soul_skirmish | Where Are They Now? (5 Year Edition)

Where Are They Now? (5 Year Edition)

This meme was done before in this game, right here, and that is where I am stealing it from. But instead of giving characters the option to return home in this hypothetical scenario, the war is still going on five years from the current date in-game, and BREW still needs everyone.

The question is, what has happened in those five years? The children have become adults, the adults are just a little older without being old, and goodness knows a lot can change in that amount of time. Maybe you're thriving, in your business or your partnership. Maybe not. Either way, with no end in sight, life goes on in the city named after Death.

INSTRUCTIONS

-Post with your characters(s)
-Write a short blurb about what has happened in five years. Love, heartbreak, sickness, wealth, what was in the cards for your Weapon or Meister, and what has it shaped them into? Set a scene for the present.
-Tag others in the scene they kindly set.
-Profit$$$$$$$$

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"It'd still be better than nothing," Bakura pointed out, settling into the flimsy plastic chair on the black side of the board.

"And I haven't seen him recently. So I assume he's the same as last time." This was a subject Bakura dreaded coming up... but he wasn't going to insult L by lying or ignoring the question. It wouldn't help anyway...

"And I can see if I can find some sort of puzzle that they'll let you have. There's bound to be something, right?" he smiled, trying to redirect the conversation away from the disastrous topic of L's ruination. "I'm still looking into that computer for you, it's just a little tricky, getting one that won't be a problem. Or rather, getting them to agree to one! But I think I'm winning them over on it!"

Really, the tricky part was convincing the staff to modify a room so that the computer could be installed... everything would have to be recessed and unbreakable so that even in L's worst fits, there'd be nothing he could endanger himself with. Then hopefully L would have more to occupy his mind...

L's expression darkened slightly when Bakura seemed to dodge the question about Light. He didn't want a reassurance that nothing had changed, because nothing changed here. And it was more maddening than anything that had put him in the facility, L thought frequently and often bitterly.

The subject change to the possibility of a computer being put in his room was soothingly distracting, for a moment. L missed laptops and machines; he didn't have quite the affinity for them that Matt did, but he definitely got along better with computers than he did with people. It would have to be behind unbreakable glass or plastic, with soft keys that couldn't be detached and everything kept out of his grasp.

"Maybe Mello needs to take some of my savings and make a large donation for that purpose," he said, trying his best to make himself sound enthusiastic. The medications he was on did more harm than good, but it was largely because he took them so erratically. The result was lethargic and often slurring speech when he was rising or falling with the amounts of the stabilizers and antipsychotics coming in and out of his system.

"Of course, it stands to reason that there wouldn't be an internet connection. They don't even let me have access to my mirror."

As always, the unspoken promise was there: Though I complain, and make it sound like I'm being tortured and deprived, and though these things might be true on some level, it can't get back to Mello that I am so terribly unhappy. He feels bad enough as it is that I ended up here.

L still tried, in his way, to protect his successors... but he made no effort to shield Bakura from his true thoughts. His honesty was a good thing, but his unhappiness was crystal clear and likely painful for someone as naturally empathetic as the younger man.

"Not unless it's a closely monitored on, un..." Bakura nodded, making his move on the chess board. "I'm looking into a games server, something so that at least if you want to get a hold of me to play a game or chat, you still could. It's something that each connection would have to be approved, but I think I can mange it."

In a way, it was a relief that L didn't hide from Bakura even in this situation. Even if it hurt deeply, it showed that L was still himself, even in a small way. And that L could unload on him meant that Mello and Near wouldn't have to deal with that painful aspect. Bakura had failed in shielding L from his own madness, and instead acted as the shield to protect those L still wished to keep safe. Even if it hurt... it was a pain Bakura was used to. Being powerless, watching without being able to do what he wished he could, struggling against the enviable... So much of his life was made up of those moments that he was able to deal with it better than he felt Mello could.

He sucked at his fingertip; these days, there wasn't enough nail left to chew on either hand, the nails torn down past the quick to the point where they were painful and bleeding. So, rather than bite, when they were too tender, he simply sucked until the skin puckered like prune flesh.

"You'd give me a way to bother you at home, too? You're too kind for your own good. You'd regret it very quickly, too."

Because with the way L lost track of time and game rules these days, they'd likely both regret it.

He lowered his tone, to something conspiratorial and soft, as if there was a chance that someone else was listening.

"I know I always ask this... but does it really make you happier to have me here, like this, rather than dead? In my place, what would you want?"

Bakura fell quiet a long moment. Even if it was an often repeated question...

"That isn't a fair question to ask, Ryuzaki-kun..." he finally said, voice soft and similarly quiet. "When you have your good days... I'm glad that you're still here. Even on your bad days sometimes. But I know you're suffering... and that you're unhappy. And less and less you as days go on...."

