Blind leading the...

Eventually Remi made it home. When he couldn't say. How...well, he had an idea of that, but none of his senses seemed reliable now. It was pitiful and pathetic, but all Remi wanted to do was cry. He had never felt so defeated, so hopelessly wrong and lost and tattered and broken. But he couldn't. The pain was too great and his shredded eyes were far more eager to produce blood and strange clear fluid than actual tears. And then there was Ianto. His heart wanted to search for him, to seek him out. He'd whistled and thought of the wagon, of the fox. The tune was broken, his lips cracked and the melody an intangible mess, but he'd done it. And he'd waited. But it had only been Zariah and Amalia who had arrived. Now, on what was properly his door, Remi's fingers felt for the familiar locks. At his side was Isla, gently nosing him. She'd protested that he was being a child for not letting her tend to his wounds outside, but all he wanted to be was somewhere he knew he wouldn't be left again. Somewhere inside. Somewhere with Ronin. And so undoing the bolt and shuffling his way inside, Remi collapsed immediately onto the floor, his bandaged head in his hands. Stomping the ground Isla issued a bright whinny to bring the hunter down from wherever he currently was. remi Come on skinny love just last the year Pour a little salt we were never here

Remi was out doing Remi things, and so Ronin was home doing... Ronin things, he guessed. Quite when they had achieved this strange balance where one of them went out and the other stayed in, he didn't know, but he felt it had something to do with Aoife's schedule. Luckily enough, Ronin had rocked his daughter into dreamland a little while ago, and so he had settled back to practice a recently discovered skill. He could only work his astral projection, currently, if he remained stock still with his eyes closed, and even then it was a feat of concentration that took a lot out of him. Still, with practice he hoped that he and his starlight self might move in tandem. He was still a long way off that, of course, and for now Ronin was content to sit upstairs and navigate his projection around the guildhall while it was empty. Mostly empty. It was the spirit form of Ronin that spotted Remi as he staggered inside, and before Isla had a chance to get more impatient than she undoubtedly already was, the projection vanished and a soft thump sounded from upstairs - Ronin lurching off the bed. The hunter vaulted the last of the stairs to get to the ground floor, blue eyes electric with panic, bare feet audible on the wooden floor as he closed the distance between Remi and himself. "Remi... fuck, what happened to y-- no, never mind. Tell me later. Fuck." Ronin hissed in a breath between clenched teeth, gently clasping the alchemist's upper arms to try and see the bandages - and what might lay beneath them - a bit better. "How bad is it?" he asked, shooting a grateful glance up at Isla as he tried to coax Remi to his feet. RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

Remi could hear Ronin approach as well as simply sense him. It helped that Isla could pass ghostly images into his mind of what was occurring, but there was just something about his friend's panic that was weighty enough for him to feel. As hands pressed on his shoulders, Remi's dropped from the bandages to grip against Ronin's forearms as if the ex-captain was a lifeline. For a moment the alchemist was still, his grip on Ronin loosening for a moment as the reality of the situation, like a fog, thickened his thoughts. "I—" He began, then cried out in pain as his expression changed beneath the bandages and sent rivers of agony through his skull. Shuttering and biting down hard enough to cause the muscles of his jaw to tighten, Remi released the air through still-grit teeth. "I cannot see." remi Come on skinny love just last the year Pour a little salt we were never here

I cannot see. The words were worse than the cries of pain, the way Remi gripped at his forearms. They sounded final, and Ronin had no doubt that they sparked a similar panic in the two of them. "Well," he said, forcing his voice to steady and giving his friend's shoulders a gentle squeeze, "it's an honour to be your eyes for the time being. Come on - let's sit somewhere I can take a proper look at you. Isla, too." He glanced up at the unicorn a touch questioningly, as if to ask if she would be able to repair whatever had been done to Remi. If the alchemist allowed, Ronin would carefully try to get him on his feet, an arm moving around him to hold him steady. From there he'd lead them to the fire, helping to settle Remi on one of the chairs before it; he'd be able to feel the warmth even if he couldn't see the flames. RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

Remi barked a pained laugh, loving Ronin for saying exactly the right thing. With a movement Remi wouldn't be able to hear or see, the unicorn shook her head softly as the ex-captain looked her way. She could heal the superficial wounds and speed the rest of the healing. The damage to his eyes though? Blindness? That was beyond her medical expertise, even in this body. Allowing himself to be lifted, his body quivering quite uncontrollably now, he held fast to Ronin as they moved through the familiar room that might as well have been a completely new one. The alchemist had never taken the time to map it the way a blind man would need. Indeed as the warmth of the flames hit his skin Remi flinched in Ronin's grasp, before settling and sitting down on one of the chairs. Cocking his head towards the unicorn for a moment, Remi swallowed. "She says to undo the bandages...but that the dried blood will ...it will reopen the wounds." remi Come on skinny love just last the year Pour a little salt we were never here

