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Post by mugenginga on Nov 14, 2009 9:54:45 GMT -5
Yuugi let Minato head in first and followed after, with Atem taking the rear. This was the first time he'd been in Minato's apartment as his own entity. It was cleaner than last time, it was possible Minato had been cleaning to pass the time. Or, because he knew he was going to die, to make it so there wouldn't be an issue when he didn't come back. Not many got to prepare for their deaths... It wasn't a feeling Atem ever wanted. It probably felt horrible, knowing when you were going to die. Knowing you were and knowing when were two entirely different boats.
Yuugi looked around, "Where do you want me to set this?"
Minato was probably going to head out just before midnight. It was likely he had to be at Tartarus to do whatever he needed for the Seal, and it only showed up at that instance between one day and the next known as the Dark Hour. Yuugi knew he could stay up that late. He'd probably cry himself to sleep afterwards. He noticed Minato look at him and his expression quickly changed to a somewhat forced grin. It was as like as not that Minato had caught the depression in his eyes a second earlier. Yuugi wondered if he should use the COMP to text Souji's phone... actually, he probably needed to contact K1 too.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 14, 2009 10:09:20 GMT -5
Minato turned around. "Just set it on the table," Minato said. He turned back toward his bedroom, where he'd been heading to in the first place. "I'm going to go to bed..."
-------------------
A few hours later, Minato, who had been sound asleep due to his previous exaustion, suddenly began coughing. And then gasping for air. He opened his eyes, and saw a transparent Orpheus hovering in front of his bed. And then it flickered for a moment. The flickering sped up, to the point where Orpheus looked like whatever was transmitting him was giving off a bad signal.
And then Orpheus flickered, and instead of Orpheus, Thanatos was floating there, one hand around Minato's neck, the other on that sword it carried. And then it flickered back to Orpheus.
Minato's vision was going dim. He couldn't breathe... this had been exactly what he was afraid of... where was Yuugi and Atem!? They'd said they were going to watch him!
This was all going terribly wrong...
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 14, 2009 10:16:54 GMT -5
Yuugi jerked up from the soup he had been making when he heard the coughing. Yuugi ran out of the kitchen to see Atem fighting with the door to Minato's bedroom. His gaze darkened and he stepped back, practically ripping Temu's card out and crushing it with a distinct lack of his usual flair. He leapt back as Temu released Zio on the door, rather throughly knocking it off its hinges. It fell inwards and landed with a crash just as Minato's eyes rolled into the back of his head. He had been right...
Yuugi threw caution to the wind and ran beside Minato. It was more than enough for the two Persona to be aware of him. He grabbed both of Minato's shoulders and began shaking the blue haired teen violently, "Minato-kun, wake up!"
Atem, and as a result, Temu stood on ready. If Orpheus' flickering form went after Minato again... or Yuugi, the gods forbid... he'd be getting a Zio to the head. Atem narrowed his eyes has he made that decision. A Zionga, more like, which up until the surge of emotion he was not feeling hadn't realize Temu could peform... he didn't want to run the risk of it being shrugged off, and the truth was the risk still existed. Especially as Orpheus form flickered again, that presence Atem remembered all too well from the cabin seeming to try and take hold...
If it was any consolation, Yuugi was too worried trying to get Minato awake again to notice it.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 14, 2009 10:36:15 GMT -5
Minato was still breathing, however barely. It wasn't likely he'd survive if Orpheus went after him again. This wasn't like with Chidori where Shinjiro had been able to supress Medea. Minato hadn't been taking the supressants at all... and there weren't any nearby to give him.
And just to make things even better, Orpheus had flickered again, and Thanatos had appeared again where Orpheus was supposed to be. The Persona didn't seem to realize Yuugi or Atem were there, having only let go before because the door being blasted off of its hinges had distracted him. Thanatos was flickering again, but it looked like the Persona had gained hold.
It moved over to Minato and reached its hand out to grab him by the neck again. With how strong Thanatos was... he'd likely crush the poor teen's windpipe.
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 14, 2009 10:43:20 GMT -5
Atem's gaze narrowed as Thanatos surfaced. He had looked powerful demons in the face before, he knew what this adrenaline rush was. But it didn't make it any less life threatening. A blind man could have seen the power level difference between Temu and Thanatos - Honestly, Thanatos started more powerful than Temu currently was. But as he often told Yuugi, a fight was not over until the last play was made. Temu held out its palm and Zionga shot towards Thanatos.
