Sweet Dreams are Made of This, Who Am I to Disagree?

[dead_black_eyes]

Who: L Lawliet dead_black_eyes and Belphegor of Sloth makesagoodwife
Where: An inn in Violet City
When: June 25, several hours after Mammon of Greed wakes up
Summary: L's had a thorough and not altogether welcome look at his own soul. Belphegor's had a hell of a week just trying to take care of her husk-friends and dutifully going after Shedinjas with the rest of Johto. But

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[makesagoodwife]

It had, indeed, been a trying week...even on Belphe's patience. Her days had consisted of joining Violet's residents in attacking and capturing the invading shedinjas as quickly as she could spot them, allowing herself short breaks to return to the inn to check on her sister's and friend's status, and somewhere in-between finding a few hours to rest.

It was absolutely unacceptable, as far as she was concerned, to have Beatrice and the others arrive in Violet to find that the situation had not yet been resolved, and she had failed to do what she'd put off joining her master in New Bark to accomplish.

Her elation, therefore, was undisguised when Mammon had finally stirred from her unnatural state just as the shedinja lurking in and around Violet had become impossible to find. After spending a long span of time explaining the last week's happenings to her, and bringing her something to eat/drink, Belphe had finally excused herself to let her younger sister collect the rest of her bearings and check on her other charge.

The iced coffee and bag of sugared donut holes she'd brought with her in anticipation of Ryuzaki having been awake for quite some time while she'd tended Mammon, had been left untouched on the bedside table as she'd arrived to find him in the same dormant state he'd been in for the last several days. Nothing about his condition had changed...there was no indication he had woken for even a short time since last she'd checked him.

And it was very discouraging.

For the better part of an hour, as she sat quietly on the edge of the bed, she mulled carefully over the last several days. She had not been careless...she knew she had not. She had checked anywhere it looked likely a shedinja might be able to fit and had found them in the most unsual places...clinging to the bottomside of stairs, in mailboxes, even nestled in the large, fluorescent letters that made up store signs. If an area was claimed to be clear of them, she checked it herself just to be certain. She had been painfullythorough in not letting a single one of the soul-snatching bugs get past when any one of them might be holding the souls she was seeking.

....which meant it was entirely possible the one that had attacked Ryuzaki simply wasn't in or around the city any longer. How long had it been before the news on how to deal with the problem had been made known...? It was plenty of time for a frightened trainer or resident to have run a few of them out of the area...or attacked them and left them wounded somewhere to drag themselves off to a shrouded corner of the landscape.

Johto was a very big place when you thought about it. Much bigger than Rokkenjima or Ange's boarding school...there was an endless number of trees to hide behind, stones to hide beneath, caves to lurk in....it would take years to search it entirely. And they were years she did not have. Once Beatrice arrived, she would be expected to follow where she was led. Looking for a single wayward shedinja was not only futile, but completely out of the question.

Belphe was not someone who liked the idea of her efforts being useless...or failing to uphold her responsibilities. Fixing him had become her responsibility from the moment she'd decided to come and retrieve him after he'd collapsed.

As the idea had sunk in for her that she would have to leave him, the first friend she had made of her own volition, like this and walk away, her resolve finally cracked, allowing tears of utter frustration to sting her eyes. She steeled herself against them for as long as she was able, until they finally drove her from her perch and into the bathroom to recollect herself.

After days of facing off with L's temperamental haunter about how his trainer was to be cared for and who was going to be the one to do it, she was not incredibly fond of the idea of letting Slightly, or anyone, watch her wallow in her failure.

It was for that reason she was not there to see him wake...but the sound of the sink running could be heard through a closed door.

[dead_black_eyes]

It took L a few moments to regain his bearings. He was absolutely starving, and thirsty, and sore, but... well... surprisingly clean. He was sure that it had been a long time; though he hadn't had a clear idea of how much time was passing while he'd been in the nightmare world, his pokegear showed him a date that was almost exactly a week after he'd looked a little too long at that Shedinja. Puzzled, he reached under his shirt to touch his skin. No oil, no grease or dirt or odor...

"Haunter."

Slightly positioned himself in front of L. Oh. He'd been scrawling again.

THAT STOOPID BITCH GROPD YOO. SHEE GROPD YOO ND SHEE WUZ TOTALEE MOLESSTING YOO WILE YOO WUR SLEEPING I CAWT HUR IN THE AKT.

Belphegor...

