Day 201 [event post]

[bastionpc]

Who: Zahi and everyone who wants to go hunt down the cure
Open: Open
When: 201- onwards
Where: the monument, and then out on the Skyway
What: People in the Bastion are falling sick, and Zahi knows where a cure can be found. Unfortunately, it won't be easy to get to.
Format: action
Warnings: none

[On Day 201, after several people have fallen ill, another meeting is called. This time, however, it is not Nathaniel who has called for everyone. It's Zahi.]

Okay, I know everyone's been worried about the people in the hospital, and it looks like our fears weren't unfounded: some of the people who went on that last trip, they caught something.

I've been watching the symptoms, and I think I know what this is. A long time ago, back before Zayna was born, there was a terrible illness that claimed the lives of many Ura. Everyone who fell sick here, they had the same symptoms as those who caught the disease before.

On the plus side, this means that it can be cured. I know of a clinic, way out in the Terminals, where there should be some medicine stocked. Not only can we cure the sick, but we can give another kind of medicine to those who aren't sick yet, so they won't catch it at all.

The downside is that it's gonna take a while to get there. It'll be at least two days there, and possibly more to track down exactly where the clinic is, and then the same amount of time back. We're looking at a four-day minimum, which means we won't be much help to those who are sick right now. They'll either be dead or getting better by the time we get back.

Then there's the fact that it's really dangerous out there. Zayna and I were out on the Terminals before we came here, and let's just say that there's a reason we went looking for somewhere safer to stay.

If you'd rather stay here, I can understand that. The Bastion is an amazing place, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone here managed to save everyone. But I'm not a fan of putting all my eggs in one basket, so I figured it's worth a shot to go and try to get some of the medicine.

What do you guys think?

Comments

[yinyangfox]

[ Though he hears the voice he does not believe its existence. Kaoru was safe and away, healthy and loved by his brother and he would be cared for even when...the inevitable happened. Yet shallow breath caught briefly when fingers touched his sweat-slick head and peeled the hair from his face so gently.

Perhaps it was Jay? Colin was kind enough, but not quite so delicate about things. He had to be hallucinating when he head Kaoru's voice, though. No surprise really, considering how inflamed his skull must be. The pressure was unbearable most of the time, pounding and burning and driving him to fits of tears all over again. Even now he could feel the dampness rolling down the sides of his face and nesting in the hair nearest his temples.

Still, illusion or not, it was so wonderful to hear that voice in his last hours. ]

[individuates]

Shh...

[His fingertips tenderly combed the hair away, massaging gently. If his worry wasn't clearly plastered over his face in the first place, it certainly is now - he doesn't have the energy to waste keeping it in check]

[he sits up properly and a little too quickly, and has to close his eyes against a sudden swell in his headache, and a whirl of vertigo before he can manage to take stock of things by the bedside. A jug of water and a glass - right, he needed to make sure Seimei drank something - a basin of water and a cloth. Not much else. No medicines?

He dampened the cloth and set to gently dabbing the sweat and tears away, occasionally pressing his lips to Seimei's skin, too.]

Everything's okay. Everything's all right now.

[yinyangfox]

[ The pain was too much for him to really open his eyes, and yet he did, straining to do so, squinting against light that was too bright and air that was too dry. It took time for his eyes to adjust, focusing on the face hovering. He needn't have tried so hard - he would recognize that hair no matter what.

His chalky, damp face crumpled with despair, fingers twitching on the bed as he strained to reach out, lips moving over and over long before papery, dry words whispered past. ]

No. No no no. Not you...you were supposed to...supposed to... [ And just like that he shamed himself with more tears, because what else could he do? He had failed utterly this time. Killed himself, killed Kaoru, broken his promises. Everything wrong. ]

...Punished...[ He croaked softly, defeat evident in his face as his eyes struggled to stay open past tears and weariness. He was being punished for making promises he was too weak to keep. Everything was being taken away and ruined. He never should have said the things he did. He was wrong to confess to Kaoru, to bring him close and expose him to his world and any dangers in it and now he was being punished, and Kaoru would suffer it as well. His selfishness would destroy everything. ]

[individuates]

[a soft, pained noise in turn, gently gathering Seimei into his arms. God, don't weep, please don't weep like that.]

It's all right. It's all right, Seimei, it's not your fault. Not your fault. Hush…

[the cool cloth comes back in an effort to dab the tears away, and he has to swallow a few times in order to keep his voice coming.]

You've done nothing wrong, my love. No one's being punished.

