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[eatsyourscience]

Who: Seta Souji [eatsyourscience], Arisato Minato [jivitadana], and James Potter [pottershotter]
Where: Minato's room and James's room (separately)
When: February 18
Rating: PG-13 (to be safe)
Summary: Waking up is hard to do.
The Story:
When Souji wakes up from death, he's choking. He sits up and coughs and is a little disturbed when he coughs up damp candy heart. It's yellow, stamped with pink letters: EVER AFTER. For once, Souji isn't tempted to eat what he's holding.

He tosses it away and looks around as his last few moments play over in his mind with the snapping of bones and the squelch of ripping flesh. It makes him shake his head and scramble to his feet. He needs to move, to be with anyone other than just himself.

He knows right away who he wants, needs to go see.

Comments

+ Minato +

[eatsyourscience]

Minato's only recently returned to Wonderland and although Souji doesn't want to burden him more than he needs to. There are a lot of things he hasn't told Minato--things he will tell him, things he wants to tell him eventually, when the time is right, after Minato's gotten the chance to get to know him again. The time isn't now, but not only does Souji not want to be alone, he doesn't want to be around just anyone.

Minato is safe. He's safe and soothing, and even if they aren't close just yet, Minato will understand him better than anyone else.

Souji checks on Tefra first, makes sure she has something to eat, isn't upset. Then he makes his way to Minato's room. He doesn't like that he's empty-handed as he knocks on the door, but he doesn't want to take the time to make anything worth sharing. He can't even muster the energy to make a paper crane to offer him.

[jivitadana]

Waiting. All Minato could really do was wait. He hadn't had death explained to him before, at least, not here. Death was something Minato was more familiar and intimate with than most anyone else that he had known. He had seen people die in front of him more times than he wanted to count or recollect, and had been told multiple times over to remember that he would die.

But death here wasn't as ordinary as it was at home, so ingrained in his mind, carved there and permanent. Here instead it was much more fleeting. But it didn't hurt any less to have to experience just being in its presence, no matter what tricks the Mansion had pulled to make it so transitory.

When he heard the knock on the door, he already had a feeling he knew who it was. For a moment he put his hand over his chest in similar gesture to one so close to him, and as if in some way to calm the beings inside of him who whispered about the future and whose hands it was in now.

He didn't have to wait anymore. Therefore he couldn't let his friend, the one who did know him more than anyone else ever had in so many more intricate myriad ways, to wait either.

Quietly Minato opened the door, taking in Souji and if he could, everything that Souji was feeling.

"Welcome back." He smiled a little, inviting his kouhai inside.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji inclined his head as he stepped into Minato's room. It looked just like it had before--the bed with the blue spread across from the door, the desk under the window to one side, the sink and mirror to the left. Open and bright, like Souji's room in that way. It was so familiar to him, but he had to remind himself that he was a guest, so he stood inside the doorway with his hands at his sides, waiting to be welcomed further in.

That greeting was enough of a clue that Minato at least knew what had happened.

"I'm sorry for the trouble."

[jivitadana]

Minato shook his head, and had Souji come into his room. He closed the door once they were safe inside. And they were safe inside. Minato would make sure of that. And he would. It was all he wanted to do too now.

He had Souji sit on the neatly made bed, wanting him to relax and feel welcome. He could tell that Souji was still a bit cautious or uncomfortable, understandably so after everything he had gone through.

So with that in mind, Minato bent slightly and got his arms around his friend, holding him tight and close.

"It's okay. You're okay."

[eatsyourscience]

Souji blinked, a bit surprised despite the way some of his anxiety melted. After a few seconds, he exhaled slowly and relaxed into Minato's arms.

"Yeah. I'm okay."

[jivitadana]

Minato held onto Souji for as long as Souji needed it. He wouldn't let him go until Souji was ready.