Yuugi had felt the difference in energy as Thanatos fully expressed himself. He looked up and his eyes got wide. Thanatos may not have been Death incarnate, but he was damn close. Yuugi saw the advancing hand and felt tears coming to his eyes.
"Stop it, this isn't where you're supposed to die!" he shouted at Thanatos. The pain, worry, and even a hint of demanding in his voice was likely to get the Persona's attention more than the Zionga.
Persona were an aspect of their user, right? Even if Minato had lots of Persona, they were all incarnations of one of his sides, right? So... it was a long shot, but maybe he could reason with it. He was scared out of his mind right now, but he had to save Minato, he had to convince this aspect of himself to not let him die like this.
His face showed clearly every emotion he was carrying. The unspeakable fear, the crippling worry, the fleeting hope masked in desperation... they were all there as the Zionga impacted and Yuugi looked at Thanatos with his pleading eyes.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 14, 2009 11:02:02 GMT -5
It was a damn good thing that Thanatos flickered back to Orpheus at the moment that the Zionga hit... or perhaps because of the Zionga. In any case, the Persona backed away from Minato without managing to strangle the teen to death. At the same time, a wave of pain moved through Minato's body... well, it wasn't like he didn't share his Persona's pain. Thanatos seemed to be losing hold on Orpheus, though. The flickering had increased again, showing Orpheus more than Thanatos.
And finally, the Persona faded away. Minato, though, appeared to be unconcious... and unconciousness is one step below dead.
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 14, 2009 11:14:41 GMT -5
Yuugi felt his legs give out as Thanatos, and then Orpheus faded. Literally gave out, their ability to support him totally lost. He caught himself on the side of the bed. He had still "fallen" into a sitting position, but one hand was on the bed.
Atem rushed over to Yuugi's side, but the look in the shorter teen's eyes indicated it was just fear and shock that had caused the reaction. He carefully positioned his feet so as to not step on Yuugi and looked at Minato. He held his hand in front of the teen's face and let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding as he felt the warmth caused by the unconscious teen's breath.
"What time is it?" he asked Yuugi.
Yuugi had closed his eyes. His breathing had steadily gotten slower as his pulse dropped, "...It was about eight when I left the kitchen."
Yuugi pushed himself up, but his legs still felt weak. Minato had come so close to dying... Atem looked on with concern as the other teenager stumbled to the door, "Are you going to be okay, partner?"
Yuugi paused, "I'll be fine," he lied, forcing a smile for Atem, "I need to check on the soup. I left it on the oven when Minato-kun started coughing..."
He was lying to him. That alone was an indication of how rattled Yuugi had been. Atem glanced at where Orpheus... and Thanatos had hovered. If he had read Yuugi's actions right, he had been about to try and talk with Thanatos. Somehow Atem didn't think the Persona would have listened. Persona were shadows... suppressed feelings that had been accepted. Minato hadn't faced himself, so all of this could be a result of him ignoring his suppressed feelings. Shadows didn't negotiate well... if you refused to accept them they would try and kill you.
"Minato-kun, you need to wake up," he said flatly. He glanced at the teen's throat. There didn't appear to be any markings and the skin was a normal tone, so it was unlikely his Persona had caused any real damage. After that, though, he was going to stay in the room with the teenager. He'd thought being outside would be fine... but obviously not.
Eight at night, huh? He sighed. He needed to tell Minato to go as soon as he woke up. Things were getting worse. At least the blue haired teenager was alive. He couldn't have forgiven himself had Minato died after they promised they'd keep an eye on him.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 14, 2009 11:39:24 GMT -5
Minato twitched a bit, and opened his eyes a little before coughing some more. "That was a little closer to death than I cared to be..." He gave a small laugh and sat up. "What happened...?" he asked. "I remember Orpheus... and then I blacked out."
He looked down at his bed. "Damn... I should have tried looking for those suppressants harder... could have solved a lot of problems... What time is it?"
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K1 arrived back at the apartments with the medicine for Kaini Naoya had sent him out to get. "I'm sorry! The pharmacy was all out, and I had to go all over town, and there was some business with a flying kid and some demon that was blocking the whole south side..."
He'd actually sent a mail to Naoya telling him it might take him some time to get back to the apartment, but he hadn't expected things to take THIS long.
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 14, 2009 11:44:57 GMT -5
Atem closed his eyes from the full out relief at how quickly Minato woke up. He glanced at the door before speaking, "That thing you called Thanatos tried to kill you... It almost won dominance over Orpheus. Is your back okay? You... twitched a bit more than I expected when I attacked Thanatos," he looked towards the door again, this time without looking back, "I'm glad it seemed to force a loss in dominance. I think Yuugi was going to try and negotiate with it... It's a little past eight in the evening," he returned his gaze to Minato's own, making sure their eyes met, "You should go soon. I don't know if Thanatos will back down again. Yuugi's cooking, he'll be upset if you don't eat before you go, but after that..."
