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Post by Zuyuri on Mar 15, 2017 17:25:38 GMT
A throbbing pain in Shadow's shoulder jolted him from where he had been resting in Guer. The last thing he remembered had been a whole crowd rushing to his side. All of it was playing like a mental picture, clear as the memories of Maria. And the memories Disparion had given him.
Disparion.
He remembered shooting the monster's eye. How after shooting it, he himself became injured. A bandage had been applied to his left shoulder, which hurt to move.
The reflection of himself in the window didn't even look like himself. Yes, it was still the red eyed, crimson-black quilled face, but something in him looked...almost broken. It was the only word he had for the glare he was given himself.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Mar 15, 2017 18:28:57 GMT
Yang's progress was slow, but she was getting there. At least, that was what her doctors had said. Her injury wasn't about to get infected, and they were figuring she might be able to leave soon. Of course, she'd still need to come back every so often to make sure her arm was healing up alright, but she could at least rest in her own home. That thought was a bit comforting to Yang, who honestly, was dealing with a lot right now.
The issues were varying, to say the least. There was figuring out what kind relationship she and Adrien had. There was the question of her future, and how she could support herself with only one arm. There was the news of Frollo and Esmeralda, which made her gust twist every time she thought about it. She knew Frollo was bad, but not that bad. And to go after Esmeralda, who was as sweet as can be...Yang wasn't sure how to handle it. One thing was for sure: it made the hospital staff extra watchful. Even now, as she was walking down the hallway to get some exercise, she could feel the nurse's eyes on her. Yang wasn't sure what she was on the lookout for. A mental breakdown? Some bad phantom limb pain? Either way, Yang didn't like being handled like a little kid so much. But she knew it was for the best. Besides, at least she could walk. Some of the other patients weren't so lucky. Yang was passing by some of their rooms, and a lot of them didn't look so great. However, one patient made her stop in her tracks. She hadn't seen him in a while, but there was only one hedgehog-looking guy she was friends with, and she was standing right in front of his hospital room.
Yang glanced back at the nurse. She already seemed to know what she was thinking, and gave a frown.
"Come on, just let me go in there for a little while," Yang argued. "He's a friend."
The nurse sighed, but agreed. Yang went inside the room, before realizing that Shadow hadn't seen her since her right arm had been sliced off. She faltered for a moment, not sure what to say. Should she just act casual? Make a dumb joke? Not mention it until he asked about it? She let out a breath and just opted for a simple wave along with a "Hey Shadow."
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Post by Zuyuri on Mar 15, 2017 23:14:54 GMT
In the glass, Shadow made out a mane of blonde hair. He o k,ted to tell the figure to leave. He didn't need to see Sunshine seeing him like this. She was already in too deep in his problems. Depression was eating at him, and even though Sunshinr made him somewhat better, she...
Wait. That wasn't Sunshine.
That was Yang. With her arm severed. It was bandaged, but nonetheless it was gone. The words her friend yelled at him echoed in his head, and grief once again rooted up.
"...Hey."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Mar 15, 2017 23:25:50 GMT
Shadow's response was only one word, and Yang couldn't tell what he was thinking. He didn't seem too surprised about her arm. Maybe someone on the force had already told him. Riku and quite a lot of other cops had shown up to rescue her and Weiss. She glanced at the bandage on his shoulder. His injury didn't seem terribly bad. He'd probably recover pretty quickly. Yang wondered if he had gotten hurt going after the criminals that had escaped from the jail. She knew quite a lot of officers were busy trying to catch them. "Are you...doing okay?" she asked. As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized how stupid they sounded. Of course Shadow wasn't okay. He wouldn't be at the hospital if he wasn't. Neither of them were okay, in the slightest.
