Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was late at night and Billy was laying in bed reading when all at once the momories hit - memories of five years that had not yet come to pass - but how could that be? How could one remember something that hadn't happened yet? Unless...it had happened, and they'd just been sent back in time?

Not that Billy had much time to think on it, as the look on his face as he looked up from his book was identical to the look one gets when they arrive at work only to remember that they forgot to turn the oven off.

Uuuuuuh.........

Billy didn't reply. Instead, he nonchalantly tossed the covers off of himself and sat up.

"Time to open that spare bottle of cheap wine...." He said as he stood, assuming Ladon would soon follow as he made the trek to the fridge. Screw getting glasses - they'd drink from the bottle while they discussed this.... Shared hallucination? No, it was no hallucination.

He sat the bottle down on the coffee table as he sat - dressed only in his loose-fitting sleep pants - on the couch and waited for Ladon to join him.

"So what....did you remember?"

Because it was kinda important to know that they had, indeed, just shared the same phenomenon.

Particular events and tiny details had not come so clearly to him, but feelings did.

"They betrayed us. The Negaverse used us and all our efforts, lied to our faces to get us to fight, then turned around and did the opposite of what we were told we were fighting for...."

And they captured memebers of order and tortured them...like the BMC had-

He felt the betrayal that the memories from the future stirred, and he stiffened his jaw, gritting his teeth. He had already been questioning the Negaverse when they had accepted the Dark Mirror as allies. Then Wolframite's demotion had seriously made him step back from it.

There was no question, as far as he was concerned;

"We can't let this future happen."

What that meant for the side they stood on was up for debate. It seemed changing sides hadn't worked, although maybe that had happened later, after it was too late to change the Negaverse's course? He couldn't remember when they had become knights.... Or they could try to initiate change from the inside? But.... He thought back to Wolframite's demotion and sighed. Any attempt to coup would be met with the General Kings and Queens abuse of power, no doubt.

This would be a long series of decision to make, and no move could be made without serious consideration. But one thing was certain - this future was not the one they were fighting for. And they could not let it come to pass.

He thought he recalled...watching on TV as senshi, DMC, knights, even turncoat agents were lined up for the slaughter. Mostly he remembered his outrage and despair. He took his own turn from the bottle before giving his thoughts.

"If we try to rise against the Negaverse, or can Mettalia, if Metallia wanted she could just strip us of all our power, and there would be nothing we could do to stop it. At best, and we'd be left powerless. Every agent would." Which would leave the world to the senshi which, though he hated to admit it, were seeming like the lesser evil here.

"And let's face it - they'd never make us General Kings," which would be the only way they would ever have any influence, any pull. Because if you weren't royalty, you were cannon fodder. Easily replaced. "We can't be the only ones to have experienced this though - there are bound to be others rethinking things. It could be the Negaverse is going to have to change to keep potential deserters happy, or else face an exodus. On the other hand, this could spark the Negaverse in to full gear ahead to claim their 'prophesied victory.' We could wait and see but I....caution waiting too long."

Another drink before he handed it over to Ladon.

"Didn't you feel, despite the gloom and doom, a sense of.....freedom, as a knight?" Billy asked as he leaned back, looking at the ceiling.

Freedom - no being beckoned to the rift at the whim of their superiors, no punishments for not meeting some imaginary quota or enacting revenge on those who'd wronged you, no collars, no threat of power being stripped away, and no one to answer to.

Admitting they were fighting on the wrong side for so long - Ladon for even longer - left a bitter taste in his mouth. Everything they'd worked for...had been a lie. Who's ego wouldn't be a bit bruised?

Drink and sigh.

"I would like to think Metalia has more of an agenda then political world domination," he said making a bit of a face at the idea. "Though I can't speak for many specific memories, 'cause I mainly remember things I felt. Emotions, and whatnot. But I remember feeling like a pawn for Metalia which....looking at it now I guess, we are? We are disposable. If she needs to make a move, we do what she wants, and if that results in our death, then what could she care?"

The political world domination s**t was probably just a small part of Metalia's plans....

On a lighter note, Billy looked over at Ladon with a bit of a grin, "Hey, as a knight, you'd finally be able to kill Leto without repercussions."

"Metallia needs us to gather energy for her...it. Whatever. Ends with an 'a,' that makes the name feminine, so I'll keep calling Metalia a her." They didn't even really know... "Without us bringing energy and starseeds...she has no ability to do anything, or so I'd guess."

Pawns. Used. Easily disposed of once Metalia had what she wanted.

And then once she has what she's after, we don't matter.

As for Leto, Billy shrugged. "Things seemed to work out well as far as I remember. We were still together after all. The side of order seems to boast their fight for love and justice, well...I guess I just have to believe that our feelings for one another is stronger than...whatever happens when one switches sides....

Billy pulled Ladon to him and kissed the top of his head while running his fingers through dark hair.

"It's not too late for the Negaverse to change course. But I can't say that I haven't had my doubts about it for a long time now." He stayed for Ladon, though. Because he knew Wolframite had more dedication than most of the so called general kings did in their little fingers. Because he knew how hard it was to admit you were wrong.

"Like I said, it's wait and see. Things can still change." He doubted it though.

"Yeah. We'll give it some time. Gather some more information. No need for decisions now. There's still," he shook his head, remembering things, and yet not quite, "There is still a lot to sort out. And we've got a house to look at tomorrow."

Yet another thing that he wondered about - how did all that legal junk work after side swapping, and changing one's identity? It's not like one can just go in and change names of paperwork without jumping through a bunch of hoops and verification and... Ugh. Technical nightmares. He'd definitely be talking with someone who had side swapped before. Of all the things he'd remembered, this, of course, was not one of them.

The Negaverse.....it had become like a prison. And it was almost like the memories had....cleared some of the clouds that the influence of Chaos had pulled over his eyes. He was seeing clearer than he had in...a while now. Chaos was loosing it's foothold, it's claws were slipping. That in itself was something he had to muse on.

Billy gave another kiss to Ladon's temple and in attempts to lighten the air, "You're royalty to me either way."