#bbtales

Flynn set his phone down on the table and released a shaky breath. No, it couldn’t be. He had been so close this time! He had almost made it! Why did things always turn out this way? He tried so hard, he had made it so far, and right when his dream was within his grasp the opportunity had slipped right out of his fingers and flew away. He had even made it to the interview this time. Why wasn’t he good enough?

 Flynn had just applied for a job as a local police officer in his home town of Zaphias. The police station was located just a little ways outside the neighborhood that he had grown up in. He had been overjoyed as he discovered the job opening after many weeks worth of waiting and research online. After having been in the military for a little bit and having graduated from police school, Flynn’s greatest desire was to follow in his Father’s footsteps and protect his friends and the citizens of his neighborhood. But the thing was, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t seem to land a job that didn’t entail being a waiter.

 He didn’t understand. He had graduated from his school at the top of his class. He had always been ambitious and put his best effort forth in everything. Why wasn’t it enough? His resume had been good enough to land him an interview with the Chief of Police, Alexei Dinoia. But when Flynn went in for the interview, he met with one of the Chief deputies, Cumore. Cumore was less than fond to see Flynn, and when they met he refused to even shake his hand, as if he had been covered in some kind of dirt. The interview had been brief, but Flynn still felt as if he had tried his best.

 But he had just gotten the call. The call that the job had been handed to somebody else. Somebody better than him. Somebody that was more qualified than him. He had failed. He was disappointed in himself. He was certain that he had let down everyone around him, everyone who had believed in him. He thought his Father would have been disappointed in him, too.

 A while after Flynn had set his phone down, he sat at the kitchen table, desolate. He had applied at other jobs, but this was the closest that he had ever been. He had been so close. He just wanted an opportunity to prove himself. He knew he could do good, if only they would give him a chance. He wasn’t the only one who couldn’t seem to land a job with the police force in this city. There had been others who Flynn had kept in touch over the internet with who had the same trouble. But then others who seemed to have no qualifications were hired right out of graduation.

Flynn jumped when he felt a hand clap his shoulder. “Don’t let this get you down. You can do better than this. You will do better than this.”

It was his Yuri, keeping his face neutral, as always. “I thought I did so well. I don’t understand…” Flynn said softly, in dismay.

“You did do well. The system’s just so messed up that it’s bound to be difficult to break through. Don’t take it personally.”

“But if I did well then why wasn’t it enough…?” Flynn buried his head in his arms and Yuri took a seat next to him.

“It’s your dream right? Keep trying. You know I’ll always be here to keep pushing you forward.”

“But Yuri… I don’t want to mooch off of you. We can’t keep living this way, I mean… I have to get a job that pays well sometime. I can’t just live off of the money that you make as chef. I’m just a waiter and that’s only because your friend Judith was kind enough to help me get the job. Not to mention rent and your school loan and I still need to make payments on mother’s funeral and the apartments falling to pieces-”

“Flynn-” Yuri said sharply.

The other fell silent. “You’re doing it again! You’re overthinking these things. Look, I know you’re all stressed out but you can’t just keep thinking about things like that you're you’ll only get more bent out of shape. Just relax. We’ve got this.”

“No Yuri! I can’t relax! I can’t! You’re not taking this seriously enough! Again!” Flynn snapped, “We’re adults now! You can’t just keep pretending like everything will be alright and looking away from things that will come back to bite you later!”

Yuri’s expression turned to one that was slightly that of anger: “Well, you don’t have to do what I say. Stay stressed out this whole time, what do I care? You’re the one’s who’s going to get hurt the most going on like this.”

Flynn couldn’t handle this right now. He needed some fresh air and away from this guy. He stood up and walked over to the coat hanger and yanked off his jacket. “Whatever. I’m going for a walk. Don’t wait on me for dinner.”

“Fine then. Since your such an adult you can make whatever choices you want.”

The blonde paused for a moment, with his hand on the doorknob. He almost turned around right there, he wanted to punch the smug look off of that face so badly. But it would only make things worse, and Flynn didn’t think that he could take it if it really got too much worse. So instead, without a word or second glance he headed out and down the apartment hallway, and into the cool evening air of the city.

When Flynn had returned home from his walk- or whatever he had been doing- he didn’t even bother saying anything to his boyfriend. He walked right past him, took a shower and then went to bed. Yuri knew that whenever Flynn started giving others the silent treatment it meant that he was really angry.  It hadn’t actually been that long since their last fight, and the details were almost the same as this. It was all just because those stupid idiot’s at the police station- or anywhere Flynn had applied for a job- just couldn’t see his boyfriend’s true value. Being rejected so many times was really starting to wear on him.

He didn’t agree with Flynn about his retention of stress and his refusal to relax, but he understood where he was coming from. It was Flynn’s dream to become a police officer and protect others, and it was their dream to help protect and change the world for the better. Yuri had given up on taking the path that Flynn had as military training had proven to be to rigid, and Yuri realized that he wasn’t helping anyone by just standing up straight and marching in place.

But Flynn had persevered and stuck with it, and the way Yuri saw it for all his hard work it hadn’t seemed to get him anywhere... Well, that wasn’t exactly true. He got more stress and more sleepless nights, but nothing good. Yuri knew this, but he didn’t know why Flynn had to take it out on him. Couldn’t he see that he was just trying to help? Why did he always take things out on Yuri? Why wasn’t he more angry with the people who refused his job application in the first place? He didn’t know.

The tension between the two hadn’t gone away the next morning, and Yuri still felt frustrated when he went to work. It was Flynn’s day off, and things would have been even more tense if the two had to be in the same space as each other. Even though Flynn was only a waiter, the restaurant was small and they tended to brush into each other a lot.

Yuri worked as a chef at the restaurant. They sold food’s catering to people who had allergies or odd diseases, especially children. The work was fairly easy, and his friend Judith had opened the restaurant herself. It had all started because Karol, a kid that Judith and Yuri had helped look after had a severe allergy to things with lactose. Karol often came over to help out after school and for Yuri it made his job just that much more enjoyable. And because they made food specifically for people with allergies, Yuri felt like he was helping people without having to rub elbows with any government officials.

Yuri had been slicing carrots much quicker and with more vigor than he had intended, and in doing so he almost cut right into his hand. He quickly withdrew his arm, letting out a soft curse under his breath. “I never knew that carrots could be so offensive.” Judith said, walking up to the counter he was working at. “What’d they ever do to you? Or are you just taking out your anger at Flynn on these vegetables?”

“Who said that I was angry at Flynn?” Yuri said, going back to slicing.

“Oh, it’s just a feeling that I get. You’ve also been pretty quiet today, which isn’t very you.”

“Well, yeah… but what does Flynn have to do with anything.”

“It’s just that whenever the two of you fight, it’s pretty obvious because your mood always takes a nosedive. Not much else gets to you. It’s been kind of happening a lot, these days.”

Did he really think about Flynn that much? Was it really that obvious, or was Judith just good at sensing these things? Yuri was quiet for a moment before saying, “It’s just that things haven’t really been going well for him. He’ll get over it when he finally gets that job; we’ll just have to wait a bit longer.”

“I’m sorry to here he didn’t get it. That’s really surprising though, I wonder who it was handed to instead?” Judith shook her head and her long strands of blue hair bobbed with her, “You don’t have to go in detail about it, not that you would anyways… But why don’t we head out to the front. I think I saw Rita sitting out there, so that means Estelle should be here soon. Why don’t you talk to them? Take your mind off things for a while?”

“Well, if I’m out there, then who’s going to make this salad?” Yuri pointed out.

“There’s not that much left. I could finish for you.”

“Why should you have to do my work?”

“You're so stubborn, never letting anyone do anything for you. Both you and Flynn. Just take a break afterwards, alright?” Judith said before walking away.

Yuri grunted in response, but when the time came he did walk up to the front of the restaurant. He noticed that Estelle had already arrived and was sitting across from Rita, and seemed to be talking eagerly about something. Rita was playing with some kind of gadget in her hands, and if Yuri didn’t know the two he’d say that she looked pretty disinterested in what Estelle had to say. But everyone who was acquainted with the two knew better.

Estelle noticed Yuri walking over and eagerly waved to him. “Hey Yuri! Did you hear?” she asked suddenly.

“Hear what?”

“Well, um… I hope you’re not mad at me. Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad! I don’t think…” Estelle shook her head, “But anyways, I entered you in a “Chef of the Month” contest online. Somebody else has to enter you in the contest and then a judge comes to visit anonymously to try your food. And then the winner is featured on this website. It seems really cool!”

“II don’t mind, but why’d you pick me? Judith does just as much work.” Yuri asked.

“Oh, I asked Judith first and she suggested that we nominate you instead, since you’re never up front with the customers and can never hear what they say. Even Rita thought it was a good idea.” Estelle said.

Rita blushed, “I just figured that if Estelle was going to go through all the work of filling out an application online I might as well get behind it. It’s whatever really…”

“Yeah! I also wrote that people like Rita who can’t eat egg products are really grateful that you have food alternatives like this.” Estelle grinned and the brunette.

“I don’t remember saying that… I just said that it was nice to not have to cook for yourself for every meal. That’s all… nothing big.” Rita shrugged.

“I guess it does seem like you guys to get with everyone without telling me and plan out something like this. But I don’t really deserve any kind of recognition. I mean… I’m just doing my job and I already get paid and stuff.” He couldn’t believe this. What he was doing wasn’t hard, it just had started one day. Somebody like him didn’t need this kind of attention.

“Oh, Yuri. I knew you’d try and play it off, but what you’re doing is really sweet, and your food is always super delicious.” Estelle said.

“Yeah, what the beautiful ladies are saying,” a familiar voice said.

“Wow Yuri! You entered a contest!? That’s so cool! I know you’re gonna win for sure.” said a much younger voice.

It was Karol, and his legal guardian, Raven. Or at least, that’s what everyone called the old guy. He had taken Karol in a few years ago, based on a promise he had made someone else. Raven never went into the details of anything, and seemed to just show up at the restaurant whenever he pleased. Not that he wasn’t allowed, he was just… odd. Nobody knew what he did for a living, and Yuri didn’t think Karol knew either.

“Hey, Karol. I guess I can’t slack off now that you’ve got my back, now can I?” Yuri said.

Karol nodded vigorously, “That’s right.”

“I guess things are really startin’ to come together for you. And Flynn even got that interview, right? See, things all work out in the end. Usually.” Raven said.

Yuri paused for a moment. “Where’d you hear that old man?”

“Ah, y’know. I’ve just got connections, s’all. I hear all kinds of things.” Raven said with a shrug.

“Well, whatever. Flynn actually didn’t get the job anyways. They gave it to somebody else.” Yuri said.

“Wait, he didn’t?” Raven sounded surprised.

“Did your “connections” not bother to tell you that?” Rita said with a smirk at Raven.

“Oh, Yuri, I’m so sorry to hear that.” Estelle said, looking upset “And it was after Flynn did so well this time! Is he okay? What happened? Is that why he’s not here today?”

“No, he just had the day off. He’ll be fine, he always pulls through this kind of thing.” Yuri tried brushed the issue off with a wave of his hand.

“Maybe there’s something I could do to help though. I could try asking around.” Estelle said, not letting the topic go so easily.

“I’m sure he’d be grateful for it, but there’s no reason for you to go out of your way to do something.”

“Maybe Raven could ask one of his “connections” that he’s always talking about. Be useful for once.” Rita suggested.

“Me and my big mouth… geeze. This is certainly a matter I figured I’d have to- er- What I mean is I’ll just see what comes up. What do I know, after all, I’m not really involved in the matter, right? I won’t promise anything, though.” said Raven.

“Yuri, please tell Flynn that it’ll be okay. He has a lot of friends to support him through this.” Estelle said.

Yuri wasn’t sure that Flynn would be in the mood to talk to him later, but he’d at least try. After all, if Estelle was going to go through all the trouble of trying to help, the least he could do was confront Flynn again. He’d have to eventually do it, anyways.

