From Where the Silence Echoes

-7- A Nocturne for the Pitiful

Of course, things were never that simple. As Avdol gently pushed open the door to his home, every single hope he had had for Polnareff and Kakyoin to get along was dashed.

They were caught up in the midst of an argument when he found them, and by the looks of things, it had been going on for quite some time. Neither of them noticed Avdol leaning wearily on the door frame; and even if they would have, he was sure that that wouldn't have stopped them completely. 

"I'm not implying that Avdol's disappearance was your fault, I'm just pointing out the fact that it's quite strange considering the timing of you showing up!" Polnareff snarled, waving his hands about like a madman. 

"Excuse me?" Kakyoin glared at him, his voice wavering with his effort to keep it level. "What possible motive could I have for making the person who saved my life disappear?! You're insane!"

"Moi? Insane!? The only insane one here is you, pal, and frankly-"

"That's enough, Jean." Avdol sighed heavily, shifting a bit to fold his arms disappointedly. "And here I was, foolishly thinking that you would have some sense of civility with our guest."

"A-A-A-A-Avdol!" Polnareff turned around with a jolt, his face twisted into a nervous smile. "H-how long have you been standing there, darl-"

"Save it. I saw everything." Avdol held up a hand to stop him, then turned to acknowledge Kakyoin instead. "Are you alright, lad? He didn't hurt you or anything, did he?"

"No, I'm quite fine, Mr. Avdol." Kakyoin said with a sly smirk. "If anything, I think I've hurt him more." 

Avdol chuckled and rolled his eyes at this, trying his hardest not to spur on another quarrel between the two. All the amusement in the world wasn't worth jeopardizing Kakyoin's condition; and knowing Polnareff, he'd take him siding with their guest straight to heart. 

"If you don't mind me asking then, Mr. Avdol," probed Kakyoin nervously. "What kept you out so late? And did you happen to get some bandages, while you were gone?"

"I was doing some... Investigating. Nothing too serious. And while I didn't pick up any bandages, there should be some in the kitchen. That's the last place I had them, anyway."

Kakyoin nodded and ducked out of the conversation almost immediately, leaving Avdol alone to be lectured by an indignant Polnareff.

"Y'know, it's quite uncouth to just up and leave like you did, Momo! As you can see, we were both worried sick about you! Honestly, you could have at least told me-"

"Now, Jean, I'll have to stop you there." Avdol waggled a finger at him. "I did tell you that I was going out, this morning. Not only that, but I had asked you to pass that message on to Kakyoin, as well. Perhaps you were too enraptured by the tempting mistress of sleep to notice."

"Well- I- Tch..." Polnareff let out a defeated sigh. "You're right. But... what could you have possibly been investigating at such an ungodly hour?"

"I was looking into a matter that had piqued my interest a while back. Like I said, nothing to worry about too much."

"Did it have anything to do with that strange singing that was coming from the shore, earlier?"

Avdol sharply inhaled, his eyes flitting anxiously about the room. He couldn't possibly tell Polnareff about his adventures at the beach; there was an unspoken promise of secrecy between him and Jotaro, and the last thing he wanted was to end up on the merman's bad side. The simple thought of his razor sharp teeth sent shivers down Avdol's spine.

"Momo? Is everything alright? You seem kinda out of it." Polnareff gently put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't tell me the singing got to you, too?"

"Singing? I didn't hear any, while I was out." he shakily grinned, trying to stay composed. Lying to the love of his life was the last thing he wanted to do. "Maybe it was a figment of your imagination?"

"No, I don't think so... It sounded too real, and while I wasn't bothered, Kakyoin seemed really freaked out about it."

Polnareff narrowed his gaze at Avdol, making him even more nervous. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, casting a sideways glance at the ground.

"You know Kakyoin is recovering, and all. I'm sure it was just him hallucinat-"

"This wasn't a simple hallucination, Momo. It couldn't have been. Something's up at the beach, and with the way you're acting, it isn't good. What happened down there?"

As if through some stroke of pure luck, Kakyoin called for Avdol from the kitchen, his voice layered thickly with a concerning amount of distress. He threw up his hands, smiled uneasily, and practically ran off, thanking his lucky stars. Kakyoin was weakly propped up against a wall, bandages loosely clutched in his free hand.

"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Avdol, but... as you can see, I'm in quite the pickle here, sir." he chuckled tersely. "Here I was, thinking I'd fully recovered, and all of a sudden, things went down the drain, to say the least."

"No need to apologize, lad. I'm just glad you didn't go out cold." Avdol slung Kakyoin's arm over his shoulder. "I do have some good news for you, though."

"Really now? Now's a good a time as any for some good news."

"I saw Jotaro, today. He's doing quite well, surprisingly."

This stopped Kakyoin right in his tracks, his face draining of all its colour almost immediately. His breathing became noticeably shallow; and Avdol ended up being jerked back by the force of his stop.

"You... Mr. Avdol, you must be joking. There's- There's no way you saw him, I-"

"I wouldn't joke about these kinds of things, Kakyoin. That's the real reason why I was out for so long. I didn't want to say anything in front of Polnareff, but Jotaro insisted that I told you I saw him."

Kakyoin slumped his full weight against Avdol, his shoulders shaking with what he assumed were silent sobs. This was the exact opposite reaction he had expected. He patted the young man gently on the back, hoping that Polnareff was nowhere nearby to witness the poor thing's breakdown. 

"Was he... was he happy, Mr. Avdol?" Kakyoin finally spoke, his voice barely more audible than a whisper. "Please tell me he looked happy..."

"I'm sorry to say, but..." Avdol sighed heavily.  "He looked more worried than anything. Although, he did seem to perk up a bit when I mentioned you, so take that as you will."

The young man said nothing in response, his expression darkening in the face of this new information. Avdol pitied him immensely. Kakyoin leaned off of him with a sigh, taking a stab at supporting himself with the wall again. As Avdol watched him slowly stumble back to his room, his heart sank; and with that sinking feeling came a sneaking suspicion that something was about to go terribly, terribly wrong.