It's hard to find true equilibrium.

[thesilentstorm]

Lindblum was, in Lumi's opinion, a singularly awful city.

Built atop a mountain, or possibly a cliff, it bore the sort of architecture that made it amply clear that it had been added to over time, that it had started off much smaller and had grown, almost organically, outwards and then upwards, like a particularly unpleasant fungus of mismatched brick and tile all contained within the immense castle's fortified walls.

Lumi's nose had wrinkled as they made the approach to the Falcon's Gate via airship. Even from a distance he could see that, without more space for the city to crawl beyond the walls, as most seemed to when they outgrew a castle's ramparts, it had just gotten ... taller. Idly, he had wondered how it would fare in the event of an earthquake.

Once the airship had docked and he and Marluxia had disembarked, he decided that the city was even worse than it had looked from their approach. The winding streets and irregular buildings did little but compound the fact that the city was not purpose-built. Some of the houses leaned like drunkards and some of them had larger, over-hanging upper floors, as though they had been added to at a later date by a less skilled builder. It looked disorganised, ramshackle and untidy.

With any luck, they wouldn't be there long.

They were in the city on a mission, or, at least, a favour. In deference to the alliance he had made with the most recently recruited of his old ... "colleagues", Marluxia had agreed to make a trip to Even's old home to pick up some items that he hadn't thought to bring with him on his would-be temporary relocation to Daguerreo. It wasn't safe for him to go himself, on any front, and Marluxia had the freedom of movement accorded to an established and voluntarily joined member of Clan Khamja.

Lumi stood in the street outside the Air Cab station, a frown on his face at the feel of the uneven cobbled floor under the soles of his shoes. It was a warm day, but it was growing clear that Summer was on its way out in this part of the world. The breeze that blew down the street carried upon it the scent of woodsmoke, hanging baskets and the promise of rain. It was, despite the pleasant day, cool enough to make Lumi stiffen where he stood. He scowled, looking up. The sky was, at least, still blue, though grey clouds were visible in the distance.

He looked to Marluxia for direction. It was he who had the address of Even's old residence.

Comments

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi let out a snarl when Marluxia grabbed his wrist, but upon seeing who it was, he swallowed the tail end of it.

With an audible sound of pain, he pulled his wrist from Marluxia's grip and raised his gun, firing blindly into the direction of both the doorway and the wall that divided the drawing room from the dining room, anything to stop Xigbar firing while Marluxia, quite literally, worked his magic.

It was hard to keep his arm up. The pain was starting to deaden his arm and he could smell blood, his own, intermingled with the scent of gunfire, actual fire and dust.

When his bullets were exhausted, he swayed where he stood, breathing ragged.

[gracefuldahlia]

The Garganta opened, and it lacked the familiar swirling smoky quality of the corridors, but it opened. Blackness beckoned them, like a hole in reality.

"Go," Marluxia said, ushering Lumi towards the Garganta with one arm as he raised his other and called up another fire spell. He didn't want Xigbar to get any ideas about following them, and if possible, he'd rather leave him with the impression that they'd escaped through the window. No point letting the Order know about this trick, after all.

He let the spell loose, twisting the fire to cover the furnishings near the door, and out into the corridor. It should effectively discourage any attempts to get near by Xigbar.

He turned and made sure to blast the window through as well, so their escape looked realistic.

[notjustanyolddude]

Xigbar had ducked at the sound of gunshots, planting himself below and behind the dining room table. The smell of fire was in his nostrils, and he reloaded his gun while he was ducked down, counting shots fired.

Marluxia was up to something too, Xigbar could feel the magic being worked in the room beyond. Bullets came through the dividing wall, they were only thin in this type of house, and that let Xigbar guess that they were heading for the window, trying to get away.

There was another pull of magic again as he finished reloading, and this time more fire erupted, and he could hear the sound of the window breaking.

The smoke was starting to get out of control. Marluxia didn't let loose wimpy fire spells.

He glanced at the back window. He was trapped in here unless he went out that way, or took his chances with the flames, and with the fire now being deliberately spread into the corridor, he'd rather not chance it with the flames.

He shot through the window and picked up a chair to put it through wide enough for him to make it out.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi hesitated, coughing on the smoke, but did as Marluxia said.

He stepped into the blackness, hand pressed to the wound in his shoulder, trying to ignore the increasing wetness beneath his palm and fighting the curious sense of tiredness that washed over him strongly enough that it urged him to sleep despite the pain.

"Marl..." he gritted his teeth again, his head spinning.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia stepped through after he was satisfied their escape would look convincing, and let the Garganta close behind him.

The sound and heat of the house and fire were abruptly cut off. This place was eerily quiet. The smell of smoke lingered, but it was fainter.

He looked at Lumi. He'd never seen Lumi vulnerable before. He'd seen him asleep, but he'd never seen him injured, and struggling. Blood was seeping between his fingers and through his clothes.

"Back to the Palace," he said. The fact that Lumi needed medical attention didn't require voicing. The fact that said medical attention would unfortunately come from a certain Arrancar, and that was probably the least unpleasant of the options also went unsaid. "Can you make it?"

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi nodded, the movement jerky and lacking his usual control.

"I should think so," he said, his voice not as flat nor as smooth as usual.

He tried to straighten up, to walk forward, but the moment he did, the black world slid out of focus and his gun fell from his fingers. Marluxia became suddenly bright in his vision, his pink hair standing out starkly in the darkness.

"I'm sorry," he heard himself saying, his words coming out slurred, and then everything went sideways.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia moved without thinking, capturing Lumi and slowing his descent to the ground, or what passed for ground in this place. He frowned. Lumi had lost a lot of blood already, and that was just what was visible. That was the problem with bullets; they could do more damage inside than they appeared to have inflicted.

Marluxia retrieved Lumi's gun, putting the safety back on before he slipped it into his pocket. He was reasonably sure Lumi had emptied it firing at Xigbar, but he wasn't prepared to take the risk.

Then he slipped his arms around Lumi, getting a good grip on him before he lifted him up. He was getting Lumi's blood on his clothes, a situation he honestly hadn't expected to face.

Marluxia was adept at flash step. Shunpo, or Sonido, they called it here, and Marluxia wasn't entirely sure of the difference except in terms of who was using it. It was an ability he'd managed to hone and improve working with Lumi. He'd never gone this far with it before, and he expected it would be draining, but Lumi might bleed to death before he got him back otherwise.