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 Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:37 pm
Takes place after Zero Stars
Create a diversion, Arles suggested. If that was what it took for him to find this weapon they were trying to neutralize, then he would have to do just that.
“Do you have a book or something? I’m not really into books, but I’m that bored. Anything. I’ll read the back of a shampoo bottle--” “Will you shut up?” Sessrumnir growled from where he sat out of view from the room.
He grasped tightly to the necklace he wore, as if willing the pulse to return to normal. It had quickened, like it was in distress. Although without knowing exactly what was going on, and with no way to help, all Sessrumnir could do was hold it tightly in his palm, as if that would be enough to ease the tension. Jet was surprised by the voice. He hadn’t thought Empyrean would allow Sessrumnir to be around him, especially alone. Not that he was afraid of the Knight.
“No luck finding Aquamarine?” Jet asked, because he was certain he could rile this Knight up very easily. “Do you get off on beating up pretty boys? He is pretty, isn’t he? It’s okay, he likes it too. Well, maybe not when you did it.”
Either Sessrumnir was really good at ignoring him, or he wasn’t affected by the taunting. Strange. He seemed like the type to be easily provoked by that stuff.
“We haven’t seen… what’s his name… Remus in a while, either. Maybe someone else managed to grab his starseed--”
The door was practically knocked off its hinges, knocking him backwards onto the floor. Jet made a mental note that next time he should wait a bit longer before jumping right into the Remus bit. Or maybe that was exactly what he needed.
“Oh, did that touch a nerve? Is Remus the pretty boy you like to beat up?”
Sessrumnir glared down at him with wild, cold eyes. Jet supposed he deserved it when he was hauled to his feet and shoved against the concrete wall. He was trying to create a diversion. And now the door was unlocked. And maybe he could hear shouts from other people in the building.
Or maybe it was the sound of his brain rattling around in his head.
His vision was momentarily out of focus, and the feeling of nausea was heavy. Sessrumnir was not much taller than he was, but he was wider. And had clearly spent time training and building muscle. Jet was more lithe muscled, but was proud of his own strength and training.
Which was why he was confident when he swung a fist into Sessrumnir’s jaw.
And not so confident when the close range gave Sessrumnir the opportunity to grab hold of the front of his uniform long enough to kick him in the ribs again, sending him back against the now damaged wall. If his rib wasn’t broken before, it was certainly broken now. He couldn’t even let out a pained cry before Sessrumnir was hauling him limply to his feet again.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 7:15 pm
Empyrean put a firm hand on Sessrumnir’s shoulder, stilling him.
He heard the commotion down the hall. On the way with that evening’s meal, he hadn’t thought he needed to worry about leaving Sessrumnir alone with their prisoner. Sessrumnir wanted Jet dead, it was true, or he thought Jet would be better off that way, at least, but he’d agreed to this arrangement instead. Empyrean took that agreement as an oath to do no harm until the decision was made collectively.
Apparently, Sessrumnir thought it acceptable to take matters into his own hands. Whether he’d been goaded or not made no difference; his actions earned a disappointed frown from Empyrean.
“Release him,” Empyrean said, voice low with his disapproval — and with a command.
When Sessrumnir did not immediately comply, Empyrean put more pressure on his shoulder and pulled.
“Sessrumnir. Release him, now. This isn’t how we treat our prisoners.”
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 7:45 pm
Mont Saint Michel’s voice was ringing in his ears, louder than Empyrean’s at the moment. ”You’re playing with fire keeping that General around. The longer you have him, the longer they have to find him.” “He’s a murderer,” Sessrumnir growled, but roughly shoved Jet to crumple to the ground as Empyrean pulled back on his shoulder. His hands were shaking as he glared down at the form of the General.
He could end it now. He could break Jet’s neck and get it over with. He could strangle him or just cut an artery open. There were plenty of ways he could bring this dangerous experiment to a close. They didn’t have to use a General for their prisoner. They could use someone who couldn’t teleport to begin with and not have to worry about them escaping if they needed to make adjustments to the Void.
