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 Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 1:38 am
WHO: Lazarus and Xiu
WHEN: 4pm
WHERE: The Lab, Kyou's office
WEATHER: Dim with signs of storm
It had already been a year since the incident, Lazarus remembered it as clearly as it had happened yesterday. The stupid argument he had with Kyou before he went to... that awful place. A full year had passed, and Kyou still lay unconscious in the room next door, his body still relying on the life support system to keep his condition stable. If Kyou had fallen prey to the horrors as soon as he had encountered it in the forest, that means he had probably been in that coma for a full year now.
Lazarus found himself unable to focus as he sat in a corner of Kyou's room, now in a condition of disarray. He played that stupid argument over and over in his head. What if he had not snapped like that? What if he had went to Kahadlok with Kyou so he didn't went alone? Would they have a better chance of survival like that?
However, no matter how many times he played the scenario out, it doesn't change the facts. Kyou is still badly hurt, and he is still in a coma. This only made Lazarus feel even more frustrated.
In the past few months Lazarus had been pouring over all of Kyou's research papers, journals, and reports to find a way to help him. If conventional methods were unable to heal him, perhaps something unconventional, supernatural even, maybe a spell, or some sort of ritual, would be able to help his guardian. No luck so far, and he had nearly turned Kyou's office inside out. He is slowly running out of options!
Blinking, he turned his attention back to the file folder in his hands. Glancing over a few pages, he realized this was just a collection of check up reports done by Tsu on the Raevans when he was still around. Growling in frustration, he yelled a curse word as he flung the folder against the opposite wall.
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Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:24 am
Xiu’s entry into the study could not have been better timed. Watching as a stack of paper flew gracefully past him to crash noisily into the opposite wall, the Sigel gingerly placed the cups of tea he had brought with him down onto a nearby table and waited several moments for Lazarus to calm down. He was frustrated. Xiu knew that. Having one’s guardian comatose like that would wear anyone down; especially so for the fiery Sigel who blamed himself for the events that led to Dr. Kyou’s critical condition.
The study desk was a mess of papers and files that Lazarus had poured through these past couple of months. He had started furtively at first; reading when he thought no one else was around- but this obsession soon spiralled to an all out quest to save his guardian and all pretence of keeping it together was slowly slipping away. The white sigel watched warily as his friend paced restlessly across the room. Sometimes it was best to say nothing at all.
But sometimes, saying nothing at all only made the situation worse. "You have got to calm down," said Xiu softly as he sheaved through the piles of papers that littered the desk. "I am sure...,"
Here Xiu hesitated. What was he sure of? That Doctor Kyou would wake up? Not really. The poor Doctor did not seem any better than a year ago when the paramedics brought him him. Perhaps a little less bruised but...
Was he perhaps sure that they could break the nightmare that the creature had cast upon the poor doctor? Once again Xiu was inclined to be uncertain. They were not even sure that there was any spell to break.
The Sigel's eyes then fell onto several notes on the occult. "Lazarus...these notes...," said Xiu as he picked them up. "These are dangerous," said Xiu, clearly unhappy as only someone who has had a terrible run in with the occult can be. "Please don't do this. No one has ever benefited from dabbling in black arts...,"
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 6:50 am
Lazarus could only breathe in deeply as he tried to calm down, he knew his outbursts like that would only make Xiu worried about him more and more, and maybe even felt a little ashamed to lose himself like that. However, he often times found that most of him does not really care about it that much at the moment.
The fire Sigel paced restlessly in the room behind the desk, lacing his fingers together and cracking his joints this way and that. It is a habit that he developed lately when he's extremely stressed. With someone else in the room though, especially Xiu, he must at least try to calm down, even if he is just pretending. He stole a whiff of chamomile tea as draws in a deep breath, the tea that Xiu just brought in. Chamomile is supposed to calm you down right? How thoughtful. However, looking at the tea sitting in the delicate cups on the tray, he don't feel like having any. Sighing deeply, he turned around to face away from Xiu, he don't know how to face him at the moment as he peered through the window blinds at the sky outside, it looks like it's about to rain soon.