[yinyangfox]

[ But that wasn't the truth. It was his fault, he tried to say, though no words came; he just shook his head and moved his lips, the barest of twitches. He'd started everything. He'd been fool enough to open his mouth and speak the words. He'd been arrogant enough to build a life around it, build a home. He'd loved a human again - such fragile things - when he should have kept to himself and remained solitary like ever before.

Kaoru would be somewhere else right now, living with his brother, oblivious to Seimei's existence or at the very least completely ambivalent. Not here in this place, surrounded by sickness, likely sick himself.

Dying.

How could he do anything other than cry, when his body refused to obey and had not the strength even to fight away the boy's hold or insist he leave, find a means to help his chances? If this was not divine retribution, he had no idea what else it could be - Abe no Seimei did not have the luxury of believing in happenstance.

All he could manage was silent weeping, tears sliding down his face in steady rivulets while he shook his head slowly once more as though he could deny the reality. ]

[individuates]

…I know. That you blame yourself over this. [one of his hands eases into Seimei's hair. He can't do much to help the tangles in this position, but at least he can massage a little] But you don't need to. You don't need to, Seimei...

[It wasn't Seimei's fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. The plague might still have found its way to the Bastion even without their stumbling across it. They had done what they could to contain it - it hadn't worked. It was what it was]

There are people out there. Looking for a cure. They'll be home soon.

[Hikaru had been so sure about it on their way here; and that certainty had passed on to Kaoru. The group would come back with the cure. Or someone in the hospital would manage to figure it out. They just had to hold out a little bit longer]　

[yinyangfox]

[ He did't have a little bit longer, and he knew it, but the relief at those words was evident, the tension easing somewhat. The tears did not, however, but they lessened in their frequency.

Part of him felt better for it - he would inevitably die before they could achieve anything. The illness had come with brutal suddenness and completely crippled him - the most powerful onmyoji in history - in less than three full days. He would not last another, and perhaps that was the intention?

Kaoru would survive until the cure was found, eh would not. He wouldn't exist there to cause further trouble. he would not get between the twins, he would not endanger anyone else. He had managed to provide a place for them to live that would satisfy their needs for opulence and it would be a good thing he could leave behind.

Perhaps that was enough? Perhaps his punishment need only be the fright of a near loss and the conclusion of his own life? He could accept that, he decided, eyes closing completely as the remaining tension slowly seeped out, threatening to evaporate entirely.

He could just stop clinging to those weak breaths, stop fighting for consciousness against the unbearable heat and pain.

He could give up, should give up, because he was failing - failing to protect, failing to stay away, failing to be completely honest. All his talk of love and its importance with Rin, but here was the truth of it: some people weren't meant to. He had betrayed his divine purpose, failed to protect Hiromasa and Kyoto and then tried to be happy somewhere else.

If he continued down that path, it would be worse for everyone else...so perhaps it was better to let go? ]

[individuates]

I've decided. I'm going to live, Seimei.

[his voice shakes, but he manages it with classic Hitachiin conviction, even as he stretches his aching body out on the bed. God it feels so good to lie down, although the chills make him want to settle as close to Seimei as physically possible he manages to refrain - neither of them needs their temperature raising any further. His arms are still there, though, one hand sliding into Seimei's. He's not moving to a separate bed until he gets forced into one - he has to keep an eye on him.]

…and I want you to live, too.

[he knows it's a big request, he knows it's unfair of him to make it. He knows. But all the same…]

I know it's hard. I know it hurts. But I need you to hold on. Just a little longer. Keep fighting. Keep breathing.

Show me the way through this, Seimei.

[yinyangfox]

[ Not just a big request, a cruel one. Guilt eats at him like worms at a corpse, crawling through his heart and stripping away layer after layer of pride and conviction. The pain is terrible, worse than anything he's ever experienced both physically and emotionally, and now Kaoru is asking him to do the impossible?

Yet when had he ever denied the boy? Why would now be any better time to start than all the other opportunities? There was never a good reason to hurt the ones you loved and if it meant helping Kaoru hold on long enough for his cure, couldn't the onmyoji live a little longer? It was already the worst suffering he'd ever endured, so what would it matter it he took it a little longer?

He can't speak, he can barely open his eyes and his bones feel like dry twigs strained to the point of snapping, but he twitches pale fingers against Kaoru's. He may be too weak to grasp firmly, but he tries with what he has left to promise.

He'll hold on.

For now. ]

[individuates]

Thank you…

[lifts himself up shakily a moment to press a kiss to Seimei's forehead, his thumb stroking Seimei's hand gently]

Save your strength now, my love. I'm here. You're not alone anymore.