Nikolai woke up in a hospital room. He could tell where he was before he opened his eyes. The smell was distinct, as was the faint humming of the lights above his bed. Nikolai tried to move, but discovered two things. First, there was an IV tube sticking out of his wrist. And second, Fyodor was standing at the foot of Nikolai's bed, the look on his face positively frightening. "You weren't seriously thinking of trying to get up and move around, were you?" Fyodor asked. Nikolai grinned. "Yeah, actually, I was going to try to go find you, but I guess I don't have to now." Fyodor nodded. "Nikolai, you make for the worst patient."
This wasn't the first time Nikolai had been in the hospital. In fact, he'd been injured multiple times as a member of the decay of the angels. But this time seemed more serious. "What happened to me?" Nikolai asked. He vaguely remembered something sticking out of his stomach, but he couldn't recall what. "You got stabbed. Badly. Protecting me." Fyodor said. Immediately, Nikolai knew what was going on. "Whatever happened, it wasn't your fault. Please don't get mad at yourself over this. I'm a vampire, remember. I heal quickly."
Fyodor ran a hand through his hair. "You wouldn't have to heal if you didn't get injured." He said. "It was my fault for not predicting what Dazai was going to do." Nikolai frowned. He remembered some alternate version of Fukuchi. "Are we still in our universe?" Nikolai asked. Fyodor nodded. "We are." He said, and Nikolai read into the silence that other people weren't. "Who did he take?" Nikolai asked. "Chuuya." Fyodor said, his expression unreadable. "One of the hunting dogs, and the agency's detective as well. He'll probably be back for you and Fukuzawa." That wasn't exactly a comforting thought.
Nikolai clenched his fists. He liked Chuuya. They hadn't known each other for long, but Nikolai already knew that Chuuya was somebody special. Nikolai liked being Chuuya's friend, and the idea that something else bad had happened to him made Nikolai angry. No, more like furious. "How do we get him back?" Nikolai asked. Fyodor sighed. "We're having some trouble with that, seeing as Fukuchi took the smartest guy in the room." Fyodor said. "Ranpo would have been able to figure out how to cross dimensions in only a few hours. The rest of us are having some difficulty."
Nikolai took this to mean that Fyodor had started working with the agency and the hunting dogs, which was a solid plus, but was also a bit alarming: how had nobody come up with any ideas yet? "Our best plan is to wait for Fukuchi to come back, then ambush him and steal his sword." Fyodor said. "We'd have to either force him to use it, or find some way to activate them ourselves." That didn't sound promising. "Did he give any clues about when he'd be coming back?" Nikolai asked. Fyodor shook his head. "So, basically, our best plan is to wait for Fukuchi, and nobody has any idea when he's coming, and then try to fight him?"
Fyodor sighed. "Unfortunately. Apparently, the tiger boy thinks that his power could cut through Fukuchi's swords. But that didn't go overly well when he tried it last time." He and Akutugawa had lost in about five minutes the last two times they'd tried to fight Fukuchi. Maybe the third time was the charm, but Nikolai wasn't hopeful. He didn't want to chance Chuuya's life on a maybe. "How long until I can leave the hospital?" Nikolai asked. "Yosano says you have to stay here unlike the end of the day, so she can keep you under observation." Fyodor said. "But I'd look the other way if you wanted to use your powers to teleport out of here."
Before he could do just that, Teruko poked her head in. "How is he?" She asked. "He's fine." Fyodor said. "He just gave me a bit of a scare, that's all." Teruko nodded. "That's good." She said. "We can use him as live bait." Nikolai remembered that Fyodor had said that Fukuchi had also kidnapped one of the hunting dogs. Teruko would be more determined to cross the dimensional rift than most people. She'd be a useful ally, but this might not go well if she and Fyodor had different plans. Which was a distinct possibility. They both had people that they needed to save, and they had very different styles of planning. Nikolai just hoped that everyone could get along for long enough to rescue all of their teammates.
"We'll do no such thing." Fyodor said. "Nikolai is special to me." Teruko glared in his general direction. "Also, Nikolai is useful in a fight." Fyodor said quickly. Even Fyodor got a bit scared under Teruko's intimidating gaze. "We can use Fukuzawa as life bait." Nikolai suppressed a smile at that one. He'd never met Fukuzawa in person; he'd only heard stories that Fukuchi frequently told, but he got the impression that Fukuzawa wouldn't take kindly to being live bait.
"Fyodor. Fukuzawa wants to talk to you." Nikolai recognized the person standing in the doorway as Tetchou, one of Teruko's teammates. He looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept in weeks, and his eyes were puffy from crying. Tetchou looked like he was barely holding himself together. Nikolai understood the feeling. He was already distraught about having been separated from Chuuya, and he'd only known him for a few days. But Tetchou had been in love with Jouno for years. Nikolai couldn't imagine Tetchou losing Jouno once, managing to rescue him, then losing him again: all in the course of a single day. Nikolai wanted to say something to Tetchou, but couldn't find the words.
"I'm coming." Fyodor said. "You'll be okay, right Nikolai?" Fyodor asked, and gave Nikolai a small wink. That was Nikolai's cue to teleport himself out of the hospital before anyone came back to check on him. "Yeah." Nikolai said excitedly. He had no idea what he was going to do once he got out of the hospital, but he was going to try to come up with something. Whatever his plan was, it had to be better than live bait. Nikolai watched Fyodor and Teruko leave. Then activated his power. When Nikolai opened his eyes again, he was lying on his bed in his apartment. He could still see the cork board he and Chuuya had been using for their plan to kill Dazai. The more Nikolai looked at it, the more he could see a new plan starting to emerge. "Huh." Nikolai said, staring at the images upside down to gain greater clarity. "That could actually work."