He did his best to hop nimbly out of bed, stumbling a bit on legs that hadn't felt the floor under them in a week. His Ninetales was there to support him immediately, along with a new face.

"Gamine?"

"Froslasss..."

He placed a hand on her head. It was enough; though L wasn't really one for sentimental words, that simple gesture told his recently evolved Froslass everything she needed to know about how her trainer approved and supported her decision to evolve.

He made his way to the bathroom, leaning on Kith for support before opening the door. Expecting L to knock was expecting a lot from the socially inept genius.

[makesagoodwife]

It turned out Haunters and the concept of sponge baths were woefully unacquainted with one another. Had she known, at the time, why Slightly had exploded into protesting shrieks and grabbing claws yesterday evening when she'd been in the middle of removing several days' worth of grime from Ryuzaki's chest, arms, back, and neck before replacing his shirt with a clean one, she might have found the humor in it. As it was, it had just been yet another thing on her long list of frustrations.

When the door opened, she did not immediately look up as she went about the business of wiping her freshly-washed face with one of the hand towels. She'd become fairly used to closed doors not staying that way between Slightly keeping a vigilant eye on her and the others seeking reassurance on their trainer's condition, in case she'd seen something they hadn't.

She heaved a sigh that seemed to fill every cavity of her chest before refolding the towel and putting it back on the rack. Finally, she gazed up at the mirror and whoever it reflected behind her, preparing to tell Kith or Gamine that she had no idea why he hadn't woken.

[dead_black_eyes]

Indeed, when Belphegor hadn't been out catching Shedinjas, L's pokemon had looked to her largely for reassurance and comfort. L's team was more sensitive than most to the absence of his soul, there being so many ghosts and psychic types to actually feel that what made their trainer himself was elsewhere, in a location as uncertain as his fate.

L stepped into the bathroom, tilting his head and jumping slightly as he noticed his reflection in the mirror beside Belphegor's. He looked awful, every bit as hungry, disheveled, and off-kilter as he felt, but to someone who had been dealing with a corpselike husk for the last week, the life and awareness in his eyes probably looked pretty damn good.

[makesagoodwife]

It did, indeed. Laying eyes on him, she froze completely, probably very much resembling a doe caught in someone's headlights as she stared at the gaunt reflection that now accompanied hers. Her mind, for a moment, was doing a fervent job of convincing her that this wasn't real...abject disappointment was playing her a cruel illusion of what she wanted to see, but she would turn around, and there would be--

As she turned her head to peer over her shoulder, however, it was plain to see it was no trick of the imagination. And hungry, disheveled, and off-kilter was a far sight better than dead to the world. She moved slowly...carefully...as if still half-convinced he was some sort of illusion that might disperse into meaningless fragments at any moment as she approached him.

A hand reached out, settling itself on his shoulder. The feel of flesh and prominent bone under her fingers was real enough. Hopefully he wasn't too unsteady to receive the fierce hug about to be inflicted on him...

"You're all right..." the words were quiet...barely-audible, really, but nonetheless didn't disguise their relief.

[dead_black_eyes]

Her expression caught him somewhat off-guard. She didn't look happy, more like... stunned. Behind her wide eyes, he knew that her brain was in overdrive, working quickly to allow her to rationalize... what, exactly? That he was standing there with her, after an unusually long sleep? Because L's memories of his time in the nightmare world were being slow to return to him along with his soul. For the moment, he was unaware of the things that had transpired.

He tilted his head, puzzled, when she reached for him, trying to make sense of her expression. Was she glad to see him, or not? She was touching him carefully, and it made him uneasy... and then without warning, she flung herself at him, putting him off-balance; if he hadn't been standing so close to the wall, he would have doubtless collapsed.

"I'm fine, Belphe, but what happened?"

[makesagoodwife]

She allowed herself a moment before stepping back again, reclaiming what polite distance the small bathroom would let her have.

"Your soul has been missing for the last week." she began, very plainly. Not flowering it up for him as she stepped past him and back into the bedroom for a moment to retrieve the bag of donut holes from the nightstand and press it into his hands before she continued. Maybe it would be easier to absorb all of it if he weren't starving.

"No one knows where they came from, but shedinjas descended on every city. Lots of people, my sister included, had their souls stolen. They were...you were just a breathing shell.

There was no room at the pokemon center for any more patients...I had to bring you and Mammon back to the inn while the rest of the city and I caught all of the shedinjas, trying to get everyone back who'd been taken."

