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 Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 1:09 pm
Time at the Headquarters helped ease Camelot's whirling mind. He had so much to do, so much to worry over, he felt like he was always on the go. Sometimes, even a Royal Knight needed to just sit down and take a breath.
He was leaning on a tree, a little off by himself, looking down at a picture he kept here to keep himself going. It was of his family, during happier times. Him, his wife and her daughter, and his son. It was before Tony's daughter had been born, and it seemed like it might never had happened at all for all the time that passed, and all the things that changed. This was almost the only small proof he had left of a happier life, and the only promise that those times could ever be possible again.
It seemed so impossible now.
Camelot tried not to get caught up in the negative. He tried not to slip into the dark places his mind could take him to, when he thought about how miserable his life had become. All the people he had known and lost, all the death and corruption: it all had to go somewhere, locked away in the back of his mind so he could function and lead, and do his best for those that still looked to him for guidance, and those he had always promised to protect. Those thoughts remained, constant and though he threw a mental blanket over them, they never went anywhere.
Sometimes they forced their way to the forefront of his mind. He took a slow breath, looking at the face of the son he had lost to Chaos, remembering the delight in the face of the Negaverser that took him when he no longer cared about his father, when he attacked just because Painite told him to. Painite destroyed his family that day, and ensured that everyone knew it. Camelot felt his eyes beginning to sting, though he had long ago forgotten how to shed tears. He took that pain and swallowed it, allowing it to transform into resolve, to fortify himself to the war that stretched before him, insurmountable and yet without the option of failure or quitting.
He leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes, holding the picture close to his chest.
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 2:34 pm
Iphigenia rarely went to Headquarters. On one hand, she could barely force herself to be civil around some of the members of the Resistance, though she wasn't sure if those who preached peace could really be called that. On the other hand, there were many people who completely disliked her, even those who did not know her affiliation with the Shadows.
Piss on that. Iphigenia had stopped caring what others thought about her long ago. But sometimes necessity drove her, and so, here she was wandering through the forests looking for someone who would heal her most recent cut away. It was a deep gash that dominated her left bicep. She'd bandaged it afterwards, but sometimes these things really did need some magic to clear up. The cut burned like hell, but the bugger on the other end of her magic had it three times worse. Iphigenia's mouth curved into a small smile at that memory.
She saw a familiar face standing against a tree. Camelot. There was no one in the Resistance that didn't recognize the first Royal Knight of Destiny City. Iphigenia frowned when she realized he was holding something. A scrap of paper. A picture, no doubt. She could guess who was in the picture, and she was pretty sure anyone could. It was no secret that Camelot's son, Chaonis, had been corrupted. Iphigenia walked over to the knight, she had the perfect solution for this problem.
"You know, you should really get someone to clear that problem up. Tying up loose ends and what not." Iphigenia tilted her head, honey-brown hair tumbling to the right. Her eyes showed no mercy, and indeed the senshi had none. "Hell," she said without so much as a wince, "I'll do it for you."
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 2:42 pm
Camelot was almost startled when she approached, if not for the way her aura kicked him in the back of his head and told him to pay attention to the world around him. He ignored the sensation, though, and when she did speak to him he opened his eyes and lowered his head from where he had been leaning it back against the tree.
He looked at her and his first instinct was to smile in greeting. He gathered himself, moving away from the tree to stand tall and to look like the Royal Knight he was. He managed to nod his head in greeting as he listened to her words, but as they sank in his expression faded, and then fell all together.
It was a long, tense moment of silence before he spoke.
"I do not consider my son a loose end," he said stiffly, clearing his throat. It was a raw nerve. It had not happen all that long ago, comparatively, and only a few months separated him from the vivid memory of that terrible night. His hand had tightened its grip around the picture, though he held it down at his side now, hidden slightly behind him.
"And I'm not sure I really appreciate you offering to 'do it for' me. What do you mean? You want to kill my son? A senshi, like yourself, stolen from our side against his will by Chaos?" And did he mention that was his son they were talking about?
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 2:54 pm
Five years ago, Iphigenia would have laughed. She would have broken out into laughter at this man's denial, stupidity even. But this was not five years ago, and Iphigenia did not laugh. And, perhaps the Iphigenia of then would not have offered to kill a man's son, perhaps she'd been kinder then. But five years of endless war was more than enough to deconstruct someone and put them back together. If a kinder version of Iphigenia had ever existed, she was gone now, replaced by a woman whose soul had melted and been replaced with adamantium itself.
