Of Cuffs and Claws

Written for Talesmas 2014, prompt was "anything involving Repede". Features quite a bit of angsty angry teenaged/twenties Yuri.

The empire obviously doesn't give two shits about anyone living in the lower quarter and it's pretty rare to see any knights (other than Flynn, anyway) show up around here, so when Yuri enters the inn lobby after taking a walk with Repede, he sure as hell takes notice of the five uniformed men who are clustered around the innkeeper. Four of them are just foot soldiers from the looks of it, but their apparent leader—a rather flamboyant man if the lipstick and blazing pink outfit is any indication—seems to be giving the inn lady a hard time.

"With all due respect, sir," Yuri hears her say, her voice almost frantic, "we've already paid our taxes for this year."

"And like I said," the man drawls, the words dripping haughtily from his lips in a way that Yuri quickly decides he does not like, "the empire's found itself in a bit of a…tight spot. Now, if you can't pay up the extra dues, we may just have to find some other use for this little dump of yours."

Repede snarls a little from his position at Yuri's side and Yuri fully shares the sentiment. It's only been a few months since Yuri quit the knights and this guy—a friggin captain judging by the uniform, and probably a noble if that better-than-thou attitude is any indication—is really starting to remind him of why he left: because self-serving bastards like him would use their power against the very people they were supposed to protect, and Yuri could never bring himself to just obediently follow their orders every time.

This man just screams everything that Yuri hates about the nobles and the knights and this whole rotten empire and Yuri may not know much else about this guy but he's pretty sure he hates him anyway.

"Sir, please," the inn lady implores, desperately. "We really just can't."

The captain leans towards her almost menacingly, as if to deliver another underhanded threat, but before he can, Yuri's already making his move, coming between the two as if physically shielding the inn lady from the knight.

"You heard her," Yuri snaps. "Now don't make this uglier than it needs to be."

The captain's face scrunches with distaste, and Yuri doesn't know whether to feel offended or vindicated when his intrusion causes the man to abruptly yank himself back, as if Yuri is some sort of filthy monster. Yuri settles for feeling a little bit of both.

"And just who are you?" The captain sounds as if he's talking to a cockroach.

"A tenant here," Yuri answers tersely. "And we've paid our dues. The empire shouldn't need any more from us."

Repede growls at his side in what feels like agreement before giving an angry bark up at the captain, and Yuri straightens up a little more from the support. But the captain has something dangerous seething behind his eyes when he turns to look at the young dog, and before Yuri can realize what's happening, much less stop it, the prick smirks and lashes his foot out. It lands as a vicious kick to Repede's side, one hard enough to fill the air with a loud thud and send the pup sprawling backwards into a heap on the floor.

"Repede!" Yuri cries out in alarm, eyes glued to the dog in concern, because Repede's just a few months shy of one year old and he may not exactly be a little puppy anymore but he's not quite fully grown either. He's young and he's still lacking in size and strength, and right now Repede is whimpering like he's in pain, slowly crawling back in retreat. Repede's hurt and he's not capable of taking on a knight at this age and when Yuri turns back to face the captain, he suddenly wants nothing more than to dig his fist right into that smug face.

"Bastard," Yuri hisses, and shifts almost instinctively into a battle stance, because Repede is his friend and no way in hell is he letting that go without a fight. "How about you take on someone your own size?" Maybe it's a stupid declaration, since this man is a captain and Yuri never got beyond foot soldier before he quit, but Yuri's way too pissed off to care and somehow, he doesn't get the feeling that this prissy looking guy who's probably a noble earned that title through sheer combat ability.

"Please," the captain scoffs. "As if someone as noble as me would ever touch a filthy peasant like you,"

"Oh yeah, because kicking a dog is such a noble deed."

"Silence! You would do well to watch your mouth." The bastard turns to Repede, who's still lying low to the ground in defeat. "That goes for your little beast as well."