“He’s attacked and killed countless. You can’t possibly expect that he’ll turn over a new leaf just because you bring him some Advil every night, do you?”
He was angry. He was scared. Oberon thought there was a youma in the building, lurking around. He tended to believe Oberon when it came to youma. On top of that, his necklace wouldn’t calm down.
“He sent me a message through Pendour the other week. To work out our differences. And then attacked her and Encke--” “Oh, so that’s the Senshi’s name?” Jet wheezed weakly from where he’d collapsed to the floor, panting for breath that didn’t come easy. He had blood down his chin from a newly split lip, and he was sure the back of his head was going to be badly bruised. Hopefully bruising was the worst of it, and there hadn’t been serious damage done by the Knight.
He already felt light headed and woozy. His whole body shook with pain, and he was pretty sure he was going to throw up at any moment. Not that there was much for him to throw up.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:03 pm
Empyrean had no interest in a debate. Anything he had to say on the matter would receive a counter argument — warranted, perhaps, but unnecessary — so he left Sessrumnir’s statements unanswered.
“Wait out in the hall,” he said instead.
He knew what Jet was. He knew what he was capable of. He knew what they were all capable of, if pushed far enough.
In all likelihood, Jet would not “turn over a new leaf,” to use Sessrumnir’s choice of phrase, certainly not for something so simple as pain medication. That did not mean Empyrean had any intention of stopping. Perhaps it was the stubbornness in him. Perhaps it was his curiosity. Jet’s loyalty was a fascinating thing. The more they understood it, the better they would understand the Negaverse.
“You are allowing your emotions to consume you,” Empyrean said. He continued to pull Sessrumnir away, guiding him to the door. “Wait in the hall. I’ll be out momentarily. Jet, I would advise you not to provoke him, but something tells me you did so with a purpose in mind.”
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:28 pm
Sessrumnir grit his teeth and snarled at Jet, looking around Empyrean as he did so. They were risking too much by keeping this General alive. And of course he was being consumed by his emotions. There had been too many close calls with this General already.
He didn’t want to leave Empyrean in the room alone with Jet, but he also didn’t want to argue with him. He didn’t often argue with his father anyway. In fact, he very rarely did so. Empyrean usually had a good understanding of what he was going through and gave him a wide enough berth for him to sort out his issues.
Unhappy about it, Sessrumnir made his way into the hall, but not without sending one last glare over his shoulder. Jet’s breathing was still labored as Sessrumnir made his way out of the room. He didn’t bother trying to get up from the floor. His hands shook, his mouth felt like it was full of blood, which didn’t help his upset stomach. He barely pulled himself over to the bucket they’d been kind enough to provide him, before he emptied the little contents of his stomach into it.
“I don’t understand… how a Page can command Knights and Princesses so easily,” he muttered as he tried to keep himself upright, but it was a losing battle with gravity. The floor, as disgusting as it was, seemed more inviting than the pain sitting would cause.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:41 am
“Experience,” Empyrean said. “Not in the war, perhaps, but in life.”
He left the door open to ease Sessrumnir’s worries. Jet wouldn’t be going anywhere in this state. He could barely crawl over to the bucket, much less make it to the door to mount any sort of escape.
Empyrean waited, setting aside the food he’d brought. He gave Jet the space to be sick, to get his bearings. Sessrumnir had not done nearly as much damage as he was capable of, but with Jet’s existing injuries, it probably felt significant. When he thought Jet might be able to rise without being sick again, Empyrean guided him to the bed and helped him sit.
“Our command structure isn’t as strict as yours,” he continued, retrieving the necessary supplies to treat Jet’s wounds. “Many of us grow into our power through necessity, not because anyone higher than us deemed we’d earned it. The practice leaves openings for those with relevant life experience to earn respect above their rank.”
In this instance, Empyrean could thank his personal relationships, too, but Jet had no need to be made aware of that.
