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 Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:51 am
The fountain had long been fixed, although Valhalla opted to leave the atrium at peace instead of bothering the serenity. He held Ganymede’s hand as he made his way to the familiar place inside the fortress. A grove of trees within the impossibly large room. Windows made of thick glass allowed light to shine though and kept the rain and elements out, although with proper irrigation, the trees never seemed to suffer from lack of water.
Now, as they entered the large room, it looked as though something had exploded near the center of the trees. Trunks had been blasted apart, and there were branches and leaves everywhere.
The fountain, which he’d spent a good amount of time making sure worked again, had been broken in two. It was where he’d last set the Code piece, knowing it was safe there, knowing it deserved the shrine that his memories suggested it enjoyed the most.
Now, a faintly glowing orb pulsed through the trees. It was a familiar sight that did not bring Valhalla any joy. The Code looked lost, panicked. Similar to when it had been influenced by corruption. Back when he stubbornly avoided his Wonder, which he now visited regularly.
“What a mess,” he sighed softly. Mostly to himself, but he wasn’t hiding anything from Ganymede. He looked across the atrium with sorrow in his eyes. He was just grateful that he was able to get into his Wonder this time. He would have felt tired had it not been for Ganymede’s assistance with his energy.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:53 am
Ganymede glanced around with a sense of concern that was only partially her own. She knew the fortress of Valhalla as her husband knew it, and as the last owner of her starseed had known it long ago. Liesel would have been distraught to see the atrium like this; beneath the guise of Ganymede, Paris tried not to let her worry and stress grow out of control.
Valhalla had told her the Code had said all of this could be corrected. Given that Ganymede’s experiences with the Code had left her with more respect for it than she had historically felt for Cosmos, she trusted it to have been telling the truth.
That didn’t make the damage done here any less disconcerting.
“We’ll fix it,” she assured Valhalla.
She gave his hand a squeeze, then released it. Ganymede moved to pick up a few fallen branches, like it was a simple matter of yard maintenance.
“You know what you need to do?” she asked. She could clean and offer support, but Valhalla was the one who had to manage the Code.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:54 am
Even if they could fix it, it was still a lot of work. There was just so much, it felt as though he was starting over from when he first went to Valhalla. It had taken the good part of a decade to get it to where it was now. Granted, that was only with himself and a few others to help. Still, it was better than it had been. Especially when the Wonder started repairing itself, a little at a time.
“I think so,” Valhalla responded, although his voice was solemn. His eyes were on the light hiding behind the trees, as if taking them off of it would make it disappear.
“It feels…” he started and then paused as he tried to put into words the distress he could feel from his code piece. “Like it expects to be attacked. Like an injured animal.”
Maybe he wasn’t doing it justice, but his heart ached as he watched it.
“I don’t know how long this will take,” he sighed again, carefully stepping over the fallen branches to approach the grove. “You good hanging out for a bit?”
He had his staff out, and he held it out in front of him, resting the end on the ground. He closed his eyes to concentrate.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:54 am
“Don’t worry about me,” Ganymede said softly. “I’ll be fine.”
The fortress was like a third or fourth or fifth home to her at this point. It had been Liesel’s home when the moon of Ganymede had fallen—where he inevitably died, disconnected from his own world, hunted and shunned by those he had sworn to protect. Whatever was happening with the Code, the fortress still felt safe to her. No one could enter. Nothing would harm them here. Ganymede was certain of that.
She picked up a few more branches while Valhalla began his meditations. Eventually she figured there wasn’t much point in it until the issues with the Code had been figured out. Ganymede looked around instead, turning on the spot, letting Liesel’s memories of this place creep in.
It should have been peaceful. That so much damage had come upon it again, after all their hard work to repair what they could, touched upon all those worries Ganymede had been shouldering for so long.
With a sigh, she drew closer to Valhalla. Uncertain how long this was meant to take, she sat on the ground and drew her memory stone out of subspace. Since finding it, the stone had changed from clear to pink to a shade between pink and red. She didn’t often need it now, but it was comforting to have—to watch Liesel’s memories as one might watch a movie through a snowglobe, rather than experiencing them for herself in visions and dreams.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:55 am
Memory “Is she asleep yet?”
There was a wariness in his still gruff voice, like he didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he was also certain if anyone could work miracles, it was the young man who made his way into the bedroom.
Serge had never expected to be a father, and he certainly didn’t think he was a very good one. He provided shelter and protection and food, but Liesel was certainly better equipped to handle Celia than he was. Or that was at least what he told himself.
He hadn’t gotten into bed yet. Even if he wasn’t with Liesel trying to coax the five-year-old to sleep, he wouldn’t let Liesel lose sleep on his own.
As it was, he stood by the window in the room with a glass of strong liquor. The storms had cleared for the most part. At least for the moment.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:56 am
Quote: “Yes,” Liesel said.