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Post by Zuyuri on Mar 16, 2017 1:33:19 GMT
"...Could be better." He moved away from the window. Just talking to her face in the glass would just be awkward, especially if they needed to catch up. The big elephant in the room; how the heck did Yang lose her arm? He'd ask that later. He popped his back, wincing as the stab wound acted up again. Who knew a letter opener would cause this much danage? Of course, there was also the link between him and Disparion, so the pain would probably last so long as Disparion was injured...not a good turn out when he returned to work. IF he ever returned to work.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Mar 16, 2017 1:47:22 GMT
Yang gave a chuckle, although the sound didn't contain much humor in it. "Could be better" was a phrase that could be applied to her as well. The only problem was, she couldn't get any better. In a way, this was the best she could get. Sure, her doctors had talked about her getting a prosthetic in the future, but Yang didn't even want to think about that yet. All the prep it took to get one would probably cost a lot of money. And Adrien was already footing the bill for her hospital visit. Asking him to pay for a prosthetic arm seemed like too much. "So, how'd you wind up in here?" she asked, stepping up to the bed. "Were you dealing with the aftermath of Mardi Gras?"
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Post by Zuyuri on Mar 16, 2017 1:55:37 GMT
Shadow sighed. That one sigh conveyed two major emotions; frustration and shame. Well, here it came. It was time to make someone he trusted hate him. Again.
"I was the cause of the Mardi Gras aftermath. I...I ran into this thing that gave me back of my memories. He told me Pitch had the all along. I confronted him, nand...I just...I just snapped. Everywhere I went, I brought destruction. I nearly killed a cop because my anger was so out of control. I hid in St. Rose's because I knew that...thing...couldn't touch me. Frollo found me there. When he realized what I was, he stabbed me. We fought and...well, the news made his demise evident."
He left out the part where he just watched Frollo fall to his death.
"AFter that I ran. I had to get that demon out of my mind...but no matter where I went, that eye was still there. In the end, I had enough. I shot him. I shot the devil himself in the eye. Joke was on me, because..." he sighed. Here came the zinger.
"Because I'm the son of the devil."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Mar 16, 2017 2:06:34 GMT
Out of all the responses Shadow could have given, this was something Yang never would have expected. She had figured Shadow had just gotten hurt doing usual cop stuff. Instead, he had gotten his memories back, had gotten tangled up with Frollo, and was the son of the devil? It was so much to process, Yang didn't know which part she had questions about first. She remembered Shadow mentioning months ago that Pitch may have some clue about who he was. But taking his memories entirely? What had led him to do that? Did anybody else in the BPD Others Unit know about this, like Riku or Aqua? Or Sunshine? "Okay, just...just...hold on a second." Yang looked around until she spotted a chair nearby, no doubt intended for visitors. She sank into it. "This is...just a lot to take in," she said. Her head rested in her hand as she tried to organize her thoughts, and figure out what question to ask first. "So...you were there? When Frollo died?" she asked. "Did you know he...what he did to Esmeralda?"
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Post by Zuyuri on Mar 16, 2017 2:37:12 GMT
"That's the kicker. He told me every detail of what he did...and the less you know, the better." He was getting sick just remembering that grin Frollo had; a perverted nature of sleeping with a corpse. His hand clenched the blankets tightly. He tried every trick in the book to block out the image of the church on fire, of the scarf bursting into flames, of the letter opener blade digging into his shoulder. It all just kept replaying, and the movie wasn't stopping.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Mar 16, 2017 3:03:12 GMT
Yang's fist clenched, the same as Shadow's. The bastard. Frollo just had to go and gloat over it, didn't he? He just had to try and have the last laugh. Even though he got what he deserved, it still wouldn't bring Esmeralda back. Yang wasn't close friends with her, but she had known her for a long time. She remembered meeting her when they were both on the streets. They had both been doing what they could to survive. Esmeralda sold her body to make money, Yang stole things and fought people. But, now wasn't the time to get all sentimental. Yang still had some questions. "Your memories, about Maria and stuff, why did Pitch take them?" Truthfully, her opinion of the guy was still mixed. He had nearly busted her once, but had let her go. He had saved her life and calmed her down from a panic attack. Heck, he had even taken care of her hospital trip after her encounter with Cinder. But he always seemed so cold and distant. Yang had seen his bad side once, and it still gave her the heebie-jeebies sometimes.
