The duo was back at it again it seems. They had decided to take up residency close to the hospital, so they that they could go and help with the patients. They were sick and needed their assistances. The doctors there were also scientist and were trying to figure out what had gone wrong and what they could do to fix this. It was why Yuurei and Renji had made their way to the building. It was normal at this point and they would enter the building.

There, they would be met with one of the nurses that were there. They would bow slightly to Yuurei as they were glad that he was here. The Seraphim would bow as well and he would look at her with a smile. She would blush a bit, and turned around. She knew what he was here for and she would lead the way.

“If you could, follow me.” She said to him.

Yuurei would hear this and he would nod as that was something he could do. He wondered how many sick people would be in this room. While they were following her, Renji would look around the place as he could that there were a lot of areas in this building that the two of them could not enter. He wondered what would be behind those doors, but kept moving.

“Yuu, how long are we going to be doing this? I don’t mind helping, but I’m curious is all.” He asked him as they kept moving.

Yuurei would look at Renji, and then he would sigh as he shook his head. He kept marching as he would think about how to answer Renji. When he had come up with something he would look at the Exceed with a smile on his face.

“We’re going to be here for as long as we could Renji. These people need us and I don’t think it’s right if we decided to leave them. Once we know that they are well, then we can make out leave from this place.” He said to his friend.

Renji would hear this and he would shake his head as he understood completely. The nurse would hear what Yuurei said to the cat and she would sigh with relief as she was happy to hear that he would be here to help for as long as they needed.

It wouldn’t take long for them to make it to the room where the sick patients were. These were different as they had separated room with a bunch of patients. It was filled in each room and the nurses were doing their best.

“Here we are you two. I’m assuming your friend is going to show up soon?” She asked him waiting for an answer.

Yuurei would chuckle a bit as he would rub the back of his head.

“Yeah, he should be here now, but he will show up. I’m assuming you need me to do the same thing as last time?” He asked her as she would look at the two of them.

“Yes, I need you to do the same in this room, that you’ve done in all the other rooms. Please just report to the front desk when you’re done with everything this time.” She said to Yuurei and there she would be out of the room leaving it to Renji and Yuurei.

The two would be left alone and they would look at all the patients who were laying on the bed in pain and waiting for someone to help.

593

"You're obviously doing this intentionally" Gnicholas said as he sat on the edge of the bed, reading the newspaper while Brone Heavyaxe was rushing within the shower.

"Ye can't blame me for my sleep schedule! I'm still in Fiore time!" the dwarf called out as he lathered himself with soap, trying to rush through his cleaning, but was also meticulous of cleaning every detail of his body.

"It's been a few days already, you should have sync with this time zone already; besides, it's only like an hour difference between Fiore and Talaz Lagaar, you're just making excuses" the gnome was already fed up with the dwarf and decided to just focus on his reading, trying to keep up to date with the information regarding the outbreak of the plague, but as far as he could tell, no one was getting any closer to a cure.

"Ye should have left without me then!" Brone yelled back, but the gnome had already chose to stop engaging in the conversation.

"A pity, I wouldn't be surprised if it was politics and capitalism that was preventing the cure from being developed" Benimaru had floated right behind Gnicholas in order to read over his shoulder. The gnome didn't reply, but simply nodded in agreement. With a the advanced technology on the island, it was highly unbelievable to the group that a plague wouldn't be resolved by that point, not unless the plague was manufactured with advanced technology, but Gnicholas dared not to say such an opinion, for the political power of the island could return to bite him in the rear.

Brone had burst through the door, releasing a large amount of steam into the room, once again damaging the newspaper. Gnicholas gave up on his reading and went to lay in the hood of the brown cloak that hung from the coat rack, waiting as Brone rushed to don his clothing. Benimaru was already floating by the door. "Ye know, ye two, or either of ye could have tried harder to wake me" he grumbled.

"I gave up after I hit you over the head with a pan and you still slept right a rock" Gnicholas said as he laid in the cowl, no longer worried about being late. Brone sucked his teeth and let the conversation die as he threw on his cloak and rushed out the door with Benimaru following him.

