Melanite was gone, like he’d vanished into thin air. Astrophyllite had tried asking around but to no avail - there was simply no sign of her friend. The captain couldn’t help but worry this was somehow her fault - she’d upset him the last time they’d patrolled together. She’d been collecting energy to fill his quotas, and he’d hated that. And then she’d - she’d offered herself to him, because he was a man and the girls at school said that men liked it when you did that, but Melanite… Melanite hadn’t.
She’d done something wrong, and now he was mad at her, maybe so mad that he never wanted to see her again! Maybe - maybe he’d told everyone to tell her that they didn’t know where he was if she asked, just to keep her away from him, but that just wasn’t fair! Astrophyllite was trying so, so hard to be good - to be better! She wasn’t collecting for his quotas anymore, even though she was sure that he wasn’t doing it and he was going to get in trouble - but he’d asked her not to. He’d asked her not to and she had to obey, even if-
Even if-
Even if it got him hurt. Even if bad things happened because she wasn’t helping anymore.
She sighed, hanging her head and staring down at the street below. Around her, the world spun - she felt senshi and knights and officers moving around in the night, little spots of alien brightness and soothing shadow. None of them were close enough to give her pause. None of them likely cared about the little captain minding her own business…
But then, there. A whiff of salt spray and gunpowder and blood and bone. Melanite, she thought, although the signature felt odd. It was too bright, where before there had been shadow.
Astrophyllite’s stomach churned uncomfortably, and she dropped like a stone from the rooftop, not keen on confirming her suspicions but needing to get it out of the way anyway. “Melanite?” she asked, rounding the corner. The height and the red hair were familiar. The uniform was not. He was - her heart sank. He was a knight now, and that was good for him but - it wasn’t fair! She wanted to be good so badly, so why did he get to be it first? Was it because he’d never drained energy?
Was it too late for her?
“How - how did you change?” she asked, voice shaking.
Shibrogane
His patrols (if you could call them that) had been quiet since his run-in with Megiddo. Not that he was complaining, since, well, the whole war idea was stupid and rather… dangerous. It did get a little lonely, though, and he had to wonder how many knights there even were among the city that one sitting in the same place for hours on end attracted no attention. He missed Astrophyllite, but his command over the English language wasn’t so good yet as to risk trying to communicate what he’d discovered with her. Purification was a risk, one that unbalanced the whole system, one that he couldn’t ask her to take until he knew it would work. So he’d been avoiding any Negaverse signature he encountered, packing up his business when he sensed someone approaching, just in case it was Astrophyllite.
The myriad little cuts from his latest visit to his Wonder were healing nicely, and he had no work to be done that evening. Everything was in with the clients or else something that he needed to visibly do, including making sure the steps of a neighbor’s house stayed clean while they were away. So he was out just… wandering. Not looking for a fight, or anything particular, just walking and it happened to be safer to be Camlann than it was to be Aleksy. And well, he had been trying to avoid a Negaverse signature trailing him, but it’d caught up with him.
She’d caught up with him. “Sestra moya,” he said. He couldn’t ‘port off to Camlann, not in front of her. They were… had been… friends. “I found a prince.” Found, like it had been an accident. More like fate. He had never been meant to serve in darkness. At least… not Metallia’s darkness. There was something deeper and truer in Camlann, and he was going to find it. “He took it away.”
He frowned, mouthed a few words in Russian and tried to link them, one at a time, painstakingly, to their English equivalents. “You’re well,” he asked, because he wasn’t sure how to express any more complicated sentiment. “They do not hurt you?”
The myriad little cuts from his latest visit to his Wonder were healing nicely, and he had no work to be done that evening. Everything was in with the clients or else something that he needed to visibly do, including making sure the steps of a neighbor’s house stayed clean while they were away. So he was out just… wandering. Not looking for a fight, or anything particular, just walking and it happened to be safer to be Camlann than it was to be Aleksy. And well, he had been trying to avoid a Negaverse signature trailing him, but it’d caught up with him.
She’d caught up with him. “Sestra moya,” he said. He couldn’t ‘port off to Camlann, not in front of her. They were… had been… friends. “I found a prince.” Found, like it had been an accident. More like fate. He had never been meant to serve in darkness. At least… not Metallia’s darkness. There was something deeper and truer in Camlann, and he was going to find it. “He took it away.”