He looked down at the chess board, expression unreadable. "Are you asking permission...?"

Bakura's frankness, unlike L's, was always gentle. There had been a time when the younger man had seemed more hesitant about saying things in a straight manner. Indeed, L had teased him and taunted him mercilessly when he couldn't just spit something out. But everyone had compromised, and everyone had given up things that they were comfortable with to make this current situation work. For Bakura, sometimes that meant putting things in simple, forward terms that L would have the easiest time understanding.

"Yes..." He said, his tone wavering, the word sounding more like a question than a confirmation. "I want permission. I want Light to come see me."

It was impossible for Bakura to mask the pain at that statement and he looked down, fingers curling in his lap. "You're really sure there's nothing we can do to make it better....? Time and money don't matter, I'm sure..." he trailed off before shaking his head. "I don't want to give up... not if there's some chance that somehow...."

That somehow, they would find a way to fix things, that L could put himself back together, that the damage could be undone. Somehow... if he tried hard enough and believed hard enough... that they could make that miracle...

L's gaze met Bakura's; what had resembled shame and hesitance a moment before now looked a great deal more like fierce longing (if anything could be fierce, with the cold, perpetual numbness in L's eyes.)

"I think I can be better," he said earnestly, hastily making another move and capturing another one of Bakura's pieces, adding it to his growing collection on the edge of the board. "But of course I'm not getting better, now, like this... It's Light... He has all of my best pieces. He has all of my most important pieces, he has every piece that isn't broken. And he hasn't been to see me once. Don't you think he owes me that?"

"And what if he takes what little you have left...?" Bakura asked, voice soft as he made his move.

L took a deep breath, holding it for a count of five before his posture deflated utterly.

"Then at least I'd be in one place, again."

"I wish you could all be back in you..." Bakura admitted softly. "If I had the Ring..."

He trailed off unhappily before shaking his head. Even if he would have had the Item with him, even if he would have known how to use it... to find the lost parts of L's soul in another person....

"I failed, haven't I...?"

"What are you talking about? I really don't understand how you'd reach that conclusion... and I don't think it's for the same reason I have trouble with conclusions in general..."

"I was supposed to be taking care of you..."

"A lot of people were supposed to take care of me, in my life, and you know... I think you're the only person that didn't contribute direly to this eventuality. So, no... It's not your fault, and I don't blame you. It's really mostly my fault. And Light's. Light's fault, that he hasn't come to see me. Promise, please, that you'll get him to come see me..."

"I can't promise that..." Bakura said softly. "Even if I ask, I can't make him come..."

"Then I definitely can't leave here. What if I got worse until he had to come? If I was dying, he'd come, wouldn't he?"

Bakura was quiet a moment. "I don't know..." He hesitated a long moment before reaching into his pocket for his mirror. This was a bad idea. He knew it was a bad idea, but...

"Did you want to call him...?"

In a blur of deft movement, L snatched the mirror, thin, nimble fingers dialing up a contact he knew so well he did it in his wakeful dreams all the time.

He clutched it, waiting for an answer that didn't come.

He let it drop from his hand onto the carpeted floor, face sinking into the waiting cradle of his palms.

...shit.

Bakura got up, moving around the table to put his arms around his friend. "I'm sorry, I--" his voice faltered just a moment. What could he even say...?

L wilted into the embrace, folding more completely into himself as the other man apologized to him for his shattering disappointment.

But then, what else could he possibly have expected?

Now that L couldn't rely on his senses or any kind of logic whatsoever, he had become quite gullible.

"He owes me so much. Even if is just to finish taking... He owes me, and no one else seems to realize that."

Bakura leaned in slightly, trying to comfort L with his presence in an odd sort of hug. "I think I understand, at least a little..." his voice was soft and he hoped comforting. "I'm sorry, I wish I knew what to do...."

L had never been much for hugging, but he'd become simultaneously more spiny and more accommodating lately when it came to physical contact. On his bad days, he flinched away from it and lashed out when it was offered, but on his (relatively) good days, he tolerated it, and even sometimes seemed to be comforted by it.

Along with the reassurance that Bakura understood, or at least tried to.

"You don't think you can make him come here?" He asked in a small voice. "What if I was dying? You'd tell him?"

"I can tell him, but I don't know if he'd listen...."

"If I was dying, he would have to listen. It's practically true, isn't it?" L asked, leaving little doubt that he would absolutely take it that far if he had to.

"Ryuzaki-kun..." Bakura leaned against his friend a little more, eyes closing. "Don't... please."

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dead_black_eyes - 2013-02-13 02:53 (UTC) - Expand

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