Eventually, they made it through the streets again and found themselves int he lobby of the clinic. The receptionist was already use to seeing the rushing dwarf, so she pointed down the hall to where Yuurei was and Brone following the direction while thanking her. Once again, he would check the many doors, save for two that were locked, but eventually he found his friends, "Good to see ye" Brone said as he was catching his breath. So the three of them got to work when they spotted Yuurei performing the same work they had done the day prior. Benimaru would watch the screens, Gnicholas would clean the furniture, and Brone would cool the patients down with damp, cool rags.

528

Yuurei and Renji were moving through the room together. They had done this too many times already, so it was like a routine working day for them. Yuurei would look to see if they were doing fine, or if things got worse than they already were. Once he had checked that they were fine, he would move on to filling up bowls for every patient in the room. He knew that Brone would be coming a little late, so he figured that he would at least prepare everything for him. The Seraphim would get every bowl to the table next to the bed of the patients, and he would smile as he looked over to Renji.

“Are you going to be cleaning this room as well Renji?” He asked his friend wondering if he would be doing something different today.

Renji would hear this and he would look around and think scratching the back of his ear for a bit.

“Yeah, I guess I can do that today as well. It doesn’t bother me at all. I actually find cleaning rather enjoyable for some reason.” He said to Yuurei as he would get the wipes to start cleaning this place up.

Yuurei would smile as he looked at everyone he couldn’t wait until they all got better. He would move on the first patient and he would take the towel and he would drench it before wringing it. Once he had done that he would put it on the patient’s forehead. He would see that it was soothing them and that was a good sign, which made him a bit happy. He would tend to them for a bit before he would go to the next patient. When he did, he 0would see that someone would open the doors to this room, and he would greet them.

Yuurei and Renji would look at the trio and would wave at them.

“It’s nice of you to join us, Brone. We got new patients to take care of today. It’s the same thing as last time, so you know the drill. Just make sure that none of them die, and that they are well rested. We just want to make sure that they get better.” He said to them as he would move on to the next patient.

He would get to them and take a rag and do the same thing as he did a few minutes ago. When he did that, he would put it on their forehead. The hunter would take another rag and he would soak it before wringing it out. Once he had done that he would take another rag and this time he would use that to wipe down their arms. He figured he would clean anybody that needed it. They must have been going through it and sweating up a storm. He felt terrible for them and was hoping that they would come up with a solution soon. Renji was doing his best to ensure things couldn’t get worse for these people. He was going to make sure this entire place was neat and tidy.

520

The room was different and so were the patients, but to Brone, it was the same situation, so the routine was easily handled, but Gnicholas had eventually taken a look at one of the patient's charts and noticed differences between the patients of this room and the previous rooms. The differences weren't major, but it seemed the patients that were in the room they were currently in had certain type of strain of the plague that the other rooms didn't. The gnome wouldn't to point it out, but didn't really seem like it was necessary since he couldn't tell what the strains were since they were labeled by a series of numbers and letters that didn't make sense to him, so he couldn't even tell if either of the patients were suffering from a more severe or not.

"Any abnormalities to the readings, Beni?" Gnicholas asked as he walked up beneath the floating shield and sword, staring at the monitor.

"Not that I can see, they vary just like the other rooms" Benimaru's tone was ominous and absent of emotion and with the lack of expression on the mask that was displayed on the shield, Gnicholas couldn't tell the tone of his voice or how the spirit was this day, for Benimaru barely said anything all day. The oni mask continued to face the screens as the gnome walked away to continue helping Renji with the cleaning of the room.

"Oi, how many rooms are there?" the dwarf sighed, wondering if they were making sort of a difference. To him it felt like an uphill battle when they returned each day; for him, he needed to see progress, like seeing an enemy tire out or fall to their knees in combat, but this was constant, "Are we even making a difference?" the dwarf grumbled, though he didn't intend on anyone hearing.

"It's not about success, it's about sustain" Gnicholas said as he then took a moment to inspect the next patient's chart, "We're not going to be able to cure them, we're making sure they are sustained at least long enough until they find a cure".

Brone wanted to say point out that there was no indication of assurance of a cure going to be made, but he then took a look around the room and realized it would be the wrong thing to say; keeping hopes up was also very important in making sure that the patients were tended to, so he kept his mouth shut and continued moving from patient to patient with the wet wash cloth, wiping down the patients.

