[FIN] Sorry to Say

[BlackPidgeot]

One of Yuri's hands had been resting on his knee, and as Luke spoke, his fingers tightened over it. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had to face something so difficult. As Luke started to complain about his brother's rudeness though, he knew this had to stop. The boy needed to know.

"Luke..." he started, a slight edge to his voice. "There's something you need to know."  

[Suudonym]

He blinked, confused by the sudden change of tone. "What?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Your brother," he continued. Dammit, he didn't want to do this. Why did he have to be the one. But then, Yuri knew the answer to this. He was responsible. Even though it had been Asch's decision, Yuri had allowed it to happen, helped him even. It had all been for the sake of saving Luke, but that didn't make this any easier.

"You're not going to be seeing him anymore."  

[Suudonym]

The words at first instilled some hope, some surprise that someone maybe actually knew something about where his brother was, but that hope faded back into confusion and a slight indignation as the sentence went on. "What the hell? Why not?" he replied in some irritation, assuming that he must have done something to offend Asch for him to have made such a decision. But what could he have done? He'd been unconscious for however long, and before then he had thought that they were actually kind of close to being normal brothers finally.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri sighed, clearly his efforts at being subtle were... too subtle. He supposed he should just come out and say it. With a straight, unreadable expression, he looked Luke in the eye.

"He's dead."  

[Suudonym]

Luke stared a brief bewilderment that eventually fell into thoughtful disorientation. "No," he said at length, "that was a dream." But he hadn't told Yuri about his dreams. He hadn't told anyone. He turned slowly from Yuri, his expression openly betraying the reconciliation his thoughts sought to make. "This is a dream?" Was he in fact still comatose? That was suddenly a very real and frightening possibility.  

[BlackPidgeot]

As Luke struggled with this news, Yuri was silent. He merely sat there, the only sound coming from him being a soft sigh. This was certainly no dream, but he wouldn't confirm or deny it verbally.  

[Suudonym]

"Well don't just say something stupid like that and then leave it there," Luke said, animated by a growing distress. "Look, I'll prove it myself." He shifted suddenly, ignoring the heaviness of his body to sit up and move to stand. "Because there are these weird plants and trees outside, right? The ones with faces, and they bite like hell." The recurring element of his dreams' landscapes, he decided, was all that was really necessary to prove his point - and clearly since Yuri was also a temporary resident of this dream space, he would immediately recognize the logic of those words.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Ugh, really? What the hell kinds of dreams did Luke have?

"This isn't a joke, Luke," Yuri said finally. There was a tone to his voice that was firm, indicating that this was kinda getting on his nerves. "And it's not a dream, dammit."

"Your brother is the reason you're alive."  

[Suudonym]

Ignoring all the lines and connections that attempted to all but bind him to the bed, he pushed to his feet unsteadily, lightheadedly, and unsure if he could sustain the movement it would require to prove the point he was so sure he could make. "You're damn right it's not a joke!" he retaliated angrily. "You can't just walk into a place and say something like that!" He paused in irritated confusion at the words that followed, steadying himself with one hand on the plastic headboard at the front of the bed and gesturing indicatively with the other, "Like that! What does that even mean?!"  

[BlackPidgeot]

As Luke got out of bed, Yuri was suddenly on his feet. s**t. This was starting get out of hand. It definitely couldn't be good for him to be up and about yet.

"The hell do you think you're doing?!"

However, his eyes narrowed slightly at the biting words that were directed his way. Fine. If this is how he wanted it, then that's how he would get it.

"It means your brother killed himself to save you. Its his heart that's beating in your chest!"  

[Suudonym]

It was indeed of no benefit for him to be upright to any degree, and his features paled under the stress. "That's bullshit!" he insisted. "This must be a dream because you don't know anything about Asch if you're saying that! He's not stupid for one thing, he's stubborn as hell, he's a huge jerk, he doesn't give a damn about what happens to me, and--" He swayed, vision blurring and whiting intermittently as the energy drained from his voice. "And he wouldn't…"  

[BlackPidgeot]

As Luke swayed, Yuri hurriedly reached out to keep him from falling. Last thing the boy needed was to end up on the floor as well. As Luke continued in his denial though, he didn't know what else to say. So he said the only thing that came to mind.

"I'm sorry."  

[Suudonym]

He relied freely, if not unknowingly, on Yuri's support, unable to keep himself upright completely on his own strength but unwilling to surrender his stance by sitting on the bed. "Nothing to apologize for," he said, his hands clenched in a meek, ongoing defiance, "except talking about Asch like he… He wouldn't…" It was a plain impossibility with no sense to support it.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Well, obviously Luke wasn't going to believe anything he said here. There was only one thing left to do. With one arm still holding onto the unsteady Luke, Yuri reached into his pocket and produced an envelope.

"I was told to give this to you," he said, pushing it into the red head's hand.