worked!
"That's great!" he said with a broad grin as he took in Claude's brightened features. That was the Claude he knew! "I can't believe it! It looks like your persistence paid off," he remarked with a glance back to Natalia. "But now you should really lay down and let yourself rest," he warned her, not willing to back down this time around. They were equals now, which meant that he could push just as hard as she could, even if it wasn't exactly in his nature.
Unfortunately, it wasn't as if he could just pick her up and move her himself, otherwise he would have. She wasn't in mortal enough danger for him to work past his phobia, and that was enough to frustrate him all on its own. Instead, he just watched her closely, his expression clearly concerned.
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"You're very welcome, of course," she laughed. The rush of success, adrenaline and pride, joy and triumph, swept her into its current, and threw a veil over how thoroughly the casting had drained her.
Natalia looked over her shoulder and back at Guy. Had she been less giddy herself, she doubtless would have apologized for her attitude moments prior. Instead, her smile was teasing, disregarding that her eyes were too bright. As if completely ignoring his request that she lay down, "And to think! You two wanted me to stop. How ridiculous would it have been? Going through another night and day with only the suggestion of sight!"
She shook her head, and the motion disrupted the illusion. It felt as if a thick mist constrained her. "But," she persisted, and pressed her palms against the seat of her chair, pushing herself to her feet, "we haven't time, we need to help that girl, Jill-"
Pivoting, she took a step forward, toward the door. The white walls shivered as the ground lurched; her eyes narrowed as her fingers scrambled to catch the back of the chair. She was fine, she was fine, Natalia would show the Head Doctor that she was strong, and stronger than him, she could do this much and more!
"I'm fine," she insisted, hardly aware that she spoke the words aloud. As they left, so did the color from her skin, which seemed to yellow. Her eyes lost their focus, and her grasp on the chair slackened. Natalia wobbled, and as if time slowed, began-
to-
tip-
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He was so elated that he didn't immediately notice how her hand felt in his. Once the handshake was finished, however, he realized his palms were covered in a sheen of sweat that wasn't his. Even though Guy suggested she take a rest, Natalia didn't even acknowledge it. Was it because she was that stubborn, or was she too tired to process anything anyone said to her right then?
Regardless, Natalia was talking like she intended to go marching back out into the hallway and charge right into the institute's dangers. As she pushed herself up from her chair, Claude stood up along with her. "Listen, I really think you should take a minute to--" As she stepped toward the door, his eyes fell upon Guy's face for the first time, but he was a little too panicked to take much note of it. They couldn't just let her go out like this!
With all the pride and dignity he would have imagined from royalty, Natalia insisted she was fine -- but in the same moment, she lost her grip on the edge of the chair, and began to lose her balance like a stack of cards that had been piled a little too high. Claude's gaze snapped toward her, and with a jolt he realized she was falling. In vain, he reached out to try to catch her. "Natalia--!"
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He realized that she wanted to help, and so did he. But even if Jill was in danger, they had no idea where to find her. Natalia didn't yet understand just how difficult it was to accomplish things here. Guy realized that returning Claude's sight to him had bolstered her confidence, but she could only run on that for so long.
And, as expected, she started to falter. First her hand went to grab the back of the chair, clearly because she needed to steady herself. And still, even then, she tried to insist that she was all right. But in the next moment it became clear that that wasn't the case, and Natalia started to fall right toward him.
"Whoa!" he called out, startled as he realized that he had two options: 1) move back and let her fall on her face or 2) catch her and risk his own health in the process. In the end, he only had a split second to make the decision, and reflex urged him to catch her. His arms wrapped around under hers as her body flopped against his, causing him to freeze up and shake under the pressure. His heart rate shot up and he clenched his jaw so that his teeth wouldn't clatter.
"C-c-come on, already," he forced out as he started to drag her limp body over toward the empty bed. Luckily, Natalia was fairly light, and he was able to position her onto the mattress without too much trouble. When he backed away, though, he stumbled against Claude's bed instead, sweating as if he was out in the sun and shaking like a leaf. "Now look what you've done," he joked with a weak laugh.