When Flynn woke up, he had a throbbing headache. Where was he? What had happened? He felt extremely disoriented. He didn’t feel the greatest: all of his limbs were stiff and his entire of body held a slight ache. He cracked his eyes open a bit and was surprised at how bright it was. He was lying in bed in his room, and almost everything seemed normal. He looked to see what time it was: one o’clock in the afternoon.

 Why on earth had he slept so late?! Something in the back of Flynn’s mind told him that he should be devastated by something, but he just couldn’t quite remember what it was. He didn’t figure it mattered too much, but he had better get up now or else he’d be in bed until the next morning. When he pushed his stiff joints to stand up it hit him: he hadn’t gotten the job.

 Flynn groaned at the sudden realization and put his head in his hands. How could he had forgotten something like that? It had been on his mind the entire night last night, keeping him awake until early in the morning. The memory of the phone call stabbed in his head like a hot iron.

 He had been so upset after words that he had that he had gone for a walk to clear his mind. During his walk, he decided to go and visit one of his police academy instructors, Niren Fedrock. Niren was a retired cop who had taken up teaching to keep himself busy without all of the excitement of being on the streets. His instructor had been glad to see him, but could tell by the look on his face that he was upset.

 Flynn felt so bad, Niren always wrote him letters of recommendation for every job he applied for and he was always so supportive of him. Flynn wasn’t entirely sure at first why he had decided to see him, as he wasn’t sure what he wanted. In the end, he had tried to apologize for wasting the instructor’s time. Niren just shook his head, saying that it was odd that someone so skilled and qualified hadn’t made it on the force.

 He had felt better after having talked for a bit, but on the way back home the weight of reality started to bear back on him. Maybe it was time to call it quits. He needed to get a job that paid well to help Yuri. He couldn’t just keep mooching of his boyfriend for forever. He was sure that Yuri would never even say anything about it, as the other thought that he could handle everything alone. He’d just have to swallow his pride and work somewhere else. But where? Maybe-

Flynn thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. He felt hungry and wrung out, and he seriously considered not answering the door. But the knocking continued, and the sooner he answered it the sooner the knocking would stop. When he saw who it was, his heart stopped. Could it really be…?

“Flynn Scifo! I need to talk to you.” It was officer Leblanc. Had they changed their mind? Had it all been a terrible mistake? Flynn felt hope fill him, along with some adrenaline. His hands were shaking.

“S-sure. We can talk.” Flynn stuttered. Why else would a police officer be here? He hadn’t done anything bad. What else would he want to talk about.

“May I come in? This isn’t something I really want to discuss where others could hear.” Leblanc asked.

“Yeah, come in…”

Flynn felt numb. He fumbled with shutting the door and had to clench his fists together to stop shaking so much. The two sat across from each other in the cramped living room, and there was a moment of awkward silence. Leblanc seemed momentarily interested in a watch he was wearing, rubbing its face. Flynn just wanted to shout to just say what he had to say; to just end this waiting game. “Y’know… I guess I’ll just say this. So you were at Niren Fedrock’s residence yesterday evening.”

Flynn swallowed hard. “That’s right.”

“Can you tell me a bit of what transpired yesterday between the two of you?”

Leblanc drew a pad of paper and a pen out of his pocket and wrote down what seemed to be Flynn’s explanation. After Flynn was done speaking, Leblanc wiped his brow. He looked extremely uncomfortable. “So when you left last night was the last time you saw Fedrock, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Niren Fedrock was found dead in an alleyway early this morning by a witness. He appears to have been brutally murdered. Did you happen to know anything about this?”

Flynn’s entire body jolted in surprise... What? Niren was dead? No, it couldn’t be. He hadn’t heard what Leblanc was saying right. “What?! That can’t be right, I was just talking to him yesterday? How could this happen?”

“Look, Flynn, I might know you personally, but that doesn’t mean that others back at the station can be as easily convinced.” Leblanc said.

“What do you mean?” He was confused. Where was this going?

“You were one of the last people to have seen this man alive, and we need answers. If you cooperate, it’ll make my job a lot easier.”

 Flynn was still in shock when a new realization dawned on him: they thought he murdered his instructor, and the wanted him to confess. “But I would never kill someone else! Let alone someone that I care about! I would never-”

“Look, I’m not here to arrest you, I just need answers. Are you sure you didn’t see anything out of place at all?”

Flynn’s mind raced, but he came up blank. He couldn’t believe this! And here he had thought that he might have even had a shot at the getting on the force- instead the nightmare had only seemed to get worse. He had just seen Niren yesterday. Everything seemed so surreal. But what had happened? Nothing out of the ordinary. “No. I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry.”

“Well, I guess I’m done here. Might have more answers after the autopsy…” Leblanc stood up and took a few steps towards the door.

“So that’s it!?” Flynn snapped, “You’re just going to waltz right back out of here like nothing happened at all.”

Leblanc sighed. “I have to stay on the case for now. I know that you were probably close, and I’m sorry for your loss. Niren was a good man. And it’s probably especially hard for you, after what happened to your Father-”

“Y’know what? Never mind.” Flynn couldn’t handle this, “Just go and do your job the best you can. I don’t wanna talk about it…”

“Call us if you remember anything or find anything out okay? Let the professionals handle this, kid.” Was all that Leblanc said before leaving.

The last words stung. He really was just a kid, wasn’t he? He really couldn’t handle anything, could he? And his Father-

Flynn felt his eyes start to water. He wasn’t going to cry, that would be even more like a kid, right? He was just really upset because Niren had died, and his head was just really congested. And he certainly wouldn’t start crying over his Father again at this point in his life. He could handle himself, it was just a lot all at once. And he wouldn’t cry, because Yuri would never let him live it down. He wouldn’t. That’s what he had told himself.

Or at least, that’s how he would try to remember it.

He signed while glancing at the now emptying wine glass in his hand. Where had that lazy butler gone when he really needed him?! He hated waiting for things, and he certainly wasn’t going to get up to get himself some more wine. Why couldn’t things work out like how they were meant to be? Why couldn’t everything be perfect? People always had to get in his way and try to ruin his life. But then again, he was Alexander Cumore, one of the most refined nobles to ever have lived. They were surely just jealous of his class, status, money and refined sense of style.

‘Those idiots I sent out yesterday to take care of business left a mess everywhere and now the rest of the lower class idiots are all in a tizzy! I just ask for one person to disappear quietly and suddenly it’s flung all over the news. Ah, if Alexei finds out that I acted without his permission he’ll throw a fit. If others didn’t try to meddle in my business it would have never had come to this. Oh, why can’t they just leave me alone.’

‘Not only that, but that lower class imbecile- oh, what’s his name- the obnoxious blonde one- is always hanging around the station these days. Can’t he tell where he’s not wanted? Alexei almost let him in, but luckily I caught him just in time to throw him out. Isn’t there any quality control anymore? The upper class should be the one’s to run things and I’m doing everyone a service by keeping things like how they should be.’

“Oh, no one pays me enough respect for all the hard work I do!” Cumore lamented out loud. “Why can’t things be like the good old days when people knew their place? And where is that damned butler!”

Being patient really was difficult. Cumore didn’t know how much more of working he could take. Things really would be better if Alexei would just hurry up and die already. Then he could take over and things would finally be so much better! If the old man didn’t keel over soon, it might be necessary to help nudge him along in the right direction…

But for now, things seemed to be going in the right direction. At least of those “social equality” idiots had been taken care of, and that was probably enough hard labor for one week. Everything that Cumore deserved would come to him one day, even if he had to do some things himself.

When Yuri came home, he didn’t know what kind of mood he’d find Flynn in- or if he’d find Flynn at all. He thought it was just as likely if the other had wandered off somewhere else to try and clear his mind. He certainly didn’t expect to find the blond curled up in a tight ball on the couch, his clothing looked badly wrinkled and his hair was especially messy. He didn’t think he had ever seen Flynn this messy this late in the day. Had he gone back to sleep? It was after six.

Trying to forget what had transpired between the two of them yesterday, Yuri cautiously approached the other. His eyes were open; bloodshot, but open. So, he probably wasn’t asleep. “Hey…” Yuri said softly, “Are you okay?”

“No. No, I’m not okay.” Flynn said, voice cracking.

That was certainly not the answer that he had been expecting. If Flynn wasn’t even in the mood to at least try and pretend like he was alright like he normally did, then something was really, really wrong. Yuri took a seat on the arm of the old couch, the oald squeal of wood was the only noise that could be heard in the room.

“What happened?” was all that Yuri said.

“A lot…” Flynn mumbled.

“Do you wanna tell me about it-?”

“Mr. Fedrock’s dead.”

That was something else that Yuri hadn’t’ expected to hear. “Wait, you mean like, Niren Fedrock. Like, your old teacher? THAT Niren Fedrock?!”

“Yes, Yuri. That Fedrock.” Flynn paused, “It’s all over the local news… I had to turn the television off. I was tired of… seeing it.”

“I take it if the news is talking about it then he didn’t go naturally then, did he?”

“No, he didn’t.”

Yuri felt disgust well up inside of him. It was always the good people in their lives that wound up dead. Flynn always seemed to lose those who he was close to and looked up to. Yuri had known Niren through Flynn, and had really liked the guy. He seemed to be one of the only police officers that Yuri had actually liked on a personal level. And now he had to go, when Flynn probably needed others the most-

“Leblanc came by earlier and told me…”

“Hmm…? They told you personally? I mean, I guess he didn’t have a lot of family either-”

“No, Yuri. They… they think I did it.”

“Wait, what? Who thought you did what?”

“The police are considering me as a primary suspect in Fedrock’s murder…” Flynn’s voice sounded flat. He didn’t sound worried in the least about what he was saying.

“WHAT!? That’s bullshit! You’d never do something like that! Flynn, what’s going on, what happened?!” Yuri shouted.

“I went to visit him yesterday. I just wanted to ask him for advice… I was the last one to see him-”

“So you just talked to him him and now everyone thinks you're some kind of killer right? Gee, that makes perfect sense. It’s just what I’ve come to expect of any sort of government official. Blaming the innocent just because they don’t want to get off there asses and do any real work to catch whoever the real murder is!” Yuri was furious. Of course something like this would happen. As if things weren’t already bad enough.

“I can’t do anything… I’m just a kid…” Flynn murmured.

“Hmm…? Where’d that come from?” Yuri turned his attention back to his boyfriend, “Hey, you aren’t actually blaming yourself for what happened right?”

“I was the last one to see him… and… I just realized something. It’s my fault. It really is my fault he died.”Flynn pulled his legs closer to his chest.

“No it’s not. Don’t listen to what some halfwit like Leblanc has to say anyways.” Yuri tried to keep his voice soft and level because felt concerned for Flynn; he had never seen him act like this.

“Yesterday… when I went to see him… I told him what happened. And he said that he’d look into some things for me. I said he didn’t have to, but he insisted. And now look. Because I’m just a no-good kid who can’t do anything someone so kind and important had to die…” Flynn’s words were monotone and flat. His eyes seemed to be looking off into the distance; unmoving. “I already called the Leblanc and told him everything I know. I don’t think they’ll find what I said to be very helpful. It’s not a very great alibi.”

“Hey, you’re not just some ‘no-good kid’. Where’d you even get an idea like that? It’s not like just anyone has your level of dedication. Look, I know that things aren’t great right now, but everything’s going to work out in the end.”

“How?” Flynn pushed himself up and glared at Yuri, “There’s nothing that I can do. The police specifically told me to keep out of things or else they’ll have even more of a reason to think that I did it!”

“Things certainly aren’t going to get any better with that attitude. And you’re always off trying to take care of everything yourself. Just earlier I heard Estelle say herself that she wanted to help you. A lot of people do…”

“What?! Tell Ms. Estellise to please not get involved. Look at what just happened to the Captain! I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to her.” Flynn sounded upset.

