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 Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:50 pm
Now that Ilse had been safely passed off to Evan…who would hopefully be able to get her out of the whole situation…she knew that she had to go and talk to her…
Well. To Faustite.
She drew in a long, deep breath and teleported herself to his office, feeling a moment's relief and dread that he was actually there. Not that…it would have been easier to put this off for another day but.
“Faustite, do you have a few minutes? I have some things I’d like to talk about if that’s all right.”
Her voice was as light as she could make it, trying to seem unassuming and not put him on edge so quickly into the interview, though she knew it would become unpleasant very quickly.
Without waiting for an answer, she took a seat and just looked at him, her eyes bright, though still a little swollen from all the crying of the past few days. “Even if it’s not all right, I need to do it, so. I hope you have the time now.”
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:55 pm
It wasn't that he was terribly busy; with Jet's high-stakes mission concluded, and the once-General now made into a General King, Faustite had fewer tasks to balance. There was still the matter of the Saturn Knight, but given his elusiveness, little progress had been made there. His desk work was lessened with Alkmene managing it for him, and it granted him time to check up on his boy. Seemed his injuries were improving.
He had thought, since their reconciliation at Ana's place, that relations had improved between him and his sister.
With the rest of his team – with Nembus missing, and Lilith taking point on that; with Albite, with Jadarite, with their subordinates, Faustite thought that this was the first time he could take a breather. He could take minutes to himself and remember what it meant to be alive.
Instead, he was panicked for something else to fill his time. At the moment that Lysithea teleported into his office, he had on his desk a scattered transcript of an interaction with a youma. One that troubled him, and prompted an investigation once he could find someone in Information with which he could coordinate.
It was from that interview that he looked up at Lysithea, and the expression he donned was both nude and honest – shock, at seeing her like this. He had thought that, as he allowed her some space, she had been acclimating. Getting better. Starting to find her bearings.
Swallowing, he asked, "what happened?" Having started to burn part of the testimony, he dropped it, shifted in his chair, and wondered what, exactly, had brought her here.
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:01 pm
“A lot in a very short time, honestly.” Lysithea shrugged, toying at one of the ribbons that adorned her fuku and finding herself suddenly unable to meet his eyes. “You’re not my brother, are you? I was told that everything was a lie. Just a story to keep me sweet after you…after the Negaverse took me against my will at the battle involving the aliens?”
Well…she hadn’t intended to just…blurt it all out like that, but…she supposed it was better that way. Like pulling off a band aid. Better fast than slow, prolonging the pain…besides…
Clearly honesty was hard to come by with Faustite so. One of them should be blunt.
“Just tell me the truth, please. Why did you lie to me? Why…” She closed her eyes for a moment, swallowing back the tears that again wanted to fall. “Did you ever really care for me at all?”
Her voice broke on the last word and somehow…that was just…too much. Perhaps she shouldn't have let her emotions get involved so quickly but…
…He was supposed to be her brother.
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:05 pm
Shock gave way to consternation, then his brows furrowed and he scrutinized Lysithea. "You're making a lot of accusations." To bring so many to bear at once – who had she been talking to? Was it Malus? Did she come into contact with the Saturn Knight that had been looking for her? Was someone else among their ranks trying to sabotage him?
The successive questions iced his veins in a manner that he only felt when he was human. Feeling numb for it, Faustite shifted in his seat. Crossed his legs under the table. The documents had been pushed aside, forgotten, left for another time. "Who's telling you all of this? And what has you so convinced that I'm lying?
"Why don't you trust me?" Fingers curled around the edge of the table. They dug into the thin veneer of paint, chipping into it, exposing the marred metal underneath.
"You're so ******** quick to assume that I don't care about you."
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:05 pm
His reaction made her heart utterly break. No matter that she knew he had been lying, that all of their shared past was nothing but a fabrication…the fact that Faustite reacted first with anger was…
Well. It just proved all the points that Evan and Ilse had made.
“Several people. I guess. One who knew me before, and one who knows me now.” All on the same night, which was…honestly one of the most hellish things she had ever gone through, but that…
That was fine.
“Why are you getting so defensive, Faustite? I doubt you’d be doing so if there wasn’t truth in their words. I doubt you’d be so blindingly pissed off that I don’t trust you if it was really the truth. You would be upset, try to prove to me that it is true.”