"Yeah? How do you plan to shut me up?"

"Like this." The captain smirks, then snaps his fingers. "Gentlemen! Seize him!"

Honestly, those guys were so quiet throughout all of this that Yuri almost forgot they were there, and he should have seen it coming but he freaking didn't, so he doesn't have time to resist before each of the four foot soldiers grabs a hold of him, their grips locked tight around his arms, rendering him immobile and helpless.

Yuri inwardly curses his own carelessness at letting himself get caught while the captain grins, so smug and arrogant and so infuriatingly full of superiority that if Yuri's arms weren't trapped in chokeholds, all consequences be damned, he would smash that bastard's face in a hundred times over.

"Arrest him," the captain tells his four grunts. "This man is guilty of disobedience towards an officer and obstruction of the law. Three days locked up in the prisons ought to teach him a thing or two."

"Yes, Captain Cumore," all four chime in sync.

"Cumore" is like an unpleasant buzzing in Yuri's ear and he can't say he likes the name any more than he likes the irritating face that goes with it, but the knights are already dragging him away and no matter how Yuri may struggle against them, he can't break free. Hell, though, he's not even sure if he fully wants to, because if the knights are busy sending him to jail, they won't be able to pester the innkeeper.

At the very least, this will buy her some time.

So Yuri unhappily surrenders to his fate and lets the foot soldiers carry him off, but just when they've made their way out the inn's front door, a squeal resounds from behind them, so loud and screechy and high-pitched that Yuri might have thought it was the inn lady's at first. But a glance back over his shoulder tells him that no, it wasn't the inn lady, because it's Cumore who's red-faced and seething, it's Cumore whose boots are visibly soaked as he stands right in the middle of a puddle on the floor that definitely was not there before.

The next thing Yuri knows, a little blue blur is dashing right past his own ankles, out the door, down the street, and Yuri can't help the way his lips twitch when Cumore comes stumbling out the door next, futilely shaking his own feet in between steps as if that will actually get the dog piss out of his boots. It's a comical sight—the cruel and uppity captain brought down to awkwardly running in wet boots as he chases a little dog, cursing him all the way, but Repede's one fast little bugger whose yips and howls of victory are already so far away that Yuri can hardly hear them anymore. Cumore's never gonna catch him, and as the captain turns the next corner to follow Repede down a side street, mirth rises up in Yuri's throat.

It's the first time in his life that Yuri gets arrested, but when he's carried off by the knights, he's carried off laughing.

Filth and dust everywhere? Not a problem. A cold, hard bed? Yuri can deal. Awful tasting food? Well, Yuri's had worse.

But hours upon endless hours of silence, boredom, and loneliness?

Now that's the type of thing that can drive a man mad.

Out of everything that sucks about prison that's really the one thing Yuri hates the most, and when the three days that feel like an eternity are finally over and he's set free, the first thing Yuri does is rush back to the lower quarter's inn. Gently waving off the apologetic concern of the inn lady, Yuri tells her that he's just glad she's alright before heading up to his room to check on Repede, who greets him with an excited bark of greeting and a wag of his tail. Yuri smiles and bends down and runs his hands gently over the side that he remembers Cumore having kicked, but Repede just shakes his head and then licks Yuri's face as if to tell him he's fine now so Yuri sighs in relief and hugs the dog to his chest because it's just so good to be home.

Four months later, a couple more knights show up at the inn.

They're collecting taxes, just like Cumore's brigade was, but this time there's only two of them, both foot soldiers, one lanky and tall and the other short and rotund. They're an annoying pair, persistent about getting the money they came for, not to mention they argue with Yuri and with each other to the point that Yuri just wants to plug his ears, but thankfully, dealing with them isn't quite as bad as dealing with Cumore. It's almost easy, even, because when Yuri tries to explain that they've already paid up their requisite dues and legitimately can't afford to pay any more (and Yuri's really not sure why the empire wants so much money all of a sudden, never mind money from the actual poorest people in the capital), the tall one apparently decides that Yuri's itching for a fight and proclaims, "I say, let us take this outside!"

