"I’m sorry I’m late," Yuna said, entering Dr. Paine’s office.
"Mmm."
"Any—"
"It’s not going to look good in court, but frankly bigots don’t get much grief, no matter who killed them."
"You would’ve taken a screwdriver to him too?"
"I’d have preferred a baseball bat."
"So I guess I didn’t dig up anything new about that, huh?"
"He was always calling Seymour names. That was just the first time he said anything to his face. It was very weird. He’d only call Seymour those names. Everyone else had just called a juvenile delinquent or an ignorant twit. Small stuff like that."
"You don’t sound surprised that he’d be so… vulgar compared to what he called everyone else."
"Half the time he addressed me as ‘Mr.’ At first I thought he was just loopy, but when he called me a dyke the other half the time… I wasn’t very amused. Or surprised about the language he used for Seymour."
"But he only said those names to Seymour; does that mean anything?"
"It means he’s the only one Seymour’s actually intended to kill since his father. It means the words of some chauvinist pig who thought people were after his cat isn’t going to mean anything to the legal system."
"Maybe if I tried giving him something again… like another burger."
"Yuna, don’t bother."
"What do you mean by—"
"They moved the court date up. He goes on trial Monday. God, I could punch that bitch Shelinda right in the face."
"That’s not—" Yuna started.
Dr. Paine glared at her. She didn’t need to remind Yuna of who they were talking about.
"Fuck."
"Indeed. I got him a lawyer to act pro bono and she says she can try to get him a light sentence since he hasn’t a clue about most anything legal and because of what he’s been through. Still, he’s looking at twenty years at least, even if we remind the jury that he’s technically a juvenile."
"What do you know of Shelinda?"
"She’s Mika’s daughter in-law."
"Who’s Mika?"
"Mika’s Kinoc’s cat. Used to be Mike until it had kittens."
"Who’s Mika?"
"Not sure. He knew my dad. He’s dead now."
"You didn’t—"
"He had a heart attack around when I was fourteen."
"Seymour said he was Shelinda’s dad."
"Oh, THAT Mika. He was a lawyer working for the state. Best there was. Very important. Very expensive. Some guy named Isaruu took over after he died. I heard he and Shelinda are dating."
"That means we’re going up against her boyfriend? Well, fuck," Yuna complained.
"Why did you give me that flower?"
"I thought you looked pretty."
Yuna winced at a sudden thought.
"What?" Dr. Paine asked.
"I don’t look like his mom or anything, do I?"
"His mother’s maiden name was Kioko Tsukiyano. I doubt it, Yuna."
"Sorry," Yuna said. "I just thought it would be creepy if I did."
"It’s not an Oedipus complex. He barely said anything about his mother, and it was hardly in context to his father. It’s good that you learned about what happened to her. Now we have a better claim for our mystery custody battle. It took some digging, but I found the death certificate and a coroner’s statement. She shot herself in the snow. You managed to get some corroborating evidence."
"Let’s talk about your dad."
"What about his father?"
"What about him?"
"I don’t want to."
"Did he… do anything…to you?"
"Did he do… anything?"
Seymour was silent a long time, eventually rocking back and forth and staring straight through Yuna and through the wall, at some memory hidden beyond more than physical objects, before he spoke. "I can’t… I can’t tell you."
"He’s not going to say anything, that was obvious a year ago," Dr. Paine said. "But we have evidence. Someone probably threw it out in the police force, but I kept it on my end… reports of what he looked like and such. He was covered in bruises and suffering from malnutrition. He didn’t know what police were there to do; I think he thought they were going to kill him. He curled into a ball when they came. He threw up the first time we got any food in him, and he’s not bulimic. In fact he doesn’t know how to make himself gag if he wanted to. It wasn’t a suicide attempt."
"Why not?"
"Someone… will come for me."
"What are they going to do?"
"Is he afraid of anything?"
"You mean other than going to court?"
"Yeah."
"Don’t know. Certainly not our security guards, despite the fact that they can both bench three hundred."
‘I’ll bet Lulu’s chest alone could bench that,’ Yuna thought. "He’s afraid of something. It’s not court, it’s what people will do to him when they convict him."
"It’s not death, that’s for sure," Dr. Paine said, putting her feet up on her desk. "God, why did I have to pick a profession where things suck so much?"
"Would you rather you were just a bystander in all this?" Yuna asked. "It’s going to be all over TV. Every detail’s going to just make this more and more of a headline; this’ll turn into a media fight before you know it. Would you rather just be someone watching all this?"
"Shit," Dr. Paine said, staring at the ceiling. "I’ll have to ask for a gag order."
"The same thing my father did."
"None of this is going to be enough, is it?" Yuna asked.
"Not in the slightest. At best the jury will understand he’s keeping a secret he thinks is too dangerous to tell and they’ll either go for self-defense or just think he’s nuts and toss him back here. Doubtful, though."
"I’m sorry I couldn’t get through to him," Yuna said.
"Don’t bother."
"Why not?"
"Here," Yuna said, handing him her long multi-colored earring.
He stared at it for a long time, running his hand over the beads, petting the feather that had lasted for years. He didn’t ask; he was too confused. But Yuna knew what he wanted to say: ‘why?’
"My mother gave it to me when I was twelve," she said, gently setting it one the bed. She still remembered what Wakka had told her, that Seymour disliked being touched. She wasn’t about to lose his trust now, or risk one of his violent moodswings, but she wanted to hold him just once and tell him everything would work out and that he could trust her with any secret, that she’d keep him safe. "She died of breast cancer, but she asked my father to get something like this for me."
He picked it up, silently running his fingers over it again, admiring the colors and reflections in it. He was still too confused to speak.
"I trust you," she said. "I want to be friends. I’m here to talk to you… because… I care about you."
He stopped fingering the earring and stared at her. He obviously had no idea what she meant.
"I want to be your friend. You can talk to me… y’know, just to talk. And if I’m not there, talk to Tidus. He’ll understand, I promise. He won’t let Auron hurt you."
He opened his mouth, but did not speak for a very long time. At first all he managed were half-words he stumbled over. Apparently he not only never knew much kindness, but never learned how to react to it, either. "…I…" he said, and Yuna thought she was in for another string of word salad. "I like you."
Yuna smiled.
"It’ll just make me miss him more," Dr. Paine said.
Yuna nodded, even though Dr. Paine was staring at the ceiling and couldn’t see her.
"It was a nice try. It was wishful thinking, but all people are allowed some sort of hope, right?" Dr. Paine said, mostly to herself.
Yuna stood up. "I’d like to say goodbye to him, if that’s okay."
"He’s outside. He said he wanted to be left alone, Yuna."
"… Oh."
"Sorry."
Yuna left without saying anything more. She was late for dinner and Rikku was worrying about her. Yuna was worrying about Rikku. Her cousin couldn’t cook and she hoped they would be eating something other than Chinese or Chinese leftovers tonight.
"I have to go," she said.
"Stay."
"I’m sorry. Visiting hours ended an hour ago."
"… I still like you."
"I know. It’s okay; we’ll still be friends even when I’m gone. I’ll try o come see you again. Remember, you can always talk to Tidus. I promise."
"I’m scared."
"I am too. But I told you: I trust you."
"I like you too."