[Johan is positively seething. His fingers are itching. He wants to strangle this monster for everything she did, for opening old wounds like that. Wounds he thought were closed for good.
But he doesn't, even though the vision running through his head would be so easy and so satisfying at first. It's not her who would pay the consequences in the long run, anyway. Instead, he drops his hands to his sides tensely, letting his fists slowly flex and clench convulsively.]
You lost him, in other words.
[But still for some reason there is no betrayal in his gaze. He never trusted her to begin with, so she couldn't betray him in the first place.
He's just angry. Shocked. Hurt.]
...You better get him back. If you don't, I will, and I'll stuff him back into his body myself.
[Then, muttered, so that only Yubel can hear:] I don't trust you with him.
[He backs off, reluctantly, storming down the hallway with an aura of negativity so thick, it's almost tangible, in the same way as electricity that charges the air. At the end, though, he turns to look at Yubel again.]
But before you do anything, get dressed, will you? And learn to smile. That one you're wearing might fool everyone else, but it doesn't fool me.
[The tension hangs in the air, thick and black. She can feel Johan shaking with emotion beneath her hand, and she feels her heart rise to her throat as she remembers those dark days in the other world, when Juudai was so driven by the need to find Johan that he forgot all else. That same intensity was here, that same seeming willingness to do whatever it took to find Juudai, no matter the consequences.
Truthfully, it terrified her.
Now was not a time for fear, however, not when emotions were running so high. Instead she slipped on the mask she had used in her duels before, the mask that she had been afraid to use since the Society of Light had tried to make it her true face.]
Johan... [Briefly she fights with irritation as Yubel taunts Johan, irritation that she is doing something so counterproductive, and frustration at the spirit's bold claims to her friend. But then Yubel's face crumbles, and she's not sure if it is how human her fear looks, or the fact that it is Juudai's face showing that fear, but her anger dissipates and she holds onto her mask]
Something took him. Something powerful. We'll need to find out what it was before we can begin planning how to get him back. [This is good. If she can plan, can think, can do something rational and practical, then she can avoid feeling the crushing helplessness of knowing her friend is gone, and there is likely nothing she can do about it.]
We will get him back. [She doubts Johan hears her as he storms off, and though she watches him go, she knows she must give him his space. He will need someone to speak to, but she's self aware enough to know that isn't her. Still, Yubel needs to know that she is not alone in this effort, because Asuka has no intention of standing on the sidelines this time]
You're likely the only one of us strong enough to get him back, but the rest of us can get to work locating where he is. Once morning arrives, I'll see if I can consult the archives of this town, to see if something like this has happened before.
[Yubel's declarations of love...for Juudai...are not exactly what Kaiser expected to hear. Yubel is hardly well wrapped, that's easy to see. Not that Kaiser himself is any shining example of sanity. He watches Johan storm away and another thought stirs underneath the focus on dueling.
I think he's jealous. Well, that would be interesting, wouldn't it? Fubuki would enjoy the show more than he does, though, and enjoy trying to make it all work out to his satisfaction. He glances back at Yubel. Comforting words are not what he's good at. At all.
So he doesn't even try. He just heads back into his room. It's time to put some clothes on and get started with his real day.]
[ { For a moment, Yubel flinches, an ugly look flickering across her - across Juudai's face.
That... that usurper - to have the nerve - to tell Yubel to learn how -
Well, fine. If that is how you want it to be, Johan Andersen, that's how you'll have it. It's only Juudai's favorable opinion of you that keeps Yubel from wrapping his fingers around your pretty, pretty throat.
- But now is not the time. Determining where Juudai is, that's what Yubel needs to be doing. Calm down. In fact, if Yubel reaches, just so...
Juudai's not gone. Their connection remains. Yubel can feel it, as much a part of the both of them as a limb - except now, that limb has fallen asleep, numb (metaphorically, of course, but it's an analogy that is close enough to the truth). Yubel and Juudai are connected, but that connection has briefly gone unresponsive, as if Juudai is too far away to hear her. } ]
[ To Asuka: ] He's alive. I can sense it. It is almost as if he has left this world...
I know. [Asuka may not share anything even close to the bond Yubel has with Juudai, but she does know deep in her heart where no secrets can survive that he would never die like this. It just is not possible]
But that does give us leads to work with. After all, people have vanished from this world before, correct? Perhaps the two are related.
[She sincerely hoped they were, for Juudai's sake. After all, if they knew the cause, it would be much easier to find the solution. She needed to believe that.]
[She closes her eyes, giving her all to keeping the mask in place]
Yes, I agree that he has likely not been taken like others, but he did state that some believed there were beings responsible for our coming and going. Perhaps they might hold the answer.
[ { This is going nowhere. Yubel should do something. Anything. And not around Juudai's friends - the shock of this is already enough for them, much less Yubel's continued presence. }
Yubel stands up, suddenly, flexing Juudai's hands nervously. But his voice, when she speaks, is completely full of purpose: ]
We cannot accomplish anything if we stay here. I will go to the goddess's shrine and see if I can bargain for him.
[ And without even waiting for Asuka to acknowledge this, Yubel turns to head for the door. ]
[And just like that, Asuka finds herself standing alone in the darkness, not even a gust of wind breaking the deafening silence of that empty place. Suddenly she is all too aware that she is standing in a strange building, in a strange land, and that the one person she could truly call a friend has just been taken from her, without her knowing how or why or able to do anything to get him back.