Yuri wasn't itching for a fight, not really, but that doesn't stop him from bashing the idiot over the head with the hilt of his sword and then kicking him into the inn wall.

"H-how dare you!" the shorter knight cries after the fact, thrusting his spear forward just as Yuri is turning around, and that blade would very well have struck him in the leg were it not for Repede pouncing on the knight and sending him sprawling to the ground. Yuri smirks at the dog proudly—Repede has grown so much in both strength and skill these last few months—and when the tall knight struggles to pick himself back up, Yuri readies himself to continue their fight where they'd left off.

That doesn't actually get to happen before a loud, booming voice rings out: "WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?!"

Yuri looks back towards the shout, and is greeted with the sight of yet another knight coming down the road, this one wearing what looks like a lieutenant's uniform. The two foot soldiers instantly seem to straighten up at his presence, popping up from their downed positions to salute, and frankly, it's all so sudden and unexpected that Yuri is too confused to react up until the point where the lieutenant snaps a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.

Aw, dammit.

The newcomer is Lieutenant Leblanc of the Schwann brigade, or so Yuri manages to gather when he chews out his two subordinates (Adecor and Boccos, he calls them, and Yuri henceforth christens them Tweedle A and Tweedle B). He then reads off to Yuri his crime and his rights and yadda yadda yadda, and granted, it's nice that he actually is getting his rights read to him this time, because Leblanc isn't Cumore, he isn't cruelty and abuse of power so much as he is order and obeying the law. But the speech is boring and unnecessary and ultimately it doesn't matter, because Yuri's still in cuffs and he's still going to jail.

Oh, and apparently, actually engaging in a physical fight with the knights leaves you liable to five days in the slammer.

Friggin wonderful.

So the Tweedles grab his arms and start dragging him off and Yuri sighs but doesn't even bother to struggle against them, and the knights just grumble amongst themselves and don't say anything to him until they're halfway up to the royal quarter, at which point Leblanc turns to him with an irritated look and asks, "Hey, could you get your dog to stop following us?"

Yuri blinks in surprise, then looks back to see that Repede is indeed following, hardly a few steps behind them, walking along as calmly as if he and Yuri were just going on one of their normal, everyday walks together.

"…Sorry." Yuri shrugs, fighting the urge to smirk. "Repede does whatever he wants."

Leblanc looks a little put off at that but he seems to let it go because he doesn't say anything else about it all the way to the castle,doesn't even react with a anything other than a cautionary glance towards Repede when the dog comes trotting through the back entrance right after they do. Repede just stands there as the Tweedles open the door to the same jail cell as last time, as they roughly shove him inside, but just when the Tweedles are about to close the door, Repede suddenly launches forward.

He leaps through the open cell door in a flash, exchanging a quick look with Yuri as he lands before turning around and growling viciously at the knights. Repede's back is turned to him, but even so, Yuri can just see the teeth bared snapping jaws, the menacing scowl and threatening form, the ferocious promise of retaliation if the knights even dare to try and get him out.

The Tweedles shoot each other a nervous look.

"H-hey, Adecor, you go get the dog out of there."

"W-what?! I say, why should I have to do that?"

"Well, we can't just keep a dog locked up in here!"

"Well then, you should get the dog out, I say!"

Yuri allows himself a slight grin, because even if they were to try and drag Repede out, he knows the dog could take them on. Repede's stronger now than he was four months ago—he can claw and he can bite and he's not too bad with a dagger either (and considering just how many dogs can use a dagger at all, that's pretty damn impressive) and come hell or highwater, if Repede doesn't want to leave, he is not going to leave.

"That's enough," Leblanc cuts into the Tweedles' bickering, and shoot a helpless stare towards the dog before sighing and turning away. "Move out."