Iphigenia, instead, narrowed her eyes. "He's more than a loose end, he's a weakness." Her voice was blunter than iron. She knew it. Practically everyone who would pause and think for half a second would know it. Could it be possible? Did Camelot not recognize the tremendous threat that Chaonis posed? That thought made Iphigenia mad, there were a thousand things she wanted to say. It was only the modicum of respect she held for Camelot that made her hold those comments.
"We don't have room for weaknesses anymore."
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 3:06 pm
"He was always a weakness," Camelot said, with more venom and anger than he had intended. He stood tall over her, glaring down at her with what used to be an unfamiliar anger burning in his oft sagely and warm green eyes. Today, in this moment, they were swimming with rage, and his arm shook with his effort to contain himself.
"Caring about anyone will always give you a weakness, but that does not make you weak. Shutting yourself off from that kind of love will just drive you closer to Chaos. If you think we have room for that kind of heartless thought inside our own ranks, you are sorely mistaken. It are those ideas that breed Chaos and corruption, and those ideas that Chaos feeds on. Preys on."
Camelot spoke what he felt was true, but he also knew he was lashing out because of the pain of the truth in her words. He might not like it or agree with it, but Chaonis was a danger, more so now than he ever had been before. He was a liability, yes, and being related to another fighter in the war always meant dealing with the idea that they could lose one another. But now, now that he was lost, Camelot knew that he could be used against the White Moon in whole new ways. It was not just a threat to Camelot alone, it was a danger to anyone Chaonis had known before, and anyone his corrupter, the woman that now seemed to control him, wanted to see suffer. Painite could use him as a very powerful attack dog.
And the worst part was, she did.
He took a very deep breath and held it for a moment, before letting it out and breathing slowly with his words.
"I know you mean well, and you have to fight your battles your own way, but there is more to it than loose ends and weaknesses. These are people, and though we have to do terrible things to each other in the name of war, just to survive, we are all still people. Them. Us. What is lost cannot be lost forever. We have to maintain the hope that we will win back against Chaos. And I have to maintain the hope that my son can be restored."
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 3:24 pm
The knight towered above her. At eight inches above Iphigenia, Camelot's shadow would have engulfed her if they weren't standing under a tree. Iphigenia did not quake. She looked up to meet his gaze and was not surprised at all to find anger. Her own eyes betrayed no such emotion. Even when Camelot made his own stab, she did not flinch. There were those that said the Shadows were no better than the Negaverse. Iphigenia was used to such insinuations by now.
"So that's it huh," she said as she reached out to touch her shoulder. The wound was still leaking blood. The bandage was soaked. Her fingers came away bloody. Even as the smell of iron rose to her nose, Iphigenia's voice was flat. Cold as iron. "You're putting every single one of us in danger for a memory. A fleeting dream of the past."
She took a step closer, could feel her own teeth gnashing together. Calm indifference slid from Iphigenia as she realized the extent of Camelot's words. Hope. Hope. He dared to speak that word. There was no hope for them. Not when the strongest, most experienced of the knights could not even come to terms with the sacrifices that needed to be made to win. And that was the only hope for survival they had left. If Order did not win, and soon, they would perish. All of them.
"He's gone. How many of us have to die before you realize that? What will it cost for you to see the extent of your weakness, how it rots you from the inside?" Iphigenia took a step back, as if she could not stand being so close to Camelot. "Will you still hope to restore him when his hand is elbow deep in your chest?"
The paraphrasing of Camelot's own statement, and Iphigenia's tone made it clear what she thought. Camelot would not, could never, strike down his son. Not even if his life depended on it.
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 3:46 pm
Camelot felt her words like a punch to the jaws, his eyes widening with the accusation. Half the shock of it came from the fact that he knew she was, in some ways, right. He was putting many people at risk by caring so much for his son, and wanting only to purify him again rather than remove him from the picture entirely. But he was not the only one out there, was he? Not the only one hoping for a more peaceful answer, and holding on to the hope that those who were lost could be restored.
He could not be. There was always hope, even when it could not be seen. Hope found a way, and it could steel them, it could make them stronger. It was sometimes all they had, outside of each other. And when they were losing their members faster than they could win them back, hope was their only way of dealing with the terrible odds.
Giving it up, turning against his son, would be like giving in to despair.
Opening his heart to Chaos.
