The Morning After

Over the half a year he'd spent on Gaia, Regulus had become accustomed to nightmares. He rarely slept well, and often woke suddenly in the mornings... and given the content of the dreams, he was usually relieved to wake up at all. This morning was different in that, while he physically felt quite horrible for some reason he couldn't recall, the nightmares had been mostly absent. Instead of waking up in his usual panic, he was snuggled next to something warm. On some instinctive level, warmth meant safety. It meant he couldn't be anywhere near a certain seaside cave where horrible things waited in icy cold water.

Not feeling well and the lack of nightmares combined to make an unusual morning of not wanting to wake up at all, which is why it took him so long to wake up enough to realize that the nice warm pillow had fur.

It took another half-second to think past the absolutely horrid headache and mentally connect 'large unconscious black dog' with Sirius. At that point he would have given the dog an irritated shove, had he not felt too ill to want to move. It was almost tempting to just pull the blanket up over his head and try to go back to sleep, though he doubted the headache would let him. He was actually reaching for the edge of the blanket to give it a try anyway, when he realized he had no idea where they were.

With a wince, he managed to force himself into something roughly approximating a sitting position to look around. He, and the dog that was Sirius's Animagus form, were on a thin straw-stuffed mattress that had been placed on the floor of what looked to be some kind of storage room. The feathered red hat of the ridiculous outfit he'd managed to get Sirius to wear was laying next to another similar mattress a short distance away. The shelves that lined the walls held an extremely eclectic mix of small to medium items, and larger things were propped against a far wall... Rolls of canvas with things painted on them, and false doors and windows. Theater stage dressing...

Regulus began to piece together a possible scenario despite the distracting pain in his head, and he didn't at all like this situation. Zidane had joined them in the pub the previous evening... Zidane, who had been a member of Tantalus. Tantalus was a group of thieves that used the cover of being a theater group. And this was some sort of theater prop room.

Regulus knew there was no way he should feel as horrible as he did from just mead, so clearly something had been slipped into his drink during the evening. That this had lead somehow to waking up in the back room of a probable thieves den could in no way be good news. A quick check confirmed that most of his belongings were still surprisingly present, with the notable exceptions of his wand, the portable Terran computer he'd taken to keeping with him, and anything resembling currency. That Tantalus had sometimes participated in kidnappings was another thing he'd learned in his time on Gaia, and it was quickly looking like that was what had just happened. Zidane must have spotted Regulus at the pub with Sirius, called in a favor from his old friends, and took the opportunity to slip something into his drink... and likely Sirius's as well. Then they would have been disarmed and placed in here. But why? Surely they couldn't expect a ransom to be paid from a whole world away...

Unless Zidane meant this to get to Mikoto somehow, perhaps to try to force her to leave Kuja in stasis. Regulus couldn't puzzle it out, not with the headache he had, though even with that impediment he doubted a plan like that would work. Zidane clearly didn't know his own sister at all well. For now, a strategic retreat seemed to be the best option, as much as he hated the thought of leaving without finding what they'd done with his wand. Retrieving the ridiculous feathered hat from the other mattress, he put it on the large black dog, and retrieved his PINPoint from the waist pouch he wore. Bad planning on their part, he thought, that they hadn't taken that away from him. Thankfully, coordinates for the Desert Palace were already stored... he wasn't sure he could have typed them in in his condition.

Arriving at the Desert Palace didn't really help him relax, since he knew all too well about the design of the floor in those little round rooms. Luckily, since he had access, all it took was contact with one of the walls to open the door. Unluckily, he didn't yet know the Gaian version of a hover charm... and Padfoot, despite being underfed, was still well over a hundred pounds of extremely unconscious dog.

By the time he'd managed to drag the dog out into the hallway, the weight had become less of a worry than Padfoot's stubborn refusal to wake up. He tried giving him a gentle shake, but that only resulted in the dog yawning right in his face... and drunken dog morning breath was truly horrid. "Sirius, wake up!" he snapped, giving the dog a bit of a harder shove in retaliation. To his relief, this time the dog blinked at him sleepily before changing into a confused and possibly still somewhat inebriated wizard.

"Whu..." It took Sirius's mind one short moment to recognize the pale and worried face looking at him, and another for it to sink in that it meant the last day or so had not been a fire whiskey-induced dream. He grinned and pulled his very-not-dead little brother into a tight hug.

Suddenly being grabbed did not help at all with how Regulus was feeling. "Sirius, please... don't. I don't feel at all well, and this isn't helping."

Sirius laughed at the realization that Regulus likely had one hell of a hangover, then winced as he realized was one looming in his own very immediate future. "We need to find something to drink..."

"That's what got us into this mess," Regulus complained, as they both got to their feet.

"I meant water," Sirius said, and then frowned. "Why are we back here again?"

