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(no subject)

Who: Relevant persons
Where: A second-floor apartment in Central Corehaven, Cepheus
When: King's Year 197, late spring
What: ~~Spam~~ Fushigi mysteries

* for what may be the first time in almost two years, the Core's Head Engineer hasn't reported in for duty in the last two days. *

* what do. *

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[Allen tenses and his hands hover when Chrysos collapses again]

How long ago did she handle it? Hours ago?

* gritting his teeth together, breath hissing through the gaps. *

...no.

Not sure... days.

. . .She is fine. She does not have it. Whatever the trigger is must not have lasted.

[fists his hands]

Chrys, listen to me. There-- there is one way to cure this. Are you listening?

...

* nods. *

The only way to stop the process is to entirely -- entirely still your body. Should your soul grip your body, the regenerative properties in your body will exhaust themselves on reviving your life.

* looks at Allen for a long, long moment... before comprehension dawns. *

You're saying...

...only way out. Is death.

I don't-- I don't know another way. You're too short on time.

You call that a cure?

* curls up further, body tensing up again. *

Thought cures... meant living after.

What have you contracted such a sickness for! How am I to treat you when this requires you to faith, and I to--

If I-- continue to give you sedatives constantly, your body may relax its strain and the pain will-- lessen, but the longest anyone has lasted like that is five years, and by the end there is no choice but madness. In that time you will not be capable of the life you have lived, ever again.

* ...for a while, there's no response other than the sound of breathing. *

Red...

Those are your choices.

...

* lifts his head... and there's a small, sad, smile at the corners of his mouth. *

Yours... to make. As well.

What sort of words to say are those? I am a healer. The only choice is to tend the sick.

...and if that... involves ending them?

. . .

If you go mad, then I will end your sickness with you.

Should you choose to risk death-- there is a chance you won't awake again. You must have the will to stay.

...

"Will"...

Your soul-- it's-- [FML]

it's a lot of nonsense to you, what you'll have to do, but you understand willpower, don't you? It's the closest equivalent.

* ...a long, interminable silence. *

* shifts, trying to push himself up again through the haze of sedation. *

...the bed.

Help me... back on?

. . .

[gently, gently helps him to pull himself up.]

* with his aid, managing to work up to a sitting position, then onto his feet; legs shaking as he tries to put as much of his own weight on them as possible. *

* still, leaning heavily on Allen as he takes two steps towards the bed, grasping the edge with one hand once close enough. *

[hovering and holding]

Be slow.

* ...pauses briefly, taking a few breaths. *

How... should I be laid, for this?

. . .

[that cool look when he readily admitted to being as much a killer as a savior is now gone]

You are completely certain?

* fortunate that he's not looking directly at Allen. *

...your methods... I may not trust.

But... you... I do.

. . . Chrys . . .