More than ever as she stares after Juudai's departing body, she feels a hollowness growing inside her, not as all consuming as the one forced upon her in that dark world, but in some ways even more terrifying. Right at that moment, she would have given anything to have Fubuki, or Sho, or Manjoume, or even Hayato or Misawa there with her.
But they're not, and she cannot rely on her friends to fight her battles for her. Not if she is going to stand on her own two feet as an adult, and not if she is ever going to expect others to trust her with their own futures. No, it is not time for self pity, much as Yubel's mercurial temper, Johan's frighteningly familiar rage, or Ryou's inner demons make her want to curl up and hide.
The others will not come to her, will not ask for her help, so she will just have to do what she can on her own. So, taking a deep breath, she turns and walks back to her room, to get changed and begin the hunt for her lost friend]
But he doesn't, even though the vision running through his head would be so easy and so satisfying at first. It's not her who would pay the consequences in the long run, anyway. Instead, he drops his hands to his sides tensely, letting his fists slowly flex and clench convulsively.]
You lost him, in other words.
[But still for some reason there is no betrayal in his gaze. He never trusted her to begin with, so she couldn't betray him in the first place.
He's just angry. Shocked. Hurt.]
...You better get him back. If you don't, I will, and I'll stuff him back into his body myself.
[Then, muttered, so that only Yubel can hear:] I don't trust you with him.
[He backs off, reluctantly, storming down the hallway with an aura of negativity so thick, it's almost tangible, in the same way as electricity that charges the air. At the end, though, he turns to look at Yubel again.]
But before you do anything, get dressed, will you? And learn to smile. That one you're wearing might fool everyone else, but it doesn't fool me.
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Truthfully, it terrified her.
Now was not a time for fear, however, not when emotions were running so high. Instead she slipped on the mask she had used in her duels before, the mask that she had been afraid to use since the Society of Light had tried to make it her true face.]
Johan... [Briefly she fights with irritation as Yubel taunts Johan, irritation that she is doing something so counterproductive, and frustration at the spirit's bold claims to her friend. But then Yubel's face crumbles, and she's not sure if it is how human her fear looks, or the fact that it is Juudai's face showing that fear, but her anger dissipates and she holds onto her mask]
Something took him. Something powerful. We'll need to find out what it was before we can begin planning how to get him back. [This is good. If she can plan, can think, can do something rational and practical, then she can avoid feeling the crushing helplessness of knowing her friend is gone, and there is likely nothing she can do about it.]
We will get him back. [She doubts Johan hears her as he storms off, and though she watches him go, she knows she must give him his space. He will need someone to speak to, but she's self aware enough to know that isn't her. Still, Yubel needs to know that she is not alone in this effort, because Asuka has no intention of standing on the sidelines this time]
You're likely the only one of us strong enough to get him back, but the rest of us can get to work locating where he is. Once morning arrives, I'll see if I can consult the archives of this town, to see if something like this has happened before.
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I think he's jealous. Well, that would be interesting, wouldn't it? Fubuki would enjoy the show more than he does, though, and enjoy trying to make it all work out to his satisfaction. He glances back at Yubel. Comforting words are not what he's good at. At all.
So he doesn't even try. He just heads back into his room. It's time to put some clothes on and get started with his real day.]
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That... that usurper - to have the nerve - to tell Yubel to learn how -
Well, fine. If that is how you want it to be, Johan Andersen, that's how you'll have it. It's only Juudai's favorable opinion of you that keeps Yubel from wrapping his fingers around your pretty, pretty throat.
- But now is not the time. Determining where Juudai is, that's what Yubel needs to be doing. Calm down. In fact, if Yubel reaches, just so...
Juudai's not gone. Their connection remains. Yubel can feel it, as much a part of the both of them as a limb - except now, that limb has fallen asleep, numb (metaphorically, of course, but it's an analogy that is close enough to the truth). Yubel and Juudai are connected, but that connection has briefly gone unresponsive, as if Juudai is too far away to hear her. } ]
[ To Asuka: ] He's alive. I can sense it. It is almost as if he has left this world...
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But that does give us leads to work with. After all, people have vanished from this world before, correct? Perhaps the two are related.
[She sincerely hoped they were, for Juudai's sake. After all, if they knew the cause, it would be much easier to find the solution. She needed to believe that.]
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He can't have left. Where could he go? His body is still here. I am still here.
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Yes, I agree that he has likely not been taken like others, but he did state that some believed there were beings responsible for our coming and going. Perhaps they might hold the answer.
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Yubel stands up, suddenly, flexing Juudai's hands nervously. But his voice, when she speaks, is completely full of purpose: ]
We cannot accomplish anything if we stay here. I will go to the goddess's shrine and see if I can bargain for him.
[ And without even waiting for Asuka to acknowledge this, Yubel turns to head for the door. ]
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More than ever as she stares after Juudai's departing body, she feels a hollowness growing inside her, not as all consuming as the one forced upon her in that dark world, but in some ways even more terrifying. Right at that moment, she would have given anything to have Fubuki, or Sho, or Manjoume, or even Hayato or Misawa there with her.
But they're not, and she cannot rely on her friends to fight her battles for her. Not if she is going to stand on her own two feet as an adult, and not if she is ever going to expect others to trust her with their own futures. No, it is not time for self pity, much as Yubel's mercurial temper, Johan's frighteningly familiar rage, or Ryou's inner demons make her want to curl up and hide.
The others will not come to her, will not ask for her help, so she will just have to do what she can on her own. So, taking a deep breath, she turns and walks back to her room, to get changed and begin the hunt for her lost friend]
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