Brothers (Part 2)

Chapter 18 - Without Nico's Meds

Uno: "Oh no oh no oh no!! What do we do?! We lost him... We totally left poor sweet Nico behind!"

Honey & Trois: "Huh."

Uno started shaking Jyugo desperately.

Uno: "He took his medicine, right Jyugo?!? Tell me he took his medicine!! Please, Jyugo, please!!"

Jyugo: "Ow... he said that he— lost his bag— remember?"

Trois: "Calm down, I'm sure that it'll be fine."

Honey: "I don't know about that. It kinda depends on how sick this Nico guy is."

Trois: "That's honestly a fair point. I certainly hope he hasn't collapsed in some dark hallway."

Uno: "That's not what we're scared of."

Jinx: "What then?"

Uno: "There's no way to understand it without seeing it for yourself. This is really really bad."

Jinx: "Uno, spill! What's going to happen to him?!"

Uno: "Damn it... this is some really bad news. Really really bad news..."

Trois: "Okay, perhaps instead of repeating yourself, you can tell us what's going on."

Honey: "The phrase 'really bad' isn't exactly informative. We could use some actual details."

I pulled him down and shook him desperately.

Jinx: "For god's sake, Uno, will you stop keeping us in the dark! What's going to happen to Nico?! Will he be alright?!"

He took my hands.

Uno: "When Nico's meds wear off, he goes bat shit."

Jinx, Honey & Trois: "Huh?"

Uno: "That trope when humans subconsciously limit their abilities. It's actually legit. But not for Nico. He was forced to go though some messed up experiments. The limiters in his brain are way weaker than ours. That's what his medicine fixes."

Jinx: "Okay, my vocabulary may be advanced for my age, but I'm gonna need you to dumb it down a little more for me."

Uno: "It means, without his medicine, Nico goes savage."

Jinx: "No... no way..."

Uno: "I'm sorry but it's true... It's not that different from how you were around blades. He gets a desire to take out anything in his path. It's like something buried deep inside him takes over."

Jinx: "But... Nico's so sweet and harmless... how-?"

Uno: "He's just not himself in that state."

Trois: "Let me guess, if he acts without those limiters, he's likely to do great harm to himself. Not to mention to whatever's around him."

Honey: "That's some bad news!"

Uno: "Yeah! That's what I said!"

Trois: "The statement's true but it's also very stupid."

Uno: "Hm, I may be stupid, but at least I'm hot."

Honey: "We always have that."

Trois: "*sigh*"

Uno & Honey: "Hey, don't you sigh at us!"

WACK WACK!

Uno & Honey: "OW!"

Honey: "Damn, this kid can pack a punch..."

Jinx: "Now's not the time to play 'my face is better than your face'! Nico's in danger!"

Jyugo took my hand and started walking.

Jyugo: "Come on, Jinx."

Jinx: "Yeah."

Honey: "What's up?"

Jyugo: "We're going after Nico. Your friend's right. Without his meds, he could kill himself. Otogi told me."

Honey: "Alone?"

Jinx: "No, not alone!"

Honey: "Right, my bad... Alone with the little girl?"

I stuck my tongue out at him.

Honey: "Look, those doll creatures are everywhere."

Jinx & Jyugo: "So what?!"

Trois: "You can't turn back. This entire plan depends on you."

Jyugo: "*sigh* Nico..."

Jinx: "Fine!"

I took Uno's hand.

Jinx: "Jyugo, you stay with the dandy twins. Uno and I will find Nico."

Uno: "Good idea. We'll be back with Nico in no time."

We started walking back up the stairs until Honey and Trois grabbed Uno, trying to pull him back down. At the same time, I was trying to pull him up.

Honey: "Be reasonable."

Uno: "Let me go! I won't leave Nico behind!"

Jinx: "Neither will I! Let him go or I'll find him myself!"

Honey: "Forget him! He was a straggler."

Jinx & Uno: "NO!"

Uno and I kept pulling.

Uno: "He needs his medicine!"

Honey: "I'm sure he does! But we all risked our lives getting here!"

Jinx: "I won't let him get himself hurt!"

Trois: "Honey's right. At this point, we're better off staying where we are."

Uno: "Fine, you stay! But count me out!"

Jinx: "And me!"

Honey: "Listen! If your friend really is up there, then we won't be able to get to him regardless! Don't forget that Liang and Upa destroyed the entrance."

Trois: "And if he's joined up with them, he's safe. I'm sure he'll be cared for. Why don't we just put our faith in that?"

Jinx: "Don't care."

Uno: "Back off."

Honey: "Be useful and talk some sense into these two!"

Jyugo: "Uh... I can't."

Suddenly the whole stairwell starts shaking and we heard rumbling.

Honey: "Anyone else hear that?"

Trois: "Yeah..."

We looked up to see a wave of water rushing down the stairs.

Jinx: "I can't swim..."

Uno picked me and held me tight.

Uno: "Deep breath!"