He frowned, mouthed a few words in Russian and tried to link them, one at a time, painstakingly, to their English equivalents. “You’re well,” he asked, because he wasn’t sure how to express any more complicated sentiment. “They do not hurt you?”
He’d found a prince. Astrophyllite frowned. He made it sound so easy, and yet! There was no prince to take her darker impulses away. No one to make her good and set her on the right path. Hvergelmir had told her names and she’d looked her hardest but- it was just so hard! She couldn’t just go approaching strange senshi and knights. Some of them wanted to kill her! And… she hadn’t been able to find Hvergelmir since.
She hoped against hope that her friend was okay. Maybe she could find the mars knight she’d asked about, the one who felt like leather, and ask him. Maybe he’d be willing to talk instead of trying to kill her.
“No,” she said, fighting tears. “They don’t hurt me.” God, she felt so stupid! All that work filling his quotas for him and just like that, he’d purified and left her behind! Everyone was always leaving her behind! He probably thought she was so dumb. Like, the dumbest ever. And babyish and misguided and--
“It’s not fair!” she blurted, tears burning the corners of her eyes. “I - I did everything for you! I helped you so much, and you abandoned me!” She wanted to be good! She wanted to shine bright and never have to collect energy again but she couldn’t! She had to serve the Negaverse and be perfect and pure in Metallia’s service and--
It was such bullshit, she thought viciously. “Everyone leaves me,” she said, scrubbing the back of her hand over her face. “I shouldn’t have ever thought you’d be any different.” Bischofite was gone. Avalon was gone. Now Melanite was gone and she shouldn’t have ever expected him to stay.
Quote:
Nothing was fair, but that was a sentiment as trite as the one she’d spouted, like fairness meant anything or ever had. If it had, his memories wouldn’t have disappeared, he wouldn’t be left dependent on the kindness of others as he was. “Astrophyllite,” he said, and he stepped forward, reached out to her to put a hand on her shoulder, if she would let him. “I know what you did.”
He refused to be sorry for doing what was best for himself. “I did not mean to leave.” Camlann frowned. He sounded stupid, and halting, and he couldn’t explain that he’d lost most of his English, that would sound like a stupid excuse. Why hadn’t his lessons in Russian ever taken? “Astrophyllite, I will help.” If that was what she wanted. Damn it.
He refused to be sorry for doing what was best for himself. “I did not mean to leave.” Camlann frowned. He sounded stupid, and halting, and he couldn’t explain that he’d lost most of his English, that would sound like a stupid excuse. Why hadn’t his lessons in Russian ever taken? “Astrophyllite, I will help.” If that was what she wanted. Damn it.
Astrophyllite pulled back from his touch with what must have seemed like surprising speed. She wanted attention from her superiors. Affection, even - but Melanite, or whoever they called him now, was no longer her superior and she wasn’t even sure he was her friend. “No!” she exclaimed, not even properly certain what she was objecting to. Did she - did she want his help? Yes. Maybe. He had to have friends now, people who could take her to the right path, the way Hvergelmir had promised, but…
“So you just… stumbled, and wound up on the right path?” she asked, face burning hot. Did he - did he think she was dumb? If it was that easy, why hadn’t anything like that ever happened to her? “I- I mean,” she stammered.
“I have people who will help me. People who didn’t leave me all alone,” she said. Hvergelmir. Colchis. They would help her if she asked. “What do they call you now?” she asked. “Now that you’re… carved.”
Quote:
He snapped his hand away from her, lowered it carefully to his side. Perhaps this was the cost that Castor had spoken of. Something in her flushed, teary face grabbed his heart and squeezed. It knocked him breathless, and he inhaled like he’d only just remembered he was supposed to be breathing. Even if he didn’t quite understand everything she was saying, he understood the tone, the hot reproach that lurked under her misery.
Camlann didn’t know what to do. He was foundering on a sandbar he hadn’t even known was there. Nowhere in all his thoughts had he considered she would hate him. Only that she would be jealous. “I do not understand,” he said. “If you want me to leave you alone, I will.” He understood that much. Speaking of carving, like a chicken, or like turkey, only befuddled him. Who was he to be addressed such a way? What did she mean? He wished, suddenly, unhappily, for Babylon. At least Babylon could try to communicate between them.