"Because it's preferable to where we were," Regulus said, trying to make his way out of the dungeon area and closer to his rooms. It was some relief that the Desert Palace's odd lighting didn't seem to make his head feel any worse.

"I don't know... there was this girl..," Sirius said, grinning as he followed along. He knew his little brother wouldn't remember that part. He'd already been unconscious.

"Well, that explains how they distracted you," Regulus snapped back, irritated. "I woke up in the back room of a thieves' den and all you seem to have noticed is that one of them was female." He couldn't help feeling a bit smug when that finally wiped the grin off Sirius's face.

Sirius wanted to protest that that certainly wasn't the only thing he'd noticed... except that he didn't remember anything about a thieves den.

"Check your pockets to see if anything's missing, Regulus said, before Sirius could recover from his confusion. "They took my wand, computer and any money I had at the time, but neglected to confiscate my PINPoint."

Sirius shook his head at that, and then regretted the action when he felt the early signs of a headache. "I have your wand. Zidane took it from you, and then I took it from him after he accidentally set fire to a flower cart... you don't remember any of this?"

"No, I don't," Regulus snapped. "And since I didn't drink anything but mead after that once, that means something is very wrong." Reaching one of the computer access panels he retrieved a glass of water and handed it to Sirius before getting another for himself.

"I might have spiked your drink once," Sirius admitted. Or twice, now that he thought back on it. And he wasn't sure Zidane hadn't done the same.

"We'll discuss that later. I'm more concerned now with where we woke up... I want nothing to do with Tantalus, and I don't want to know what they might have wanted with either of us."

"Tanta-who?"

"Then Zidane's associates were involved in whatever reason you did not return last night?" This question came from Mikoto, who had been alerted to their arrival by Valia Pira.

"And Zidane himself," Regulus replied. "Apparently you missed him actually using magic, though you'll have to ask Sirius about the details..." And then he noticed a helpful reminder that swirled briefly beneath the surface of the nearby access screen, like oil in water. "I'm going to be late..." Practically shoving the empty water glass back into the Desert Palace's storage, he headed for his rooms as quickly as he could manage in his current condition.

Sirius started to follow him, only to find his way blocked by Mikoto.

"From what I have learned of your world's cultural values, I do not think he would appreciate company while changing clothing," she said. "And since he will not have sufficient time this morning to tell me why Tantalus's involvement is now a matter of concern, that leaves you. Explain."

"Wait... where's Regulus going?"

"He has obligations in Alexandria which he is unlikely to neglect," Mikoto says. "Which is why it is important to know what interest Tantalus has, to determine if this has placed him in danger. Do you understand."

Sirius still thought they were overreacting. None of the people he'd met had seemed that bad. "Fine, but I want some answers too. Regulus said to ask you about how he arrived here."

"That seems an acceptable exchange of information."

Clinically Speaking

Several minutes later Mikoto was half-wishing she had waited for an explanation from Regulus instead. She was going to have to have a discussion later with Sirius Black about the dangers of alcohol poisoning, if only to make sure he didn't kill Regulus with his ineptitude before she could find a way to send him back where he came from.

"... well, Regulus was going to end up under the table after we'd both spiked his drink a few times, and Zidane offered for us to spend the night up at the castle. We're almost there when this strange bug-thing Zidane called an oglop hops in the moat. The second there was a splash Regulus went from half unconscious to some sort of mad fit. He didn't seem to have any idea where he was or who we were. We had to chase him down, and we'e lucky Zidane had picked his pocket and confiscated his wand or someone might have been hurt. As it was, Zidane still accidentally set fire to a flower stall. The fire actually seemed to help, but Regulus passed out as soon as he calmed down. Zidane said a friend of his had a theater nearby and we ended up in a back room there to sleep it off. Now it's your turn... what the hell's happened to him?"

Mikoto just nodded slightly. The only part of it that surprised her at all was Zidane using magic, but then it had clearly been by accident. "Taking Regulus near the moat was a mistake. Any sufficiently large body of water can be a trigger issue." They'd learned that the hard way on one previous visit to Alexandria, and that trip they had the Magelets along to help prevent a panic attack. In an inebriated state the odds of a breakdown would be significantly greater.

"A what?" Sirius wished the betailed girl could just make simple sense.

"Sensory input that can cause or worsen a panic attack. It's understandable that the presence of a fire would help alleviate the condition. Aside from the light and warmth, I have been informed that inferi do not like fire."

Sirius could have sworn the temperature of the room dropped several degrees at the mention of those things. Inferi were undead horrors created by a level of dark magic that was still a few shades away from the horcrux that Regulus had mentioned the night before. "What do those have to do with any of this? How did Regulus get here, and why is he... Why did that happen? I just want a straight answer."