“Well, I don’t want her getting hurt either, but I don’t think she’ll listen to either of us. I doubt she’ll do anything too rash, though. Right now our real concern is figuring out who really murdered Niren.” Yuri said.

“What?! But, Yuri- we were just told not to do anything!”

“Are you really just going to sit idly by knowing that it’s more than likely someone’s going to be back to arrest you? Flynn, I know you’re upset right now, but we need to do something. Even if you don’t want to, I will.”

Flynn ground his teeth together- “Then what do you suggest? Are you planning on breaking into the police station yourself so you can go through all their files?!”

“If worst comes to worst then sure. At least then they’ll have to put the both of us in prison.”

“Yuri, don’t say stuff like that! I don’t want you getting yourself into serious trouble!”

“I can’t let you go to prison by yourself. I don’t think you’re mentally prepared for the slammer…”

“Quit kidding around! Neither of us have to go to jail. And we’re not going to break the law either. This is my problem…”

“Do you have a way to fix your problem?”

Flynn didn’t say anything. He wasn’t particularly looking for an immediate way to fix anything. Everything he was trying ended up only making things worse anyways, so he had decided to take a break from trying. He hadn’t planned on jumping right back into things. But, could he really wait? What if he really did get into trouble? Was… was someone out to get him? It seemed silly to even think something like that. After all, he wasn’t particularly in a stance of power, so he wasn’t a threat.

But… what could he do? If he didn’t do anything, Yuri or Estellise might do something really reckless in order to help him.

“It’s too late to do much for today, and I can tell you’re exhausted…” Yuri said, standing up. “But why don’t we go and pay the old man a visit tomorrow?”

“You mean Mr. Raven?” Flynn asked, “Why?”

“He always seems to know the latest news on things. Even some things that the police themselves might not know. Maybe he can help explain some things. He always seems to have to have some insider news about this and such. I don’t think we could catch him even if we went over to his place right now. I think he usually out at night. Even if he’s asleep when we go over there tomorrow morning, it’s no problem to wake him up right?” Yuri shrugged.

“Hey, there’s really no need to bother your friends and disrupt their personal lives for a shot-in-the-dark chance that he might know something.” Flynn shook his head. He didn’t want to rely on people anymore than he already was.

“It’ll be fine. Besides, I do a lot of favors for him. I watch after Karol sometimes when he has to run off on his “errands”.”

Flynn gave up.  He didn’t have anything else to do anyways. He didn’t think that Raven would know anything, but he didn’t know anything, either. He supposed that it couldn’t hurt to ask.

Yuri smiled, “I’ll take your silence as a yes. I know it’s hard for you to admit when I have a good idea. But I’ve got another idea and that idea’s dinner. When’s the last time you’ve eaten, anyways?”

Flynn thought about it, “I think… it’s been a while.”

“I’ll make us some ham sandwiches.”

Yuri had already started to head for the kitchen when Flynn called out, “Do you want me to help?”

He grimaced, “No, why don’t you just take it easy. There’s no need to push yourself that far.” Flynn felt slightly insulted at the comment, but shrugged it off. He did feel pretty weak from everything. Maybe he would feel better after he had eaten.

“Are you sure about this? It’s only nine-thirty in the morning.” Flynn commented, pulling uneasily at his sleeve.

The two were standing outside Raven’s apartment, about to go in. Several times that morning Flynn would sheepishly suggest that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to “bother someone else” for help. It took all of Yuri’s strength to not snap at the other, as it was still early and it was annoying to hear the same question every few minutes. But he knew that Flynn needed someone to be at least a little put together in his life, and it wasn’t often that he’d accept help.

Yuri glanced over at the other, still sluggish and exhausted looking. “Yeah, it’s fine. I don’t know any other way to catch Raven unless he’s sleeping.”

Without anymore hesitation, Yuri knocked on the door. No one came right away, and the wait made Flynn shift around on his feet. He was just about to suggest that they should go and leave the whole matter be when the door finally opened.

“Yuri…? What are you doing here?” It was Karol. The boy was still wearing his pajamas and his hair was sticking up at odd angles. It seemed as if he had just woken up.

“Oh, hey Karol. Sorry if we woke you up. I was trying to get the old man to come and answer the door.” Yuri said, inviting himself in, “Aren’t you supposed to be at school anyways?”

“It’s a Saturday! And besides, aren’t you guys supposed to be at work or something?”

“No, I was thinking about taking the day off to take care of some business… Is Raven here?”

Karol yawned and shut the door after everyone was inside. “I don’t know where Raven is. He left last night, and I don’t think he’s back yet.”

“Raven leaves you here all by yourself? What if something bad were to happen?” Flynn asked in disbelief.

“I can take care of myself. I’m not a little kid, y’know!” Karol said, sticking his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out.

“Yeah, he does that a lot,” Yuri said, “I figured he be back by now though. Do you know what he’s been doing?”

Karol shook his head. “Not really. He’s been super busy lately. First he has to run some letters here and there, and then he’s off doing something else. It’s actually be pretty lonely here.”

Yuri ruffled Karol’s hair before the boy pushed his hand away, “Sorry to hear that. I didn’t know that Raven was such a busy guy.”

“What were you going to ask him anyways? You’re up super early and you brought Flynn with you too.” Karol paused for a moment and then gasped, “Are you guys on a super secret important adventure!?”

“Well, uh… I’m not sure-” Flynn started.

“Sure. I guess you could say that.” Yuri cut in.

“Wow! That’s sooo cool! Can I join in too? Please? I promise not to weigh you guys down-” Karol babbled on, now looking fully awake and alive with excitement.

Yuri glanced at Flynn and saw that his face was filled with far less excitement. He seemed worried, “I’m not sure Karol. What we’re doing… it’s not really something that I want anyone else to have to deal with. I’m sorry.” Flynn saw the crushed look on Karol’s face and quickly added, “I promise to take you on the next adventure. Maybe one that’s far less dangerous…”

Karol still seemed disappointed, but at least to be a little mullified with the answer he got. “Okay, but you guys have to take me with for real. I’m going to remember that you promised.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure Flynn holds up his end of the deal,” Yuri said smirking at the blond. “In the meantime, is it okay to stay here for a bit Karol? We really need to talk to Raven. I think he can help us out.”

Karol grinned, “Sure, I don’t mind, but only on one condition: you guys have to play games with me until then.”

“Well then, I guess we don’t have a choice.” Yuri glanced at Flynn. “Is that okay with you?”

Flynn felt anxious and the last thing he wanted to do was sit around and waste time. But even if he said no, what else could he do? It wasn’t like he could apply for jobs that didn’t exist, or pull evidence that proved his innocence out of thin air. He already hated that he had to ask for help like this when he hadn’t done anything to help Raven out personally. Waiting only caused his emotions to stir around inside of him, causing him to feel ill. He didn’t think that he had ever felt so powerless in his life before. He hated that feeling.

But there was nothing else that he could do.

And so, the three of them ended up playing board games waiting for Raven to arrive. It was a few hours later when Flynn began to feel as if he was certainly stuck in some awful dream. ‘I wonder if Raven’s even going to get here… I mean, of course he’s going to come home at some point, because he wouldn’t just leave Karol like that, right? But what if it’s not today? Or what if something terrible happened to him? Not only would we be even more lost, but then we’d have to take care of Karol, too. I can barely take care of myself, I can’t take care of someone so young…’

“…you’re doing it again.” Yuri’s voice broke through his thoughts, “It’s your turn, sleepy.”

“Oh, uh, sorry-”

“I can tell that you’re worrying yourself to death over there. There’s nothing we can do right now, so calm down. When we get things figured out, then you can worry.”

Flynn bit his lower lip between his teeth. He was very conscious that Karol was in the room, and it was the only thing that prevented him from starting another fight. Karol looked between the two, certain that there was something odd about the way the two were acting. He was just about to ask what they were talking about when the front door opened.

“Hey, you're late old man.” Yuri called when he saw who it was.

Raven sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “I wondered why the front door wasn’t locked. I thought that I had forgot. What’s a group of trouble makers like you even doing?”

“We’re playing board games!” Karol explained, “They said they wanted to see you but you weren’t here. Aw… but now that you’re here, we probably are done playing aren’t we?”

“Why would you want to talk to someone as boring as me? I don’t have anything good to say. And after such a long night too…” Raven seemed to mutter the last part to himself.

“It’s pretty important actually. I figured that you might be able to at least help us a little.” Yuri said standing up, “It’s kind of about Flynn.”

“I’m not going to get to go to sleep anytime soon am I?”

“I’m sorry for bothering you. If you really want, we can leave-” Flynn said hurriedly.

“No, there’s no need for that. You waited all this time so I guess it really must be important. I guess I can try to help you out. Not sure if I’ll be of much use to you. Just let me sit down first…”

Flynn and Yuri explained everything that had happened in the past few days. Recounting the events brought up the still painfully fresh memories, but Flynn thought the feeling was a sight better than sitting around pretending like nothing had happened.

After they were done explaining, Raven sighed. “I never imagined that they’d be so adamant on tryin’ to keep a kid like you out… And I heard about what happened with Niren. To be honest, I don’t think that case’s going anywhere.”

“What do you mean?” Flynn asked.

“Look, you didn’t hear anything I’m about to say here from me, but, Niren didn’t have a lot of friends in the police force.”

“Wait, so you’re saying that a police officer was the one who did away with him!? Damn, I never knew the captain had that many people out to get him.” Yuri grit his teeth together.

“Could someone really get away with something like that?”

Raven shrugged. “I don’t know who did it. Could’ve just as easily been a government official or someone of the like who wanted him gone. But the point is, even if it was, they’re not going to get sentenced. Unless someone else even more high up wanted them to be found. But there’s nobody like that right now. That’d be a whole other big commotion.”

“So what you’re saying is that there’s never going to be any justice for the captain?!” Yuri was furious, “Of course not. I’m not surprised. What else have I come to expect?”

“It’s no secret that it’s hard to get anywhere in as a public official unless you have money or some kind of connection. The police force kind of has a hierarchy in this neighborhood too. It’s all because of that obnoxious Cumore guy too-”

Flynn eyes widened. “Hey, that’s the guy who conducted my interview. You know him?”

Raven scratched his chin. “Know him? I certainly hear things about him. He’s just some spoiled rich kid who’s Daddy’d cut off his allowance unless he did something. So he got a job as deputy and pushes people around a lot. And I’m sorry to say it, but he’s probably the reason why Flynn didn’t get hired. Mostly that guys just picks people who he thinks will do his bidding without thinking. I know you might not think it now, but you might be thankful that one day you didn’t end up working directly under that guy.

But honestly at this point, there’s nothing that anyone can do about anything. Or at least, I can’t. My hands are a bit tied at the moment, anyways.”

Flynn felt disappointed. He hadn’t hoped that Raven would do all his work for him, but the situation looked bleak. “I always knew that things were corrupt, but that’s why I wanted to enter the force in the first place. To change things. I wanted to make a difference. But it doesn’t even look like I’m going to get a chance.”

“Look kid, don’t think this is the end here.” Raven said, “Sure, this time didn’t turn out to be what anybody expected, but there are lots of other chances out there. I mean, I certainly didn’t expect to end up where I did, or the path I took to get here.”

“Thank you… I’m not going to give up. I just… don’t know what to do next.” Flynn said. “But, I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Thank you again for your time.”

“Are you leaving? Okay with me.” Raven yawned, “I really have to be getting to sleep right now. I’ve been up forever. Take care, kids.”

Flynn pulled his shoes off and carefully set them down on the floor of his closet. He was exhausted, and he felt as if his bones had turned into jelly. He took a seat on the edge of his bed. He had known that the others were planning on throwing Yuri a surprise party for winning the Chef of the Month award, but he hadn’t expected it to be that wild. It had gone on until the middle of the night and Yuri and Flynn had just gotten home.