They didn't even have to talk about it if Souji didn't want to. He already knew just how deeply it had affected Souji, and if Souji was anything like him--and he was, being a Fool and all--then he knew exactly how Souji was reacting to it. There was something to be said about keeping everything inside, pretending to be completely whole when it was actually so fragmented.

"Just to be sure."

While he still had an arm around Souji, Minato reached for his Evoker and summoned Messiah to cast Salvation on them both. It was meant for Souji, but it was just the way the spell worked.

"Thank you for coming back to me."

[eatsyourscience]

Souji didn't try to put into words exactly why he'd come to see Minato first. He could have, if given some time, but if he did, it wouldn't mean quite as much. Bringing that out into the open and looking at it would change it, just by the fact that it was being observed.

Maybe this was why he was able to wrap his head around the basics of quantum physics.

"If you ever need it, I can heal, too."

[jivitadana]

Minato somehow knew that even without being told, but he understood the sentiment behind it. He nodded, and quietly thanked Souji for it. He knew that one day, he really might need it. Minato just had to learn more to rely on other people, which was something he had guessed that Souji also had to learn and had already learned.

Minato smiled, and carefully let go of Souji if just to look into his eyes, searching for something he had already found when he didn't know he had been looking for it. He didn't know about everything they had been through before. Cutting bullets out of Souji. Training at the hedge maze at midnight. Practicing music together. Seeing the future. But somehow he already knew that this Link, one he never really had before, was now unbreakable.

"You can stay here for as long as you want." Or need.

[eatsyourscience]

"Thank you."

Souji tilted his head back to look at Minato.

"...Are you okay?"

[jivitadana]

Minato nodded, the soft smiling never leaving his face. He should be the one asking Souji again if he was all right.

It was Orpheus Telos, though not equipped, who spoke to him about infinite and limitless possibilities.

"I never had a Universe Link before."

[eatsyourscience]

"It's my first one, too. But I do have that arcana."

[jivitadana]

Minato wasn't surprised. He smiled again.

"It was the last Arcana that I had."

[eatsyourscience]

Souji nodded. "My final Persona was of that arcana. He's the only one I have from it."

+ James +

[eatsyourscience]

After spending some time with Minato, there's one other person Souji wants to see right away. Calmer now, feeling like he fits in his skin again, Souji feels ready to talk to James. He can tell James what happened--and find out what happened afterward. From what he can tell now, everything's back to normal.

Even if he won't be telling James anything new, Souji wants someone who's been here, someone who knows him, to know. The time might come when he'll will need someone there to remind him.

Souji still feels like he has candy hearts stuck in his throat as he knocks on James's door, and he coughs into his arm while he waits. Once again, he's empty-handed. This isn't like him at all.

[pottershotter]

James had been a little more frantic than Minato in his waiting.

Unfortunately, he wasn't sure exactly how many times Souji had died. He knew it had happened at least once before, but that didn't really help very much. There are at least thirteen messages on Souji's phone, all of them from James wondering if he's alright or if he's woken up yet. The messages get progressively more anxious-sounding as the days go by. One of the most recent very fondly said i swear to merlin that better not have been your fifth death souji, as though either of them could do anything about it if it had been.

He's not expecting Souji when he opens the door, so he looks genuinely surprised at first. But that lasts all of two seconds before he flings his arms around Souji, pulling him in for a tight hug. He can't even make himself say anything at first; he's just so glad he's not gone for good this time.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji had noticed the texts on his way over to James's room, though he'd decided not to respond. He was about to see James face to face after all.

He was expecting to be hit upside the head more than he was expecting to be hugged, so he stands still, blinking, for a second before he manages to move his arms and get them around James in turn.

"I'm okay." Or at least, he's here. He's in one piece. Despite how it feels, there are no candy hearts stuck in his throat.

[pottershotter]

Of course James is going to hug him. He's been worried sick about him. As long as he was still alive, James could always hit him later.

