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 Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:42 am
“We’ve kept him here too long,” Ganymede said.
They gathered within the open space halfway down the hall, where an old elevator would have dropped off and picked up passengers, were it still functional. She couldn’t squash the uneasy feeling that turned her stomach and set her nerves on edge.
Something was strange about all this. They’d not found any youma, despite Oberon insisting one occasionally lurked the halls. Ganymede was inclined to believe him. She’d heard the noises, too — quiet rustling through the refuse; a breath beneath the wind; the fall of footsteps so soft, they could convince themselves they didn’t exist if they tried hard enough. They saw nothing, they felt nothing, but something was haunting this place, and it wasn’t a ghost.
“They know he’s missing. There’s no way they don’t,” Ganymede continued in a hushed voice. “Why hasn’t anyone come for him yet? We haven’t even come across anyone in the area. Either it’s a coincidence or they’re avoiding it, and I’m not willing to believe in many coincidences anymore.”
Empyrean kept a neutral expression in place, but the edges were touched by tension, his mouth set into the subtlest frown.
The others were anxious. They had reason to be, but now wasn’t the time for hasty decisions. Sessrumnir wanted Jet dead. Ganymede did, too. Valhalla understood the danger Jet posed but tended to shy away from such a final end. They were at an impasse.
Jet was unwell. He needed better treatment than they could provide, but he wouldn’t have that unless he was released.
Even Empyrean did not think it wise to release him. Not yet. Perhaps if he’d made more headway with him… But Jet’s loyalty was unshakable.
If the Negaverse offered him what he claimed they did, it was for good reason.
“We can move him,” Empyrean suggested.
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 4:34 pm
Sessrumnir couldn’t help but agree with Ganymede. They had kept Jet there for too long. Alive for too long. There was no changing his mind, no breaking his loyalty, no making him realize the monstrosity that was the Negaverse. Maybe not all of the individuals in the Negaverse were impossible to save, as Ganymede demonstrated on the hilltop when three went to her for help, but there were some like Jet who would never change their ways.
“Move him where? Didn’t you already say that was a bad idea? That he wouldn’t trust us if we tried moving him since it would probably involve knocking him out to do so?” Sessrumnir grunted, his arms crossed tight over his chest as he ignored the way the necklace thrummed under his tunic. As horrible as Jet was… as horrible as a lot of the Negaverse was, Valhalla wasn’t willing to just give up on them, just because a child like Jet was being petulant. And that was all that he was. A child. Probably not much older than Oberon. He didn’t want to see anyone else hurt by this war, but he also wouldn’t stand to allow an agent to be killed.
Not this time. Before had been different, or so he told himself, but he was pretty sure it kept Ganymede up at night as well sometimes. Kept Sessrumnir up for being pulled into something he couldn’t handle.
“I said before we can bring him to Valhalla. He won’t be able to escape the fortress. The storms might be lessening around the Wonder, but not everywhere else.” There was like a pocket that stretched from Valhalla to Sessrumnir where the cloud cover wasn’t as harsh. Still not advisable to go outside. “Are you going to bring me my pain medicine or are you just going to stand around talking all night?” Jet called from his cell. He was in pain, but he’d managed to get himself to stand. If he was going to lose the use of his leg from infection, he might as well use it while he still could.
It was still frigid in the building, of course. He’d had the blankets they’d given him wrapped around his shoulders, but now he left them on the bed as he waited by the door.
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:00 pm
Empyrean threw his hands up in a rare show of helpless frustration. It was true he’d advised them against moving Jet before, but they were quickly running out of options.
“We may not need to incapacitate him,” Empyrean said. “His condition is worsening. He might not have the energy to teleport even if he had the opportunity. If we’re going to keep him alive for any length of time beyond today, he needs cleaner surroundings, and warmth, additional medication, or healing.”
He leveled Sessrumnir with a significant stare, well aware of what they would find at his Wonder.“It’s too dangerous,” Ganymede argued. “He’s too dangerous. How do you know he’s as bad off as he seems? He could be playing you.”“Are you willing to let him die here?” Empyrean asked. “Or kill him yourself?”“Yes,” Ganymede said, without a moment’s hesitation. She didn’t look at Valhalla when she said it, almost ashamed of it, if it weren’t for the ghost of a head that often laid at her feet. “After what he did to Sheikh? Yes. After what he did to me, and to Valhalla? Yes. After what he did to all the others he tortured? Yes, a thousand times over.”“I’m not defending him,” Empyrean reminded them. “I’m not trying to diminish your experiences, or the loss he’s been a part of, but—”
Jet’s voice cut him off, calling down the hall. Empyrean frowned, then sighed, noting the anger in Sessrumnir, the grief in Ganymede, the compassion that still somehow found a place in Valhalla’s heart, despite everything.
They were getting nowhere with the constant back and forth.
“Decide, then,” Empyrean said.
He left them to their conversation and turned toward Jet’s room, retrieving water and pain reliever on the way.