Flynn was proud of Yuri, he really was. The other had come a long way from being the delinquent of a boy he once knew. Yuri really was making a difference in others lives, in his own life as well. Deep down, Flynn had to admit that he felt a little… envious. The other had ended up so successful; it wasn’t that he didn’t want that for the other, but why had it ended up this way?

It had been almost a whole month since Flynn had first heard about Niren’s death, and he had learned nothing new in the meanwhile. It was life had punched him in the face and then just expected him to forget about it. Part of him had felt like nothing had happened at all. Maybe he had just made it all up. He wished he had. At least then he could stop feeling so gloomy all of the time.

Even though life seemed to be moving on there was still tension between the two lovers. Flynn knew Yuri wasn’t to blame, but he couldn’t help feel like snapping at the other, no matter what it was. He felt like anything the other would do was irritating. Part of him knew he was being irrational, but he didn’t know if he cared. He felt bad for how he was treating Yuri, but he didn’t feel like he could stop.

Yuri knew that Flynn had been in a bad mood lately, so he generally tried to stay out of the other’s way to avoid conflict. He really wanted to yell at the other and tell him to snap out of it, but he knew that if he did it could really hurt their relationship. But what was he supposed to do? Just put up with it the whole time? This couldn’t go on too much longer or he was going to go off on Flynn. And he knew the other was itching for a fight, that would just be giving the other the what he wanted.

The entire bed shook as Yuri flopped down on it with a loud groan. Flynn turned around to look at him. “You look tired.” Flynn commented.

“So do you.” Yuri said with a stretch, “You know, I always tell Judy and the others not to go out of there way for things like this and what do they do? Throw a huge party. Geeze, I never thought I’d win either…”

“Your food is really good. You deserve this.” Flynn said.

“I dunno… I feel like you work hard too. A lot of people do. I’d give the award to you if I could.” Yuri said without a second thought.

“I don’t deserve anything. I honestly haven’t done anything yet. I might not do anything. Maybe this is the way it’s always going to be.” Flynn mumbled, turning back away from Yuri.

“Not this again…”

“Fine. I won’t bring it up… I just-”

“Just what?”

“I’m just jealous of you!” Flynn snapped.

Yuri was confused, what was the other talking about? “You’re jealous of me? Is it because of the award?

“No, not because of the award. I’m just jealous and I feel so guilty.”

“You feel guilty because you're jealous?”

“No…! Well, yes, but what I’m trying to say is I feel bad. You’ve been taking care of me lately and that’s not how I want it to be. I want us to be equals. I want both of us to be able to fill our dream of helping others. And how I’ve been acting lately… It’s like you’ve grown up and I’m the one who started acting like a toddler.”

“You have been acting a little irritable lately-”

Even though Flynn agreed, he winced at the comment.

“I’d rather it be me taking care of you, if one of us had to take care of the other. It’s just that I love you and all I am is a burden on you. You’ve been taking care of me and this was your apartment in the first place. I just moved in. And I can’t even do anything like cook dinner for you.”

“Flynn-”

“You should just break up with me and go and find someone who’s actually worthy of you. Someone who can actually be your equal.”

“Flynn!” Yuri shouted, “Do you really think that I’m just going to dump you just because you’ve hit one rough patch in your life?! Think about all we’ve been through in the past. We never let anything tear us apart and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let it now. Do think that even if we were separated right now that I’d ever be able to forget about you?”

“I…” Flynn was at a loss for words. He had never expected Yuri’s response to be so serious. Yuri rarely ever took anything seriously and Flynn only ever heard him use that tone on the rarest of occasions.

“What if i were in your shoes? Would you leave me for somebody else?” Yuri asked.

“Of course not, I’d never leave you! Flynn said.

“Then stop being an idiot. I’m not leaving you and you’re not a burden.”

Flynn paused and took in what Yuri was saying. He had never imagined what it would have been like if he was in Yuri’s place. It seemed really obvious. Of course he wouldn’t abandon one of the only people who had ever been family to him. He trusted him. It was just hard to believe that Yuri could see him in that same way.

“To be honest, when we were kids I always thought that it would stay the same…”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just that you were always the one making trouble when we were kids. I was certain that I’d have to look after you forever to make sure that you stay out of trouble.”

“Hey!” Yuri jabbed the other in the back.

Flynn chuckled, and laid down beside Yuri, not having to make eye contact but not needing to. “Yeah, I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve been thinking… things really didn’t turn out how I expected them to at all.”

“You always were so single minded, you know that right? There’s more than one way to do things. Even though you kept with being in the military, I knew that it wasn’t for me. I just felt like the way that things were going I couldn’t get anything done.”

There was a pause between them. Yuri always said those same words. Whenever things didn’t work out one way he would become frustrated and try to take another path. Flynn didn’t feel like that at all, he always wanted to keep going the same way, and Yuri always called him stubborn for it. Maybe he was stubborn… a little too stubborn.

“I’m sorry…” Flynn said softly.

“H-hey, quit apologizing. It’s weird… You didn’t do anything wrong anyways.” Yuri sounded embarrassed.

“I was a jerk to you when the person who I had problems with was myself. That’s why I apologized.” Flynn said.

“So you’ve finally admitted it.” Yuri said teasingly.

Flynn pinched Yuri’s arm and laughed. “Hey, I thought you said you were done being a jerk.”

“I am. I just can’t let you get away with everything.” Flynn wrapped his arms around the other and drew him closer. “If you want, I can make it up to you. I’ll do anything you’d like.”

He kissed Yuri on the cheek and he grinned. “Hmm… I guess I can overlook your behavior if you make it worth my while.”

Flynn certainly intended to make it worth his while.

Things seemed to have returned to normal between the two lover’s, Judith had noticed. It had all happened after the party they had thrown for Yuri, and while she did not know exactly what had happened, she felt as if she might have had an inkling. She was glad that her two favorite dorks were being their usual selves, at the very least because it made the air less tense when they were both at work.

Today, Estelle had apparently texted Yuri saying that there was something that she wanted to show Flynn. He had spent the entire day serving orders with his curiosity pulling at the back of his mind. He felt like he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it until he knew what it was.

Flynn felt the pair of arms around him before he saw her. “Flynn!” Estelle cried, squeezing him tightly.

“O-oh. Estellise, I’m glad to see that you’re here.” He gasped.

“Flynn, there’s something that I wanna tell you about!” Estelle said excitedly.

Rita had walked into the restaurant behind Estelle and nodded her head in greeting. Yuri and Judith walked over at the commotion, knowing who it was without even having to look. “I hear that you had some exciting news to tell Flynn earlier. I hope you don’t mind if we listen in.” Judith said.

“No, I don’t mind! But you’ll never believe it Flynn! So, do you guys know my cousin Ioder, right?” Estelle asked.

“Oh, he’s the one running for mayor right? Of course I’ve heard about him.” Flynn said.

A lot of people heard about him. He was a rather young candidate, all of the others had been ranging in their mid-forties or up, so a lot of people didn’t hold a lot of respect for him. But the goals that he seemed to be fighting for were honorable.

“Well, anyways, now that he’s running, he’s going to be in a lot more danger from now on. So, they’re hiring more secret service members to follow him around and stuff. And I know it’s a bit out of your way, and it’s certainly got a lot of long hours, but if you applied for the job I’d put in a good word for you.” Estelle said, “I thought you might be interested. If you’re not, you don’t have to-”

“N-n-no, I’m interested! But Estellise, is it alright for you to offer me something like this?” Flynn asked, his heart racing.

“Of course! There’s no one that I know who works harder than you, so I know that you’d keep Ioder safe. It’d make me really happy in fact, if you took this job.” Estelle beamed.

“I guess we’re going to have to hire a new waiter, Judy. It looks like Flynn’s leaving. Here’s to hoping that the next guy who works here’s not nearly as annoying, eh?” Yuri said, clapping Flynn on the shoulder.

“Y-Y-Yuri, I don’t have the job yet!” Flynn stuttered. He was too afraid to get his hopes up again, it would almost be too good to be true. It certainly wouldn’t have been the way he had been expecting, but he didn’t mind in the least. In fact, he would be overjoyed. And he even be in the presence of someone he looked up to like Ioder.

“Yeah, but something tells me this one’s not going to get away. Especially if Estelle works her magic. She has a way getting things she wants done.” Yuri said.

“Thank you so much, Estellise. This means so much to me.” Flynn said.

Estelle smiled, “It’s no problem. I just figured that if everyone pitched in we could get something figured out eventually.”

“So, are you going to apply for it?” Rita asked. “Or are we just getting all worked up for no reason?”

“Of course I am.” Flynn said, smiling a wide smile that he had felt in months, “I’m going to give it my best shot.”

The first attempt at using the Eternal Sword was never going to go right, that much was obvious. But when teacher and student find themselves stranded in the white void between worlds without their companions, they weren’t expecting to meet someone from yet another world, much less someone bleeding out.

She looked to her left. Nothing but an expanse of white.

She looked forward. Nothing but white again.

She looked to her right. Her student was looking back at her, with an expression of confusion and fear.

“Professor, I’m starting to lose feeling in my arm. Could you please let go?” Lloyd asked meekly, trying to pull away from her and free his left arm. In his right hand he still held the Eternal Sword. Raine stared at Lloyd numbly for a moment before realising what he had asked and releasing her grip on him.

“Sorry Lloyd,” Raine answered distractedly, running her hands through her hair. “I… I have no idea what happened there.” Lloyd rolled his should a couple of times before taking the blade into both hands. They watched as the Eternal Sword glimmered briefly, then slowly split to two softly glowing lights of red and blue, which settled in Lloyd’s blades at his hips. After a heavy pause that felt like an eternity, Raine asked “Is it meant to do that?”

“Don’t worry Professor.” Lloyd turned and grinned. Raine already felt relieved. “I can still feel the Sword. It’s still here with me.” His smile faltered. “Wherever here is?”

The pair stopped their conversation to look around again. The white void just stretched endlessly before them, impossible to define a horizon or distance or anything. There was no visible light source, yet they had no problem seeing things. Raine stomped one foot a couple of times, testing the ground. Hard and solid, but again indistinguishable for everything else. Though it sounded like she had struck marble, she couldn’t detect any echo. There was no strong smell in the air, but the atmosphere was close, as if they were on the cusp of a storm. There was no hot or cold either. Raine shuffled slightly, bumping Lloyd gently. He paid it no heed as he cupped his hand over his eyes and scanned ahead.

“Did I use the Sword wrong?” Lloyd asked in nervous tone, turning to his teacher. Raine frowned quizzically as she looked back at him. “As soon as I took the Sword, the knowledge to use it just sort of flowed into me… And I did what I needed to in order to take us to Derris Kharlan. But, this…”

“This is certainly not Derris Kharlan.” Raine finished grimly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I cannot sense any mana here whatsoever. When we were kept in Derris Kharlan before, there was so much atmospheric mana it was almost choking me and Genis. Here I feel like the air around us is…” she looked around herself, “…empty.”

“At most fear it mana?” he repeated slowly.

“Atmospheric, Lloyd. Mana in the air around us.” Raine sighed as she shook her head. “Honestly Lloyd, I…” She stopped suddenly and began sniffing. “The air around us.”

The smell hit Lloyd suddenly as well, even though he was certain it hadn’t been present just moments before. That was unmistakably blood.

“Urgh. What is…” Lloyd turned around. About 20 metres away from the pair was a large black lump, laying in a growing pool of blood. He immediately broke into a sprint towards it. Raine reached out futilely for a moment to try and stop him but he was quickly out of reach, so she jogged to join him. By the time she caught up with Lloyd, he had already gotten to his knees to examine the pile. She crouched down next to him as Lloyd reached under to turn it over.

“It’s a person?” Raine could barely hide her surprise as Lloyd pulled this person onto his lap, resting their head against his chest. A strange purple blade was lain beside them. “What’s another person doing here?”

“I don’t know, Professor, but he’s hurt!” Lloyd locked eyes with Raine. “You have to help him!”