She paused, waiting to see how that much was received. Her aim wasn't to overload him after a week of barely moving and not thinking...

[dead_black_eyes]

It sounded ridiculously far-fetched. Losing his soul? L trusted his senses, he didn't believe in

MonsterWingsMotherCreaturePeopleDogsChildRedStainOakDoorBakuraChainsHurtRunRunRunMonsterScreamScaredTeaFriendHandsInsectRoseDeadBlackEyes...

He felt like he'd been punched in the gut, doubling over, blacking out for a moment and clutching his head. It was painful in several different ways. There was the splitting, physical pain, of course, but more than that it was the memory of his helplessness and his inhumanity that utterly consumed him for those awful few seconds. It might have gone on longer, but his Kadabra teleported next to him, reached out, and calmed his racing thoughts before anything could cause him undue psychological trauma. Not that it wasn't violent and upsetting, as it was; he leaned against the wall, breathing hard and trembling, trying to look at it objectively. Trying to understand why he had been like that, while others had resembled human beings...

That was annoying. His eyes were leaking, his cheeks were wet, it didn't make sense. He quickly wiped his face with his sleeve, doing his best to disguise a reaction that made him incredibly uneasy.

[makesagoodwife]

She had expected some reaction, certainly. No one wanted to hear their very essence had been held prisoner for the last span of days...though perhaps not quite this violent of a response. Especially not from him. Not when she'd seen him shrug off and explain away so much in the months they'd known one another.

Her brow furrowed, a hand straying to the breast pocket of her jacket to find and fumble out a neatly-folded white handkerchief. It was more an accessory to her uniform than meant to be functional, but she stepped forward again nonetheless, reaching out to dab at the dark half-moons under his eyes with the soft linen. She offered no comment on his current state, an inner voice warning it was not something that needed more attention drawn to it than necessary.

"Your team hasn't left your side this entire time." she went on, keeping her voice soft and level...trying to inject an air of calm into the sudden tension gnatting around the small room's environment. "Gamine evolved just to look after you better, she, Kith and Parse took turns watching over you so that you were never unattended.

And Slightly did his part as well."

And by 'did his part' she meant he clung to his trainer like a barnacle and forcefully defended him from anything he deemed inappropriate - which included turning him over, having Kith help her remove him from the bed so she could change the sheets, or even just breathing in a way he didn't like.

[dead_black_eyes]

L couldn't talk at first, his mind numbly going over the murky and troubled people and places he'd spent the last week wandering through. Kith and Gamine hovered in the doorway, Slightly seemed to know well enough to keep his distance for once, and Wiredrawn... well, Wiredrawn was obliviously nomming some of the donuts that had been intended for L. He took a deep breath, willing his racing heart to slow, trying to overcome the feeling that the walls were closing in on him as his panic attack subsided. He shook his head briskly, listening to the ringing in his ears fade until he was able to clearly hear Belphegor.

This needed an explanation. Sleeping for a long time wasn't anything to freak the fuck out over. It was only fair to tell Belphe something about the week from his perspective. He reached up for the handkerchief when his eyes had stopped leaking (he would not call it crying), rolling it between his palms and twisting it to prevent his hands from wandering toward his mouth or tearing compulsively at each other.

"I remember everything..." he said quietly. "I spent so much of that week just... running for my life, trying not to disappear or get killed. It was terrible, and I was helpless and very, very afraid..."

[makesagoodwife]

Belphegor let the handkerchief go into his possession willingly, listening with rapt attention as he spoke. An arm snaked slowly around his middle back to offer him support, giving him ample room to shrug her off if he didn't want to be touched.

"Running from what?" she ventured, reaching behind her blindly with her free hand until her fingers snagged the plastic rim of the toilet's lid and closed it, turning it into a makeshift chair. Sitting him down until he'd fully collected himself did not seem like an entirely bad idea at the moment as she gently encouraged him in that direction.

It brought back memories of trying to soothe Leviathan after the sisters had gotten done whipping her into a tearful froth over being a whiny crybaby (whereupon she would promptly prove all of them right by huddling in the nearest corner and bawling). However, UNlike her older sister's episodes, this entire situation felt like walking on eggshells.

Like he was not simply going to bounce back in a few minutes, bright-eyed and ready for vengeance on whatever had upset him so badly. Like those cracks that had spiderwebbed over his surface just now might allow him to break completely if he were jarred the wrong way. Beatrice had demonstrated again and again how easily humans were beaten down until their minds stopped working completely, but it was not something Belphe had watched up close. Or had happen to someone she cared for.