"Lazarus...these notes...,"
Lazarus whirled around as Xiu spoke those words, red eyes staring at the notes the white Sigel is holding in his hand. Without a word, he moved over and quite nearly snatched them out of Xiu's hands.
"These are just.. some of Kyou's note on various potions." He said as he hurriedly arrange the loose pages back together and slipping them back into an old leather folder. As if he didn't really wanted Xiu to see that. "Nothing really helpful, just potions on how to ward off witches, love potions that only work temporarily, potions to change your eye color, and other petty stuff like that. Nothing that could help with Kyou's situation right now."
With the leather folder in hand, he looked around to try and find a place to put it back, only to realize that he don't really remember where he found it. Hastily he pulled open a drawer nearby, found a bunch of papers inside, but decided to stuff the folder in there anyway and slams it shut.
"I'm just... trying to save him..." ...anyway possible. Even if he needed to go to the dark side.
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 3:04 am
The gloomy weather outside did nothing to lighten the mood inside. Xiu watched as Lazarus grabbed the papers out his hand, shoved them into an old leather folder and then stuffed said folder into a nearby drawer; one that was marked “Private” (Xiu noticed). But that small detail mattered little in the cause of current events. Xiu was silent as he observed his friend. Something about Lazarus’s cryptic statement and his evasive nature worried him.
“I…understand your concern,” said Xiu slowly and carefully. He was treading on thin ice over here.
“But…”
Xiu’s expression took on a look of someone who was torn between some internal dilemma. Because he himself had been reckless in wanting to save his guardian’s brother and had thought that he’d be able to handle it himself. But look at how that turned out. He had lost his voice as a consequence. And if Cesc and him had not acted when they did, the Trader would have used that stolen voice to cause even further grief.
“But…,” said Xiu pressing on at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite.
“Please do not try anything rash,”
Because I love you much, MUCH more than the Doctor
Were the unspoken words.
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 9:32 pm
“Please do not try anything rash,”
Somehow, that sentence brought a reaction from Lazarus that Xiu will never expect. The fire Sigel didn't know what happened either, as something snapped inside of him.
The edges of his lips lifted up in a sort of mock smile as he picked up a document on the desk, it was one of Kyou's many medical reports. "Rash..." Lazarus repeats Xiu's last word softly as he chuckled in a mocking manner. "Did you know what this is?" His demeanor changed as he lifted the document up, showing Xiu the front page of it. For the first time ever, his emotions boiled over before the white Sigel. "This is Kyou's medical report, after we tried a radical neuro enhancer on him." Then without care, he flung the document back down onto the desk towards Xiu, causing the folder and some paper to slide over, nearly tipping one of the teacups before Xiu in the process. "The results? Active neuron function for an hour, and then back to normal! But as a side effect of the drugs, Kyou went into seizure twice that day, and burned a fever for the next three days." He paused for a moment, giving Xiu time to have this information sink in. "We already tried every medicine in the book. He had already been looked at by many doctors. Nothing works, science can't help him now..."
"Rash..." Lifting his hand, he touched his forehead as he began chuckling again, finding what Xiu said so ironic in so many manners. The underlying words that Xiu did not said did not occurred to him at all.
The fire Sigel paced once more, all the thoughts in his head scrambled. Truly, he had tried everything that is logically and medically sound. "What else can I try?" Lazarus stopped before a glass cabinet.
Red eyes were dimmed as he looked at his own reflection in the glass, with Xiu in the background. Something weighted heavily on him, and it was crushing his entire being as he recalled the news. He was quiet for a moment, only looking at Xiu's reflection before he lowered his eyes and spoke. "Yesterday, his doctor told me there's nothing else we could do. He said... that it's time to pull the plug..."
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:09 am
Xiu flinched when the medical record hit the desk and nearly toppled one of the teacups there but resolutely held his ground as he watched Lazarus paced across the room towards a glass cabinet. Despite Lazarus’s less than stable demeanour, the white Sigel still remained where he was; his expression unusually blank as he listened to Lazarus’s summary of Dr. Kyou’s medical results. But his calm wasn’t the calm of someone who had a plan in mind. It was the stunned silence of one who has been given the worst possible outcome of a situation and had no idea how to respond to it.