Tweedle B looks as if he'd been slapped. "L-Lieutenant Leblanc?"

"If he wants to stay with his master that badly, let him." Leblanc grunts that out and doesn't say anything else as he makes his way out of the dungeon, so the Tweedles hastily lock the barred door before running after their lieutenant in a hurry. Yuri carefully watches their backs until he's certain they're long gone, then turns to Repede, who trots over and stares up at him with a look that tells Yuri that the dog is rather proud of himself.

Yuri's proud of him too, and he instantly bends down to scratch Repede behind the ears.

"You didn't have to do that, boy," he says, but Repede just gives him this pointed stare that seems to tell him that he wanted to do that, and Yuri smiles in gratitude. They can lock him up, but at the very least, it looks like Repede is gonna make sure he's not locked up alone.

"Thanks, Repede," Yuri murmurs, and shifts to hug the dog to his chest.

And as it turns out, the next five days really aren't all too bad.

In the next year, Yuri gets arrested seven more times, often for fighting tax collectors, and always by the Schwann brigade. It's not always the Tweedles who take him in, but Leblanc is there every single time and Yuri's not too sure why the Cumore brigade dropped out of tax collecting duty (though he hopes it has something to do with dog piss on their stupid fancy boots) nor why the notorious Captain Schwann never shows up himself (it's always Leblanc who takes charge and that's honestly kinda weird), but the inner goings-on of the knights are none of his business anymore and frankly, Yuri's glad that they don't toss any other brigades at him. At least with Leblanc and his cohorts, Yuri's reached a sort of unsaid understanding.

Nobody hurts each other too badly when they fight, Yuri doesn't resist when he's inevitably arrested, and the knights allow for him and Repede to be arrested together. It's simple and it was never really officially agreed on or anything, but it's an understanding and even if he'd never admit it, Yuri holds an odd sort of respect towards the Schwann brigade just for that.

But one day, when Yuri's been out of jail for a good two weeks and the tax collectors aren't due to come around here again for at least another two more, Yuri hears Repede growling from outside and pokes his head out the window to see what's up. When he looks down, what he sees is Repede backed up against the inn wall by two knights, both of whom have their swords drawn. Yuri doesn't recognize either of them but they're wearing the Schwann brigade's uniform so he almost can't believe his eyes when one of the knights slashes his blade down and the dog only barely dodges, because if Repede's canine reflexes weren't as fast as they were, that attack could very well have sliced his head clean off.

These guys are actually trying to kill Repede.

And Yuri sees red.

"Leave him alone!" Yuri screams, grabbing his sword on instinct, jumping right out the third-story window to unleash a furious "Azure Edge!" in midair. The arte hits one knight with enough power to send him flying backwards, and as Yuri lands, he tackles the other knight without a second thought, forcing him onto his back on the ground. Yuri tucks the hilt of his sword under his arm and punches the knight struggling beneath him, once, twice, three times across the face, and just when Yuri's gearing up for a fourth, the knight lets out a dwindling moan and goes limp.

He's knocked out. Good.

But Repede is still barking frantically and Yuri looks up to see that the dog's engaging in battle with the other knight that Yuri hit with Azure Edge earlier, a fellow who's rather big and tall and is still swinging his sword at Repede with swipes aimed to kill, one of which manages to slice a wound in Repede's side that has blood spraying through the air. In a last ditch maneuver, Repede manages to kick the knight in the gut hard enough to leave him temporarily winded, and that gives Yuri just enough time to come behind the knight and deliver a vindictive knifehand strike to the back of his neck. The knight wobbles and teeters on his feet from the blow before finally hitting the ground, out cold.

With those two out of commission, Yuri is all too quick to usher Repede into the relative safety of the inn lobby and then tend to him, finding bandages and an apple gel in his room and bringing them back downstairs, and Yuri's in the middle of treatment when Leblanc's familiar voice booms from outside.