Raine studied Lloyd’s face. Just like when they had encountered Sheena in Luin. That sincere desire to save a life. She both cherished and dreaded that quality in Lloyd. They’d gotten lucky that Sheena was an honourable person, but she had no idea what they should do with this complete stranger. She examined Lloyd’s face, then turned her attention to the person in front of them. A young male adult, long black hair and skin that was likely already pale before the blood loss. Her fingers traced his shirt until she found a tear in his belt, stained with blood. Carefully, she opened the cloth wider to examine the wound.

“Yes, he’s been gravely wounded… here… But…” Raine murmured to herself. She wiped her fingers on the stranger’s tunic and reached up for his neck to press her fingers to it, feeling for a pulse. “We may be too late. I don’t sense any mana from him.”

Lloyd opened his mouth to object, but, unable to form anything helpful, merely grunted as he hung his head. “Damn it.”

“Hey, watch your tongue.”

“Sorry…” Lloyd answered vacantly. “Wait what.”

The man cracked a single grey eye open, hazy and unfocused from pain. “Be polite to the dying…” he coughed out. “That also applies… to… to whoever… is poking me over there…” Lloyd was certain he heard Raine scoff at that remark. She was currently examining the rest of his body. “Though I’m flattered… Dinner first please…” The stranger weakly tried to raise an arm, but barely got it more than a few centimetres up before letting it slump to the ground again. He shut his eyes tightly as his entire body tensed up in pain for a moment. He slowly reopened the single eye once it had passed.

“I can’t do anything until I assess your wounds.” Raine responded sharply, moving her attention back to the wound near his stomach. “This is quite a clean stab.  Fairly deep though. From the location… large intestines, just the top. I would say this happened within the last hour, and was very purposeful. Close range… Are there any others I should know about?”

“Nahh…” the person wheezed. “’stel… Healer… She got… others before things went south…”

“Now, before I consider healing you-”

“Professor!” Lloyd cried indignantly. The stranger whimpered quietly as Lloyd unwittingly jostled his head.

“Before I consider healing you, would you care to tell us how you got such a wound?” Raine stood up and folded her arms, staff nestled between them. “It’s suspicious, to say the least.”

The stranger smirked. “Oh yeah, you’re someone… who’s had to take charge and… and look after people. I… I think I accidentally got in on a love triangle? I dunno what… call it… And on the wrong side too.” Yuri let out a short hollow laugh before wincing as the pain washed over him again. “Please… I know to respect… the wonderful work of healers. Even the old man… I won’t mess you about if you… help…”

“Professor, why are you holding back? This guy’s dying here!” Lloyd cradled the man’s head gently and wiped the sweat gathering on his brow as he shifted slightly under his weight. “We need all the help we can get right now, look at where we are!”

Raine sighed and met Lloyd’s gaze. “It’s the fact I don’t know where we are that I’m reluctant to heal him, Lloyd. What if he’s a part of this place?”

“Yuri.”

“What?” Raine almost snarled, snapping to look at the face of man in Lloyd’s arms.

“Name’s Yuri,” he coughed. “Now you’re letting… friend die rather than… than stranger danger…” He smirked slightly. “Eh, Lloyd? Was it?” He tried to move his head to look at Lloyd, but he couldn’t. His head lulled somewhat, but then he met Raine’s eyes, mustering what strength he had to tilt his head and hold her gaze. With that, Lloyd felt his body go limp against him as his eyes slowly slid shut.

“Professor!” His cry was a mix of fear and urgency.

“Urgh, I swear.” Raine muttered to herself as she crouched down again, bringing the end of her staff near the wound. She closed her eyes to concentrate for a moment, until the distinct hum of her healing magic rang. She opened them again, and moved Yuri’s clothes to check the wound again. “Oh.” She pulled away and stroked her chin, before trying her spell again. Her features just creased in frustration as she examined her staff.

“‘Oh?’ Professor, what’s ‘oh?’” Lloyd pressed. He fumbled, trying to find the pulse on Yuri’s neck as he’d just seen Raine do before. Whether it was his gloves or the man’s state, Lloyd couldn’t find anything. Calmly, Raine moved his hand out of the way and felt for it herself. After a while, ignoring Lloyd through intense concentration, she found one, albeit fairly weak.

“My magic isn’t exactly working on him. I don’t think I can save this man.” Her tone was neutral, but her face betrayed her upset. Lloyd raised his hand to protest, but she stopped him. “I’m not doing it on purpose. His body is rejecting my magic, likely because I can’t sense any mana from him. Definitely no Exsphere either. I’ve done the best I can, which is about halfway, and his pulse is better. But… he’s in for a rough time. He needs different care. This ‘Stell’ or old man he mentioned.”

“I’m just glad you’re doing what you can…” Yuri’s sudden reply made both Lloyd and Raine jump. “Thanks. For trusting me as well.”

Yuri opened both of his eyes, clearer than before. He was still worryingly pale and huffing and wheezing instead of breathing. He coughed harshly for a while, and Lloyd moved to change the way he was holding him so he could pat his back. Yuri spluttered for a bit before Raine stopped Lloyd, and Yuri’s breathing slowed to normal.

“You okay?” Lloyd asked, trying to hide his relief at Yuri’s condition. But he couldn’t hide the grin plastered wide across his face.

“Well, not really… Got in a fight, and fell off of the top of Zaude…” Yuri managed slowly to lift himself and sit up straight of his own volition, scooting out of Lloyd’s lap. His hand shot to his abdomen as it ached, but Yuri tried his best to ignore it. His eyes widened suddenly. “I should have fallen into the ocean. Where’s this?”

“We have NO idea.” Lloyd answered bluntly after a heavy pause. Yuri turned his head to try and look at Lloyd. In response, Lloyd got up and walked to stand next to Raine, in front of Yuri. Raine didn’t look please by Lloyd’s response, and his own expression showed he wasn’t proud of it either.

“When I fell from Zaude, it felt like the Dein No…” Yuri stopped and looked around himself in a panic. He let out a sigh of relief when he found his blade and drew it closer to himself. He looked it up and down before carefully running his fingers along the side of the blade. Satisfied, he patted the end before setting it down to his side. “There’d be a queue to kill me if I lost this. I mean, longer than the usual queue to kill me for something, of course.”

“You’re not helping me trust you.” Raine commented tersely. Her staff was away and her arms were once again folded, but her expression was barely concealed curiosity veiled by wariness. “That blade looks strange. I don’t think I’ve seen one like it before.”

“It can’t be much use in combat. I mean, look at the blade itself.” Lloyd added, leaning closer to get a better look. “This is a ceremonial sword, yeah?”

Yuri nodded. “I came off of Zaude but I knew I had to keep hold of the sword. And then, it felt like… Like it had pulled me sideways as I was falling. Like someone or something had grabbed the Dein Nomos and pulled it, and me along with it. I can’t afford to lose it, so I hung on the best I could. Next thing I know, I’m lying down here in a lot of pain. And I was too tired and achey to do anything. I was certain I was going to die until you two showed up. Heh, thanks.” He held the sword out in front of him to show Lloyd. “It has weird powers I don’t really understand, but we needed it. Rita could tell you more, wherever she is. But this thing is far more important than my life. I’m glad it didn’t fall into the ocean.” He stopped and simply stared at the blade for a moment, before looking up to Lloyd. “Now help me up will you?” He held his free hand out for Lloyd. Lloyd simply smiled and grasped it firmly, pulling Yuri to his feet. Yuri pulled away and held his arms out to keep his balance. He wobbled a bit, so Lloyd took his arm and hung it over his shoulders, giving Yuri some support.

The Dein Nomos began to glow. Yuri held it in front of him in a mixture of curiosity and fear. The Eternal Sword also manifested next to it, glowing a similar purple. Both swords quickly got brighter, and soon it was painful to look at them.

“Uhh, I don’t know what it’s doing, Professor! Hold on to me!” Lloyd yelled as a violent wind picked up. He held on tightly to a fold in Yuri’s tunic, and as soon as he felt Raine come to his other side, he wrapped his arm around her tightly. It felt just like his previous attempt at using the Eternal Sword; the ground gave way beneath his feet. There was a brief drop before a cold unseen force came up from beneath them and roughly scooped them up, before roughly placing them down on ground again, thankfully on their feet.

When the light dimmed and the wind died, Yuri opened his eyes slowly. He was still being supported by Lloyd, who was holding on the back of his tunic in a death grip. On the other side Lloyd held Raine, who was holding on just as tightly to him, trying unsuccessfully to hide how unnerved she was by the sudden event. He looked around to take in his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was how the world around him was entirely grey, as if it had only been coloured in a single pencil. The sky, visible beyond tall grandiose buildings, was filled with unmoving clouds, and a bird was paused mid-flight. A few citizens were dotted about, completely unmoving, as if someone had paused them during daily routines. The place was completely lifeless.

Raine moved away, gaze fixed upon the same bird as he had been looking at. She was still in colour, and a quick check of himself and Lloyd revealed they were also. Lloyd’s hand shot up to point out some buildings to Yuri, unaware of how uncomfortably close his hand was to Yuri’s face.

“Look, we’ve landed in Meltokio.” He let out a relieved sigh. “At least we know where we are now.”

“Correction: you do. I know my geography’s bad but I’ve never heard of Meltokio before.” Yuri grumbled, shifting his weight to lean closer in on Lloyd. “Which continent is it? And is it Empire or Guild territory?” Lloyd shifted uncomfortably under him, confusion clear across his face.

“Empire or Guild?” Raine’s voice called with an amused tone from across the street. Both men turned to look at her. “I’ve not heard those terms for some time.” She paused, deliberating something. She shook her head and carried on talking. “Anyway, this is Meltokio, the capital city of the world of Tethe’alla. This is where the royal family of Tethe’alla lives, as well as one of our own.”

“We need to find the others.” Lloyd added. “I’m worried they landed in that white place too.”

“Do not fear. I sense your friends are not in that strange limbo.”

Yuri straightened up a little, still resting a lot of his weight on Lloyd, and his face contorted. A deep voice had just spoken from nowhere. He looked around frantically, but he could only see Raine and Lloyd staring off towards the sky, where that voice seemed to originate from. “Many questions right now, but firstly, did anyone else hear that?”

“That was Origin. He’s a Summon Spirit who’s helping us save the worlds.” Lloyd answered, smiling. Yuri just looked at his with a bewildered expression, but that just made Lloyd chuckle. He then returned his gaze skyward. “Origin, do you know what happened?”

“I am unsure of the details myself. However, I can provide a summary of what I do know.” Yuri noticed how deep and regal this voice was. “The sword that the stranger bears has great power in his own world of Terca Lumireis, similar to the Eternal Sword. As you attempted to use the Eternal Sword to arrive at Derris Kharlan, which holds a presence in both the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe’alla, an event of similar magnitude involving the material creating Terca Lumireis occurred at the same time, causing the Eternal Sword and his blade, the Dein Nomos to react.” There was a pause. “The fallout is as you can see.”

Yuri tried to ask a question, but Raine cut him off. “So the colour drain and time freeze are because the two swords reacted? Like magnets, it seems… Was it the two swords attracting each other what sent us to, then removed us from that limbo?”

“Yes.”

“Hey Origin, do you know where our friends are?” Lloyd asked.

“The one in Derris Kharlan remains there, frozen alongside the rest of our existence. Your other friends were scattered through the two worlds.”

“Guys! Please!” Yuri interrupted, holding his free hand out for a few moments of silence. “Two worlds!? And neither of them are Terca Lumireis!?” He paused to take a deep breathe, before shouting, “Where the hell am I!?”

“This world’s existence was split in two. These people are trying to reunite it.” Yuri simply nodded in response, trying to ignore how bizarre it was to be conversing with a disembodied voice. “But your presence, alongside the Dein Nomos, is too foreign for both of our worlds, hence why they have shut down. I cannot speak for your Terca Lumireis.”

Yuri was getting agitated. “An answer, but not the one for my question. What do you mean?”