It was a blessing that Remi wouldn't be able to see the pain or sadness in Ronin's expression that such a simple gesture could create. Isla shook her head no. There was little, if no way at all back from this. "It's alright, I've got you," he assured the alchemist as they made their way across the room; Ronin walked slow and carefully, trying not to make any jerking movements as he seated Remi in the chair. Letting out a long sigh through his nose, he nodded before realising the other man wouldn't see. "Luckily enough, I spent long enough in the military to know a few tricks. I'm just going to the kitchen, I'll be right back." The hunter's footsteps were much faster as he left Remi's side, and it wouldn't be long before he returned with a bowl of warm water and a cloth. By that point, a worried and upset Sugar had also come to investigate, crooning softly and nosing at Remi's hand where she had perched on the arm of the chair. "I've got some hot water here, and a cloth. This will make your bandages wet, but it should stop them sticking." Ronin dipped the cloth in the water, before leaning forward to untie the bandages. He pressed the warm, wet fabric against the trickier parts of the dressing, trying to tease it away without tugging too much. Even so, it wasn't a process he confessed to know well. RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

I've got you. Those words stung just as much as the many abrasions across his face if only because Ronin seemed to be the only person for whom those words were actually true. Nodding distantly as Ronin went off towards the kitchen, Remi felt the arms of the chair with a bizarre and forlorn sort of apprehension. He tried to remember what it all looked like, where he was in the room and what should have been right before his eyes. Only pain and exhaustion made the images behind his eyes blur, and eventually he gave up and let his head hang slightly. Flinching slightly at Sugar's approach, Remi tried to smile beneath the bandages but thought better of it as flares of new pain rained down his face. "Hey. I am...alive." alright wasn't the word for it. He wasn't alright, and not just because of his wounds. Remi had been in the woods long enough that Ianto should have been able to make his way back, unless he'd been further restrained. So either his friend didn't care enough to return, or he was possibly suffering his own fresh hell. Neither were options Remi particularly cared for. "Ahhh—" Remi hissed as Ronin began to moisten and then undo the bandages. Instinctively a hand shot out grabbing the hunter's wrist with fingers suddenly covered in tawny hair and punctuated with claws. Relaxing immediately though, Remi withdrew and let his friend strip away the bloodied cloth. remi Come on skinny love just last the year Pour a little salt we were never here

Sugar trilled back at Remi, sitting sentinel on the arm of his chair even if he wouldn't be able to see her. Ronin couldn't not smile at the sight of her, though he was soon wrapped up in the task of trying to figure out what exactly had happened to Remi. "Ah-- sorry," he said softly at the prick of claws along his arm, pausing until it was clear that the alchemist was alright for him to continue. "Almost done," he murmured, wincing and continuing to tease away the dressings until finally they were completely unwound. Ronin was left with a pile of blood soaked bandages in his lap, though he was already putting them aside so he could carefully cup Remi's chin in his hand, tilting his head ever so slightly so he could examine the damage in the full light of the fire. "...Who did this to you?" he whispered. RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

Remi wasn't a soldier. He hadn't had any proper training despite what a militaristic society Northaven had been. As such, there was no feigning strength, no brave face (even beneath the bandages). Just a man badly injured who only tried not to flinch because it would make Ronin's job easier. Remi's eyes remained closed even as the final bits of cloth were carefully pulled away. As Ronin gently manipulated his head, the alchemist's lips broke apart in a shaky and breathy half-sob half-grimace as he pulled his eyelashes apart. His right eye had been gauged all the way through. The eyeball was indeed intact, but the massacre of the organ was obvious. His left eye seemed less damaged, though it appeared far more pale now; stained glass letting too much light through. "Arduinna." The alchemist said. "She...she is a fae. Ianto is..." Remi tried to shake his head, but didn't want to leave the protective comfort of Ronin's fingers around his chin. It helped to ground him now in this darkened world. remi Come on skinny love just last the year Pour a little salt we were never here

