[FIN] My Brother's Keeper

[BlackPidgeot]

The strange pang of pain was odd enough, but it wasn't something he hadn't experienced before. In fact, Asch had developed odd chest pains but the HQ's doctor had assured him there was nothing wrong. She had attributed to stress, which made sense considering recent circumstances. This time, however, was different and had been accompanied with a feeling of dread.

Something was wrong and while he had tried to shake the feeling, he couldn't. Knowing that it was probably nothing, Asch started checking hospitals to see if a Luke fon Fabre had recently been admitted. Just to make sure and to put his mind at ease if it was nothing. To his surprise, Luke had been admitted, to the ICU, and was in critical condition.

Asch wasted no time and got there within a few hours of Luke's arrival. His father had likely been notified and was probably on his way. Wearing a grimly serious face, Asch strode into the waiting room and pushed the call button, announcing that he was there to see Luke and that he was family.  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove sat silently in the corner of the waiting room, her head low and her hands tightly gripping the luxury ball in her hands as she did her best not to fall apart...again.

She stared blankly at the ball in her hands, her body aching under the crash of the adrenaline and emotion she had experienced only hours ago, back in the warehouse where nightmares had been real. Becoming a hostage, held at gunpoint, watching one friend drift away while the other slaughtered those who had only blood on their mind. After help had arrived, she had been escorted to the pokecenter where they taken Sparky, was questioned at length by the police, then had been brought to the hospital per her request to see to it herself that Luke would be alright.

A while later, a man--a psychologist, she later determined-- from the police department had brought her typhlosion to her in the ball she now held in her hands, asking her to let it rest for the next few weeks if at all possible, then had proceeded to urge her into talking to him, if only to help ease her mind at all. When it had all but failed, he gently dismissed himself, leaving her a card with his number, and the location of his office, should she need any more help, and for the first time, she seriously considered psychological counsel, unsure if she could handle everything on her own.

Now she sat alone, Lovey tucked away in her ball and oblivious to the horror her trainer had encountered and Sparky resting in his, healing slowly. Her head spun, though she remained still, and though a few people had spoken to her on their way through--Seraphine had been particularly difficult to face in her present state-- the voices around her had started to blend into something inhuman, and though she tried her best to tune them all out, her eyes lifted gravely a familiar voice announced his arrival and mission.

With a feeble, emotionless voice, she spoke. "Asch..."  

[BlackPidgeot]

Hearing his name, Asch blinked once and turned to look towards the source. He hadn't paid any attention to the girl in the corner of the room when he had entered. But now that he looked at her, recognition immediately came to mind. She was that friend of Luke's he had met in the hair salon. ... She looked terrible to boot, a lot different from the chipper young woman he had met.

After being told on the other end of the intercom that it would be a while before he could visit, Asch walked over to the girl with a slight frown. Standing in front of her as he considered her state of being.

"What happened?"  

[Tori Honoo]

She looked up to meet his eyes, though the instant she did, her shoulders began to tremble. Taking a tight breath, she looked away, and began to describe the events as they had happened, sparing him little detail as she replayed the events in her head and tried to keep from being sick.

She and Luke had met in the, park, the man had approached and threatened them both. They had followed and been bound, a mew had untied them, Yuri had appeared and helped...She had tried to escape with the help of Luke's aggron and her typhlosion, the latter which was wounded, Luke had taken the bullet in Yuri's stead and Yuri had retaliated in ways she wasn't even aware he had been capable of. She had done the best she could think to do for Luke, though Yuri had been wounded to, and as help arrived, everything had begun to blur together...

"And now....now I'm here...just...waiting," she whispered, her eyes falling shut as she fought the images that refused to leave her head. "I...I-I'm so sorry, Asch..."  

[BlackPidgeot]

Asch listened in quiet, calm patience as Dove recounted the story. He stood there with a straight, serious face as he took in all the details of what had happened. When she finished, and apologized to him, the red head let out a sigh.

"It's not your fault," he told her. His arms folded across his chest, he walked away from Dove and instead went to stand in front of a window.

"He's such an idiot," he grumbled under his breath.

That dreck had known better than to push himself, much less get in the way of a bullet. Was that Yuri Lowell guy really worth getting himself killed over? Asch was rather skeptical of that. Luke had just been reckless and stupid. However, Asch didn't voice these thoughts and just kept them to himself for now.  

