wildkotetsu | 9 • Heroes • [Action]

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9 • Heroes • [Action]

[Kotetsu's been unconscious, comatose, for three days now.

He tries to wake up on the last day, a few times. Feels himself rising up to the red-orange light under his eyelids - but it's a struggle, one that leaves him spent. And then, without a moment's notice, his eyes open wide to stare at the ceiling. Awake.

He remembers. He remembers exactly what happened. Bunny had been stabbed — and he was dying, had died. He'd died, with a blade through his chest... and Pao-Lin had done it. He rips the catheter out, all the wires, the device pumping oxygen into his nose, and drags himself up on quivering legs. Thank god they at least put pants on him, though they'd prefer that: he's burnt and he's been stabbed, near fatally. Even now with healing put in place, he's bound up tight.

How long has he been out? It couldn't have been that long. If he had enough sense, he'd feel the short stubble on his face and recognize it's been far more than 24 hours. But right now, common sense - what little he enjoyed using - was thrown right out the window. He staggers, knocks over a chair (had someone been around?), and all he can picture is the look of disdain on Pao-Lin's face and the look of shock on Bunny's.

He has to go.

He's gotta get outta here. He has to find them. If he stays, the people here will keep him still and not let him go, and he doesn't want that. So gathering up all of his strength in the pit of his stomach, ignoring the low ache in his shoulders and ribs, he instantly glows blue before fleeing from the clinic through an open window. He's a flash of neon color through the forest and village as he returns to the apartments.

He looks in Bunny's room first, slams it open with his shoulder, and the wind is knocked out of him on sight.

Everything's gone.

Everything's gone.

He doesn't realize he spends the next twenty minutes sitting in the middle of the empty room. When he finally does, he swallows hoarsely and uses his NEXT power to keep himself moving.

Pao-lin, he has to find her.

Somehow, he already assumes she's dead. After jumping through the window to the seventh story of her complex, he easily forces the door to her apartment open. The stillness of her room, untouched, tells him nothing's right. He wants to assume it's just her hiding, after all that's happened. But she's gone away. He tries to leave her messages on the journal and there are no replies back. No sign of her. Nothing. He'll be looking around CH7, asking if anyone knows where Pao-lin is.

The bandages and New-Feather-esque hospital clothes may raise some confusion. And the glowing, too, maybe.

Walking through the forest, his powers clocked in, he gives up and quietly curls up under a tree, burying his face in his knees, exhausted. He's sick and hot and in pain, and more than likely he's reopened his injury, but he's hardly aware of any of it. None of that matters, because he's failed. Barnaby's gone, and it's his fault he was killed like that. It's his fault he wasn't strong enough for him or Pao-Lin. His partner went home, and the last thing he saw in Luceti was Kotetsu as he bled out.

Dammit.

A few sharp, strangled yells are muffled by his hands but echo, regardless, into the treetops, scaring off stray birds. Eventually, they break down into sobs that shake his whole body. At this point, he's not budging, even as it starts to trickle rain through the canopy.

Eventually as the sun starts setting, he'll be directed back to the clinic without much struggle, staying at last to heal and get fixes for the burns and injuries he has. Honestly, he just wants to leave. He's not hungry - most of his food's not touched, he's not much for conversation, and he'd rather vanish into the covers than anything else right now.

But he'll try to be himself. Attempt to smile and talk, if spoken to.

He just wishes he could leave and find a way to get his mind off it all. Frankly, this is all a countdown so that he can hide in his own apartment like he intended.]

((ooc: feel free to run into him out in the woods after he's given up his search, or talk to him as he's looking for pao-lin. also, at the clinic after he agrees to finally go back. if you got any other places you'd wanna pop up, lemme know. he's pretty out of it, pre-clinic return.

most of this takes place on may 8th, but the last little bit can happen any time in the next 7 days or so. :|b

also timeline breaking is a-ok, just be subtle about it later or something))

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[ wham those awful, despairing feelings hit him like a sack of bricks. someone nearby is in a great deal of pain (physical? mental? it's all muddled, he cannot tell), but even in the rain reyson spends a great deal of time in the forest.

the man descending on you is not an angel, kotetsu, but feel free to think so. it's not difficult to follow this string of pain to its source, and soon enough he's alighting only a few feet in front of him, his great white wings folding almost soundlessly behind him.

what a pitiful sight. reyson's brows furrow, and he takes one hesitant step forward, but otherwise keeps his distance, and when he speaks his smooth voice is quiet, gentler than normal. ]

.. Are you all right?

