hadriel_logs | my heart is a furnace

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my heart is a furnace

Who: Fox and Caedra (edit: plus whoever's here for the fallout!)
What: For all Caedra's done to make the residents of Hadriel suffer, Fox takes revenge.
Where: The north island
When: Post-monster event, nighttime
Warnings: Violence, body horror, mentions of character death, allusions to childhood abuse.

It's a dangerous plan. Fox knows it is, but he knows he's all out of other options. So with the ring given to him by Rage hanging around his neck, and his katana in hand, the masked teenager has to face the confrontation that's been eating away at him for months. He hasn't even sent a calling card-- he's not stealing a heart this time, and while this may be about justice, he's acting alone, not on the behest of the Phantom Thieves.

It takes time to track down Caedra: her movements are unpredictable, and it's made all the more difficult by the city being split into islands, and by his preference to move under the cover of darkness. After a few nights of unsuccessful searching, he manages to track her down to one of the rocky beaches where they're surrounded by sea -- where there's nowhere for her to run except to the water, or through him.

He steels himself, and emerges from the shadows, eyes bright with anger behind his kitsune mask.

"Caedra! Your cruelty ends here."

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Now isn't this a funny inversion from a couple months ago. Ianchus isn't here on business, though--he's simply made a habit of loitering around the clinic since his own time there. Some of it is to pick up some techniques, maybe help, but mostly it's to try to keep patients company. Not everyone's as needy as he is when it comes to contact (really, the only way he can tell that it was Love toying with them at the end of last month was because of how others were acting), but he's sure nobody wants to be alone all the time, no matter how aloof.

Ianchus doesn't find it funny at all, though, when he sees the familiar shape, the familiar face, in a bed that's familiar in a different way. His mind takes a moment to process the juxtaposition, but when it does he all but throws himself into the room.

"Y-Yusuke?"

Yusuke had spent most of his stay so far in an exhausted, feverish fugue while his wound mends itself back together enough that he can at least walk. From what Law told him, it will take weeks -- maybe even months -- before he's fully recovered. Still, he'd hoped to get out quickly to avoid exactly a situation like this. For now his left side where Law carried out surgery is heavily bandaged, and is still too painful to think about escaping anywhere.

As much as he'd like to, when a familiar shows up.

"Ianchus," he struggles to sit up with a wince, his expression one of tired resignation. "Hello."

"Stay." His voice turns firm and authoritative for just a brief moment, one hand coming out in that familiar stop motion. But then he immediately softens, slipping to his bedside, leaning over him.

"Yusuke, what happened?" Because of his command he can't entirely see the bandaged wound, but he knows it must be terrible--ah, he can tell by how Yusuke's normally pale face is even paler, how drawn he looks, how tender every movement is. His heart aches, seeing his friend like that.

Yusuke immediately goes still on command, watching Ianchus approach. He can't quite meet his gaze, though, eyes sliding away.

"It's better if I don't tell you," he says quietly. Knowing will just put him in danger, if it doesn't just make Ianchus hate him like the rest of the city seem to. "Call me a hypocrite, if you like. It's only fair."

Perhaps...

Perhaps he deserves that, after how he's treated Yusuke. But he shakes his head, sitting down and leaning over, putting a hand gently over Yusuke's.

"I don't want to call you anything. I want to know what happened to my friend."

The concern, and the warmth of that hand on his bring a lump to his throat. All the pent up frustration, anger, pain, grief, everything over the past months, has built up inside him like a dam ready to burst. And if it didn't burst when he fought Caedra, it feels like it could any second now.

"I can't," he says, in a small, choked voice. "I-- can't tell you anything. I'm sorry."

Everyone has their secrets; some people need their secrets. Ianchus understands that--and again, it's that tension in Yusuke that hurts him more than the fact that Yusuke's neglecting to tell him.

Gingerly, he moves to take the hand, then clasps it in his, bringing the fingertips to his lips briefly. It's a motion that takes no thought, something he'd do for his siblings if they woke up from a nightmare, for anyone in need of comfort.

"Then don't. It's alright. Please, just focus on healing."

The gesture is simple enough, and yet also enough to bring tears to Yusuke's eyes. After what he'd suffered, after the scorn he'd seen on the network over his actions, after the scorn he'd given Ianchus himself when he'd once gotten hurt... Receiving unconditional kindness in return is almost too much to bear.

Yet it reminds him he made the right decision. Ianchus, whatever he may think about himself, is a good person. The decision to keep him safe, even if for a little while, had to be the right one.

He lets out a choked noise, tears now falling in earnest. "I want to protect you."

"Yusuke, Yusuke..."

Ianchus' voice is soothing as he reaches out to put his fingertips on Yusuke's cheek briefly, then withdraws--he keeps a hold on his hand, but his other reaches out to take a tissue from the bedside, offering it to him. He knows Yusuke doesn't take the same kind of consolation from touch as he, and that's fine, of course.