[Tori Honoo]

As he walked away, she kept her eyes closed, still willing her stomach to settle, and when he spoke again, she shook her head. "He did it to save a friend.... I-I mean, h-he shouldn't have just-- I just..." she stopped, drawing in tighter on herself as she tried to make the situation any better than it was by proving Luke had been a hero.

"He did his best to get us out alive... a-and he did, he's just.."


Luke will be okay... Yuri will be okay... we'll all be okay... somehow, he'll be okay....  

[BlackPidgeot]

"No, all he did was get himself shot! It was stupid!" Asch practically shouted, then put a hand to his forehead and growled as he tried to bring himself back under control. Yelling at this girl wasn't going to help either of them, and he took a deep breath to settle his nerves. The girl was obviously traumatized by the whole thing.

After a moment or so he finally spoke again. "Have they said how he's doing?"  

[Tori Honoo]

She closed her eyes and accepted the verbal assault with grace-- Asch, was Luke's brother, his twin, even, and she knew how twins reacted to bad news about their other 'halves'. Her best friends back home had been twins, and woe to anything or anyone that came between them.

So much of the situation was her own fault, she thought. She had done little to help prevent anything that had happened. She had at least been able to help after the fact, but even then, she couldn't pride herself on doing any good deed. There hadn't been any option. Luke had acted on his own, but surely something else could have been done. She shook her head at herself as the thoughts began to pile up again. Now wasn't the time, though she knew it would only be moments before the onslaught of images came back to haunt her.

When spoke again, she breathed deeply and forced herself to straighten in her seat. "Only that he's in ICU and has been moved up to first priority for a transplant..."

One that she hadn't even known he needed until now.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Asch's brows furrowed at that response as he turned to look at the girl behind him. He wouldn't pretend to know anything about medicine, but that didn't sound particularly good. Thus the red head went silent, with the exception of another sigh as he finally moved to sit down.

He sat there in silence, arms folded, his mouth drawn into a thin line in a pensive expression. Impatiently he waited for some word from the hospital staff. Or at least permission to see his brother. He wanted some answers dammit, but he had little choice but to wait.  

[Tori Honoo]

As he moved to sit, she kept her eyes low and her tongue still, unsure of what to say to the twin.asch didn't truly seem like the type that would accept comforting actions or words, and even if he had been, Dove wasn't even sure she would be able to provide any anyway, considering her own thirst for something to cling to, to remain stable.

Quietly, she minimized Sparky's ball and clipped it to her belt, her hands then moving to play with her hair in need of something to do. Quietly, she again spoke to her company.

"Did you know he needed a transplant...?" she asked timidly, wondering if she was the only person who didnt know.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Green eyes slid towards Dove at her question. He was silent for a moment before looking away again. "Yeah."

He could have said something harsh, because of course he knew, he was Luke's twin. He should know about these things. Although really Luke could have kept him in the dark if he had chosen.

On top of that, he was feeling a bit more subdued now as his thoughts started to drift in dangerous directions.  

[Tori Honoo]

She nodded silently in response, closing her eyes again as she pushed her hair back from her face. Of course he had known. He of all people should have known. She had no right to know, but for some reason, the idea frustrated her, that she had been forced into such a horrifying situation without the knowledge, despite that there was nothing she could have done.

Crossing under her chest again, she rubbed her arms, seeking any form of comfort she could as she continued to process her plans. Yuri, of course, came to mind, though a large red flag kept her still in her chair, unsure and uneasy about visiting the man just yet after what she had witnessed. Suffocating under the silence, she voiced her thoughts quietly, though she wasn't sure how well her current company might know the subject.

"I don't even know what to say to Luke when he wakes up... And Yuri, I just...I can't believe this happened."  

[BlackPidgeot]

Torn from his thoughts at the girl's words, Asch glanced her way again before he huffed with a bit of irritation.

"Just say whatever you want to say. Why does it matter?"

Clearly he wasn't having a whole lot of sympathy here, but well, Asch barely knew her and saw no reason to be sympathetic. She wasn't the only one affected by all this after all.  

[Tori Honoo]

Though the girl's patience would normally have buffeted the bite of the words Asch aimed at her, her emotions were unstable, and they stung much more than she was willing to let on. She again fell silent, turning her eyes away from everyone in the room.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Silence reigned for several moments. Asch knew that he was probably being too harsh and insensitive, but this girl also seemed to be way too fragile. Luke sure knew how to pick them. But then like minded people seemed to seek each other out.

"Don't worry so much. He'll be all right," Asch said finally after a few moments. "I'll make sure of it."