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:23 pm
Sessrumnir stood his ground, stubbornly not mentioning anything about the healing Springs that he knew Empyrean knew he had at Sessrumnir. He wasn’t about to offer his Wonder to a murderer to get comfortable in some hot springs. If he died, then that would be one less agent to worry about.
As Empyrean turned to head towards the room with Jet in it, Sessrumnir shook his head. He didn’t want to argue with his father. He didn’t want to argue with his brother, whom he was honestly surprised was still alive after all this time with his gentle heart.
“Jet being dead means saving countless lives,” he said in agreement with Ganymede, but also trying to reason with his younger brother. “If he gets out, that means he will continue killing. If we kill him now, we keep others alive.” Valhalla tried not to take it personally when Ganymede immediately agreed that killing Jet, or letting him die would be for the best. He knew where she was coming from. He wanted Sheikh still alive, too. But he also didn’t want to stain their hands with Jet’s blood because they decided to play judge, jury, and executioner.
What would they tell their children when they were older? How many people would they have killed by the time Abby and Henry and Elsie were old enough to understand? Or would they just keep those secrets with them to their grave?
Regardless of their difference in opinion, Valhalla reached over to place what he hoped was a comforting arm around Ganymede’s shoulders, pulling her a little closer to him, his hand rubbing the back of her left shoulder where he knew the scar remained from when they’d been held captive seven years before.
“He might not be able to teleport if he can’t focus. If you used your attack on him as soon as the Void goes down, it should be enough time to take him to Valhalla,” he offered. “That way we can fix the machine so it only blocks Chaos.” It was the best suggestion he had, but he knew it would be difficult to convince both Ganymede and Sessrumnir that it was the best option. “Trying to decide what to do with me, still?” he asked as Empyrean made his way over. He didn’t have to fake the fatigue in his voice. His face was pale from the fever he was running, and the sweat along his brow matted his hair further. His face was in need of a shave, yet he still managed to maintain most of his boyish looks despite the conditions he was in.
“Or just trying to decide what to do with my body once I’m dead?”
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:56 pm
Ganymede stiffened under the arm around her shoulders. As much as she thought Jet should die, as much as she yearned to repay him for all the atrocities he’d had a hand in, there was a part of her that hated it, that wished to go back to a time when she was still naive enough to think she could make it through this war without a significant amount of blood on her hands. She took no pleasure from this moment. Even if she thought her decision was right, the fact that she had to make it at all made her sick.
Knowing that Valhalla had enough compassion left in him to make a different choice made the shame grow.
“I don’t want him on Jupiter,” she said, quiet and defensive. “He’ll taint it. He doesn’t belong there.”
How could they bring him there, make him comfortable in the places that were theirs, among the memories of Liesel and Serge?
“We don’t even know if we can leave him there. Are you prepared to live on Jupiter with him, for however long it takes to… what? Convince him to purify? That could take years, if it ever happens at all. You want to keep him alive, knowing he wouldn’t do you the same courtesy, without any plan for how to manage his existence there?”“You and I both knew your time here would be limited,” Empyrean answered Jet, passing the pills and water through the barred opening on the door.
There was nothing in his voice to indicate how he felt about it. They could have just as easily been talking about the weather.
A part of him thought Jet should die. It was the most straightforward answer to the problem that his existence posed. He was their enemy, loyal to the Queen, to Metallia, to the organization that first gave him a sense of purpose. The Negaverse filled a void in Jet, one Empyrean had nothing to offer in its place. Jet didn’t seem to care for his kindness, or for the truth Empyrean made every effort to share with him. To undo what Chaos had done to his mind would require more time than most within the White Moon would care to give him.
But a week was not enough. Empyrean could accomplish more, if given the chance.
Perhaps that was foolish of him to believe — hubris rearing its ugly head.
“I won’t lie to you,” Empyrean said. Even the worst offender deserved honesty. “I can only keep them at bay for so long. We’ve reached the limit, I think. If you have no intention of cooperating, then what other choice do they have? Releasing you has never been an option. Keeping you here much longer won’t be feasible. Considering your condition, it may even be cruel. Death would be a liberation.”
Death was not always right, but it wasn’t always wrong either. Under certain circumstances, it could be a kindness.
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:42 pm
Valhalla didn’t let go, even as Ganymede stiffened under his hold. He knew how difficult it was to bear the burden of power, know what happened in the past, know she had the power to do something now. But Valhalla wished purifications were the only thing she was responsible for.
It wasn’t fair that she was the one with this burden, fighting for the people who lived in Destiny City, while others could come and go as they pleased. Some of them disappeared forever. Some of them thought Cosmos was the only one responsible for helping to pull people back from the horrors of Chaos.
“I don’t know what I’d do,” he admitted, a little reluctantly. He just wanted to do what he thought was right, but what was the cost? He and Ganymede had already personally suffered. They’d seen how Jet had no remorse when he killed Sheikh. He didn’t know what the right answer was, or even if there was one. He just wanted to be able to live with himself. Discussing what to do with Jet between Valhalla and Ganymede was fruitless. Maybe in the end Valhalla would agree with Ganymede’s decision, but how quickly would that end come? Hopefully soon, if he had anything to say about it.
