3rd Mission

[tempus_scorpius]

Characters: Rolo Lamperouge and YOU
Setting: Dorm hallways at night
Format: Both are fine. I'll follow.
Summary: Rolo has the normal type of flu but with it comes a nasty cough. His cough is getting so bad that it's interfering with the use of his Geass... too bad those monsters are closing in on him... Some help please?
Warnings: None yet.

Rolo is bundled up warmly in animal skins he's hunted and prepared himself but that doesn't seem to have stopped him from getting the flu. He doesn't mind the flu so much except that he's been afflicted with a bad cough and the medicine he's been taking doesn't seem to be helping much.

He's just on his way to his room rather late at night when he hears monsters approaching. This doesn't scare him and he simply takes out his knife and gets ready to activate his Geass, however, that's when he suddenly gets caught in a nasty bout of coughing. He can't quite keep his Geass up as he doubles over coughing. The monsters get nearer. He tries to control his coughing but to no avail... Help?

Comments

[vermicompost]

Kariya's on his way back to his own room. He doesn't sleep much; his condition keeps him awake, as the parasites he carries don't let him rest. When he hears coughing, he hurries closer, limping, but quickly. He sees Rolo doubled over and the monsters approaching, and it doesn't take him long to decide what to do.

He may be weak, but he isn't defenseless. He spits up a mouthful of worms and blood, and once outside of his body, the worms don't take long to change, becoming large, buzzing insects with bladelike wings. Kariya grits his teeth, because it hurts to control them, but the insects swoop in to strike the attackers, fast and dangerous, cutting through the monsters' flesh with ease and avoiding their strikes.

Kariya sinks to his knees, all his focus on the attack.

[tempus_scorpius]

Rolo's cough subsides for a moment and he just watches with wide eyes at the worms coming out of this stranger's body, only to change form into some sort of attack insects that the stranger appears to have control over...

When the monsters are all dispatched. Rolo steps a little closer to the person who just saved him. "Are you... alright?" Though the more important question in his mind is 'Why did you save me?'

[vermicompost]

Kariya is coughing himself, blood at the corners of his mouth. There, he's done it again. He's defeated more monsters. He feels a sense of pride at not being useless, at being able to protect someone, even if the cost is high. Like he protected Rin, before.

He nods, though he doesn't seem all right, the "veins" in his face pulsing as the worms beneath his skin move. It's always worse after he uses his magecraft.

"I'm fine," he lies. "How are you? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

[tempus_scorpius]

"They... didn't..." He can't stop staring at those 'veins'. "Those worms... they live inside you? How... Doesn't it hurt?"

[vermicompost]

"Good." He pants, still recovering. "Good, I'm glad." He manages a weak smile before answering Rolo's question. "Yes, they do. And yes, it does. But– I'll be all right."

[tempus_scorpius]

"Glad... why?" You don't even know him. He just cannot understand why anyone would save a stranger. "... but you don't look alright..."

[vermicompost]

"Because." He doesn't understand why he wouldn't help someone being attacked by monsters. It's the right thing to do. "I couldn't let that happen. That's all."

The flying Blade-wing worms come buzzing back to him. He isn't quite sure what to do with them, but maybe they'll return to their previous forms. He's a magus who doesn't fit his power. It's not the power he was born with. It was grafted, forced onto him.

He takes more deep breaths, recovering himself. "I'll be fine. I'm used to this."

[tempus_scorpius]

"Why couldn't you let it happen? You don't even know me?.

A power forced onto him. Rolo would be able to identify with that.

"Have you always had... these worms inside you?"

[vermicompost]

"Because--" How to explain it? He isn't very good at explanations, especially not with the toll the worms had taken on his mind as well as his body. "I don't know. I couldn't just sit back and watch you be hurt."

He shakes his head. "No, only for the past year or so. They're not really mine."

[tempus_scorpius]

"Because...? But why? I really don't understand... Why are there so many people who can't bear to see complete strangers get hurt?" This was the exact opposite of what he'd always been taught.

"Why do you have them then?"

[vermicompost]

He blinks. It's human compassion. It seems so simple and self-evident to him that he doesn't quite know how to answer the question. "I wanted to. I might not know you, but I care what happens to you. I would be upset if I saw you hurt. And if I didn't help when I could, it would be partly my fault." Like it was his fault that Sakura was hurt. Because he hadn't done enough. So of course, he had to do more.

"Oh, I had to..." It's hard to explain the Grail War and his family. "For personal reasons. To help someone important to me."

[tempus_scorpius]

"Upset... Your fault...?" This was so difficult to understand.

"By helping me, you'll be helping someone important to you?" So there was a reason then and it wasn't as selfless as it seems?

[vermicompost]

Kariya shakes his head. That isn't quite right. "No, I took on the worms to help someone else. I helped you for yourself. Because it was the right thing to do. But--I'm sure she'd want me to help you, if she knew."

[tempus_scorpius]

"Took on the worms to help someone else? To save them?" He could understand that a bit, sacrificing oneself for someone important. "Is she here?"

[vermicompost]

"Yes, that's right. It was the only way I could save her. So I did it." He shakes his head again. "She isn't here. I don't know if I want her to come here. Maybe. This place is– I'm not sure if it's worse than where she is now." Kariya has thought this over a great deal. There are kind people here, who could help her. She wouldn't have to be in Zouken's power. "But at least I could help her, if she were here."

[tempus_scorpius]

"I see..." He could understand that. He would probably have done the same for Lelouch. "Is she family? What is wrong with the place she is now?"