To pull the plug…
That had a very definite and…final ring to it…
“Goodness, Lazarus…I am sorry,” said Xiu looking away from Lazarus’s reflected gaze on the cabinet’s door.
“I-I never …knew…,”
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:25 am
Xiu's words of comfort did nothing to Lazarus, it didn't make him feel more okay with the prospect of pulling the plug, it didn't quiet the rage of thoughts and emotions within him, it didn't inspire a solution to the problem. More importantly, it didn't make him feel less guilty about the whole thing.
"I can't... I can't do it..." The Sigel said, his voice barely a whisper. He can't do anything! Realizing that, his red eyes lifted to look at himself in the glass once more, his eyes dull and nearly lifeless. A useless shell of a person.
Facing a person such as this, he just wanted to do one thing. Without another word, his fingers curled into a fist as his right arm raised, poised to strike. Then before Xiu could stop him, he punched it into the glass cabinet with a loud cry, aimed directly at his own reflection. His force was so strong that it shattered the glass, two jars of preserved specimen sitting behind the glass, and the very back of the wooden cabinet. The whole thing shook unsteadily as formaldehyde solution poured out of the broken jars, one of the specimens - a large exotic toad, even rolled out and fell to the floor with a soft splat.
With fist still planted firmly against the back of the cabinet, Lazarus's body shook. His body was so overwhelmed with emotions, with rage, that it was difficult for him to hold it in any longer. He didn't even care if his hand was bleeding from the cuts. His teeth gritted as he pulled his fist away, ready to strike again but something caught his attention.
A soft creak was heard as his fist was pulled away, and he felt- no, he saw a wood piece moved at the back of the cabinet. Moving in a way that it shouldn't had moved.
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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:45 am
Faced with the grim reality of the situation and utter helplessness of his friend, Xiu felt a horrible pang of guilt. Of course he knew that the Doctor had been in that vegetative state for a year now and Lazarus had definitely mentioned about letting medical professionals look at the Doctor. But...the situation had never really weighed down on him as it did to Lazarus. To put it crudely, Xiu had filed the Doctor as “someone else’s problem” after the evil eye encounter and continued on with his life; as did most others;- with the appropriate amount of sympathy and concern and support thrown in for his friend. Of course...
But...
It was...just horrible to realize just how ...selfish he had been.
Unlike Lazarus, he hadn’t gone the extra mile; climbed that extra peak, walked in Lazarus’s shoes...
He had been oblivious to the pain Lazarus had been going through.
To sum it up, he had failed Lazarus as a friend...
"I can't... I can't do it..."
Blue eyes raised themselves from their current view of the table only to encounter the figure of Lazarus poised in the moment to slam his fist.
“Lazarus! N-“
The sound of breaking glass and splintered wood cut through the air like a knife and prompted the Sigel into action.
The smell of spilled formaldehyde with an undertone of spilled blood gave Xiu a greater incentive to act faster.
“Damnit Lazarus! Get away from there!” yelled Xiu as he practically leaped over the table in his haste to get to his friend who seemed disinclined to worry overly much about the safety of his person.
Grabbing Lazarus by the arm, Xiu jerked Lazarus back and away from the toxic spillage; unaware that his friend’s gaze was fixed upon a wooden panel that was slowly sliding back.
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Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 2:03 am
Lazarus stood there stunned as a wooden panel slid ajar at the back of the cabinet. His punch did not hit it squarely, but it damaged the edges enough that it slipped open. The cabinet had always been one of those old display ones, solid, antique woodwork with delicate carvings framing it. It is where Kyou kept his strange specimens, like two headed turtles, fetal pigs, animal skulls and the like. He even has a taxidermy of a one eyed cyclops rat in there. The fire Sigel never really did pay it much attention, that is, until today.
As he stood there, still stunned from the discovery, he was jerked back by Xiu's pull on his arm. Red eyes shifted their focus from the wooden panel to the trickling formaldehyde from the shelf. That was when he realized what a mess he made. However, he paid no heed to the mess on the floor and Xiu's words as his attention focused on the ajar wooden panel once more.
There is a hidden compartment behind this cabinet!