Ronin was a soldier. He was military through and through (even if he'd been terrible at it at first), and he still felt his eyes prickle at what the bandages reveal. He hissed in a breath, his free hand moving to rest on the alchemist's knee, as if to be able to convey something that his voice couldn't. Eventually he cleared his throat, his thumb brushing across the scruff on Remi's chin. "You're good," he said, false bravado warming his tone. "Still more handsome than me. And they say ladies and guys alike dig scars. Lucky." Letting out a long, slow sigh, he accepted the information about Arduinna and locked it away carefully. Remi needed him right now, and so the Ronin who had once gone out and tried to swing a punch at his fellow captain would have to wait. His temper would have to wait. "Ianto was there? What... is he alright? He didn't come with you?" RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

"If I could see you to hit you, I would you know." Remi countered, a brief flare of playfulness in his tone that quickly cowed in the presence of mild flares of pain. With jerky movements, Remi's hand patted down his own leg to eventually cover Ronin's and shook his head. "He...I think they disappeared, or she took him. It all happened so fast. I was in the woods for hours, until Amalia and Zariah found me and led me home..." Trailing off, Remi bit his lip and tried to turn his face up as if to look at Ronin. "Am I...is it..." His words were tentative, questioning, terrified. His free hand gently moved up to his unshaven cheek, hands gently feeling upwards until they eventually found where his skin had been sliced open. Fingers trembling, the alchemist swallowed hard. "Am I..blind now?" Behind the men Isla flared her nostrils gently. remi Come on skinny love just last the year Pour a little salt we were never here

"I'll hit myself later, on your behalf," Ronin murmured affectionately to Remi, his smile audible in his tone. Not that any form of playfulness could last in the face of what had happened. That Ianto had just left had the ex-captain biting at the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying something he shouldn't. Instead he cleared his throat and gave a hum of noncommital acknowledgement. In the woods for hours, though? That got his attention, Ronin's fingers flexing automatically against Remi's knee; when he spoke, the guilt in his voice couldn't have been more obvious. "I've been here the whole time. I didn't know, Remi. I'm so sorry..." They'd spoken about the devices he'd been able to create, for crying out loud - about the thing that might have saved Isla's life... not that she wasn't alive now. He glanced up at the unicorn just as she answered Remi's pleading question for both of them, and the captain didn't have it in him to lie, quick and easy though it might have been. "It's early days," he said slowly. "It's hard to say what might happen as you start to heal, but... I... I think we need to prepare for that possibility, Remi." RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

"Just as long as you do not enjoy it too much." Remi added, keenly feeling the loss of not being able to see the smile that he thought he heard. "No, no." The alchemist interrupted, his fingers now rolling beneath Ronin's to properly take hold of the ex-captain's hand as he uselessly shook his head. 'You had no way of knowing, no one did.' The thing was, Remi did have one of those devices with him, the ones he'd create for he and Isla. Only now it was Samuel who had the other half. It wasn't that Remi didn't trust the bookmaker, only...being tended to by him seemed like a very bad idea indeed. Lucky for him Zariah and Amalia had shown up instead. Letting his head fall, Remi nodded despite the whirlwind of thoughts ablur behind his blind eyes. It was a continually echo of blind, blind, bliiiiiiind, and despite the fact that he was now nodding like a lunatic, nothing seemed to silence it. A painful tear slid from what was his 'good' eye, as laughable as that was, and Remi hissed in a breath over his teeth, holding it and letting his chest expand. "Right...okay." He mumbled after a moment, letting the air out in a deflated wooosh. Stepping forward Isla gently nudged Ronin's shoulder and appeared to say something to Remi. Swallowing, Remi cleared his throat. "Isla would like you to hold my head still so that I do not jump and impale myself on her horn." remi Come on skinny love just last the year Pour a little salt we were never here

"Well now you're just making silly demands," Ronin said haughtily. "If I'm not even allowed to enjoy myself, whatever is the point?" He wanted to grin, but he had to stop himself. As much as lightening the mood might help, there was something serious enough about this that made the hunter take pause. Swallowing hard, he gave Remi's hand a squeeze and shook his head uselessly. "Well, that's something that we will have to change as soon as possible," he muttered. Ronin lowered his gaze to stare at Remi's lap as he felt and heard the alchemist try to process his new reality. Outrage burned deep within the hunter's chest, and while he didn't know the details, he knew for certain that a new mark was going to appear on the jobs board. "It isn't okay," he muttered. "But... I know what you meant." Isla's nudge confused him until it was complemented by Remi's words, and Ronin obediently moved to carefully hold the other man's head still. His fingers slid into a mop of curls and he felt suddenly quite awkward; were it not for the healing or the trauma or the threat of being impaled by a unicorn horn, it might have been an intimate gesture. RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.