"YURI LOWELL! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Yuri freezes for a moment before sighing and continuing to wrap Repede's bandages, not bothering to respond to that call, because this was an attack by the Schwann brigade and if Leblanc had anything to do with it, whatever understanding that Yuri thought they'd had has officially been blown out of the water. Going as far as to kill Repede over their semi-regular squabbles is just plain low so Yuri wants to believe that Leblanc wouldn't go that far, and when the lieutenant comes storming inside the inn and then pauses when his eyes fall upon the injured Repede, Yuri finds at least slight assurance in the concern that flashes across Leblanc's face.

"Your men were trying to kill him," Yuri hisses in explanation, and he watches carefully as Leblanc's face takes on a look of shock and scandal. The lieutenant turns to look towards the knocked out soldiers outside, shaking his head in what looks like shame and disappointment, and that's enough to convince Yuri that Leblanc didn't order this, nor does he approve of it. Still, Yuri wants an explanation as to why two of his men decided to try and take out Repede.

"They're rookies," Leblanc sighs when he turns back around to face Yuri again. "New to the brigade. There have been reports about dangerous dogs running rampant around the capital and attacking people. They must have seen your pooch and assumed he was one of them."

…Well, admittedly, Yuri can see how someone might assume that, what with Repede having a scar in place of one of his eyes along with being impressively skilled with a dagger, but that's no excuse and it's beside the point.

"You guys are looking for the little wolves," Yuri tells Leblanc. "And you're not gonna find them anyway. Repede already drove them out of town."

There's a grand story behind that, a whole tale about how Repede trained and trained with Yuri endlessly in order to get stronger, how Repede challenged the whole pack of evildoing wolves to a battle just a few days ago, how Repede was able to then defeat them in a thrilling battle that forced the little wolves to leave the capital with their tails between their legs, but Leblanc doesn't ask for it. He just gives Yuri a weird look for a few seconds before shaking it off.

"Well anyway, they clearly acted out of order. They will face grave consequences, rest assured."

As he says this, Leblanc pulls out a lemon gel and tosses it to Repede, who catches it in his mouth and chews on it eagerly. Then, though, the lieutenant pulls out the ever familiar cuffs, and Yuri only barely stops himself from groaning as the metal snaps around his wrists.

"However, this doesn't change the fact that you fought and incapacitated two knights of the empire. You will have to face the usual punishment."

Yuri rolls his eyes but he doesn't bother to struggle as Leblanc leads by the arm out the door and down the road. Repede trots alongside them as usual, this time nuzzling up against Yuri's leg as they walk as if in apology. But Repede doesn't need to be sorry for anything that happened here today.

"So what's it gonna be this time?" Yuri grumbles. "A week for knocking out your precious soldiers?"

Leblanc grunts, "How about a day?"

"…Huh?"

Yuri blinks in surprise, and Leblanc turns to him with a look that seems much less reprimanding, much less rigid than usual.

"You're only getting one day this time."

Leblanc doesn't look like he wants to say anything else on the matter but Yuri decides that he doesn't need him to; he'll take the gesture for what it is. And once Yuri is locked in the jailcell and Leblanc takes his leave, Yuri bends down to Repede's level and carefully checks the bandages once more, gently running his fingers along patches of soft fur that are matted with blood.

"You're okay," Yuri breathes, finally allowing relief to clutch at his heart, finally allowing his voice to tremble in a way he never would have let it when Leblanc or even the inn lady was near. And when Repede whines in apology and shifts, nuzzling his nose against Yuri's cheek, Yuri just shakes his head and hugs Repede around the neck.

"You're okay," Yuri says again as he buries his face into soft fur, and that's all that really matters.

"Yuri, you can't keep doing this."

"What, eating?"

Flynn levels Yuri with a decidedly unamused glare through the bars. "Getting arrested."

