Welcome to Gaia! ::

He didn’t know what to do. Aliez sat in the grass just outside of the protective dome, overlooking the city’s night lights, as though trying to force himself to imagine that they were like the city lights of Velencya. It wasn’t the same, of course. It could never be the same.

Since he was very young, he’d been determined to join the Vanguard. To be useful. To do something that would make a difference. And now, his first mission away from Velencya, he was wondering if he really had what it took. What was the point of being able to heal others if he couldn’t stop himself from feeling sick. What was the point if he couldn’t help those in need. He felt like a failure as a medic.

The sound of footsteps behind him had him tense a little, but since the only place they could have come from was the dome, he didn’t immediately turn around. Instead, he carefully tucked his jacket around the creature in his arms, as if that would protect it long enough to be accepted back into Earth’s energy. He just… didn’t know how to do that.

It was only after a few moments that he looked up to see someone he definitely hadn’t been expecting.

“Y-your Majesty,” he sputtered in surprise, quickly lifting his arm to rub the tears from his eyes, since his hands were covered in blood. Not all of it was his own. “I apologize, I didn’t know you would be out here. Um, can I assist you with anything?” Aliez asked, although he was struggling to keep his voice from breaking with emotion, or from keeping the tears from filling his eyes again. He knew he needed to stand, but his strength seemed to have momentarily left him.

Aliez stared with wide eyes as the King crouched down next to him, looking at the lump in his jacket, and once again feeling unprofessional and disheveled for not actually having his jacket on. He just didn’t know what else to wrap the creature in. He could wash his jacket later, but the creature… it deserved better than the end it met.

Maybe if he was more skilled, or maybe if he was faster, he might have been able to help it.

“I-- yes. I’m okay,” he said, even though there were obvious cuts on his hands from being bitten and scratched in the creature’s last attempts at escaping and surviving. “I used all the energy in my Stone. I’ll heal later,” he promised, and looked down at the lump he held in his jacket.

“I didn’t know what to do. One of the Earth animals-- it was struck by those metal vehicles. Um. A car I think,” he corrected himself. It was difficult to get the terminology right when he was distracted by everything else. “No one--”

Ah, this was where he needed to suck it up and stop getting emotional. And yet he was showing his weakness to their King. “No one else tried to help it. I-- I tried to have it returned to their core but… Does Earth not have one? How do they return those who’ve passed…?”

It didn’t make any sense to him, and he used the back of his arm to rub at his face again.

It was incredibly embarrassing getting emotional like this, although the King did not seem to chastise him for the tears. Aliez would have to make sure he kept his composure around everyone else, lest they think poorly of him for being unable to control his emotions.

But he allowed King Caedus help him to his feet, watching him with wonder and awe when he said he would show him. The King must have learned many things during his time on Earth, so of course he would be the best source for information, other than the humans themselves.

He kept the creature carefully in his arms, but let The King lead him towards the trees. He wasn’t used to being in the King’s presence, but he seemed to understand the complexities of this world -- at least in a way that he could admit to not understanding why the humans did the things they did.

Aliez hesitated when the King offered him his personal handkerchief, unsure if it would be rude to dirty it, or if it would be rude not to accept the offer. He knew he’d smeared more blood and dirt onto his face as he tried wiping the tears away, so maybe the King didn’t want to be seen with him looking so unprofessional? He was already not in his uniform, having removed it to wrap up the creature.

“Thank you, Your Majesty… if you do not mind, I would appreciate it immensely.”

He wasn’t sure what they needed to do to return the creature to the planet, but he assumed he would understand soon enough.

It was weird to be taken care of by the King, but he’d offered, and Aliez didn’t want to offend him by refusing. He just held as still as he could and mumbled a polite thanks when he was finished. His eyes still felt hot and uncomfortable, and hopefully it wouldn’t get back to the Commodore that he’d been crying, but he appreciated that King Caedus seemed to understand.

He followed him and watched as he knelt on the ground. Aliez opened his mouth to maybe stop him from sullying his hands, but who was he to tell a King what to do? He would have offered to do it himself, but he wasn’t quite ready to put the poor creature down. He didn’t even know what kind of creature it was, just that he hadn’t been able to save it.

Once it looked like the hole was big enough, Aliez carefully knelt down on the ground as well. He looked at the piece of the cloak the King offered, moved by his generosity. He didn’t know what to say, so he just carefully placed the creature down, unwrapped its broken form from his now bloodied jacket, and moved it onto the piece of the King’s cloak, where he carefully wrapped it once more.