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Post by Zuyuri on Mar 16, 2017 3:26:43 GMT
Shadow flumped back against the pillow, only to wince as his injured shoulder made contact with the sheet. This hot him back up, grimacing as the pain throbbed again. He knew Yang's initial distrust of cops, but the last thing he needed was to sway opinions. Not in a time like this. "I don't know," he answered. Huffily, he looked down. "and I don't care. It's impossible to trust anyone in this city anymore. Everyone's running in fear." He growled in annoyance. "Your friend was right. If I had just did my job, Thrax wouldn't be leading criminals into the streets, Esmeralda would still be alive...and...you'd be..."
Shadow's vision blurred. A salty smell filled his nose. It wasn't until a drop had fallen onto his hand that he realized he had let tears fall.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Mar 16, 2017 3:36:41 GMT
Yang's heart clenched, like a hand was squeezing it. Shadow had always been the toughest guy she knew, yet here he was, with tears in his eyes. He blamed himself for what happened to her, but how could he? He was busy dealing with all this. It wasn't his fault that she had been so careless and had taken Thrax head-on. "No, you can't..." She hesitated for a second, trying to figure out how to best say what she was thinking. "You can't blame yourself for what happened to me. It was my fault." She leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "I took on Thrax to protect Louie, but he wouldn't have been running around the streets if it wasn't for me. He wanted to run away and I said some awful things to him. Him running into Thrax was a consequence I had to deal with. And I ended up losing my arm for it." Shadow had talked about how he had brought destruction with him wherever he went. Yang felt the same way about herself. She just screwed things up, made things worse. Shadow here just seemed to be proof of that. He was blaming himself for her mistake. It was making him feel even worse.
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Post by Zuyuri on Mar 16, 2017 3:46:31 GMT
Thrax had cut off Yang's arm. He should have known. The good news was she had lost it trying to protect someone, not picking a fight with someone in a reckless move. The Yang Xiao Long he had met, the one who had acted with a devil-may-care attitude about society, was growing up. A tiny splinter of pride was beginning to bloom in Shadow's chest, but the gloom of his own guilt was overtaking it. Shadow laughed weakly, even though tears were still flooding, anwering with, "You've got guts."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Mar 16, 2017 3:53:22 GMT
"Maybe, but it was stupid. I bit off more than I could chew and now..." Yang sighed. She wasn't sure how she was going to move on from this. Sure, she had Adrien by her side. And talking with her friends was nice. But she felt like she was putting on a brave face more than anything else lately. As soon as she was alone, all the sadness and fear just grew and grew until it almost became too much. The nightmares certainly hadn't stopped, and probably wouldn't for a long time. "Maybe it was a good thing I ended up in here. I probably would have just made your 'son of the devil' issue worse." Yang felt like that tended to happen when she tried to help. She just made things worse.
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Post by Zuyuri on Mar 16, 2017 4:10:54 GMT
"You were fighting for Louie. Yes you got in too deep, but your intentions were noble," Shadow argued. "That, and unless Anna lied to me, which she didn't, phoenix tears had healing properties..." It was cruel irony. He had left Bellerouge because he didn't want anyone he had gotten close to, the select few he called my friends - Yang, Omar, Ralph, Anna, Sunshine - get hurt because of the trouble he caused. If it weren't for him, Bellerouge would have a blue sky and no one would be under constant threat. Yang had lost her arm, but she said herself that it wasn't his fault. But why did it feel like it did? "I can't let what happened to Maria happen again..." His red eyes looked at Yang long and hard. "I should have been there to protect you...instead, I ran because of my selfish needs. I'm sorry, Yang."
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