“I mean I cannot sense if the departure of you and the Dein Nomos has affected your Terca Lumireis as it has our worlds.”

There was a silence as everybody waited for Origin to continue. When it was clear he wasn’t, Raine spoke up.

“Are any of our friends here in Meltokio, Origin?”

“Yes. He should be by the Church.”

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go help our friend! Thanks Origin!” Lloyd cheered, wriggling his arm free from Yuri and breaking into a sprint. “I’ll show you the way Yuri!” he called from halfway down the street without stopping. Yuri could do nothing but struggle to keep his balance. Raine nonchalantly came up to him and hooked herself underneath Yuri’s arms. After a pause to understand her intentions, the two began to head towards the Church, keeping an eye on Lloyd in the distance until he vanished around a corner and up a large flight of stairs. Both could sense the other’s unease.

“I still don’t trust you, but right now… I’ll take what I can get.” Her voice carried a hint of warning. “After all, you said you respect healers, yes?”

Yuri nodded as the two walked along. “Yeah. And that wasn’t some death’s door rubbish, okay? If anything, I still need your help. I am in rather a lot of pain.”

“True. Now, let’s get to the Church.” Raine replied with a casual tone. “I don’t like you walking around like this.” Yuri feebly patted her on the back.

“Yeah. Hey, what should I call you? Lloyd says you’re a professor?”

“Just Raine’ll do.” Her reply betrayed no emotions. It was at this point that Yuri realised Raine had her gaze fixed straight ahead, and at no point had she turned to meet his gaze. He almost felt as uncomfortable with her as he did this surreal frozen world.

“Hurry up you two!” Lloyd yelled from the distance, peering down from steps he’d previous disappeared beyond. “I found Genis! But something’s wrong!”

Yuri could feel as Raine tensed up underneath him, and she hissed the name. He gave it his all to keep up with Raine as she nearly ran under his weight, and as soon as they reached the agonising top of a grand set of steps, she let him go and set him to lay on the floor before rushing to a statue. He couldn’t see well from his angle on the floor, but this statue looked different from any presumable statues around the plaza and the frozen citizens. A rough surface. Not to mention from low down it looked as though it was on one foot and falling backwards, surrounded by small spires. He could hear Raine and Lloyd fret over whatever this was too - Genis, they’d called her? Him? Them - as he saw their feet move around it too. He was too groggy to make out anything clearly though. He let his head rest on the ground as he closed his eyes.

He wasn’t sure if he’d fallen asleep, but soon enough Yuri could feel Lloyd shaking him roughly and calling his name.

“What!?” Yuri hissed. His whole being just hurt.

“Oh, thank goodness.” Lloyd’s cheer was obvious as he merrily patted Yuri on the side of his head. “We were worried we’d lost you there.” Lloyd pulled Yuri to his feet without asking, ignoring yelps of pain from Yuri. Eventually Yuri was upright, though still unable to stand upright entirely under his own steam. Lloyd held onto him. Yuri’s vision was blurring along with a pounding headache, but he could now see the statue in front of him, indeed in a state of falling over.

“That statue was a person, right?” Every word hurt. “Couldn’t you just Panacea Bottle them?”

“I wish we had some.” Lloyd sighed after a pause. He sounded defeated but never took his eyes off Genis. “I don’t know how we can help him.”

Raine was muttering and searching her pockets furiously as Lloyd spoke. Her expression was grim and her actions were frantic. It was clear to Yuri that, while they both cared for this Genis, he was obviously very important to Raine, maybe more so than he was to Lloyd. His mind wandered to Flynn, Estelle and the others. However far away they were, he dearly hoped they were okay.

Once more, he was uncertain how long he had been in his own little world, but again he found Lloyd nudging him to get his attention.

“You keep zoning out on us. Are you okay?”

“I am 100% healthy. The stab wound just made me lose a little weight is all. And a fair amount of blood.” Yuri tried to smile, but when he saw Lloyd’s horrified expression and Raine shake her head in her hands, he quickly took it back. “Sorry. But anyway, how are we gonna help your friend? Did your spells not work, Raine?”

Raine straightened her back. “No, they didn’t appear to have any effect.” Her reply was terse, and Yuri couldn’t help but flinch slightly at it. He made a mental note not to push her in any way.

Yuri tugged at Lloyd’s shirt with as much strength as he could muster, though it must have been like a child pulling a trouser leg for attention, and pointed to Genis. He jerked his head at Genis as well, and eventually Lloyd realised and began to help him pace slowly over to Genis. His vision was still fuzzy around the edges and it was taking more effort than Yuri would care to admit to keep his eyes open, but upon reaching the statue, he could now make out the terrified expression on the petrified boy’s face. Carefully, still supported by Lloyd, he reached out to touch him, intrigued by the odd material Genis seemed to have been petrified with. The citizens seemed to just be stuck in time, and Yuri recalled Estelle telling him that petrification victims were typically turned into a smooth, almost shiny stone material. Genis was different. Coarse, rough and matte. Lloyd helped lift his arm to place it on the top of Genis’ head.

As soon as he touched Genis’ head, the Dein Nomos began to glow again. Yuri recoiled slightly in surprised, but found he couldn’t remove his hand and had keep it pressed on Genis. Genis had felt cold, but there was a warm feeling building up where he was touching Genis’ head, rapidly reaching boiling hot. Yuri let out a wail as he tried to pull his hand away, but either he was stuck or he didn’t have enough strength, he couldn’t tell. Lloyd pulled at Yuri’s wrist and couldn’t get it free either, prompting a worried Raine to join in as well.

With a mighty pull, Yuri’s hand finally lifted away, and the three fell backwards with a thud. Raine immediately got onto her knees and pulled Yuri’s hand closer to her to inspect it, disregarding Lloyd’s grip remaining on it and Yuri’s small whimper at the vice-like grip.

“What happened there?” she quizzed, running her fingers over his palm, poking and pressing. She let go with a sudden intake of breath. “Genis.”

Lloyd helped Yuri right himself before moving himself. The three looked ahead of them to find Genis sat on the floor de-petrified and back in colour, scowling as he rubbed his back before looking around confusedly. As soon as he spotted Raine, he hopped onto his feet and moved hurriedly towards her.

“Sis!” he cheered as he reached her, throwing his arms around her. Raine was sat on the ground, too stunned to react. “What happened?”

“We don’t really know. But I’m so glad you’re okay.” Lloyd replied, unable to hide the cheer in his voice. “You are okay?”

Genis nodded, still holding his unresponsive sister. “Yeah. The last I remember is you trying to use the Eternal Sword at the Tower of Salvation.” He stopped and looked around. “Where are we? And why’s everything grey? …And who is that?” He pointed at Yuri. Yuri opened his mouth to answer, slightly offended at his rude manner, but was interrupted.

“He is a man from another world, separate of Sylvarant and Tethe’alla. His appearance here has interfered with the two worlds here.”

“O-Origin?” Genis stuttered. He looked towards the sky, though he was still pointing at Yuri. “Then we need to send him back. Lloyd, do something!”

“No.” Raine interjected, reaching out to lower Genis’ arm. She had finally come back to them. She squeezed Genis quickly before pushing him away gently and holding both of his arms. “I think we might need him.”

“Indeed. It seems he is able to undo the damage he has wrought here.”

“You’re talking like I did this on purpose.” Yuri chimed in bitterly. Nobody seemed to pay attention.

“If you can find the rest of your friends from when you first tried to use the Eternal Sword, he should be able to save them. Then I shall be able to fix our worlds and return him to his own.” Origin continued. “I sense one more in Tethe’alla. The remainder are lost in Sylvarant. I can carry you all over once you find your friend in Sybak.”

“Sybak?” Lloyd chirped. “That’s the closest town to here on Tethe’alla! This should be easy.” He scooped up Yuri under his shoulders and clambered to his feet, roughly pulling Yuri to do the same. “Uhh, sorry there.”

Raine stood up and put her arm around Yuri as well. “Gently with him now. Remember, my magic doesn’t work well on him.” Yuri let out a groan at her comment.

“Is he really from another world?” Genis asked, approaching Yuri cautiously with a suspicious expression. “I don’t like the look of him.”

“You didn’t like the look of Zelos either, but that worked out.” Lloyd laughed.

“You remind me a lot of Rita right now.” Yuri groaned, glaring at Genis. He winced, and his hand shot to his abdomen. “Look, can we just get going to this Sigh-back? I am actually just bleeding out here.”

“I did my best.” Raine muttered and she cast another healing spell. Again, she was unable to heal the wound properly, but as she tended to it she was at least satisfied that she had stemmed the bleeding for now. It didn’t do anything to stop the pain he was in. “We really ought to get you back to your world soon. Terca Lumireis, yes?” Yuri nodded in response. “I know I’ve heard that name somewhere before…”

“Sis, wasn’t it that story you mentioned? About stars and the moon?” Genis asked. “The one where the ancient creature got released from beyond the sky, tore it up and then destroyed the world? It had a real bummer ending.”

Lloyd heard Yuri swear under his breath but neglected to comment on it. “We need to go to Sybak then, yes. I still have the Rheairds, so it’ll be a quick trip.” He turned his head to address Yuri. “You’re in no shape to fly on them by yourself. Genis, would you be able to share with Yuri? I’d offer mine but I don’t think we’d both fit on one.” Yuri watched as Raine rubbed her chin thoughtfully while Genis just seemed to seize up.

“I don’t even know him!”

“Well we’re getting some bonding time.” Yuri replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. “And you get to teach me about what a whatever-this-vehicle’s-called is.”

Genis could only return a dour wordless expression.

-----

The flight to Sybak was not easy. Though his experiences with Ba’ul meant Yuri had no fear of flying or extreme heights, he still feared that this small child he’d been paired with would drop him or he’d lose grip and fall off on his own. The pair barely fit onto the vehicle at the same time, with Genis piloting and Yuri clinging on desperately behind him, and while the Rheairds themselves had no trouble with flight, Yuri and Genis did struggle to keep steady during the trip, and Yuri had no idea if it was purposeful or not. All he wanted was to land and find somewhere to sleep. But he managed to remain conscious and hold onto the small boy for the entire trip, but just barely.

Yuri made a mental note to thank Ba’ul for his hard work when he got back.

The entire world had been frozen and greyscale. There was a large mountain near the city, and a vast bridge hat they flew over There were hints of previous colours, both from context and current colours, but Yuri couldn’t help but feel something was off about the colour of the sky. He couldn’t pick a good time to ask about it though, so he left the subject untouched.

The town of Sybak was just as lifeless as Meltokio. The entire party was nervous and uneasy as they moved into the main plaza. A couple of merchants were in the corner, frozen in the middle of shilling their wares. Numerous students carrying books hinted to Yuri that this place was similar to his Aspio. And, though he was sure it was just his general state causing him to hallucinate, there seemed to be cat people at a stall, dressed up as explorers. Similar to the Cowz and just as unsettling. Once again, all these people were frozen in time. There was no life, colour or movement in the city.

“This place gives me the creeps.” Genis voiced everyone’s thoughts. “Let’s be quick here.”

“Yeah. I’m not sure who’s here, but we need to rescue the others, and quickly.” Lloyd added, turning to Yuri. “I hope they’re nearby.”

The Sage siblings nodded, and Yuri weakly patted Lloyd on the back. They split into pairs to cover more distance. Genis stayed with his sister, not wanting to stay with Yuri slowing them all down. If he was entirely honest Yuri was grateful for it. The other two headed along towards the building Lloyd called the Institute. They were both fascinated by the stream of water running along the walkway, completely motionless. Lloyd had no problem helping Yuri to walk, though he did offer to let Yuri sit by instead of following him around. Yuri could tell that this was from concern at his state rather than speed, but he couldn’t just sit by, even in this bizarre unknown world. He started to make idle conversation to distract himself from his own pain.

“How many friends are we looking for?”