He's not quite sure where those words came from, though, and his eyes trail down to the wound even as he consoles him, his mind trying to touch on a thought that's difficult to grasp.

"I told you. You have nothing to worry about. I'm alright, see?"

Yusuke closes his eyes, comforted by that touch against his cheek, however brief. He holds his hand tightly like a lifeline, accepting the tissue to wipe at his eyes. He still can't meet Ianchus's gaze directly, as though if he looks at him too long, Ianchus will figure out the truth.

"I-- I'm glad," he stammers. He feels much less like a wounded Phantom Thief putting on a brave face and much more like a child, even as he tries to take breaths to calm himself down. "I'm so glad you're all right."

Ianchus goes back to stroking Yusuke's hand, careful with his contact but taking heart from how Yusuke reacts. He blinks again, leaning forward, craning his neck to see Yusuke's face better.

"Yusuke...whatever this is, you don't have to be alone."

Yusuke rubs at his eyes, now red and puffy, as he wills himself to calm down. Ugly -- another reason he hates crying around others. "Do I have a right to ask you to stay? When I turned my back on you when you were hurt..."

The situation might not have been as simple as that, and he may have apologised already, but he still feels guilty about accepting help in return.

And that pulls a laugh out of him--Ianchus shakes his head, squeezing Yusuke's hands.

"If you don't want me gone, I'll gladly stay, Yusuke. The past is the past. And you're my dear friend."

When it comes to other people, Ianchus is always ready to give.

Yusuke finally meets his gaze, and there's something like confusion mixed with relief fighting for dominance. How is someone who worries him so much so skilled in making him feel like he has nothing to worry about at all?

"You're so easygoing..." It's not quite a laugh that Yusuke huffs out in return, but he seems almost startled out of his sadness. "Um... Please stay only as long as you want to."

"I get that a lot. It's not always a good thing, from the sounds of it." He laughs a little again, running his thumb over Yusuke's knuckles.

"Do be careful with what you say, though. I might just end up never leaving, ah? Is there room in that bed for me, young Kitagawa?"

Yusuke seems to take that literally, because he glances across the bed, as though sizing it up. "Perhaps if I move over?"

With a wince, he moves to scoot himself over to the left side of the bed, so Ianchus can sit on it by his uninjured side if he wants.

"Ah--no, no no no, please, stay still." Ianchus winces sympathetically, looking over the bandages again, furrowing his brows. "Please. Try not to move much. That's...that's a very large injury, isn't it. Are there any others?" Again, he searches what he can say, his expression laced through with concern.

Yusuke frowns and stops trying to move, realising belatedly that he'd seemingly misunderstood the request. He doesn't want to worry Ianchus any more than he has, after all.

"Just the one." Had she managed to land more blows on him, he's sure he'd almost certainly be dead.

"What kind of injury is it?"
Almost automatically, Ianchus reaches for the pitcher next to Yusuke's bedside, pouring him a glass of water and offering it to him. Thank goodness for small favors, at least.

Yusuke takes the drink with a shaky grip, taking a few small, steady sips. "A cut. Law-san treated it swiftly; I'm grateful to him."

Grateful and cautious all at the same time, when he half expects to be betrayed the moment Caedra returns, but he can't mention that particular predicament aloud here in the clinic. He offers the glass back to Ianchus.

"A cut..." Ianchus takes the glass back, looking at the bandages. "Did it...did it get infected?" For Yusuke to look so sick, he definitely expects a poison, or an infection. "How long have you been in here?"

Yusuke says nothing to that first question, gaze sliding away again. He can remember it all too clearly, having to watch, without being put to sleep, as Law removed a huge chunk of rotting flesh...

The second question is a little easier to answer. "About a day or so, I think." He can't be sure, when spending most of it sleeping has made it harder to track the time, but that seems roughly correct. "He told me it will take time before I can move."

A day...then it hadn't been an injury sustained while the monsters rampaged. And not nearly long enough to get an infection in this climate. And that meant...
"Poison? Then...someone poisoned you?"

Even as he talks, his fingertips abruptly come up to his own lips, something flickering in his eyes as his mind works. Ianchus isn't exactly suspicious by nature, but he has a perverse love for intrigue. And now his brain is trying to put together something that is just at the edges, as he stares at Yusuke.

Yusuke shakes his head, expression becoming strained again as he watches. That Ianchus seems to want to puzzle this out is worrying.

"I'm sorry. I truly cannot tell you..."

Ianchus is staring somewhat past him, his eyes widening a little. He can hear the strain in Yusuke's voice, from much more than the injury.

"Yusuke..."

He wouldn't be like this, he thinks, if it was something incidental.

"Are you not telling me...for my protection?"

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