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Claude couldn't help but look perplexed as she left the cove, staring down at the ruby ring on her finger that had once previously been a weapon. One that talked none the less. One that was apparently occupying her brain right this moment and could hear everything she was thinking.

Oh...that wasn't invasive, no, not at all.

She wasn't paying too close attention to where she was walking, but eventually to stilled and came to a stop. Claude finally managed to tear her eyes away from the ring and stared up and around her.

Damn.

What was this place exactly? She was feeling, admittedly, a bit overwhelmed at the moment, and wondered exactly what she had signed up for---

That's right.

Luckily, there were many other people in white coats, some who were giving her odd looks, she supposed from her lack of coat and bed head...well okay. She looked like a hot mess right now, but it was really the least of her concerns. "Hey--" She started, trying to get someone's attention. "I'm looking for someone--"

It was like a sea of people in white. Many weren't paying attention, and those that stopped long enough had no idea who she was inquiring about. She felt her hope start to dwindle the more time went by with little to no answers. Please say she hadn't come out here for nothing. Please say that her princess step brother wasn't in another castle island. Claude ran a hand through her long and disheveled hair and released a loud breath.

The hand in her hair stilled though as a voice spoke up above the chattering. A voice that was very familiar, and a voice she wasn't sure she'd ever hear again. Claude slowly turned towards the source, and she saw him, and her eyes widened as her lips parted. There he was.

Alive.

She didn't blink. She didn't breathe. She just held still, like if she did something to disturb this moment it'd be over and he'd disappear again. She needed to breathe though, and it was a growl that got her going again.

"You b*****d..." She seethed.

Claude never did entertain thoughts of if/when she found him. That just seemed like she'd set herself up for disappointment. She did imagine though, that hopefully, she'd feel relief. Happiness. Joy. Maybe later. Not right now.

This was a long time coming made up of loss, loneliness, pain, and anger.

"Two years, Alexei." She continued to seethe, her hand dropping from her hair as her fists clenched, and she stalked towards the step sibling she considered to be her only real family. "Two ******** years without a warning, without contact, and without closure because of a ******** fake funeral."

"Don't tell me to watch it!" She sneered, and her fists clenched tighter before she stopped, splaying out her fingers before clenching them lightly and flexing them again. She looked less than impressed, and even more angry about his quip about a call. "No, Lex, I didn't know." A pause. "I didn't know anything." She punctuated that statement with a glare. That was wrong. She should have known, and there was no good excuse he could give about keeping her in the dark.

"I came here looking for you, Lex." She hissed, insulted that there could be any other reason. Yeah, the shadows were unsettling, but that wasn't what drove her here. "You're my brother, but I see how much you care about your sister."

Low blow, low blow.

She knew that was a low blow. An awful one. She was hurt though. The one other person she felt closest to, real family, had for all intents and purpose, had left her behind.

"Oh, now you want to take me with you." Another one, damn it! She knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help it. Claude was still, blissfully, unaware of how the Island worked, so really anyone around wasn't even on her radar at the moment. Claude let Lex grab her, and was dragged on after him, glaring at the back of his head. Upon arriving at a rather vacant room, Claude sat on the bed for only a moment before she was back on her feet.

"Damn it, Lex, I just woke up! I don't need to be back down again." She muttered, before huffing, and crossed her arms. She shot him another glare. Oh. She was ready to give him story alright.

"Oh, you know, after you disappeared and didn't tell me and left me alone, a police officer shows up and is--" Her tone went heavily sarcastic "Sorry to inform us that Alexei Jamil was in a horrible motorcycle accident. So bad, in fact, there was no need to come down to the morgue and identify ground beef." All the sarcasm. "So the funeral has to be a closed casket--so convenient--your mom is hysterical and dad is distraught for the sake of your mom . How wonderful." She sneered. "I didn't buy it though. You're too careful. You wear all the gear and you drive safely." She paused.

"But during the whole arrangement, I checked. That casket was empty."

"I will roll your eyes right out of your head, Lex--Damn right I'm angry."

Having been able to vent out a majority of her frustration though, Claude was calming down as well, from boiling to a nice simmering. She snorted softly, shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Yeah, it did, but you know what, Lex? There was time in the moments before that. The moments leading up to that decision." She uncrossed her arms then, and spread them out in a 'come at me' gesture.

"Does it look like I care if it's dangerous or not? I found you, Lex. I can ******** die peacefully now."

At this point, it was beating a dead horse. She was still mad about the rash decision, and he was going to stand by his rash decision despite how mad it made her. "Don't call me 'kid', and you don't get to parade around and make decisions about my life, Lex, and <******** you. It wasn't a waste." She crossed her arms again and blew some stray whisps of hair out of her face as she stared back at him.

"Because that's exactly what you wanted me to do with my life, right? Go on, get through college. Have the family except my brother be there at my graduation. Move on. Get married. Look into the crowd and see mom and dad, and the empty chair that was saved for you in memory. Have a kid. Tell them about the uncle they'll never meet because I don't know what happened to him. Be on my death bed, and <******** regret that I couldn't share my what went on in my life with him and that I didn't find out what happened." A pause. "Oh yeah, ******** life I would have had." She cocked a brow.

"And if the roles were switched, you would have just gone on happily living too, right?"

She knew he was exasperated, but she didn't care. He didn't have to sit through a fake funeral. He didn't have to sit and wonder for two years. "If you honestly thought I would, then you don't know me at all." The biting, heated edge had left her tone, and it was starting to sound more like how she usually was. Calm, collected and cool.

Claude also seemed more agreeable as Lex finally relented and acknowledge her anger, though when he spoke about forgetting that she cared, something flashed, briefly in Claude's eyes. Hurt, maybe. It came and went though, and her eyes drifted to the side, out the window for a moment before she looked back at him, releasing a sigh.

"It's not your call." She reminded him. "It never was. It never will be. Poetic justice for your decision is me standing before you know." Claude replied matter of factly. "You can't change it. Here I am. I'm not going anywhere now, so you can b***h and moan about me 'not supposed to be here' all you want. You're just going to have to deal with it."