Yuri just shrugs and takes another bite of his stale bread, rather disinterested in whatever reprimands Flynn is gonna spout out this time. This is the first time Flynn has ever come down to actually pay a visit while he was in his cell and he doesn't know why the lieutenant chose now of all times to come lecture him, because in the past two years, they've exchanged plenty of choice words about Yuri's ever growing rap sheet during Flynn's occasional visits to the lower quarter and Yuri already knows what Flynn's going to say.

"I mean, you've even dragged Repede in here with you," Flynn continues, gesturing to the dog who's scarfing down his own bowl of gruel in the back corner of the cell.

"Hey, he's here because he wants to be."

"And do you want to be here? Do you really want to spend your life rotting in jail?"

Yuri slowly swallows his mouthful of bread and sighs. "Look, what did you expect me to do, Flynn? Just sit back and watch everyone cough up their life savings to people who'll only treat it like pocket change?"

"No, that's not… Yuri, if you would just come back—"

"Stop right there."

"Yuri—!"

"I couldn't do anything in the Knights, Flynn!"

"Well just what can you do locked up in a prison?!"

Yuri seethes at that but he can't say anything in response. He doesn't have an answer to that, not really, because all he really knows how to do anymore is cause trouble for the knights and do odd jobs to help the others around town. It's not exactly satisfying and it's probably not very effective but Yuri can't just watch all the people who practically raised him be hurt by the empire and do nothing about it, and he can't go back to the Knights, so what other choice does he have?

Yuri suddenly feels sick to his stomach so he flings what's left of the bread down onto the tray with an angry clang.

"Um…lieutenant, sir?" The watch guard comes in, whispering to Flynn, but Yuri can hear it perfectly. "You're, uh, being rather loud…"

That must snap Flynn out of whatever funk he's in, because the fire and acid in his eyes ebbs away to leave only a steely gaze, hard but professional.

"…My apologies for the commotion," Flynn states, and glances at Yuri one last time before turning his back completely. "Thank you for your help. I'll see myself out now."

The guard escorts Flynn out and Yuri keeps staring at their backs until they're out of sight, at which point Yuri rears back his arm and punches the bars straight on, hard enough to leave his hand throbbing, screaming. A harsh clang rings out and Yuri curses through the pain as he storms over to his bed, viciously plopping himself down on it and burying his face in his pillow. It feels like his whole body is stinging, like his guts are hollow and churning, and maybe if he just suffocates himself with this pillow, he won't have to think about Flynn and this stuffy jail cell and this entire rotten, corrupt, stupid empire—

A heavy weight abruptly presses down on his back, and a slightly winded Yuri shifts to get a better look at it.

"Repede, what're you—ack! Hey!"

A rough, wet tongue makes contact with the crook of his neck before he can finish his sentence, and that's only the precursor to what soon becomes an all-out licking attack, one that spreads to all over his neck and his face before Yuri can even try to stop it. Yuri squirms beneath the dog in protest, winces at each slobbery assault, brings his hands up and bats at Repede in a futile attempt to push him off.

"Augh, Repede, stop! You're getting slobber all over me!"

Yuri does his best to sound annoyed with the dog, but Repede pays him no mind and just keeps licking him, over and over, until soon enough Yuri gives in and starts laughing, shoving halfheartedly and even playfully at the dog's belly.

"C'mon, you've gotten too big and fat for this! Get off!"

Repede doesn't get off but he does let up, his tongue mercifully pulling away from Yuri's skin and leaving the swordsman to pant in defeat and wipe slobber from his neck with the back of his hand. Repede stares down at him, his tongue still dangling out his mouth, and Yuri makes a face at him before rubbing his wet hand against Repede's fur to dry it off.

"Jerk," Yuri accuses him, but Repede just shoots him a pointed stare that tells him he's not going to let Yuri drop the subject so easily, so Yuri sighs.

"Yeah, yeah. Look, I do get what Flynn's trying to say. I just…wish he wouldn't be such a hardass about it."