It only made sense that the next step was to place the creature into the ground, as the King had said, which he did as gently as possible.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” he said softly, still feeling like he was going to start crying again at any moment. Very unbecoming of a Velencian. “I hope to never have to do this again. But in case I do…” At least then he would know how to return life to the planet that took care of it.

Aliez watched carefully, still doing his best to hold back his emotions that wanted to tug at him. He was determined to see the mission through, of course. But he hadn’t been prepared to see death so soon. He didn’t know that Earth held so much life and didn’t know how to properly care for it.

He moved forward as well, helping the King with pushing the dirt back over the creature, and held the flower in place while the King carefully replanted it.

“I think you are very good at this, Your Majesty,” Aliez said and he shook his head to try and reassure him as he settled down to sit there for a little while. He wasn’t quite ready to get up.

“We might not know you as well as we know the Commodore, but that is not your fault. Once we have finished our mission here, I would very much like to learn from you, if you don’t mind,” he said a little sheepishly, because he realized it was probably very rude of him to make such a request. “And… if you need help, I don’t mind teaching you more about what you have missed while you were away from us. Thank you for showing me what to do to help-- um… I’m not sure what it was… but I didn’t want to leave it. Water would be good, please.”

“I am honored I was one of the chosen to help Earth,” Aliez said, maybe a bit more passionately than was necessary, but he was completely honest with his feelings about it. He carefully took the offered water bottle to take a small drink and then poured a little onto his hands to wash. He would have to clean more thoroughly back at the base, but this at least prevented too many germs from spreading.

From his subspace pocket, he reached in and pulled out a clean cloth, balanced the bottle on his leg, and then wiped his hands dry. Once he was done he held out the bottle, but with the intention of using it to pour onto King Caedus’ hands to help him wash the dirt off. A second clean cloth was pulled from subspace, because it would not do well to have the King use a dirty towel.

“I wanted to be part of the Vanguard almost my whole life. My parents are proud, of course, but I think they are more fearful that something will happen and they may never see me again. They are older and have received permission and tried many times for a child, but I’m their only. Even with their medical knowledge they had difficulties,” he explained, almost as if to fill the silence, even though it was not uncomfortable.

He paused and frowned at himself before glancing over at the King. “I apologize. I did not intend to talk about my personal life. I guess I just wanted you to know that I won’t let you down. I have worked too hard for this opportunity. There are countless who want us to succeed. Which means that we want you to succeed as well, Your Majesty. I might not know you very well since we only just met, but you have a good heart, too.”

Aliez nodded in understanding, feeling sad for the King and what he had to go through. “You have suffered greatly, not knowing what became of Velencya in your absence. I am not sure if it is because the others don’t want you around, but because they are unable to relate to your experiences. Perhaps we all feel guilt for not being able to rescue you sooner. Had the Commodore known, I am certain he would have attempted to aid you,” Aliez said confidently, because the Commodore was so compassionate for the people of Velencya, and Caedus was their King.

“I know many of us in the Vanguard are… much younger than yourself and the Commodore, but as citizens of Velencya, we still all have the same desire to see it prosper. The guilt of our older generations of not being able to save you-- of not being able to save Velenia… I think that is why many avoid you.”

He knew he could very well be wrong, but that was how he felt. And he didn’t want King Caedus to feel like an outsider. He deserved to be part of Velencya as much as everyone else.

But Aliez did smile and laugh softly when told his parents would be lucky if they had another child like him. “Thank you, Your Majesty. You have already made me proud to work alongside you for this mission. I hope we get to work together on many more in the future.”

“If you wish to learn more and try to take the same tests we did, I can help you study. If you would like,” Aliez offered, and then realized it was probably rude to just offer to help the King with studying.

“While you may not need to actually take those same tests, I am sure others will feel a sense of comradery with you, knowing that you had to go through the same thing. Of course, none of us had to suffer for hundreds of years of our lives,” he added with a small frown.

“We will make sure the Negaverse will hurt no one else, and then work on restoring Velenia,” he insisted and then glanced back to the mound of dirt with a small sigh. “It is getting late. Thank you again for your kindness, Your Majesty.”

Carefully, Aliez pushed himself back up to his feet and brushed the dirt off his pants. His jacket would need to be cleaned completely, but he would worry about that later. He made sure his hands weren’t covered in dirt before he held one out to help the King to his feet.