“Attitude helps, I think. No matter one’s rank, people tend to respond better to someone who exudes calm and patience.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:52 am
He didn’t like having to be helped to get up or sit or do anything. Jet was tired of feeling like he was being looked at as a child by this old man. He would be glad whenever Arles managed to find what they needed so he could get out of this decrepit building with these people who either hated him or took pity on him.
He wasn’t sure which was worse. The hate he could deal with. The pity was exhausting.
Still, it was curious how an old man could stop someone from trying to kill him with just a hand on his shoulder.
Jet lifted his hand to wipe the fresh blood from his face, forcing himself not to make any faces from the pain elsewhere in his body. His head felt like it was going to explode now, and he still felt a bit dizzy.
“Calm and patience, huh?” Jet snorted, and regretted it because his whole chest ached. He could see that with the Queen and Axinite. He didn’t know the others nearly as well.
“Well, can’t get much experience when life expectancy isn’t very long,” he pointed out, knowing that Aquamarine would probably be smug about his admittance to knowing there were very few in the Negaverse with a long history of experience.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:08 am
“An unfortunate side effect of the grave situation we find ourselves in,” Empyrean said, voice pitched as if in agreement.
It was a tragic circumstance, too, that so many who were so young were drawn into the conflict. From the White Moon’s perspective, Empyrean could understand the tendency toward youth; they had very little choice as to when or how they awakened. The Negaverse, on the other hand, made conscious choices with their recruits. Empyrean could only assume it had to do with the malleability of youth, along with their energy and resilience. Many people of Jet's age thought themselves indestructible. It made them reckless, or brave; the line between the two was often indistinguishable.
Empyrean knelt by Jet and cleaned the blood away with a cloth, dabbed ointment onto cuts and scrapes, placed bandages where they were needed. Jet didn’t strike him as the sort who appreciated pity, but Empyrean didn’t think his behavior was pitying. He did a kindness not because he felt badly for Jet or thought he deserved it, but because it was the right thing to do.
“We may not have much control over the events that occur in this war,” he said, “but we can control our own behavior. Something Sessrumnir could afford to learn. And you, I think.”
When he was done, Empyrean stood. He retrieved water and medication, and the container of food he’d set aside, placing all three within Jet’s reach.
“Eat when you can. The sandwich will keep if you’d prefer to wait for your stomach to settle more. It should be just as good cold.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:33 am
Jet held still, if only because it was less painful than moving. He frowned as he listened to Empyrean’s preaching. It was full of optimism and naivety, from Jet’s perspective. And a fair share of underestimating him.
He didn’t bother telling Empyrean that, despite his age, he was one of the most decorated Generals in Destiny City. It was true that at the moment he might not have survived a real confrontation with Sessrumnir, but he was also injured and Sessrumnir was not. It wouldn’t have been a fair fight from the start. Then again, maybe he would have surprised them both.
Cornered animals are often the most dangerous.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, because there wasn’t much else for him to say that wouldn’t result in him rolling his eyes. He already knew that this guy didn’t listen to a damn thing he tried to say anyway.
“Oh, but make sure Sessrumnir knows not to go near Aquamarine again,” he added as he took the bottle of water and medicine to take first. “I’m still looking forward to making him pay for what he did already.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:48 am
Empyrean took Jet’s petulance in stride. Jet was here against his will, and the subject of much derision and abuse — both verbal and physical; Empyrean never expected that it would be easy to earn his respect or his cooperation, and so he wasn’t disappointed that he hadn’t yet.
Sessrumnir and the others certainly liked to make it more difficult than it might have been otherwise.
“I’ll do what I can,” Empyrean said, because telling him the truth — that he couldn’t be in multiple places at once and therefore could do nothing to stop anyone from going near Aquamarine when they were not in his presence — would sound too much like a threat.