At one point, one of the monitors began to beep, breaking the silence. The dwarf, instinctively drew one of his axes, battle ready as he didn't know what was going on, but then remembered about the monitors. Gnicholas and Benimaru rushed to the side of one of the patients who was jerking about rapidly; the gnome pulled out a large syringe and injected some kind of fluid into the patient, causing them to calm back down and silencing the beeping.

519 | 1,047

Yuurei was done taking care of the patient in front of him, and while he was doing that, it would seem like the trio had gone to work. That was good and it would seem like they were all doing things. It would seem like Brone was not happy with the tedious work. It would seem like they weren’t able to find a permanent solution for the patients here, but that was okay. He would look over to his friend as it would seem like he was going to say something, but it would seem like Gnicholas had him beat.

When he heard his words, he would nod, and he would keep it moving as he would continue with the people here. He would move onto the next patient as he would see that they were breathing hard. He shook his head as he felt bad for him. He wanted to hand him his Excalibur so bad and hope that it could do him good, but he wasn’t sure that was how it worked.

“With us here, and doing what we can, it gives them a fighting chance. I hope they do find something for them soon. I don’t like that there are suffering like this.” He said to them.

He would throw the rag into the dirty rags, and he would get another one. This one would be wringed out once he soaked it and he would put it on the patient’s forehead. When he was done with that, he would hear the beeping noise, and he would look over to the patient. Still, it would seem like they had it handle as he could see that Gnicholas would take the necessary procedures to make them feel better.

He would sigh with relief as he was glad that they had remembered and he would go onto the next patient.

“Nice job, Gnicholas. You were quick on your free.” He said to him as he would look over to the next patient.

This one was fast asleep. It was to the point that Yuurei had though the patient was dead. He had gotten closer to make sure that they were breathing, and he would sigh with relief when he heard it. He would go through the same routine as it would seem to make them feel better. He was for sure that this person wasn’t even sick, but he knew that this sickness hit everyone slightly different.

Renji was cleaning the place as he was making sure that there was nothing here that could get these people worse. He would go through the area as he would make whoever cleaned this place be put to shame. He didn’t want to get close to any of the patients because he didn’t want this happening to him. He knew being next to Yuurei didn’t make a difference as he was getting close to them.

“All I know is that, these scientists or doctors better find a solution fast. Their citizens are suffering and I’m sure a few of them already perished from this stupid virus.” Renji said this as he continued his cleaning.

521|1634

Brone nodded, albeit with a sigh of acceptance. He never doubted that any quest or mission requested and selected by him was pointless, it's just that the dwarf himself felt useless in this situation. He looked over to Gnicholas and watched him possibly safe a patient's life by knowing what to do and administering the correct medicine, or whatever it was, and he was praised by the guild master; all the while, Brone didn't know what to do. He was so use to rushing into fights that others were too afraid to do, not solely for the glory, but for the sake of feeling useful and helpful towards the community he was helping at the time. Now he felt like dead weight as he continued to dip the rags into the water bason.

"There's nothing wrong with being weapon" Benimaru appeared beside the dwarf, nearly startling him. The sword and shield floated so silently, it was hard to detect him. Brone was confused and was about to point out that no one had insulted the spirit but the oni mask continued, "I was once a powerful oni in physical form, battling against powerful enemies, though I had no true purpose; but I eventually sealed into a shield and sword, to be used by someone else." At this point, Brone understood he was mentioning this in reference to the dwarf's own uselessness, and he looked away as he somberly went to lightly wipe the head of a patient who managed to fall asleep, albeit still seeming to struggle with the increased body temperature.

"It wasn't until I was being used by powerful warriors with heroic hearts that I realized I was able to help, by providing the means to fight for others and to protect... I was thanked so often whenever the fighting was done and whenever I was placed upon the wall of their home... sometimes I was even given prayers" With that, Benimaru floated away to continue watching the monitors.

Brone took this moment to think about what the spirit said. The dwarf himself wasn't sure what to do, but he was being directed by Yuurei and Gnicholas, for they knew what to do, since they had leadership and knowledge respectfully. He trusted them before as they trusted him. So it was as if the people he trusted were using him as a weapon, both the weapon and the master working together as a team; he had already experienced this with Benimaru, whenever he held the sword and shield, he felt not just himself was exerting energy during the fight, but also energy from Benimaru himself, both energies working together in unison like a sound wavelength, or resonance with their souls.