Lloyd hummed. “Well, we’ve got the Professor and Genis… There’s Colette, and Sheena and Zelos, and Regal, and Presea.” Lloyd paused. “So four. We’re looking for four.”

“Huh? You just gave me five names. What’s going on?” Yuri almost laughed, but instead it came out slightly choked.

“Well, one of us got kidnapped…” Lloyd sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “It was nearly me that got taken, but they took my place… I feel really bad about it.”

“Huh. I can certainly emphasise with that.” Yuri mumbled to himself.

“What?”

“I know how you feel. Someone important to me stepped in to take my place and probably saved my life.” Yuri winced at the memory gripping at his chest and pulling his shirt tight. Lloyd tried to stop, but Yuri kept pushing forward, leaving Lloyd no choice but to continue supporting him. “I’m not even sure if he’s okay for it. But I owe him a lot… So, we aren’t looking for number five due to kidnapping?”

“Yeah. We were trying to use the Eternal Sword to catch up with them, but it went wrong.” Lloyd turned his head so Yuri could no longer see his face. “But I can’t fix this if I let myself get bogged down with worries.” He faced Yuri once more, a small smile on his face. “People are relying on me, so I’ve got to do my best!”

“Huh.” He didn’t want to admit it, but this Lloyd was certainly impressive. He had his head on straight, cared about his friends, and knew what he needed to do. Yuri could only nod appreciatively at Lloyd’s words, though he wasn’t entirely sure what he was grateful for. “Yeah, let’s keep going. We’re looking for someone in a rocky statue, yeah?”

“Yeah, but it could be anyone. Origin didn’t say who… Hey, are you okay?” Lloyd stopped, noticing Yuri wheezing. Carefully, he set Yuri to sat down on the ground. “Should I call the Professor?”

Yuri shook his head. “Just… Need a minute. Gahh, I can’t believe I got attacked like that…”

“You mean the stab attack, yeah?” Lloyd gestured towards Yuri’s abdomen. He hopped to his feet and crossed his arms. “What happened?”

“Bad stuff. Like I said, I think I’m accidentally in a love triangle.”

“She must be something special if you got stabbed for this.” Lloyd muttered absently, scanning around. Yuri chuckled weakly.

“You could say that…” he replied. In the distance he could see the Sage siblings trying to open a door to a building back in the plaza without luck, and too his side, Lloyd looking around the waterway they had stopped beside. Slowly Yuri leant back until he was lying on his back. It wasn’t comfortable and it had hurt to move into this position, but at least his head stopped spinning. It was at this point he saw something.

“Hey Lloyd, isn’t that one of your friends? In the rocks?” He weakly lifted his arm to point in the direction of the entrance to the building, where there was a small girl trapped in stone. Lloyd let out a small surprised noise before instantly running over to it. As soon as he reached it, he grasped the shoulders carefully and examined the statue.

“Presea. Oh, she would not be happy here…” He muttered to himself. Yuri couldn’t quite make out what Lloyd was doing, nor could he clearly hear him speak. Instead, he just struggled to roll over onto his belly.

Without letting go of Presea, Lloyd turned towards Genis and Raine and called for them to come over. Genis sprinted over, panicked, and almost tripping on the bricks of the plaza as he came, while Raine walked over to Yuri at a brisk pace. With a quick “You okay?” she hoisted him up over one shoulder and guided him along to where the two boys were fretting over the statue.

“How do we help her Lloyd?” The desperation in Genis’ voice was evident. “How did you help me?”

“This guy.” Lloyd merely gestured to Yuri as Raine brought him over. With a guilty expression and a little wave, he hooked himself under Yuri’s free shoulder and transferred the man onto him. Raine rolled her should as Yuri left her with a slight grunt. “He freed you.”

“Really?” Desperation had changed to disappointment. Yuri could only sigh in response. Genis heard and caught his gaze, meeting him with a steely glare. Yuri poked his tongue out in reply, but wished he had the energy and strength to actually fight back.

“Yes.” Raine answered, lightly striking the back of her brother’s head. “Stop antagonising him.”

Yuri laughed weakly. It seemed he’d grown on Raine a bit. At least to be nicer than her little brother. Lloyd looked between Yuri and Genis and simply shrugged. A jostle of his shoulder alerted Yuri that they were to move again, and Lloyd brought him up to Presea. Finally, Yuri was able to see a small girl in a dress with almost outlandishly large pigtails. Her expression was one of shock, eyes wide, though her body was stiff, with her arms straight by her side, and one foot slightly behind the other as if she’d been beginning to try to move back as she was frozen.

“Please, help Presea.” Genis sounded very small.

“Presea.” Yuri repeated. He nodded to Genis and then to Lloyd. “Sure.”

Slowly, Yuri brought his hand to her head, just as he’d done with Genis. He placed it lightly just above her forehead, but there was no reaction. Presea remained a cold, grainy statue. Yuri grimaced, and lifted his hand to touch it down more firmly. Though he couldn’t see him, he could sense Genis getting impatient behind him. He tried once more, letting his hand fall onto her head and all but slapping the top of her head, but the only result was the pain of the rough surface.

Lloyd reached forward to Yuri’s wrist. “Can I help?”

The moment Lloyd took hold of Yuri’s wrist, the rapidly heating sensation of before came, hurting Yuri’s palm and causing him to try and recoil. His hand was stuck to Presea’s head and he couldn’t remove it. The jerk reaction caused both men nearly to lose their footing in surprise, while behind them, Genis stumbled in shock. Raine shook her head as she helped him up.

“It seems that it must be both Yuri and Lloyd who help our friends.” She observed with a smile. “Now if only Yuri were not wounded, this whole endeavour will be fairly straightforward.”

“Huh?” Genis turned to look at his sister and opened his mouth to start a question, but stopped when he recognised a voice behind him.

“What happened?”

Presea was stood, free from her stone prison and alive with colour, glancing around rapidly like a lost puppy. Lloyd held Yuri’s hand in the air just above her, which was noticeably trembling, while Lloyd was rapidly going between greeting Presea and supporting Yuri, shaking Yuri roughly in the process. Genis ran up to her and took her by both hands.

“Presea! You’re okay!” he cheered, pulling her closer. He was almost bouncing in place and swinging her along with him. She made no effort to stop him. “This is great. So great!” At this, he realised he had clasped both her hands in his and had brought his face very close to hers. He turned a blazing shade of red before pushing her away and retreating behind his sister, who had moved closer. Presea wobbled slightly, but caught herself. She then straightened out her dress, before looking around at the party.

“Good to see you again.” Raine smiled.

“It is good to see you too, Raine.” Presea replied. Yuri noticed the lack of emotion in her voice. “I was gone somewhere? Genis, are you sick? Your face is so red.”

“It’s a long story.” Lloyd answered.

“Not to be a pain,” Yuri started, slowly moving to a sitting position, “but can we fill her in on the way? I just want this to stop.” At this point, Presea was looking around at their surroundings. Her face was still very unmoving. Yuri couldn’t help but feel like this girl was some kind of doll, and he wanted to interact with her as little as possible.

“No!” Genis shouted. “That’s not fair to Presea!”

“Genis, I do not mean to interrupt you, but I must ask where the others are?” Presea walked over to Genis, despite Raine being between them. “We have been split up, correct? If this stranger says we can discuss this on the way, I believe we already have a destination.” She tilted her head slightly as she spoke to Genis, who fidgeted under her gaze.

“Indeed.” Origin’s voice boomed the sky. Yuri flinched. That deep voice suddenly sounding out of nowhere was not something he was going to get used to. “But it lies in Sylvarant. Now that you have finished in this corruption of Tethe’alla, I will take you to Sylvarant. But I must insist that our stranger does nothing-”

“It’s Yuri!”

“-with the Dein Nomos in transit.” Origin finished.

“May I ask where we are headed?” Presea asked. “If Origin is here, there is a 90% chance that it is location relevant to our current mission.” Raine nodded in response. “The mission of locating our friends?”

“That’s the one.” Yuri answered, trying to speed things along. “Shall we?” He gestured to Lloyd to come help him up, but instead Presea came forward.

“I do not recognise you, but it seems likely you are important.” She stated, scooping Yuri up. He squirmed, highly unsettled with what she was doing. When Presea managed to lift him cleanly off the ground he wrapped his arms around himself and grabbed onto his shoulders, breathing heavily. “Then let us depart. I will require an update as we travel.” She carried Yuri to the centre of their party, ignoring Genis who was giggling.

“Indeed. I will now transfer you to Sylvarant.”

Before Yuri could object, a shimmering purple light descended upon the party, and he watched as the world outside of it fell apart into a black void, shards of reality floating up into the sky. As the ground crumbled beneath them, Yuri felt no shift in Presea, so he presumed she was still somehow standing on solid ground. He looked around as this was happening, but everyone had either neutral or determined expressions on their faces as the light flickered across them. He frowned as he realised that this was a normal experience for them, and the urge to return to Terca Lumireis just increased. The black void was limitless and vast, and Yuri couldn’t tell if there was warmth or not, only from Presea as she held him.

Almost as soon as it started, large grey shards materialised beneath them, and the world was rebuilt. The light shrunk away back into the sky, getting replaced with yet more grey skies filled with still cloudless and motionless birds. Yuri was almost relieved to be out of the void until he scanned his surroundings, with dread settling in his stomach as he realised the lifelessness of the world too, especially in contrast of the appearance of the town they had arrived in. They appeared in be in a canyon, with a steep drop nearby. There was plenty of wind-related paraphernalia, such as flags and windmills, and to Yuri, this town they’d arrived in almost screamed ‘tourist trap.’ Except in frozen grey, it felt surreal and unsettling instead.

“That was faster than expected.” Presea’s sudden comment made Yuri jump slightly. “We did not get the chance to discuss what is happening.”

“No, we didn’t.” Raine sighed. She looked skyward. “I’m not even sure where to begin with all of this.”

“It’s making my head spin a little…” Genis groaned.

“Then I’ve got no chance of getting it!” Lloyd sighed almost immediately after, burying his face in his hands. Genis looked at him incredulously before shaking his head once more.

“Well, I know you could start with that statue of Colette behind you?” Presea raised her voice. Still carrying Yuri, she gestured with her head behind the others. Raine turned to be almost face to face with her student and recoiled slightly at the sight. Genis gasped, and Lloyd took a few steps away.

“We found another one that quick?” Yuri scoffed. He couldn’t see Colette clearly behind Raine from his position in Presea’s arms, and began squirming to try and get put down, though Presea continued to hold him steady, not even reacting. He huffed and folded his arms. “Must be because that Origin guy put us here.”

“I guess?” Lloyd answered, shrugging. He walked over to Yuri and Presea, offering his hand out. “Come one, let’s fix this.”

Presea carefully set Yuri on his feet as Lloyd pulled him up. Yuri tried to subtly dust himself off, embarrassed that Presea had taken to carrying him as she had. He wasn’t even sure how such a small girl had been so comfortable carrying him as she had. Lloyd gave him a curious look, but Yuri ignored him as he hooked his arm over his shoulders. He could feel Lloyd shrug underneath him as they slowly started to move past Raine and Genis, who were still examining the statue. A girl of average height with long hair, in the middle of falling backwards with both her arms in the air mid-flail. From what Yuri could make of her expression, she had been very surprised when she was turned to stone.

Carefully, Lloyd guided Yuri’s hand to the top of her head. As soon as he touched the stony surface, Yuri could feel the familiar heat build up under his palm. But his head began to throb and his knees felt weak, even with Lloyd’s assistance. He felt himself beginning to fall, and an unidentified pair of hands catch his back as he began to black out.

“Yuri?”

He had no idea whose voice that was. It sounded like a couple of people at once. A red blur above him looked like Lloyd? He couldn’t tell. Everything hurt, and Yuri couldn’t fight it anymore. He let himself slip into unconsciousness.