His voice was quiet, almost a whisper—not because he feared waking Celia after so long spent trying to get her to sleep (her room was close, but not near enough for that), but because misery and loss had become frequent companions of his in recent months. Leaving Ganymede so abruptly, with no hope of returning, had taken its toll. Liesel felt a bit like a ghost, moving among the living yet somehow detached from reality.
Without Celia causing her distractions—asking for more stories or sweets or games far later into the night than she reasonably should—Liesel had little to stop him from fixating on how different his life had become in so short a time. His duties had ended, though his power remained. He had little way of knowing who on Ganymede had lived or died, but assumed from what little intelligence they managed to get that most of those he’d known and loved had met the latter fate.
He thought of Ellis. He thought of the Lord Chancellor. He thought of the woman he had been raised to think of as a mother, who hadn’t been that at all.
Liesel kept his eyes averted as he made his way further into the room. He stopped halfway to the bed, stared at it—a shared bed, as there was no longer any need for separate rooms—and thought of how he’d always secretly longed for it, only to suffer a crushing sense of guilt now that he actually had it. With a frown, Liesel dropped into a chair by the hearth instead.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:56 am
Memory There wasn’t much more Serge could do to help Liesel. At least not in a way that would keep him from danger. There was a part of him that wondered if Liesel resented him for saving his life, for bringing him to Valhalla -- to Jupiter -- instead of letting him parish along with who knew how many others on Ganymede.
Absently, he swirled the liquid in the glass in his hand, before making his way over to where Liesel sat.
He held the drink out for him, his hand resting on Liesel’s shoulder, fingers curling some of the hair at his neck.
“Not tired?” he asked. It seemed generic enough. At least he knew Liesel wanted to be there. If not, he could have just stayed with Celia.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:57 am
Quote: “I am,” Liesel said, just as quietly as before.
He took the glass and drank from it. The alcohol was stronger than he usually preferred; Liesel rarely strayed far from wine, but he didn’t complain or even make a face at the taste. He swallowed it down, then kept the glass in hand, fingers wrapped securely around it.
The hand on his shoulder provoked an internal conflict. His relationship with Serge always had; Liesel loved him, revered him, longed for him, but he couldn’t dismiss the fear and the shame, even though a more logical part of him knew that shame had been instilled in him, that it wasn’t necessarily his own, that he wouldn’t have felt it at all if he hadn’t been raised as he was. Then the guilt rose alongside it—that even now he couldn’t be what Serge wanted, what he deserved, that he would likely always be stuck in a war with himself.
He didn’t want to be. The monarchy on Ganymede had fallen. Liesel could not return and expect to live. There was no need for him to live by the standards and expectations that had led his life for so long.
“I’m sorry,” Liesel breathed into the silence. “You should rest.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:58 am
Memory “You should rest too,” Serge grunted, moving Liesel’s hair away from his neck. He took advantage of the exposed skin, of course. He leaned down to kiss him from behind the back of the chair.
“I know you haven’t been sleeping,” he breathed, and while he doubted he was actually intoxicated, it was clear that he’d had at least a glass prior to Liesel’s return to the room. Maybe he didn’t mean to tug so hard, but he did sink his fingers into Liesel’s hair to tip his head to the side to allow more space.
“What can I do? I can return to Ganymede myself. I can kill all those who threaten you. I can restore your position.”
He would do just about anything for Liesel. Even if it meant defending him to the death. It would be an honor.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:59 am
Quote: “No.”
Liesel brought the glass back to his lips and drank the rest. His hands trembled ever so slightly; he stilled them stubbornly, grasping the glass with one hand and the arm of the chair with the other. He closed his eyes for a moment, struggling to enjoy the lips on his neck, then struggling not to, stuck as he always was between what he wanted and what he’d always been told he shouldn’t have.
He swallowed convulsively, almost choking on the last of the drink. Liesel extricated himself from Serge’s grip long enough to set the emptied glass aside. He clasped both hands in his lap once they were free, wringing his palms together before picking at the edge of his embroidered dressing gown.
“If you go, they’ll kill you,” he said.
Serge had inserted himself too far into Ganymedean affairs—inextricably linked with its Senshi, and the Lord Chancellor. Memories of their escape rose up as if summoned: running down halls as explosions shook the castle; dashing down stairs as shouts and screams rent the air; seeking safety below in a dark chamber near the core, a place Serge shouldn’t have known how to find, but did.
Liesel shook the memories away.
“Too much has happened,” he explained. “I’m not sure I know how to be happy now. Perhaps I never did.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:59 am
Memory Serge clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth, clearly in disagreement about the fate that would become of him if he returned to Ganymede. Maybe Liesel was right, but he wouldn’t go down without a fight. He knew the palace better than most others, it wouldn’t be difficult to navigate in a covert mission.
But he also frowned in disappointment at himself. He’d never asked Liesel how he could help him be happy. Even he doubted that was possible. It wasn’t something he was going to push or force. There was no point in pretending that Liesel hadn’t suffered greatly. A Senshi without their world? He couldn’t imagine the feeling of separation Liesel must have been feeling. No, he wouldn’t insult him by suggesting ways to make him happy.