Suddenly realizing the implications, he moved forwards once more, this time reaching out with his left hand since Xiu is clinging to his injured right. He opened the cabinet door first, now with a shattered glass window with shards still poking out from the sides. Then carefully he pulled the wooden panel open slowly with bated breath, and found a small square niche in the wall behind the cabinet. It was about 10 inches wide and a little bit deeper than that. It was just a crude square hole in the wall. In the middle of the niche sits two antique looking books and a few ancient scrolls at the side.
As best as he could, he took out the bigger book with his left hand only. It was heavy, nearly two inches with an old ornate hard cover, a gold magic circle was embossed on it. "The Art of Demonic Summoning." Lazarus read the title out loud. The gold letters seemed to glimmer and shine even under the dimmed lights.
Why did Kyou needed to keep these books hidden?
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Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 6:21 am
Despite his best efforts, Lazarus still stubbornly standing his ground. Which just showed how vast a difference their physical strengths were. It was aggravating really; especially when the one being pulled is refusing to cooperate in the slightest. If anything, Lazarus was heading towards the cabinet once more and Xiu was being tugged along.
“Honestly Lazarus, why are you…oh,” said Xiu, his attention momentarily taken by the sliding secret panel. Releasing his grip on Lazarus’s arm, Xiu watched with bated breath.
What the hidden hidey hole revealed were several very old scrolls and two ancient tomes; one of which Lazarus withdrew. A feeling of foreboding began to blossom in the pit of Xiu’s stomach and his fears were realized when the title of the book proclaimed "The Art of Demonic Summoning."
Vaguely, just around the peripheral of the book, Xiu could discern an unsettling aura. It was not terribly strong but the Sigel could not help feeling uneasy all the same.
“Lazarus, give me that book!” said Xiu as he made a sudden grab for it. Instincts kicking in, Xiu wanted nothing more than to have that book out of sight and out of mind; especially Lazarus’s mind.
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 7:00 am
The old tome was having a profound effect on the incubus. By just holding the book in his hand, Lazarus was having a strange feeling. His fingers tingled as he caressed the gold gilded lines, his red eyes were drawn to the magic circle drawn so intricately on dark green leather. He could feel a deep part of him trembling, somewhere deep in his core. Trembling with what though? Fear? Dread? Excitement? He don't exactly know. There is one thing that he know for sure though...
The answer is in this book!
It was too late for Xiu to stop him, the book's presence had already made a deep imprint in Lazarus's mind when the white Sigel tried to take the book away. Reacting with reflex alone, Lazarus shoved Xiu's outreached arm away with his own bloody one. He didn't, couldn't control his strength as he acted purely from instincts to protect the book. The book was held tight against his chest as he turned around from the momentum, his eyes were wide with shock, bright and fiery.
His back bumped against the cabinet lightly, causing the wooden furniture to tremble again from the impact, but thankfully nothing fell over this time. Lazarus is how standing in between Xiu and the niche in the wall, almost a little protectively even. His chest was heaving as he pants softly, he could feel his heart pounding into the book held tight against his chest.
When he lifted up his eyes to meet Xiu's again, they were a little duller than a second before; closer to his normal eye color. "No..." He didn't know what he really meant, but his grip tighten on the edge of the tome. He will not let anyone take this away from him! Not even Xiu!
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 6:15 am
The sudden, hard shove Lazarus did with his bloodied hand took the white Sigel by surprise but it was the sudden burst of demonic aura that accompanied Lazarus’s fiery gaze that kept the white Sigel at bay. Something had snapped within Lazarus and Xiu now found himself face to face with a cornered and (by the looks of it) desperate being.
Which made decision making all that much easier.
Lazarus + demonic aura => Dangerous => take down screamed the more primal thoughts while reason struggled to take control.
Unconsciously, Xiu’s wings were now flared and the Sigel took on a guarded stance in preparation for a possible fight. No doubt Xiu himself was beginning to emit his own aura in response to Lazarus’s challenge.
But as soon as it began, Lazarus’s demonic aura began to ebb and bereft of stimuli, Xiu found himself calming down considerably as well. Knowing Lazarus’s strength and prowess, the white Sigel was not exactly keen to go head to head with the fiery one.