[ a silly question, of course, but he has to ask it. ]

[Regular exams were irritating. Even more when you're doing your own examination- but she needs to be certain that it's healing properly. That and the usual morbid curiosity that often accompanies any wound on the human body- it aches but she does not pick at it. Adele's off to the side in one of the adjacent examination rooms when a man- distantly his name comes to her. Kotetsu. When he bolts from the clinic. She has half a mind to call out after him- but thinks better of it. Hurt he might be, badly, but there was an urgency. A panic that she understands well enough. She lets him be. Opts to wait around for his return.

It takes hours, but Adele uses the time to catch up on cases she might have missed. Paperwork. Low stress, tedious, but necessary. She's present for his return- and is more than a little shocked at his condition.]

...Kotetsu.

[The absence of one certain Hero doesn't strike Sanji as surprising when he returns to check on the man some 30 minutes later, and so he just stares blankly at the bed thrown in disarray - sheets half-sprawled on the floor, wires dangling without a purpose, chair overthrown, the monitor that's meant to show Kotetsu's heartbeat hissing out a flat line...

Gone, save the wild panic etched into every surface of the room. Goddamn it.

He doesn't bother hunting for Barnaby or Pao-Lin's rooms. Even if he knew where they lived, it's an unnecessary detour; neither will be there to greet Kotetsu. The truth of that bitterly turns his insides. But he goes on the hunt for his friend all the same, pulling passerbys aside in the square, inquiring to the whereabouts of a bandaged idiot in grieving.

It will be another twenty minutes of searching before a helpful stranger mentions a glowing man riddled with injuries having headed into the forest. Not completely helpful when you consider how far the woods cover, but it's a lead, and Sanji wastes no time jumping into the sky. He'll search all day if he has to, the rain only pushing his efforts.

Though, thanks to a stroke of luck, that too is unnecessary. A concentrated flock of birds chased out of the canopy is a telling sign, as are the heated, strangled notes of anguish Sanji barely notes from his vintage point.

... The chef lands on a branch settled midway on a tall oak. And then takes his time coming down. It isn't for his own sake, either.

By the time he stops walking along the forest floor, the light rain has gained momentum, coming down in fat drops that smack against the crown of his bowed head. The grim, flat line that is his mouth thins further the longer he stares at the man hunched beneath the tree, who looks a lot smaller than the chef remembers. A lot frailer, too. Sanji's unsure if Kotetsu heard his approach - just like he's uncertain if the other cares, or not.]

... [The pause is heavy on his end, and doesn't relieve itself with a sigh. Sanji is silent as he shrugs off his suit jacket and bends down, tossing it over Kotetsu's head and shoulders to protect him from the rain and possibly more sickness.]

Edited 2012-05-09 02:58 (UTC)

[It's the end of a long day for him; when Mia comes in to check on him, she'll do all she can to keep quiet. If he's resting the last thing she wants is to disturb him.

After the stunt he pulled, though, they're having someone on hand visit the room more often, to make sure he stays put. For a while, it's her turn. She doesn't mind.

...Oh, he is awake. Or, his eyes are open. The chair he knocked over was righted long ago and Mia sits in it, keeping her voice down.]

Good evening. You've had quite the busy day.

[He looks up, eyes red, all wet from rain water. It is a pretty silly question, isn't it? He's huddled up under a tree looking half-dead, feeling it pretty good himself. He runs one hand across his face, up through his tangled bangs. Man, is it hard to talk.]

I'm—I'm fine... I just. Needed some time away.

[From the clinic, from the apartments, from anyone who'd see him and know exactly why he looks this way today. He didn't want to meet anyone that Bunny or Pao-lin knew, because... how would he even begin to tell them? What happened?

And if they tried to soothe his guilty conscience... something he wasn't willing to allow.]

[A faintly hollow-eyed stare is returned, as he's returned to that bed. His hair's damp, and his binds had to be changed—he'd pulled some stitches on the frantic journey across the village, but fortunately, they're giving him morphine. Sitting still in a place that was reserved for the sickly or injured, he didn't like. Hasn't for a long, long time. Any chance he has of avoiding these places, he goes for it.

He tries to smile, tight-lipped, but it fails him.]

... Doctor.

[He's tired, but he's not below replying to her. Even if it's in a low voice that sounds like he's had far too much happen to him in one day.]

Hey.

[He flinches under the sudden weight of the jacket, and for some frantic reason he thinks maybe I was wrong and looks up to one of the sleeves, heart thumping wildly in his chest—but he can see easily that there's no red or white, and he knows it's not Barnaby's. The name dies on his lips before a syllable can get out.

His heart plummets back down, as he pulls the jacket, letting it overtake his face until just the clenched fingers are exposed against the black. Of course it's him. He always runs off after him, right? All annoyed and huffy about what the kitchen worker's getting himself into. He appreciates that.

But right now, he wishes he didn't.

