Keeping a clear head

[savedbyasong]

Characters: Shion and open
Setting: Mailroom, graveyard, forest
Format: either!
Summary: Elena is gone, Shion slips further down the not okay scale and breaks a little bit more
Warnings: beserkness


[Mailroom]

Shion,

If you are getting this, then I am no longer in the Tower. I wish I could have remained to continue to train you and Xion, but it appears the Admins had other things in mind.

You have a strength in you that you should be proud of, and with Reno's training you will be able to defend those you love and care about. You are a Turk and you have been trained by the best. Remember to always keep calm, keep a clear head, and you will go far.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if Reno made a good decision in making you a Rookie. I'm glad to see that I was very wrong. Be good to Xion and watch over her for me. You two are partners, you can and should rely on one another during times of trouble and crisis.

I am very proud to have known you.

~Elena

Shion stood reading the letter, twice, three times, six times until the words were seared into his mind. Elena was gone... She couldn't be gone, it just wasn't possible. He refused to believe it, but had to make sure, and so he slipped the note into his pocket and made his way to the graveyard.

[Graveyard] So it was true, of course it was true. Elena wouldn't have sent such a thing as a joke, though he had hoped it was some kind of cruel trick. Tears came to his eyes but he swallowed hard.

"How can I protect them." He asked her grave. Reno, Rat, Safu, his mum... All people he loved and cared about, far out of his reach. How could he protect any of his friends... Even the one's already here. How could he protect them from cruelty worse than any he had seen in West Town, from people more powerful than gods.

He shook his head and turned away. "I've already failed."

[Forest] Keep calm, keep a clear head. Shion gathered food silently, picking out mushrooms and berries. More than enough for him and Xion, there were others that would need food too. He had to keep going, he touched his Turk pin. Even if it was hopeless he owed Reno that much. He couldn't give up.

As he searched for food anger rose in him, they had taken another of his friends, sent them to be alone in a world devoid of life. Another soul they had just given up on. "If you're going to imprison us, then at least keep us here." He spoke to the air and kicked a tree. His anger finding form as his hands balled into fists and he punched the bark.

His fists were soon bloody but he didn't stop, there was no one to hurt for hurting his friends but himself, and the trees but he couldn't stop the anger, it swirled around him and he was powerless to stop it.

Comments

[savedbyasong]

[Punching again] I just didn't think

[marriedthebloke]

And is that a common occurrence, or are you just particularly emotional today?

[savedbyasong]

I don't know. [More punching, the questioning was making him think and thinking was dangerous. Thinking led to pain.]

[marriedthebloke]

So something very bad must have happened to you recently.

[Sola-ui might have been a cold, harsh woman, but she was still a mother. Of two teenagers, no less. So she could tell that this child was heavily troubled.]

No matter what, I am sure that the people close to you would not wish to see you abuse your body so. Talk, cry, but try not to cripple yourself.

[savedbyasong]

Nothing worse than anyone else. [He shook as he fought to urge to turn round and keep pounding the tree.] It wont last, they'll get better when I die again.

[marriedthebloke]

[She tsks her tongue.]

I don't know if your friends would like to see you treating life and death so lightly either, even if you do come back to life in this place.

[savedbyasong]

[That was true, but they didn't need to know.] It's better than fearing something that's inevitable here.

[marriedthebloke]

Just because it might be inevitable doesn't mean you need to invite it.

[savedbyasong]

I'm not. [And he goes back to tree punching.]

[marriedthebloke]

One could easily be fooled into thinking otherwise, with the way you're acting.

[savedbyasong]

[He just got more angry, and punched the tree harder, tears forming in his eyes.]

[marriedthebloke]

Would you at least like someone to heal your hands? That way, you won't risk breaking your body with that abuse.

[savedbyasong]

[Shion blinked at him again] I wouldn't want to bother anyone.

[marriedthebloke]

[She gestures for the boy to give him her hand.]

I could do it in the blink of an eye.

[savedbyasong]

Not here... there's no magic on this floor.

[marriedthebloke]

What do you mean? Does this floor really remove abilities?

[savedbyasong]

[Shion nodded, he had no powers himself but he had studied all the floors whilst compiling research.]

[marriedthebloke]

...How inconvenient.

[She has to wonder if he picked this floor on purpose. Was it to make it harder for people to stop him since nobody had any powers?

[savedbyasong]

[Suzaku just shrugged, and went back to punching.]