fandomhigh | Library, [12/12]

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Library, [12/12]

To say that Jono was tired after a night and a day in the Labyrinth was a bit of an understatement. In fact, to say that he was still slightly dishevelled as he made his way into the library today was also way too understated to be remotely accurate.

He looked like crap. More than usual, even. But he had... obligations. To come in and clean up the results of a week of hectic research. And so, while he succeeded in at least wrapping his bandages straight this morning, he managed, still, to look like somebody who had been beaten up by a minotaur after sleeping on the ground outside in December.

Good times. Good times.

Really, it wouldn't be so bad if his hair wasn't sticking up in odd directions like that. He found himself looking a little bit like Wolverine.

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Jonothon nodded a little more. And then let his shoulders rise and fall in a gesture that was not entirely unlike a sigh.

//The ones in th'throne room were told that they were safe, now. Wanted. Hearing that about th'three that were missing, I might have to find th'time to visit them, too.//

At least Squall and Karla. He actually didn't know the third, personally.

Rinoa swallowed past a lump in her throat. "I just ... what if I hadn't been there?" she asked. "What if I had picked the wrong group? I don't know if ..."

It sounded egotistical, saying it out loud. But very few people had made any progress with getting through Squall's defenses, and especially not under circumstances like that.

Quistis might have managed to get through to him, but Quistis wasn't here.

"I should check on Karla," she said, thinking of that herself. And the other girl, who she didn't know. Now seemed like a good time to reach out.

//You didn't pick th'wrong group. That's all that matters right now,// Jono replied, a hint of steel under those words. There was no sense in worrying about could-have-beens, when the could-someday-bes were so much more important.

//We should both check on Karla. She'd do th'same for either of us, were we in her shoes.//

She'd taken shifts, drinking nasty sludge that Jono thought of as 'beer' after Didi had... gone. Just to make certain that he didn't have to be alone.

"She would," Rinoa agreed. And knowing more people cared, when you'd been told no one did, couldn't possibly be a bad thing, either.

"Did anyone do a head count?" she asked. "Are we sure everyone's back? I'd hate to think ... that in all the confusion, someone might have ..."

//We had seven,// Jono replied. //Even th'people who didn't know any of the rescuers had somebody go to them. If you had three, then that's one less worry.//

Okay, breathing again.

"Three." She nodded. "I guess that's stupid, to think that no one else would have noticed. But how horrible, if we had."

//And there were more of us than there were them,// Jono agreed, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets. //If anybody hadn't been noticed, I would've had to throttle somebody for not trying, I think.//

And he'd been cranky enough at that point, he would have.

"I know you wouldn't have let them leave anyone behind," Rinoa said, calmly. "I was more worried about ... if those three were in an oubliette, who else might have been somewhere else?"

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "Everyone's home, and so I guess that's that."

She couldn't really say everything was okay again. Some of the psychological scars might last. They'd have to see what the aftermath was, for all of them.

//Everyone's home,// Jono agreed, //and that's a start.//

If they were here, then they weren't lost forever, in the strictest sense. A start was an excellent thing to have, at this point.

"Can I ask you something?" Rinoa didn't wait for an answer before asking, either. "You've mentioned ... that is, you've talked about your powers, too."

And how he was also scared of losing control.

"Have you ever gone to Professor Skywalker about them? Is that how you knew?"

Oh. Wow. And now Jono felt like the world's largest hypocrite.

//Not me,// he said, after a moment taken to scuff his toe across the floor. //People I know, though. Raven swears by him, for a start... And he's Ben's granddad.//

Maybe if he kept namedropping, he'd sound less like an idiot.

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Library, [12/12]

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