"Soul Eater" Benimaru spoke out loud, breaking Brone's train of thought, drawing his attention to him.

"What?" the dwarf asked, wondering why the spirit suddenly blurted out such a weird thing.

"If I would eat Yuurei's soul, I would be deemed a 'Soul Eater', but should I, even though I only ate one soul? Do you call people vegetarians for eating lettuce once in their life?" Benimaru asked, seeming to be lost in his own thoughts. Brone nodded his head slowly as he backed away, trying to find his way out of the weird conversation.

553 | 1,600

Yuurei continued taking care of the patients that were in the room. He would move over to a specific patient. This one was struggling and was tossing and turning. He wasn’t sure what was going on here, so he went to check him out. When he got there it would seem like things were getting worse, but the noise of the machine monitoring him wasn’t making a noise. He would rub the back of his head as he was trying to figure out what he should do. He looked around and decided to get the rag and he would start wiping the patient’s forehead.

The hunter also held him in place, so that he could do this properly without missing anything. He would just watch the guy struggle more, and the Seraphim started looking around for something that could put him to sleep. He looked around as he was sure the nurse had told him about it, and it wouldn’t take long. He would find the syringe that he was looking for and he would apply it to the patient they would calm down after a while as it seemed like it didn’t work at first. Yuurei would sigh with relief, and he would put a rag on the man’s forehead before walking away to the other patients.

Renji was moving around as he was quickly finishing up what little he had left. He had been doing this for a bit and he knew that everybody was either too sick to clean, or were too busy to even noticed that this place was getting dirty. He figured he would be the solution to this problem. He did listen to the conversation between Brone and Benimaru, even though it was kind of one-sided. It seemed like that sword and shield was a weird one, and it would seem like he had a thing for Yuurei.

He would shake his head as he would continue cleaning and he would soon finish his job. He would wipe his forehead as he would walk over to Yuurei.

“My job here is done. Once you’re done here I guess we could go do something or get something to eat Yuu.” He said to his Yuurei.

Yuurei would look over to Renji and would give his friend a thumbs up. It would seem like he had done his part, which was great. He could see that this place wasn’t as dirty as it was when he entered the room. Yuurei would continue moving around the patients and taking care of them. It was overall a good time in this room and hardly any of them had gone through it. Of course, there were a select few, but they were able to hand it in without a problem. When it was all said and done Yuurei would leave the room to report how things had gone in there.

481|2115

[exit]

There was a situation of a person who was tossing an turning, but because the monitor wasn't sounding, Yuurei wasn't the only one who had tended to them, though Brone and Gnicholas was watching just in case. When that was settled, they went back to their own tasks. The gnome had made sure to check the clipboards one last time as he was noticing everyone's tasks were coming to it's completion.

"Brone, can you gather the rags and empty out the bason?" Gnicholas asked as he marked off his check-ins on a separate clipboard.

"Don't tell me what to do?" the dwarf grunted, but eventually did as he was asked to. He gathered up the rags that were used to tend to the patients and then dumped the water within the bason out into a sink that was located in the back of the room, "I hope today was a good day" He asked as he looked about the room, hoping someone would confirm whether or not they managed to succeed at anything.

"I would say so" Gnicholas said as he looked around the room doing a visual check, then he noticed the concerned look on the dwarf's face and understood he was still focused on whether or not he was making some form of difference, "Each day we win a battle towards winning a war" he gave a small smile before turning to place the clipboard onto it's hanging slot on the wall before walking out the door, done for the day.

Brone returned the smile, feeling better about the day as he placed the used rags in the empty bason which he then placed on the cleaning rack for the cleaning crew. He took a look around the room before he exited the room; the patients seemed more calmer than before, though he wasn't sure if they truly better, for he didn't have any idea when it came to the medical field, but he had some form of confidence now before he exited the room. Benimaru floated after him.

"Oi, Beni, do ye really eat souls, or are ye joking around?" Brone needed to get his head out of a funk and wanted to focus on something else, so he decided to ask the question that everyone wanted to know.

"I don't need to... but I do" He decided to say.

400 | 2,000

[Exit]