"I know that he is not gone. I know that purification is an option, even for those that have been pulled against their will into the Negaverse. It might not be perfect, and it certainly is not easy, but I have seen it. I know it is never a lost cause. There is always hope, and yes-"
He almost yelled the last word, as he worked himself up in defense of himself, Chaonis, and his ideals that seemed so shaken and broken. Even Camelot resorted to violence now. Even Camelot killed when he had to. He could not claim innocence, but nor could he lose himself completely to the bleak reality of their terrible situation. He could not abandon hope, even if he turned away from it in the most difficult of times.
"I will continue to hope! The last time someone had their hand in my chest, I became what you see now. A Royal Knight. Now, I will not, and cannot, be lost to Chaos. I will fight for him, and everyone lost to them, as long as I am able to do so. And when you are corrupted, forgive me I did not learn your name, but when you are corrupted... I will fight for you as well. And I will hope to save you. Don't lose the light that gave you these powers. If you believe that your only option is to eradicate them, to kill them all, then you are no different than they are. You have already lost your hope, and I know, in these times, it is such an easy thing to do. And no one can blame you for it, not at all. I would never hold it against you: I don't know what you've suffered, but I know you have. We all have. But there is still love here. There are still things worth protecting, and fighting for. And yes, risking yourself for. Things that are more than just surviving. I don't want to just survive: I want us to be able to live again, as we did before. Darkness, in ourselves and in the Chaos we fight, will not allow us to do that unless we always fight back against it. Even if our only weapon is hope."
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 1:03 pm
Iphigenia knew when she had lost. They were talking in concentric circles. Around, and around each other. Camelot would never see what Iphigenia was trying to tell him, and Iphigenia could never agree with Camelot. Two trains of thought that would never cross. Where Camelot saw hope and redemption, Iphigenia saw betrayal and death. There would be no convincing Camelot on this matter. It was, needless to say, not the outcome Iphigenia had hopped for. Because if Camelot would not do it, she would. He was too important in this war. So many resources were tied to him. So many people looked up to him. To lose Camelot would be a blow that they could not afford. Iphigenia took a step back. She stared up into the tree as if trying to divine the future from the shifting leaves.
It wasn't as if his words had not hit her. There is always hope? Yes, but perhaps the hope she held was different from his. Iphigenia had hope for the future. She believed that this war could still be won. But only if they took action. She did not hope that it could be won without sacrifices. Chaonis was nothing but a crack in the wall, a deep rotting weakness in the heart of the Resistance. Chaos would not, and had not, fail to use him as a weapon. Before he could do any more lasting damage, Iphigenia would cut him out. She always did what was needed.
"We said the same thing five years ago." She said with a small shake of her head. Her hair caught the smallest flecks of sunlight. "And it is what we said lifetimes ago." Her tone was light, nostalgic even, as she recalled memories both from her life and a life before.
In a way, she admired him for his steadfast beliefs. True, the rational Iphigenia, the soldier Iphigenia, the Shadows Iphigenia hated it, but there was still a part of her that admired him. If ever she corrupted, there was no doubt in her mind, that Camelot was the person she wanted to rescue her. Kind, trusting, foolish Camelot. The girl turned and walked away from the Knight of Earth, but at the last minute turned to tell him something.
"Remember Camelot, we cannot return to how things were before."
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:44 pm
Camelot watched her and took a slow, steadying breath. His own emotions had gotten the better of him, and he tried not to be so selfish about things like that. He could not afford to be emotional, to focus on himself and his worries, at least not alone. He had so much else he needed to focus on and help with, and so many others that needed his help, losing himself to his anger and loss was just not helpful. For anyone.
Least of all himself.
Being angry and ranting about what he wanted to happen would never make it reality. He just had to do what he could to protect Chaonis from whatever threats he faced, from the White Moon now and from the Chaos that controlled him. And then maybe he would be able to help him, if he just got the chance.
"Be careful out there," he said to her, gently now, meaning it in a sincere way, when he saw she was done with the conversation, and ready to leave. He knew that she was as upset as he was, for different reasons. She was just trying to do what she thought was right, even if he vehemently disagreed. He could not fault her for trying to do what she thought was best for the White Moon as they suffered terrible loss after terrible loss.
Everyone had to do what they could, and not everyone would be working on the same wavelength. As long as they weren't fighting themselves, though, things could persevere. He just hoped she would not take it too far, and put his son in danger because she felt the choice was already made.
He nodded his head at her parting shot, though it stuck with him and echoed in his head. He would be thinking about that one for a while. He moved away from his tree, dusting himself off though nothing was clinging to him, and then moving to return the picture to his little corner of the Headquarters. He had a lot to ponder, and a lot to worry about.
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