Did he even know? He wasn't sure if anyone knew. Barnaby's a private person. Always has been, always will be. Kotetsu... well, he was probably the first to see that he was gone. Was definitely the first to see he was gone.

His jaw quivers, but he's hidden. It's a good mask, this jacket.]

Bunny's stuff is gone.

[It's not a lot, and it's almost lost in the rain. He tries his best to make it sound neutral, but it's a harsh effort.]

All of it's gone.

[Not only did he die, but he left dead. It's too much for him.]

...You look like hell.

[When in doubt, go with blunt. It was the most honest thing she could say. Whatever happened to him, she doesn't know. Why he ran off? She doesn't know. For a moment, and only a moment, she misses the empathy she'd had during the shift. But only a moment. Instead she pulls a chair over next to his bed and takes a seat. Tugs a bit at the bandage over her chest through the open collar of her shirt.

She's not terribly good at this Kotetsu, you'll have to forgive her.]

What happened?

[See? Terrible.]

[On the bright side, he's not running around in the rain, injured and half-crazed, looking for people who he'd knew by then were dead. But on the downside, he was feverish and his body was exhausted. He blinks and looks over at her, sitting up against raised pillows. He's been sleeping a lot today. It's made him more and more lethargic.

He inhales, face reddening a little because wow, he must look like complete hell to any of the people coming in. But he gets over it.]

... You could say that.

[He's not so graceful with words. Never has been, and today will be a sad milestone for him when it comes to talking.]

Sorry. About... y'know... [He drops his head back, staring down his nose at the sheets.] Making a mess.

Don't be. I have seen bigger messes.

[For example. The way he looked a few days ago.]

Please don't run out like that again. Your condition is still very serious. [Because he's probably heard this lecture already today more times than he cared to, Mia keeps the scolding level to a minimum.] That aside...it is good to see you awake and talking.

[Fever and exhaustion aside. Some of it is to be expected; it surprises her a little that he's sitting up, let alone talking. Then it strikes her that he probably has no idea who she actually is. He's been unconscious, after all, and she was busy when others brought him back after he ran away.]

My name is Mia, and I work here, as well as in the other clinic. If you feel up to it, I'll heal you a little. I promise it doesn't hurt.

[In this place, checking on the things she usually spends the most time checking on is a bit superfluous, with all the machinery. Even if some of it still escapes her understanding.]

[He'd been halfway through the motion of settling down a respectable distance to the side - enough to give Kotetsu the illusion of space, but still within arm's reach - but now Sanji is frozen mid-crouch, the silence near deafening after that bomb the other just tossed into the air.

That jacket works both ways; Kotetsu is spared the momentary horror in Sanji's expression, the one he's too shocked to hide. He's been in Luceti a long time and--

... So that's what Kotetsu's left with. Two Heroes dead. One gone. The weight of failure his own companion.

Eventually he sits down, a bit closer than originally planned, with his arms settled on the tops of his knees. The fingers of his right hand twitch and twist, longing for a joint to roll anxiously roll around]

... I'm sorry. [Of course he's sorry; everyone's sorry. But he can think of nothing else to say, nothing that will make Kotetsu feel better - because there is nothing. So Sanji says what eases some of the silence]

[He clenches his jaw at that, fingers curling more tightly around the thick fabric. He's angry at himself, angry that he'd let what happened happen. There were so many things he could have done differently, and it wrecks him to think of those opportunities long since lost.]

It's my fault. [it's low, on his breath] I wasn't—

[good enough? strong enough? smart enough?

He could have figured out a better plan, or dodged faster, or fuck, even running could have done something. He was just... Dammit, he was too confident that he could reach her, but Pao-Lin was scared and changed and not herself. What was he thinking? He wants to sit and shake and let it all fuel something angry - but being angry takes so much energy, and it only leaves him more trampled and low.]

I watched him—

[bleed out, laying on him, neither unable to move. All they could do was watch the other's body failing... only one of them actually made it to the clinic. His hands move to his face, as he slides his fingers through his bangs and clasps, squeezing his eyes shut tight.

He keeps himself from crying again, but it hardly stops the strangled noise of ache that follows. He feels like he's going to be sick, and it's a good thing he hasn't eaten anything in days, he thinks. He's hollowed out.]

[He wants to avoid the question, frankly. Talking about it won't make anything better. It's a raw wound, just as raw as the one on his shoulder or through his gut. Instead he swallows dryly, looking her over instead.]

What happened to you?

[There, a good focus. Someone else's problems, he could handle. He was always good at that than his own.]

Yeah... I know—I've, uh, been healed with magic before. [A nod. He's not a spooked cat in a corner, after all. Any of that panic from today has subsided, and not just because he's too fatigued to move.] S'nice to meet you, Mia. Thanks for the help.