It was...well...it was frankly pretty damned upsetting.

[dead_black_eyes]

L didn't flinch away from the contact, the way he might have when he'd first arrived. He actually seemed to lean toward it, accepting and desiring the concrete support of a friend in the real world.

He lowered himself, appreciating the timing; his legs felt boneless and weak, and he wasn't sure how much longer they'd be able to support him in his current state. "Everything," he breathed. "There were places, and... other people, but nothing stayed, it was this... amorphous, shifting mess of random dangers and fears..." his eyes wrenched away from Belphegor, fixing at a point exactly 90 degrees away from her, as if just looking at a concerned face was overwhelming. His Kadabra intervened, though, eyes flashing as he guided L's mind back to a less claustrophobic place.

L took a deep, shuddering breath. He wasn't sure what Parse was doing, but it had a calming, focusing influence on his mind, and he felt stronger for it. And tired, actually; even though he'd been sleeping for a week, it had not been a restful sleep. But he hadn't eaten in a week, either, and he was starving and parched.

"Belphegor, I'm hungry..." he said softly, hanging his head, suddenly self-conscious of his terrified reaction to his memories returning.

[makesagoodwife]

A nightmare then...or something like it, anyway. Her fingertips smoothed stray bangs out of his face as he paused to breathe, in silent reassurance that he was not, and didn't need to be, alone right now.

At his final statement, her eyes wandered back across the bathroom to the upturned sack of donut holes that laid where he'd dropped them, Wiredrawn still happily sampling those that had tumbled onto the floor. But there still looked to be a good number that were unhurt and still safely within their bag as she leaned over, shooing the couple that were half in and half out to join the others on the floor before rescuing the rest of them. Wiredrawn and whoever else was welcome to the escapees.

"Here..." she said gently, again handing them over to him. "They should still be all right, I'd only gotten them an hour ago."

[dead_black_eyes]

Wiredrawn was in paradise.

Happy donuts. Such good donuts. So happy. So soft. Like clouds. I like clouds...

He watched, wide-eyed and maybe tearing up a little as Belphe retrieved the remaining ones.

Sad donuts... paradise lost...

It didn't take him long to notice that he still had some donuts on the floor, though, and the altercation was swiftly forgotten as he returned to happily nomming.

Back in the bathroom, L was standing bent over in front of the sink with his lips pressed tightly against the faucet, gulping water directly from the tap. He raised his head, wiping his mouth on his sleeve as Belphe approached, before carefully reaching out and accepting the donuts with his thumbs and forefingers.

"I can't thank you enough..." Uncertainly, he reached out and gathered her into a brisk, firm, one-armed hug before resuming his seat and immediately inhaling a donut.

[makesagoodwife]

Poor Wiredrawn...assuming his teammates didn't intend to fight him for his sugary nirvana, he was welcome to every single one of them.

The middle sister's eyes widened as she found herself caught in a half-embrace, taken thoroughly off-guard by it, though she offered no protest to the gesture. A hand alighted between his prominent shoulderblades, offering a token reciprocation (and assistance) as he seated himself and began to eat.

"If you like, I can bring you something from one of the vending machines..." she offered, moving to sit as well as she perched on the edge of the bathtub. Eating, she considered to be a good sign and one she wanted to encourage. Men teetering on the brink of losing their minds most usually didn't have much of an appetite, and it was certainly easier to be reasonable on a full stomach.

Also, if he planned to attack the entire bag of donuts with the same voracity he'd devoured the first, she didn't see it surviving more than a few minutes.

[dead_black_eyes]

For the most part, L's team was rapid-fire intelligent, and they all kind of... got that Wiredrawn wasn't the sharpest pin in the cushion. He was such a simple thing, and it just seemed more... charitable and decent, to let him just have the cookies.

Except for Slightly, of course, who butted right in and swiped one of the Drifloon's coveted "happy donuts."

The remaining donuts designated for human consumption were, likewise, rapidly disappearing. L hadn't been this hungry in a long time, and no one watching him eat could possibly doubt that. Because teetering on the brink of insanity or not, L needed restful sleep, and he couldn't have that until there was something in his stomach.

"I think that this will be all right, for now... I don't want to overdo it," he replied dully, twisting the empty bag with his long, thin fingers. "It was very thoughtful of you to bring those, but... I think that it would be best if I tried to sleep. Even though it's been days, I'm so tired..."