Sessrumnir kept his arms crossed as he turned away from his brother and Ganymede to try to listen to whatever Empyrean was telling Jet. Hopefully he was telling Jet to make peace knowing death was coming for him. - Jet took the medicine that was handed to him, and quickly popped the pills into his mouth and chased them with a gulp of water. Maybe a couple gulps. He knew he needed the fluids. He wasn’t a doctor, but it was as though he suddenly remembered to try and stay hydrated. It was a little difficult since he could only do so much with what he had, but it was something.
A quiet laugh escaped at Empyrean’s words, and Jet showed him a weak smile in response to his death would be a liberation comment.
“I’ve enjoyed talking to you, you know? Even if you’re just as stubborn as you think I am,” he said as he watched the older man through the bars of the door. “You seem like you actually care. Compassionate, calm, reasonable.
“My parents died when I was pretty young, so I don’t have too many memories of them. Sent to live in foster care. That hell was never the Negaverse’s doing. But you know? If I had a choice, I think I would have liked to have a dad like you.”
Now? the voice in his head asked. Jet could hear the massive, toothy grin.
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:09 pm
Jet did not waver in the face of a death that now seemed imminent, yet his demeanor changed just so. He laughed, he smiled, he was briefly forthcoming, less of a petulant child than he’d been before, almost conversational.
The shift in tone gave Empyrean pause. It seemed to him that there must be a reason for it.
First, Empyrean thought it might be fear. Perhaps Jet was not as ready to die for the cause as they both assumed. This could be bravado, his way of coping with the knowledge that the end was near.
Next, Empyrean thought it might be anger. Surely the indignity of being kept here grated on him. As a General of distinction, he likely would have chosen a death more suited to his worth, instead of wasting away here, to be put down by those too indecisive to do it when they should have.
Then, Empyrean thought it might be genuine, returning honesty with honesty. Perhaps this was Jet’s attempt at kindness, however twisted it might be.
Empyrean studied Jet’s face, stared into his eyes and sought answers there.
Something twinkled within Jet’s hair. A curl must have shifted out of place as he gulped his water, exposing a single earring, which caught the silver light of the moon.
It was an exact match for one Empyrean had seen before.
Fastened to Plisetskaya’s ear.
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:36 pm
As Empyrean studied his face, Jet watched him in return. There was a brief moment in which Empyrean might have realized something was off. That maybe they should have never tried capturing him in the first place. That they never should have tried to destroy the Negaverse.
Did their failure to do anything on that hilltop mean nothing to them? Were they so stubborn that they thought they could stand against Metallia, especially now that they had the Velencian’s Commodore on their side?
But despite being a Page, Empyrean was a high level risk. The more he spoke, the more convincing his propaganda became. The Negaverse would be better off without a Page with a silver tongue in close association with a Princess.
“I like you. And I’m sure you understand this is nothing personal,” Jet said, but paused for a moment with another small smile, a little more twisted than the one the laugh pulled onto his face before. “Actually, no, it is personal. But nothing against you. Just your son.”
Suddenly, something snapped.
In front of him he could feel the aura of a Page. Down the hall he could feel the auras coming from the two Knights and Senshi.
It was in that same instant that Jet teleported-- but not far. Exhaustion meant lack of finesse, and the hand in Empyrean’s chest was not nearly as delicate as when Jet had placed his hand into Aquamarine’s during the orientation.
The jerk of his hand back out was harsh, and Jet felt the fragile crystal crack a bit as he left Empyrean to fall.
His gaze went not on the body of the old Page at his feet, but on the Knight with Empyrean’s same bright blue eyes.
“You touch Aquamarine again, and I’ll make sure everyone you love or care for dies.”
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:53 pm
He made no sound before he fell — not a gasp; not a cry. He had no time to turn, or step away. He simply stood in front of the door halfway down the hall, alone at first, until, in the blink of an eye, a hand forced its way into his chest.
His body dropped — the smack of flesh, and muscle, and bone against the floor; the rusle of fabric; neatly combed hair in disarray.
He was the only father Ganymede had left, after the loss of her own.
She turned — too late.
She ran — too late.
She shouted — too late.
Always too late, too helpless, too weak, caught unawares when she should have known better, when she should have been prepared. She knew what Chaos was. She knew what it did to people. She knew what it was capable of. She knew how it spread, how it poisoned everything. She knew what it cost, what it yearned to take.
And yet, the mistakes, the miscalculations, the failures.
Empyrean lay motionless on the floor, but his starseed — so fragile, so precious — glimmered in Jet’s hand.
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:15 pm
They’d already wanted him dead, so a little more motivation didn’t frighten him. If anything he wanted them to be angry, to make mistakes, to reveal little details about themselves, whispered in hallways when they thought they were alone.
He saw them running towards him. They could use their magic again, of course. But he had other plans.
In another blink of an eye, Jet teleported. This time to the lobby of the building where he could feel the aura of a Knight and Super Senshi. He was sure by then they realized something was wrong.
And he wouldn’t be alone for very long.
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