"In the late evening of November 23rd, 1979, your younger brother had your family's house elf transport him to a cave in order to steal a horcrux created by Tom Riddle. Were you aware of at least that much?"

"Yes." Regulus had managed to fill him in on that much the previous evening, and Sirius still thought his little brother was either a lot braver than he'd ever given him credit for, or absolutely bloody insane. Possibly both.

"The cave's location was on the seaside, and it contained a lake that was inhabited by a large number of Inferi. The locket was also protected by a toxic potion with several unpleasant properties. The Esuna I cast negated the substance so, unfortunately, I do not have a complete analysis of it. However, Regulus was able to give a report on its effects during his recovery." Mikoto stepped over to one of the silver wall panels and brought up a report on the substance on screen. She made certain it was in English for Sirius to read.

"Wait... he actually drank this?" Sirius asked, as he read over the description. "Did he know what it would do? Why would he... I mean, he had that damned house elf right there. I'd've ordered Kreacher to drink it."

Mikoto studied the older man calmly for a moment before replying. "Yes, he did, and he was already aware of the eventual effects. It would have been irrational to poison the House Elf. From what I have been informed, Kreacher was capable of escaping the anti-apparition wards around the cave. It was necessary that he remain lucid and without significant damage in order to take the locket away to be destroyed. Or at least that was the plan." After a second's consideration, she added, "Also I believe he would hex you just for making that suggestion, so I advise you not to do it again when he is present."

"And Kreacher just left him there?" Sirius blurted, still trying to wrap his mind around some of the implications of this.

"I believe he was under specific orders to do so, yes," Mikoto replied. Regulus had never said exactly what was said to the House Elf, but it seemed the most logical possibility to her. For whatever reason, Kreacher had felt obligated to leave. The details were, so far as Mikoto was concerned, irrelevant.

Noting that Sirius seemed to be in some state of confused shock she continued explanations. "One of the symptoms resulting from ingestion of that potion is extreme thirst, but a further enchantment renders almost all sources of liquid inaccessible. This is to force the weakened victim to attempt to drink from the surface of the lake, at which point they are attacked and killed by the inferi. Escape would have been extremely unlikely."

"But... he..." Sirius was still reduced to incoherence as he tried to understand. He'd guessed as of the night before that Regulus had gone to something he thought likely to kill him... but he hadn't know that he'd gone to something he'd believed was certain to do so... and that he'd actually planned it that way. "Why didn't he..." He couldn't finish the sentence, unable to immediately come up with a different plan.

"He wrote you a letter," Mikoto stated. There was no accusation in her tone, just simple statement of fact, but it hit Sirius like a slap to the face. Satisfied that this had put a quick end to any idiotic babbling, she turned back to the screen. "The inferi managed to inflict severe injuries before a random portal deposited Regulus in the Nexus. Again I lack complete records of the worst of them. It was necessary to use healing magic immediately and I did not at the time have a suitable recording device available. However, Valia Pira is capable of doing a reconstruction of the damage based upon the resulting scar tissue and the spells used." She took some note that Sirius had gone very pale at the latest medical records she had brought up on the screen, but at least he remained silent. "While I would hesitate to refer to anyone arriving in the Nexus with the kind of injuries he had 'lucky', he was fortunate in a few aspects. The extreme cold of the water, possibly meant to act as a preservative for the inferi in the lake, as well as the severe throat injury here... His core body temperature would have plummeted rapidly, bringing on a state of cardiac arrest before too much blood loss could occur. Such temperatures also lower metabolic rate, which would have helped reduce ischemic injury and other cellular damage due to hypoxia."

Sirius didn't recognize several of the words Mikoto was using at this point, but with the records she brought up he didn't need to understand all of them. No one survived injuries like that. And he still knew a few of the words... "You're saying... he was dead..?" None of this seemed possible.

Mikoto just tilted her head slightly before answering. "By your world's medical understanding at that time period, yes. Perhaps still so in your own time." At least on the Wizarding side of things, she didn't add... though she'd heard enough of the archaic nature of Regulus's home to suspect that the non-magical segment of the population would grasp the difference between clinical death and permanent death far sooner than their magical counterparts.

Sirius didn't know what to think. This wasn't right. Someone had to be mistaken somewhere. "There isn't any kind of magic that can bring back the dead."

"Death is not an on-off switch. There are stages, not all of which are irreversible... though I would not be surprised if they were still considered so in your world.

At that point, Sirius could only understand one thing. He needed to see Regulus. "Where is he?"

"I believe I told you earlier that he has obligations in Alexandria. You can find him at the White Mage clinic there." Mikoto watched with some internal bemusement as Sirius ran more than halfway down the hall before he seemed to recall that there was no easy way to walk out of the Desert Palace and that it would be necessary to use his PINpoint. After he was gone, she cleared the records from the computer screen and returned to her studies.