-----
Naoya looked up as K1 entered the apartment, "A demon? Did the COMP react, or do you think it was from a differnet world?"
He said nothing about Kaini. The door to the bedroom was closed and Kaini was asleep. A small bowl was on the stand next to the bed, about half full of oatmeal. The cup next to it was empty, but the lack of stains and such made it clear it had been full of water. Naoya took the bag and seemed satisfied with the contents, but appeared to be awaiting an answer.
He had some things to tell Keiichi, but first he wanted to check on what he had said. He didn't seem all that annoyed by how long he had taken. As for the program, it was done but... well, it was one of the things he needed to tell Keiichi about.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 14, 2009 12:06:07 GMT -5
Minato nodded and got out of bed, stretching before walking through the open doorway. He paused to stare at the broken hinges in the frame. ...We really do break a lot of doors, don't we? Minato thought to himself before walking into the kitchen. He sat down at the table, and looked to Yuugi, but didn't say anything.
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"I think it was from another world, because the COMP didn't react at all," K1 said. That kid had a demonic aura too, so it was likely that the kid was a demon as well as the demon who had been fighting him. He didn't mention this, though, and instead said, "How's Kaini?"
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 14, 2009 12:20:38 GMT -5
Yuugi's head lifted as he heard the footsteps. He looked as relieved as Atem had when Minato walked in and sat down, "I'm so glad you're okay!" he said.
Atem came in after Minato and sat down. Yuugi put two bowls full of Miso soup in front of the two, "I'm sorry if its a little overcooked... and I tried to get the salt balance right, but it might be a bit much..."
Atem shook his head, "I'm sure its fine. Better than I would have done."
Yuugi looked a little queasy at Atem's reference to cooking. He swallowed hard, and Minato was probably wondering what all this was referencing. Yuugi got a bowl for himself and sat down, "Minato-kun... um... why do you have more than one Persona? I mean, Seta-kun does too, but isn't that... odd?"
What Yuugi wanted to ask was that if Persona were an incarnation of oneself, why did Minato have such a bloodthirsty thing inside of him. Minato had never seemed like that to him in any fashion. The implications were that Minato was supressing a gleeful killer inside of him. Yuugi didn't want to admit that. Atem hesitated a bit at Yuugi's question. It was on the table now, all he could do was wait for Minato's response.
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Naoya nodded, "He'll be fine. He's badly scarred, but that is to be expected. The worst of it is on his back," the man pulled out some medicated lotion and a wrap, "The skin there is still extremely tender and some of the wounds are barely closed," he looked up, "We got to him just in time. I don't think he would have lasted another hour."
Naoya walked over opened the door to the bedroom, revealing Kaini to be asleep, "There are things that need doing first. You need to at least alert Midori we'll be leaving the Island soon. The program is set up to draw back anyone that was brought here by it. With Kaini's condition, it can wait until morning if you like. If you can get Kaini into a bath, it would be in his best interests. He probably has a rash by now."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 14, 2009 12:47:27 GMT -5
Minato hadn't quite started on his soup yet when Yuugi asked his question.
"I have what's called the Wild Card. Essentially, I have the ability to use multiple Personas. I discovered my ability when I first summoned a Persona... I summoned Orpheus, and suddenly, Thanatos tore his way out of Orpheus' body. None of my other Personas have done things that violently, so I guess it was just Thanatos' nature," Minato said. "I really don't understand it too much myself."
He shrugged, and then started slurping on the soup. It was very salty... In fact...
"...Yuugi, could you get me some water?" Minato asked.
---------------
"Okay. I'll mail Midori..." He didn't seem too enthusiastic about that, but it would probably be best.
He sat down in that same chair next to Kaini and started writing a message.
That little apology was three weeks late. He hit send.
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 14, 2009 12:58:49 GMT -5
Yuugi nodded to show he was listening. So Minato didn't know either. About any of it. He sighed and looked at his soup, but he looked up as Minato asked for water.
Atem, on the other hand, had an unusual expression on his face as Minato's own expression contorted. It was rather hard to read, not because it was stoic but because it was... well, uncommon for the former pharaoh. Perhaps it would best be described as amused. Almost as if he was trying to hold back laughter. There were traces of smug in it as well.