“My name is Camlann,” he said. That question had a clear enough answer. “I am sorry.” He hadn’t meant to leave. He held out a hand to her, as if that would help make it up to her.
Camlann didn’t know what to do. He was foundering on a sandbar he hadn’t even known was there. Nowhere in all his thoughts had he considered she would hate him. Only that she would be jealous. “I do not understand,” he said. “If you want me to leave you alone, I will.” He understood that much. Speaking of carving, like a chicken, or like turkey, only befuddled him. Who was he to be addressed such a way? What did she mean? He wished, suddenly, unhappily, for Babylon. At least Babylon could try to communicate between them.
“My name is Camlann,” he said. That question had a clear enough answer. “I am sorry.” He hadn’t meant to leave. He held out a hand to her, as if that would help make it up to her.
Camlann. She recognized that name from English lit., of all places. “That’s the battlefield where Mordred slew King Arthur,” she said, looking at him through downcast lashes. Despite his brightness, he still reeked of gore and steel and gunpowder to her and maybe that was why. His wonder was soaked in death. His wonder called for blood.
She stared at his hand.
She did not take it.
“It’s because I did all your draining for you, isn’t it?” asked Astrophyllite, balling her hands up into fists at her side. “Because you never did anything bad, so… so you get to be good.” Not that she’d even spoken to any royals. Not that she’d ever been told no. But she hated having to gather energy, and she hated even more that she’d spent so much time and effort getting energy for him. He didn’t even appreciate it! He’d taken her priceless gift and, not only declined it, but he’d thrown it in her face!
“I don’t ever wanna see you again!” she exclaimed, stomping her feet.
Quote:
“No,” said Camlann empathetically. He reached out to her again--not really meaning to--he reached out and set a hand on her shoulder, forgetting the way she’d flinched at his touch. “The prince, he would help, as long as you wanted to go.” This wasn’t what he wanted for her, he thought, and there was a twinge of desperation in the thought. He didn’t want to hurt her. He didn’t want her to be hurt, or to hurt others, but he’d trapped her, hadn’t he? He’d thought he’d known better, and now she was so upset, and angry--and he didn’t want that.
He’d ******** up. “I said nothing because there is a cost,” he said. But it was more than that. He hadn’t thought he could trust her. He should’ve told her of his doubts before, when she would have believed him. “There is a cost,” he repeated lamely, his hands on her shoulders. “It takes everything.”
He’d ******** up. “I said nothing because there is a cost,” he said. But it was more than that. He hadn’t thought he could trust her. He should’ve told her of his doubts before, when she would have believed him. “There is a cost,” he repeated lamely, his hands on her shoulders. “It takes everything.”
His fingers closed around her shoulder - too tight, thought Astrophyllite, and Quartz’s lesson flashed through her mind. Camlann was close, too close, and she didn’t think he’d hurt her, but he was a stranger now. He’d already hurt her. He’d abandoned her and he’d made her sad and her heart ached from that, so bad that she thought maybe she was about to split in two.
“Let go!” she snarled, surprised with her own viciousness, but she’d already committed to the movement - she rammed her knee into the squire’s crotch.
The effect was instantaneous. Astrophyllite resisted the urge to clasp her hands to her face in shock - she needed to be hard. She needed to be tough. She needed to show Camlan that she didn’t need him, that she could be fine without him! “I said, I never, ever wanna see you again! Get lost!”
She hoped he left soon, or else she’d break and run away first - she wanted so, so badly to cry.
Quote:
She said get lost, but he wasn’t going anywhere. Not after that attack. He pressed a hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t unceremoniously vomit all over their shoes--although at this point it was a near thing, a very near thing. His eyes watered, and he coughed once or twice, hoping that would make, er, existing? less painful.
Camlann didn’t think he was going anywhere for a minute.
Camlann didn’t think he was going anywhere for a minute.
Damn it, she couldn’t even tell people to go away properly! Astrophyllite stomped her feet once in place and then turned, running as fast as her sandaled feet would take her. He was the one who had ruined everything - so why did she feel like she’d messed up so badly?