~-------~

When Yuri opened his eyes slowly, everything was blurry and grey, and he couldn’t make out where he was. Despite just waking up Yuri could already feel his head pounding and his whole body just ached. He felt tired. Suddenly, he felt a hand gentled place on his forehead. The back of a hand he realised. He blinked a couple of times to focus his vision, and tilted his head to try and find the hand’s owner. With his movement, the hand jerked away. Yuri’s vision focused enough for him to see a blue eyes girl with long blonde hair, cradling one hand in the other as if she just stuck it in a fire.

“Uhh, sorry Mr. Yuri, I didn’t mean to wake you! I was just worried.” She mumbled, glancing away. Yuri reached out and took her hands in his.

“Hey, nobody’s ever called me mister before. Don’t worry.” He smiled. Slowly, he tried to get up into a sitting position. His abdomen ached, and his hand shot to his wound. Immediately, she had one hand holding him up on his back, and her other hand gently pushed him back down to lie again.

“You need to take it easy,” Her tone was quiet and reassuring, though her face betrayed her worry. “The professor says she can’t heal your wound properly.”

“If you call her professor as well, you must be a classmate of Lloyd’s? I feel I should know your name already. What’re you called?”

“Colette!” she chirped, grinning widely. As she spoke she glanced behind her, where the rest of the others were having a discussion. “Yes, Lloyd and Genis are my classmates, and Professor Sage is my teacher. But we left school to go on a journey to save the world…” She chewed her lip as she hesitated. “Then we found another world… It’s complicated.”

Yuri waved his hand. “Don’t worry, I can guess it’s a long story… What happened before I fell unconscious?”

“Well, for me, we were going to try to go to Derris Kharlan. Our friend got kidnapped up there, and it’s where we need to go to save the two worlds as well, and the only way we could reach it is the Eternal Sword. Lloyd picked it up, and then there was a flash…” She paused to furrow her brow. “The next thing I knew, most of us are in Asgard, and the world is grey and frozen. The others told me Tethe’alla’s like that too… Then you were collapsed on the ground, and everybody got worried because you’d been stabbed, and the professor was really upset because she couldn’t heal you properly. She tried to pretend it was a matter of pride, but I think she’s actually really worried about you.” At this she looked downcast, but her expression changed to upbeat in almost a second. “So while we waited for you to wake up, we decided to set up camp for a break. Not that anybody seems to be hungry or thirsty or sleepy…” She shuddered slightly as she said this. “Lloyd and the professor did their best to explain everything to Presea and me, but they didn’t know much about your wound. May I ask how you got hurt?”

Yuri looked at this girl for a moment, to take her in. Her face was kind and she practically exuded innocence. Even moments where her voice wavered were masked with a smile. She reminded him an awful lot of Estelle. His mind went to the others briefly, when he realised that he probably could trust the people here. He took a deep breath and looked Colette straight in the eyes.

“I accidentally got into a love triangle involving my best friend. And somebody who can’t handle jealousy well tried to remove me from the competition. Even if I wasn’t exactly competing myself.”

“Oh my! That’s scary.” Colette’s eyes went wide with fear, and then wonder. “Oh, she must be someone amazing if you got stabbed for her!”

Yuri couldn’t help but laugh at the mix-up again. “Kind of? Well anyway, it was more to protect… the third person than to take me out of the running. I was seen as a ‘bad influence,’ I guess. I don’t think many people would miss me though.”

“No!” Colette cried, a mixture of surprise and despair. Yuri jumped slightly at the sudden change in attitude. “You can’t say that! You mustn’t say that! Every person would be missed if they died! And every life has meaning! You can’t…” He could swear tears were forming in her eyes. “You can’t just throw it away…”

“I… I’m sorry?” Yuri was at a loss for words, completely disarmed by her reaction to his statement. Colette clasped both his hands and held them to her chest tightly. Her head was tucked into her chest too, and Yuri couldn’t see her expression, but she seemed to be shuddering.

“Every life has meaning. Even if it would help other people, you shouldn’t sacrifice another person. It’s just… wrong…”

“But what if there’s no other way? …If a life has to go to save others?” His question was quiet. He regretted it almost the moment it came out of her mouth, as Colette immediately thrust all their hands onto his chest with far too much force, the movement revealing her red face and horrified expression.

“There always has to be another way! There always is!” A long pause. Yuri simply watched her silently as she tried to form her words. “Lloyd saved me from that stupid belief. That death or sacrifice was okay.” She sniffed loudly and tried to smile. “I’m sure there’s always another way. Just believe in the people around you. They’ll always help.”

The two remained there in silence staring at each other for a few minutes before Lloyd came over to the pair, jogging at a fair pace. Colette hurried wiped her eyes on her sleeves before turning to acknowledge his arrival. Her face was still somewhat red, but Lloyd did not seem to notice.

“What’s the noise about?” He looked at them confusedly, first at Colette, who was kneeling next to Yuri, and then at Yuri lain on the ground, who turned his head to avoid Lloyd’s gaze. “You okay?”

“Yup!” Colette hummed, clapping her hands together. “Just… Just making friends.”

“Yeah…” Yuri mumbled. He sighed, then rolled over to look at Lloyd. “Help me up. I think it’s time we got going.”

“But your wound?” Colette reached out for it, but pulled her hand back before getting anywhere near. “Will you be okay to move?”

Yuri opened his mouth to answer her, but Raine interrupted him, walking into the conversation. “No, not really. I don’t want him moved anywhere if possible.” Both her face and tone were neutral, and when she finished walking, she folded her arms. Yuri caught her gaze, and she simply shook her head in response. “I’m not going to push our collective luck with that wound any more. You’re staying put.”

“But you know that’s not gonna work.” Yuri grumbled. “I need to get over and help… two more of your friends? We need to get going.” Yuri tried to get up, but Colette placed her hands above him, blocking his way.

“Nope!” Colette chirped. It took Yuri a moment to be able to form a reply.

“What do you mean, ‘Nope?’”

“Well, while you were unconscious, Colette and I set up camp, as such, here in Asgard, while we sent Lloyd, Genis and Presea out to scout for the other two. With a connection to Origin, it was theoretically simple to find the others.” Raine smiled. “And they did, in the nearby town of Luin.” She stepped aside to reveal a statue, this time of two people, a man and a woman. The man was tall and muscular, with long hair and his hands bound by manacles. The female was smaller with her hair in a ponytail, and clinging onto the man in shock, who had clearly not expected it from his stance. “These two are Regal and Sheena.”

“These are the last two of us.” Genis added. He smirked. “With these two, we’ll finally be able to fix your mess.”

Yuri chose to ignore the second comment. “Wait. You mean to tell me you guys carried two people made of stone here!?”

“Indeed.” Presea replied indifferently.

“But look at them! The guy’s built like a house!” Yuri exclaimed, batting Colette away as he finally managed to sit up. “Not to mention there are two people!?”

“Yes.” Presea flexed her arms, though her expression remained still. “Though this is not the first time I have been required to lift and carry Regal across some distance. However, this is the first time I have had to lift Sheena as well.” Her arms returned to her side as she gave a tiny smile. “I am stronger now. There was no increased challenge.”

“Huh.” Thoroughly unnerved, Yuri decided not to press it any further.

“We’re all set now, Yuri, you just need to unfreeze these two.” Raine reminded him. He turned to see she was offering her hand to him. He took it, noting her care in pulling him up. “Nearly done now.”

“Yeah. We ready?”

“Let’s do this.” Lloyd replied, taking hold of Yuri’s wrist. At first, they both hesitated, not sure where to place Yuri’s hand. Lloyd took the initiative and placed it on Regal’s forehead, the top of his head being out of both of their reach. Once more, Yuri could feel the heat underneath his hand. He wanted to stop and sit down, but Lloyd continued to hold him up. The experience wasn’t tiring so much as standing up was.

With a bit of a jolt, the rough stone turned into messy hair, and Yuri lifted his hand away. The man looked at him strangely, eyes trained on his hand, before turning his head to his left to look at the lady holding onto him. She had come free too, but was still clinging to the man in the same state of shock she had been in when she was frozen. There was an awakrd silence until Yuri broke it.

“These two are Regal and Sheena right?”

With that, Sheena let go of Regal and shuffled away, trying to hide her embarrassment. “It caught me by surprise is all!”

“May I ask what happened?” Regal asked calmly. He scanned all the faces around him before settling once again on Yuri. “And who is this?”

“This is Yuri. He’s from a world separate from both Sylvarant and Tethe’alla.” Raine explained, placing her hand on Yuri’s shoulder. “But now, it’s time for him to go home.”

“What?” Sheena questioned.

“It’s time.” Origin’s voice rang from the sky again. “With all of you back reunited, I can now return Yuri to his world of Terca Lumireis. And that will save our Sylvarant and Tethe’alla.”

Before anyone could say anything, a golden light spread beneath Yuri’s feet, gently lifting him off the ground. It felt warm and nostalgic, and continued to lift him higher, until he was being cradled by it above everyone’s heads.

“Can anybody explain to me what is happening right now? And what has become of…. Wherever we are?” Regal asked, a bewildered expression on his face. Sheena, to his side, was nodding in agreement with a similar expression.

“We’ll explain in a minute.” Presea replied.

“Yeah, let’s just get Stabby home.” Genis added. Yuri, who had been waving to Lloyd and the others, began to shake his fist at Genis.

The golden light grew, enveloping Yuri. For a while he was okay, but couldn’t see beyond it, but gradually it became too bright to keep his eyes open, even with a hand shielding them. He turned his head to try and check the Dein Nomos in his hand, but even opening his eyes briefly was a shock. He quickly screwed them shut as he brought the sword up to his body and wrapped his arms carefully around it.

“Yuri?” Lloyd’s voice echoed out, though Yuri wasn’t entirely sure where from.

“Yeah?”

“Take care!”

With that, he felt a sudden burst of speed from underneath him, and Yuri was flying upwards. It slowed gradually until he came to a stop, floating, though the bright light forbade him from seeing where. Just as sudden as his ascent, he felt the force beneath him dissolve, and he began falling.

~------~

A week had passed. A week of agony and searching. Estelle had maybe slept for the first night, but that was just from exhaustion. And an sleep she had gotten past that was filled with vivid nightmares of drowned corpses. But she didn’t know how the others had slept. Karol already had bout of insomnia, and Rita was always reluctant to sleep when her time could be better spent focusing on her current project. Judith had been as mysterious as ever, but even her façade was cracking, both from worry and lack of sleep. And Raven had gone straight to Dahngrest to search, so how he was doing was anyone’s guess. And she knew from the knights’ rumours that Flynn was barely even eating, and from Ioder’s chats that he was about to be forced off the search and onto a project in Hyponia.

She was frustrated. She was helpless and unable to do anything helpful towards finding Yuri, nor to comfort her friends. She had no ideas to offer, and Ioder was reluctant to let her leave the castle so soon after the events. She scoured the castle library, but she could find no material on the Adephagos. And Zaphias was in an uproar with its appearance in the sky. She could only ponder how the rest of Terca Lumireis had reacted. Though she roamed the streets trying to soothe the panic, she was more hindered than in her efforts by her knight escort, who the citizens took as a sign of danger. All she could really do was look after Repede. And the dog must have been distracted to let Estelle take care of him.

Estelle sat by the window of her room, absently picking at her meal with a fork while staring out of her window over the city. She didn’t feel hungry, but with everything else happening, she didn’t want to become a cause for concern again. So she made a vague effort to look after herself. To let the others focus on Yuri, not her for once. Repede was lain at the foot of her bed, though she couldn’t tell if the dog was asleep or not.

A sudden glimmer in the sky caught her eye. Like a shooting star, it crossed the sky and faded out. It almost looked like it had landed in the Lower Quarter. Estelle pressed up against the window to watch it, regardless of how fleeting the sight was. It was mesmerising, and it almost felt like it had been calling to her. She hadn’t even noticed Repede come over to join her at the window until he barked. She recoiled from the window, stunned, before turning to Repede with a grin across her face.