Taking a deep breath and another step back (both of them could certainly use the space), Xiu regarded Lazarus warily. The fire in his eyes had gone but Lazarus was still clutching that book possessively. It would be all too easy to trigger another confrontation between them.
A compromise may be the best solution available. For the moment at any rate...
“Your hand is bleeding,” said Xiu by way of changing the subject. “Let me heal it,”
It was a weak truce at best but that was all they had to go by and Xiu was willing to make the most of it for it meant that Lazarus would be within his sight.
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:42 am
“Your hand is bleeding. Let me heal it,”
Only in that moment that it dawned on him that his right hand is injured. Red eyes wide and slightly confused as he stared at his bloody hand, still having shards of glass stuck in it and still bleeding as he turned it around to inspect it. The discovery of the niche in the wall had an impact so great on him that he totally forgot about the pain. He grimaced and let out a hiss as his hand stiffen, finally feeling the full blown of the pain from his wounds.
"Okay..." Lazarus's voice was barely above a whisper as he extended his injured hand outwards towards Xiu, letting him treat the wound. He imagined that a good wash is probably needed and the glass shards will need to be pulled out. He also know that the big heavy book he is holding against his chest will be a huge hindrance to the process, but he just... couldn't let it go.
His eyes fell on the bloody hand print on Xiu's sleeve - where he had pushed him. It will probably be a pain to wash it out. "I'm sorry... about just now." He apologized as he motioned at the stain, he knew he lost control of himself a little back then. The Sigel was still reeling from the new discovery, and there are so many questions in his head that needed answers. Answers that he hopefully will be able to find in these books.
The fire Sigel turned back to look at the other book in the niche as Xiu inspects his hand. That book was thinner, barely an inch thick with soft leather covers. It has a leather strap wrapped around it, holding the pages together. There wasn't any words or pictures on it, which made it look more like a journal than an actual book like the one he's holding. Perhaps... Kyou's secret journal?
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 9:09 am
Xiu grimaced at the sight of Lazarus’s bloodied hand. On closer inspection, some of the cuts even contained glass shards in them.
“We need to clean this,” said Xiu gravely. At the mention of his ruined clothes, Xiu shook his head dismissively. “That is not important. I am more concerned about the glass shards.”
Pulling a nearby drawer marked “miscellaneous” open and rummaging around, Xiu was glad to find a pair of tweezers in them. No doubt due to a hasty spring cleaning where all manner of odds and ends were simply swept into the open drawer. But for what it is worth, Xiu was glad to have found them.
Setting to work on removing the pieces of glass embedded in Lazarus’s hand, Xiu kept a watchful eye on his friend. The fiery Sigel had once again fixed his eyes on the hidden compartment of the cupboard with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“What are you thinking?” asked Xiu softly. If he could not change Lazarus’s mind, he could at least…see to it that Lazarus came to no harm.
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 10:30 pm
Lazarus's attention was drawn back to his hand as Xiu began to remove the glass debris. He hissed as the sharp edges scraped against raw, tender flesh wounds. His teeth gritted as he watched blood dripped to the floor. But he held his hand still as best as he could so Xiu could properly treat him, his fingers splayed and tense from the pain.
At the prompting of the question, he raised his red eyes to look at Xiu, his brows still furrowed in a frown. Then he lowered them and lets out a sigh before speaking. "Truthfully, I don't know what to think." The Sigel admitted. "But I have a gut feeling... that the answer is in these books, somewhere. It have to..." Where else could he look? He had practically turned the office inside out already, he is almost out of options, and it was almost a miracle to had found the niche as he did just now.
His hand jerked and he winced as Xiu pulled out a rather large piece of glass buried deep in his knuckle. From the looks of it, the white Sigel is almost done with the glass shard removal. His hand had also stopped bleeding so much.
"Do you... want to see Kyou?" Lazarus asked out of the blue. He knew the others, Melisande, Zeke and Alex would visit Kyou when they come over. Help clean him, take care of him. However, Xiu never went into Kyou's room, as far as he could remember. He knew that the white Sigel didn't liked Kyou, but he never knew why. "It may be your last time to see him."
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