[A pause.]

You've been coming in to check on me, right?

[He doesn't know her, but considering how she's talking, she's been involved at the very least after he'd been stabilized.]

A laceration caused by what I think was a kitchen knife.

...

I startled a New Feather. He didn't appreciate it. [A beat.]

What happened?

Yes, I have. [A smile. He's not like most of the people who come through here, is he? It's nice to be recognized.]

Can you tell me where you are in the most pain? [He really isn't strong enough to unload Pure Ply on him until there aren't any injuries left. If he were, she would have done it already. Better for him to get help with anything that manages to hurt him through all of that painkiller, she thinks.]

[A heavy, long, and sharp exhale follows Kotetsu's first words, carrying with it some of his hidden frustration usually reserved for a certain broom-headed dumbass. It's all Sanji can do to keep from slapping some choice words in the man's face. Being unprepared doesn't put the blame on your shoulders. Not in this case. Whatever happened to Pao-Lin and Bunny must have blindsided everyone.

But Kotetsu wouldn't listen and Sanji has learned from past mistakes. Regardless of how true the words are, how much he wants his friend to believe it, that's not something he'll say to a grieving man -- especially after his last halted sentence. Once again, Sanji stills uncomfortably and feels his brows and mouth tense from frowning, not knowing what to do.

Shit. It's not fair. Kotetsu doesn't deserve this much pain.]

Kotetsu. [He gets as far as the name before words make themselves scarce. And then there is another pause, during which Sanji turns and stares unabashedly at the man who is trying not to cry. Another second passes, and then he finally turns his gaze back to the forest -- but not before scooting closer again. They're almost shoulder to shoulder.] Don't hate yourself.

[He... probably won't listen to that either]

[Dammit, he really doesn't want to talk about it. He'd even rather lie, pretend it was something small and insignificant, as she had when she described her injury. But it wouldn't be fair to the others, would it? The ones who died.]

My friend was kidnapped and came back different. She... I guess she thought I wasn't who I said I was.

... Here.

[His hand trails over the sheets numbly to rest on his stomach. This is where he'd been stabbed through and through, and would have internally bled if not for him using his Hundred Power. That sort of thing is a strain on his body and he rarely gets to use it thanks to that fact, so the wound is more painful than even the burns across his body.

Though, those are a close second.]

It's a... stab wound. From a sword.

And attacked you because of this?

[Her voice gentles, a bit. Less of an interrogation and more a conversational nudge.]

Oh, I know what it is. [Implied in her tone is that this is nothing new in her experience. How sad.] Just relax, then. I will do everything I can for you today.

[Mia closes her eyes. She doesn't need to touch him, or even to have her hands close by - though she likes to, because it tends to help her narrow her focus - and in this instance she won't touch him. It might hurt. That's the last thing he needs.

After a moment, even if he can't see the soft blue light and the attendant Psynergy angel-shapes, he should feel a soothing cool-water sensation in his stomach and across his burns. It condenses, after a few minutes, into something stronger and more centered on that stab wound.

When she is done, her eyes open again and she watches him carefully. People in equally serious conditions have fallen asleep on her before, while she worked. If he has, all the better.

She doubts it, though, for one reason or another.]

[He finally looks up, the jacket slipping backward on his shoulders a little while his brow furrows, eyes desperate and wet and lost, searching for some sort of truth that maybe the other can offer.]

What else can I do?

[... There are so many words of advice he could offer, and none of them will help. Thus Sanji goes for the harder truth.]

Pao-Lin-chan will be back in a few days. [He stares Kotetsu in the eye] You're not gonna be able to help her if you're too busy hating yourself for shit out of your control.

[He looks at the ground, quiet at that. He was right. Pao-lin wasn't gone, and he knew he had to help her. There was no question or doubt to that; if he thought he was to blame, she would carry the same deep-rooted hate for her actions. Heroes had to look out for each other, even if neither felt at all like a hero.

He swallows hard, still quivering in the rain, cold but unaware that he's cold.]

... You found us, right? [He stares at nothing, really, as he talks.] I could hear bits and pieces... in the clinic. I was trying to wake up, but...

[a breath]

'Kept hearing my voice and wondered why I was talking.

... That's right. [He doesn't look at her, jaw clenching just a little. He wishes he could click on his power and run out of this place, but it's not acceptable. It's selfish, and he refuses to give in to it.] I don't know what exactly they did, but it messed her head up pretty bad.

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9 • Heroes • [Action]

KOTETSAAAANNNNNNN [yuno] also action

[Action, Clinic]

[Action/Forest]

[Action, evening]

REYSOOOOOOOOOOON /kicks your action away

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