Helping him sleep, on the other hand.
Serge wrapped both arms around Liesel once he settled back down in the chair. Hands reached for his wrists to pull his hands away from wringing themselves, and instead crossed them over each other as he embraced him.
He pressed a kiss to his temple, letting it linger.
“Let me help you forget, then.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:00 am
Quote: Liesel didn’t know if that was possible.
He tried. He let himself daydream sometimes—about what his life might have been like if he wasn’t a Senshi, how he might have met Serge in other circumstances, if it even would have been possible for them to have known one another. He imagined an idyllic life out in the country, like the manor on which he’d spent the first ten years of his life. He would’ve liked to raise horses, or learn how to heal.
He could do that now. He had no authority to speak for the people of Ganymede and so his existence as its Senshi no longer meant anything. He had the power still, and the will to use it to protect what he cared for, but politics and diplomacy had no use for him without anyone or anything to represent. Here, now, he could have the sort of life he might have liked for himself. With Serge. With Celia. He could study and read to his heart’s content. He could tend to the horses. He could sit in comfort with those who had become his family and let himself enjoy the chance to do so.
But the truth would always creep in. Who he was. What he’d been meant for. How he’d failed. All those who’d surely died while he’d escaped. The guilt would eat at him. The shame would weigh so heavily he might be crushed beneath it.
Liesel tipped his head back. He nuzzled into Serge. He closed his eyes and surrendered to him—lost, perhaps, but not alone.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:00 am
Memory There was no possible way to erase all the pain in their lives. Serge was aware of the poor choices he’d made, even if it was for the right reasons. He was also aware of the lives he’d taken, and how it had likely changed the lives of all those surrounding them, for better or worse. He didn’t regret, but he remembered. He knew what to do better, and what to avoid.
Right now, he wanted to make sure Liesel knew he was cared for. That he was loved, regardless of whether he was Prince Ganymede, or if he was someone of little importance in the grand scheme of things.
It didn’t matter. Serge hadn’t been drawn to him because of his background or title or power, although that certainly helped in allowing their paths to cross. There were many times in which Serge wished they hadn’t been bound to their fates. He’d at least chosen his -- for all intents and purposes. Some may argue that he wasn’t old enough to truly understand, but there was no turning back now.
He shifted a bit so he could circle the chair. He slid an arm behind Liesel’s back, and easily scooped him up into his arms. He kissed him, slow and gentle. A little at a time, and he would help Liesel forget his pain and heartache at least for a time.
For a few moments, Valhalla allowed himself to relax. And then he glanced warily over to Ganymede and sighed.
“I still don’t understand what was so great about Serge,” he complained, but that was nothing new. He hadn’t been a fan of his past life self since he’d first become aware of him.
Around them, everything else seemed to have settled, but the debris was still there. The small pile of branches Ganymede had picked up already was sad in comparison to the work they would have to do. The fountain would definitely need some extra attention to be repaired.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:01 am
Ganymede still sat upon the ground nearby, staring into the memories which swirled in her stone, lost in a trance of her own. She jerked out of it at the sound of Valhalla’s voice and recovered quickly, though it took her a few moments to make sense of what he said.
“You judge him by the standards of the 21st century,” she said.
She sent her stone back to subspace and rose to her feet, brushing herself off needlessly. Looking toward the Code, she saw that Valhalla’s efforts had worked. Ganymede lost a bit of the tension she carried, more relieved than she’d thought she would have been. Or maybe it was that she hadn’t realized just how worried she’d been until now—carrying those concerns but trying to minimize them.
“He came from a small kingdom on Earth over a thousand years ago. You can’t expect him to have been the embodiment of modern virtue,” Ganymede continued. Her voice wasn’t chastising or defensive, merely conversational. “Liesel never felt unloved by him. He admired Serge’s strength. Not just physically. Emotionally, too. He knew he was safe with Serge. He knew he was cared for. He loved Serge more than I think he realized at the time. He never regretted what they were to one another. He only wished it could have been easier for both of them.”
She remembered the rain on Liesel’s face, the clouds which blocked all view of Ganymede, the weight of Serge’s body in Liesel’s arms…
“Serge was as good a man as he could be,” she concluded, “and he died doing all he could to fulfill his duty, to Valhalla, to Liesel, and to Celia.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:02 am
Valhalla sighed again, but turned to hold a hand out to Ganymede, drawing her close to him when she took it. He gave her a somewhat skeptical look, but he knew she had more memories about their past lives than he did. He knew he should just be grateful that they were together in this life.
Even if the parallels from their past lives were difficult to ignore.
“It’s hard not to judge him. But… I’m glad that Liesel never felt unloved by him,” he conceded, refraining from sighing again.
“What do you think?” he asked, glancing at everything that had fallen apart around them. “At least the roof held. I don’t know if we’d be able to do much to the exterior with all the storms.”
Still, it was good that the Code seemed to be stabilized for now. They would have to stop by the Celestial Theater and make sure the Cornerstone piece there was doing better. Transfer it some more information if it needed it, too.
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