Truth was, Atem wanted to laugh at Minato's face. And the hints of smugness were thanks to his own disaster in the kitchen before. Okay, Yuugi looked to have done the soup from scratch and Atem had completely failed with spelled out instructions, but it was still humorous. But the situation they were all in wasn't one he should be laughing in. Still, he had to stick another spoon full in his mouth to head off the laughter. It worked rather well, really.
Yuugi looked apologetic as he stood up to get the water, but paused as he saw Atem. He seemed to be trying to avoid a chuckle as well. That was gonna come up later, he knew it. He filled a glass a Atem headed off his own reaction with soup and set it on the table next to Minato, "Sorry about that..." he said.
It had seemed to lighten the heavy mood by a fair bit, though. Even if the "joke" Yuugi and Atem were sharing was still over Minato's head.
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Naoya had set up a second chair in the room while Keiichi was out. He took it and unhooked what was keeping the wrap bound. He reached out and lightly touched Kaini's shoulder. He needed him awake for this. The smell in the room Kaini had brought did not go unnoticed, but Naoya had far worse smells in his memory. Really, one nearly killed by crucifixion had nothing on groups actually killed via it.
Kaini twiched and his eyes fluttered open. He turned his head towards Naoya, who spoke once he was sure the teen could hear him, "I need you to sit up. Can you do it yourself?"
Keiichi would have just finished his e-mail to Midori at this point.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 14, 2009 13:17:01 GMT -5
Minato took a big, long gulp of his glass of water. "It's okay, it's nothing worse than what Fuuka's fed me before." He visible shuddered as he said this. There was a reason he REALLY had to work up his courage before dating her. At least Chihiro didn't try to feed him stuff that was practically inedible...
He looked to the clock before standing up. "I should go. Do... you two want to come with me?" he asked, turning back toward Yuugi and Atem as he said this.
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K1 closed his COMP and turned toward Kaini and Naoya, remaining silent. He would need to wash those sheets too while Kaini was bathing.
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 14, 2009 13:32:37 GMT -5
Yuugi's head jerked up at the offer, and Atem paused. The humor was gone from his face in an instant, and he had his usual unreadable expression. After a moment he turned towards Yuugi, and was surprised to find the shorter teenager was already looking at him, as if asking for permission.
Atem regarded Yuugi's expression for a moment before turning back to Minato, "Are you sure about that?"
It was meant for Minato, but there were traces that could have been interperted at being aimed at Yuugi. Not just interperted, either. Minato was going off to die. He didn't want Yuugi to go unless he was sure about it.
Yuugi felt bad for not even thinking if he should ask Minato. He hesitated before looking towards the blue haired teen. He'd actually gotten partly up, so he sat back down and waited for Minato's response. Being that Yuugi wore his emotions on his sleeve, it was clear he wanted to go... if only Minato confirmed that it was okay. Yuugi was too kind sometimes. Atem's gaze remained on the taller teenager.
He wants to go, but I don't know if he can handle it. But I want you to be honest... say what you really want. Yuugi will believe what you say, and if you lie to protect him I won't challenge it, Atem didn't change his expression as the thoughts went through his head.
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Truth was, Kaini still felt a little weak. But the words of warning Cain had given him earlier still rang in his head. He nodded and pushed himself up, relying on the bed rather heavily for support. Naoya held the wrap in his hands, but didn't move it towards the teenager just yet.
"Can you walk? You might be too weak to notice it, but you need a bath. I don't know how long you were up there, but Belphegor was rather textbook with his crucifixion."
Kaini hesitated. He looked towards Keiichi. That expression was rather impossible to read. It was odd... when they had first met, he hadn't carried that expression. Even the comment about him not being in the lockdown had held levels of darkness or cruelty to it... this was just flat. He looked back towards Naoya, "I... can try."
"Keiichi, help him," Naoya stated. It probably didn't need to be said, though. Naoya helped Kaini pull back the covers and the younger twin set about getting his legs over the side of the bed closest to Keiichi. He was sore in so many places that it took a few moments for him to feel the rash. He glanced back at Naoya as the man spoke, "We bought medicated powder for that."
Naoya had seen how Kaini had winced. It was as he suspected. It would probably be best if they threw out Kaini's old clothes. Keiichi had set some out for him earlier, and those clothes still lay there. He still wasn't sure if the teenager would make it to the bathroom, though, so he held his position. It would not be out of the question for Kaini's legs to give out. But despite all that, he did need that bath. To the point that he'd have to do it in a hospital sponge bath way if Kaini couldn't make it. It would be a blow to whatever dignity Kaini had left, but he didn't want something to infect because of his condition.
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