"Good. Good, you'd better be," he says, though he ultimately sounds not threatening but just completely relieved.

Finally, he pulls away to let Souji into his room. The room has a second bed in it now, but Sirius is out somewhere at the moment.

"You're definitely okay? Not missing anything, or different, or...you feel alright?" His Potter family genes are kicking in and he feels an uncontrollable need to fuss over him. "You were gone a while this time."

Too long. It clearly wasn't his fifth death, but he's getting close and it's really concerning.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji certainly notices the second bed and he looks at it curiously, but doesn't mention it for now. It's a bit too early to change the subject.

"It should have been three days." It was his third death, as far as he knows, but he isn't sure he should trust Wonderland's calendar enough to accept without some kind of verification that three days was all.

[pottershotter]

"Three...so, your third then."

He doesn't sound happy about it exactly, but he's at least slightly relieved that it isn't his fourth or his fifth. He still has time, even if something else happens.

It's strange. He's been here ages now, and he's even died a couple of times himself, but people having multiple deaths still feels surprising now and then. Souji could have been gone forever three times over, but he's still standing here. But, rather than dwell on that, he moves to another important point.

"I dunno if anyone's told you, but...it wasn't an event. It was some madman who's been living here the whole time. Some bloke named Tom," he says. "...He's been caught though. I think they've got him locked up in the clinic for now, but...it's over, for now."

But they might need to be careful of him in the future, for obvious reasons.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji blinks. He only knows of one guy named Tom, and he didn't seem at all like the type to take a pick axe and murder people.

Then again, Adachi hadn't really seemed like the type either.

He sighs through his nose and nods, tucking that information away for later, when he's ready to deal with it. Then he gestures toward the extra bed.

"Who's staying with you now?" It had been Lily last time, before she left. Remus seems to have gone, too.

[pottershotter]

That's always how it goes, isn't it? James understands that pretty well at this point, unfortunately.

He's able to smile a little though, when he sees where Souji's looking. He doesn't mind the subject switch; he's gotten out the important information.

"Sirius came back," he says. "I dunno if you knew him well either time he was here, but he's my best mate. I was starting to wonder if I'd see him again!"

And he laughs lightly, like it was supposed to be a joke, but he's been here two and a half years now so it's definitely been on his mind now and then.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji can understand that. He wonders the same thing about his home and his friends, especially since Yousuke left. Having Minato return, even with no memories of him, was a huge relief.

"I should meet him."

[pottershotter]

James perks right up at the suggestion.

"You should!" he says. "I think he'd like you, and you'd like him too. I can see you two getting along."

Someone else might be jealous, but James likes it when his friends all get along - it's part of why his group of friends at home work so well together. He's been very eager to show Sirius around and have him get to know everyone while they're stuck here. ...Unfortunately, with all the murder that had been happening lately, that hadn't been going so well, but James isn't ready to give up just yet.

"I'll have to introduce you two sometime! He's...he's a very cool person. Knows a lot about Muggle things, like motorbikes and music and piercings. And between the two of us, we're the greatest mischief makers Hogwarts has ever seen." He definitely has an equally mischievous look to match that claim, but his face softens for the last bit. "But above all, he's a fantastic friend. He's a brother to me."

He cuts himself off there, but he could easily gush about Sirius for days. He's just overly excited about them getting the chance to meet each other, that's all. He means well with his enthusiasm.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji can't help a smile. James reminded him of Yousuke there, for a minute, and while it's a little painful, it's also nice.

"I didn't know piercings were a Muggle thing."

[pottershotter]

"Well, I always thought they were, or at least anything that wasn't pierced ears for girls. But, that's what happens when you grow up surrounded by people in their seventies," James laughs.

"We tried once, when we were younger," he goes on, "but trying to pierce his ear was such a horrible disaster that we gave up on the whole endeavor pretty quickly."

James is still very relieved that he didn't go first that day, and that his own ear made it out of that experience unscathed.