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The word jolted her mind, and everything synced, if groggy, every bit delayed by the exhaustion she could suddenly feel so absolutely. Even if she had tried to help him manuever her body, she would have probably been unable. But, she could at least understand, and she understood from his quivering arms and the awkward handling that it must be Guy. She blinked from the mattress, and with effort, lifted her head to look over to where Guy had propelled himself, obviously in distress.
"Guy, you... caught me?" she wondered, first touched, then immediately flushed with guilt. "I-I'm sorry, I... thank you."
Natalia had let herself get out of hand, had been behaving quite immaturely. As if she'd never set foot out of the castle before. She had been unwilling to accept her limits, or even to begin to understand them, and had consequently made them worry -- and put Guy in a terrible position. Wanting to say all of that and more, and to apologize again, Natalia sifted through the demands at hand. There were more important things for them to do than cater to her self-reprimand.
At least the spells had worked.
"I suppose I won't be going anywhere," she said, voice weary, but adopting another kind of artificial strength, "but you two must. I do hope you weren't entertaining thoughts of staying with me. Don't waste the night! Go."
Saying that much sapped her again; Natalia let her head fall back into the pillow, not having to suppress anger at her weakness -- because she was too tired to even feel frustrated.
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In the end, he remained close by in case Guy needed his assistance, but it looked like his friend was able to manage just fine on his own. Having already seen firsthand how severe his fear of woman could be, he had to admit that he was quite impressed that Guy kept it together long enough to see to Natalia. Whether it was because of his gentlemanly nature, or because he cared for Natalia so deeply didn't matter; the fact was that he'd managed to control an almost crippling fear in order to help someone in need. Seeing his friend demonstrate that kind of quality made him admire Guy more than he already did.
And yet he felt guilty that he hadn't been able to catch Natalia from the start -- after all, she'd worn herself out on his account, and it would have spared Guy from having to suffer. But now obviously wasn't the time to beat himself up about that. Just as Guy backed up against his bed, Claude reached out to briefly touch his shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture. Then, he made his way closer to where Natalia was resting.
While it looked like she'd acknowledged that she wasn't all right, now she was trying to get them to go on without her. Claude understood how horrible it was to feel helpless in this place, that sometimes it was impossible to save all those who needed protection. Rey's abduction, the basement, friends and family disappearing, and then having to spend a couple of nights blind on top of that -- it was all too much sometimes, and yet that was all the more reason they needed to stick together, wasn't it?
Kneeling down at her bedside, Claude made sure he was eye-level with Natalia when he quietly spoke to her. "There's no shame in taking it easy, you know. And there's no shame in letting friends keep you company while you rest, either. If we're all together and safe, then you can't really call that a waste of time." Looking over his shoulder, he smiled at Guy. "Isn't that right?"
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And while he had managed to get Natalia safely onto a bed, it had certainly taken its toll on him. Guy was still leaning himself against the side of Claude's bed, his hands positioned behind him and pressing into the mattress to support more of his weight. He was breathing hard, and could only watch as Claude moved over to Natalia to give her a talking to. Well, he wasn't lecturing her, but rather reassuring her, which Claude happened to be good at.
Even though Guy wished he could move over and contribute to the conversation, there was no way that he could approach Natalia now. Not after that fiasco. And so he remained where he was, watching her instead. "Of course that's right," he spoke up when Claude turned toward him. He watched the princess closely, wanting her to know that he wasn't joking around or mincing words.
"We're not going to leave you after what you just did. The night is halfway gone already, anyway -- we wouldn't be able to make it too far. Besides, Tear might be coming to meet us." Guy hoped that would be the case, anyway. He wanted for Claude to meet her and for Natalia to reunite with her if they hadn't already. It was possible they'd seen each other in the fourth shift or something.
"And you don't need to thank me," he added, shaking his head. Guy was willing to push himself if it meant taking care of a close friend. He could only bring himself to do it under certain circumstances, but that had fulfilled the criteria. "You've already done so much by helping Claude. That's something I'll have to try to repay you for." It seemed like he owed a lot of people favors. First Okita, for the sword, and now Natalia, for being willing to help Claude and actually succeeding against all odds.
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