Satisfied that Jet was as comfortable as his circumstances allowed, Empyrean left the room. He closed and locked the door behind himself, catching Sessrumnir’s eye and, with a jerk of his head, motioning for Sessrumnir to follow him down the hall, far enough that Jet would be unable to hear their conversation through the door.
Empyrean’s disapproval remained, but, like most things, he kept it contained, offering little more than the subtlest frown.
“What did he say to provoke you?”
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:11 am
Sessrumnir continued to scowl at the ground, even as he caught Empyrean’s eye and jerk of his head. He followed, of course. He had his hand still tightly around the necklace, although with its fluctuations, it did nothing to calm him like it usually did.
At first he didn’t want to answer. He was angry that Jet pulled that response from him, but there was more going on than just Jet. He was worried about everyone else involved. Worried about the phantom youma lurking around. Worried about getting his family involved. Worried about whatever Devyn was going through at that moment.
“Years ago, he was going to kill Remus,” Sessrumnir said quietly, and then realizing Peter might not have told Empyrean (or their mother) who Remus was, Sessrumnir briefly held up his left hand to indicate to his ring finger with his thumb.
“It was an ambush. Remus had been hurt already, but I had the upper hand fighting another agent that was with Jet. He… threatened to kill Remus. Had his blade to his neck. Told me to get on my knees, so I did. They decided it was a good opportunity to take my starseed,” Sessrumnir shrugged. It had been an easy choice, even knowing that the likelihood of Jet holding up his side of the bargain was slim.
“We were lucky Oberon and another Senshi were nearby doing youma research. They somehow managed to get my starseed back,” he said with a shake of his head. “Got to the hospital, and things… well.”
Obviously things were fine for a while. He and Remus argued a lot, but Sessrumnir had also loved him for being one of the few people stubborn enough to put up with him. They had a lot of differences though, and in the end going their separate ways was for the best.
“I haven’t been in contact with Remus since…” Since the divorce… “I don’t want to try to contact him to make sure he’s okay, but I do worry about people I know or care about ending up in hospitals in comas and then die because one of these bastards took their starseed.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:56 pm
Empyrean watched Sessrumnir. He listened. He took the information, considered it carefully, then set it with all the other stories he’d been told about Jet.
“I understand,” he said.
Empyrean put a hand to Sessrumnir’s shoulder again — comforting him this time, now that there was no need to pull him away.
Sessrumnir was troubled. He’d been troubled for a long time. Given all that Sessrumnir had been through, Empyrean didn’t blame him. Sessrumnir dealt with too much unfairness, then met too many setbacks in his attempts to resolve the thoughts and emotions all that unfairness burdened him with. As much as Sessrumnir tried to follow in his father’s footsteps when he was younger, Sessrumnir was not Empyrean. For as many similarities as they shared, there were just as many differences between them that their individual methods for dealing with turmoil and stress would likely never work for the other.
“I’m sorry that happened, that I could do nothing at the time to help you,” Empyrean said, low and even, so Sessrumnir would know that he was serious. “I’m sorry I’ve asked you to tolerate this arrangement.”
How to explain it? Empyrean didn’t keep Jet here because he thought Jet could be fixed, or saved. He hoped that, in time, Jet would come to see Metallia for what she was, but Empyrean knew better than to expect that any of their conversations would be the key to that happening.
Yet he tried anyway. Fruitlessly, perhaps, but while Jet still lived, it seemed like a worthy task.
“I have spent my life attempting to bring honor and dignity to a country that, far too often, seems to have very little of either,” he said, refusing to look away from his son even when Sessrumnir did not always meet his eye. “Perhaps I’m not ready to give that up just because we find ourselves in a different war.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:48 pm
Sessrumnir felt himself deflate a bit when Empyrean placed his hand on his shoulder. It wasn't as though he'd told anyone else what happened. Oberon knew, since he'd been there. But not his parents. And certainly not a therapist. It was dangerous enough talking to people he knew he could trust.