Repede whimpers slightly and cocks his head.

"I know, it's not his fault. He's just doing his best with the knights. He's…gonna be great someday." And Yuri's not sure whether that makes him want to laugh or cry, because Flynn's gonna be great and that makes Yuri feel both proud and rotten. He actually sorta misses when Flynn was a worthless lower quarter kid just like him, when they were both young and reckless, when they only fought sometimes instead of all the time and they both actually believed in the same things.

But that's not fair because Flynn's not the one who changed, who broke away from what should have been their shared path. That was all Yuri.

"…I can't be like him. I…I just can't go back," Yuri murmurs, and looks up at Repede with a sort of helplessness that he would never let himself show anyone else. "The knights were driving me crazy. I can't obey orders just like that. I can't sit back and just…watch as other people get hurt."

Repede barks softly in what feels like support and affirmation, and bends down so that his nose is gently nuzzling Yuri's cheek. Yuri thinks he's trying to tell him that he understands.

"Yeah, I know you do." Yuri shifts to sit up and Repede lets him, laying down in Yuri's lap once the swordsman has leaned his head back against the wall.

"…Really," Yuri murmurs softly as he scratches the dog behind the ears, "you're the only one who does anymore."

Yuri's used to nobody actually ever being in either of the other two cells whenever he's tossed in jail (with the exception of the occasional drunkard), so having a chatterbox for a cell neighbor this time is certainly a change of pace. Though really, Yuri has to wonder if the old guy in the cell next to his even realizes the fact that he's in jail, because he just keeps on gossiping with the watch guard with an almost casual, even frivolous sort of air, and part of Yuri can't help but be jealous of that. It's not so easy for Yuri to act like this cold and empty place doesn't get to him, not so easy for him to pass the hours with stories that fill the silence. In that way, Yuri's almost grateful for the old man's storytelling, because listening to it gives Yuri something to focus on other than the cold in his bones and the hardness of the bed and the fact that he's gonna be sore all over when they finally let him out of here in ten days.

Still, the old guy's prattle is a poor substitute for Repede.

The last time Yuri went to jail without Repede was the actual first time he went to jail ever, and after three years of always having the dog at his side, Yuri had almost forgotten just how much it sucked to be alone in his prison cell. And it does suck, a lot, but Repede was smart, Repede knew what he had to do when Cumore came to arrest Yuri, Repede knew that getting the money Mordio took from the lower quarter back to Hanks was more important than surrendering himself and potentially letting the knights get a hold of that money. Yuri certainly can't fault him for that.

But even so, Yuri's only been here for like five hours now and already he thinks he's starting to lose it. He never truly realized before now just how much he relied on Repede's mere presence, how much he needed to hear the dog's breathing and watch him paw at the floor and feel his soft furry warmth just to stay sane in here. And it doesn't help that while he's rotting away in jail, the lower quarter is who knows how deep in water right about now. Maybe it's the worry helping enhancing his distress but Yuri feels fidgety as hell today, because he needs to get out of this cell before it's too late, he needs to check up on the others, he needs to know that his town and his people and his dog are all still safe.

And if his weird chatterbox of a cell neighbor sliding a key under the door is what it takes to make that happen?

Well, Yuri's not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

A lot of things don't go exactly as planned that day and Yuri may have unwittingly taken more into his hands than he can really handle, because planning to leave town in search of Mordio is one thing but dragging a noblewoman along with him out of the castle is another, and with all the craziness and vexation of breaking out of jail and trudging through the sewers and fleeing from knights in pursuit (dammit Leblanc, dammit Tweedles), Yuri wouldn't mind a little pick-me-up.

So when Repede comes out of nowhere at the last minute to knock Leblanc onto his face and then reunite with Yuri?

Well, Yuri decides as a smirk sneaks across his face and he only barely stops himself from affectionately petting Repede in front of Estellise, that definitely helped cheer him up.