"No one blames you," he said, his voice strained with an emotion he couldn't immediately identify. Acceptance? Shame? Shame over his own actions, of course. He spent most of his childhood trying to live up to who his father was, to walk in his footsteps, only to find that maybe he wasn't made for that path. He wanted to help bring honor and dignity as well, and yet here he was trying to kill prisoners in their cells.
"We knew why you were away all the time. I'm proud to have you as my dad, and I always have been. I just wish I knew what I was doing sometimes," he admitted. "I feel like I can never live up to expectations that I've made for myself, because I feel like that's what you'd want from me."
He lifted his hand up to tug at the necklace he wore. It was a glass orb with gold swirling inside.
"I'm sorry I made things difficult at Christmas. I didn't know how to tell him that the person he'd loved most was dead. I sometimes still have trouble processing Riley being dead," he said out loud before he could stop himself. He knew he needed to stop cringing away from the past. Maybe he hadn't been able to really talk about it because he didn't think others would understand.
But now that his whole family was involved in this magical war, he could finally start processing and explaining himself without expecting to be looked at like he was crazy. Not that he ever thought his parents would do that, but anxiety was a strange thing.
"I don't even know if I was in love with Riley. We were young. Only met that tour. And I know a lot of this is just survivors' guilt but. It sucks. And now there's something going on with Alastor," he again indicated to the orb. If looked at carefully, the swirls inside the orb gently pulsed.
"This belonged to Percy. And I don't know how to explain it, but it's connected to Alastor somehow. I can feel his distress, but he's too far away to help, and even if he comes back, how am I supposed to tell him I've got the starseed of the person he's been looking for? He's a good person and I didn't want him to suffer. I thought… if he heard from the others…"
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:27 pm
“All you can do for him is to be honest,” Empyrean said, “even when honesty is difficult, or painful. I don’t blame you for any of it. You’ve only done what you thought was best. Even if I would have gone about things a different way if I were in your place, I know that your intentions were good.”
Empyrean didn’t know where to begin — not when it came to Riley, or Alastor, or the hardships Sessrumnir faced as he grew and evolved. Those were issues he didn’t have the power to solve, not as a parent, not as a retired admiral, and not as a Page. As much as it unsettled him to watch any of his children struggle, he had to accept that, in many cases, the only thing he could do was be there to offer a listening ear, and his understanding.
“Sometimes there aren’t any easy answers, but it may be good for Alastor to know. The person he cared for may be gone, but a piece of that person lives on. It could be a comfort to him.”
It would be to Empyrean, after the pain of knowing eased.
He gave Sessrumnir’s shoulder another comforting squeeze.
“I won’t ask you to deal with Jet again,” he offered. “Valhalla can join me, or Oberon. There are enough alternatives that you don’t have to force yourself to bear a situation that clearly causes you additional stress. Search the building for the youma, patrol the perimeter, or… take some time away.”
There was no judgment or disappointment in Empyrean’s voice, only kindness and affection.
“You don’t have to do everything right to make me proud,” he said. “You just have to keep trying, to the best of your abilities, whatever they may happen to be at the time.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 4:29 pm
A little more tension eased at Empyrean’s suggestion to do something other than deal with Jet, whom he still thought would be better off dead. Better off for them at least. There would be others, of course, but they would have one less murdering psychopath to deal with.
But it seemed as though Sessrumnir was going to be overruled with this decision. At least until they were done trying to get any information from Jet.
“Okay, I’ll figure out something else to do to make myself useful. And if Alastor ever comes back, I’ll tell him,” Sessrumnir quietly, and a bit reluctantly, agreed. He knew his father was right, but it was still painful.
“Now I have to figure out if it’s just my starseed that’s drawn to him, or if I like him,” he sighed morosely, because of course that would be something to worry about next. They’d just met but already Devyn had proven someone easy for him to talk to, and that was rare, or at least took a long time for Sessrumnir to trust someone.
“That’s pretty unfair of me though, isn’t it? I don’t think I should tell him that.”
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