Damn, no. Curb her own feelings. She had to keep on top of this and not start raging like a fishwife. If she could stay logical and not emotional…this would be fine. But.
…It seemed to be a doomed thing just to think about.
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:08 pm
"But I am upset." He grit his teeth, lips peeled back as he fought to curb his own tension. Dug and dug at the underside of his desk until a nail broke and hung off the edge of one of his fingers. He felt it, watched the room blur and grow brilliantly focused and blur again with a blink, knew only to breathe in and never to exhale.
"You're calling me a liar. Believing all these people – the enemy, Ana. People who want to stop us, want us to die, want to hold the world over us and exterminate us. People who want to do away with youma. People who want to steal you. You're trusting them over me." Felt the tremor in his hands, even after they fled from their confines to trace around his words. Enunciate each statement with sharp gesticulations.
"But it doesn't matter anymore, does it." He rose, vanished in a blink to the other end of the room. Locked the door, for all that mattered with so many of his subordinates able to teleport themselves into his space now.
But it was easier, back here, facing the door. Easier to let that breath out. Wipe his face on a sleeve. "You've already made up your mind. Won't matter what I say, what I show you, how insistent I am. I'm the liar.
"And you misunderstood everything."
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:08 pm
She didn’t move when he moved to lock the door, didn’t allow herself to twitch, and didn’t bolt out of the chair like her instincts were screaming at her to do. There was no reason to be afraid of Faustite. He was on her side. They were.
…They were something.
“What did I misunderstand, Faustite,” Lysithea kept her voice soft, tried to keep the tremor out of it, but…god it was difficult to do so. “What did I misunderstand?” Why was he locking the door? Was he going to try and kill her? That…didn’t make her happy, obviously but…it made some sense. Perhaps this had been a mistake. Perhaps confronting him had been a mistake but…
…How badly she wanted Ilse and Evan to be wrong...how badly she wanted Faustite to turn away her fears and come up with a solution that would…fix everything.
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:09 pm
He started back toward the desk slowly, reticent to reach her too soon. Her argument hinged on lies, and he could do nothing to prove it a truth. There was no reason for it, it wouldn't bring her back, wouldn't curb her opinion. But the truth, the reason for all these elaborations on Ana as a part of his life, was such a risk on the light chance that she'd stay.
But what choice did he have? Whatever figures she chose to shadow, they had her ear far more than he ever could.
"I lied to you because I cared about you. You were nice to me – and you were the only one. Didn't try to…" He drew a slow breath, "exterminate me for being inhuman. Didn't think that anyone should be inhuman, but." That didn't matter. Not now.
His hands intertwined at his fore, as if trying to wrestle each other into place. "You were caught in the battle at the hilltop. Showed up with Ilse. Corruption was an inevitability; had little to do with me. But I didn't want you…" Chewed his lip, swallowed glass. "Didn't want you left to the same nameless, faceless bullshit that the rest of the recruits got. Bunch of them, full of nothing. Cotton and anesthetic. Numb to everything because they had no context for the world they lived in.
"You were nice to me, so I thought –" he rounded the desk, slumped on his stool Felt miserable for it, knowing how easily his face displayed his thoughts. Showcased them for all the black tear streaks that snaked down his cheeks. He stared down at the battered, clawed lip of the desk. "Maybe I could pay that back. Give you something to hold onto. Wanted you to feel like you had a home.
"And because," his voice, strung violin tight under careful pressure, cracked and strained. "Everyone's dead. The old me, the real me – everyone's dead."
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:10 pm
Of all the things Lysithea had been expecting, this…was not it.
He was admitting to his lies, admitting that he did it because he cared about her, and…
Her heart broke.
Before she realized what she was doing she was out of her seat and had moved over to Faustite, wrapping her arms around him, heedless of his flames. A few moments wouldn’t hurt and he was clearly in distress. She…couldn't stand his distress.
“...I was told that you were looking to get out of…out of all of this…? At one point? That…that was how we met? Is that true too?”
When it began to burn, she had to draw away, though she wished she had something she could just throw over him. A fireproof blanket or something. Anything.
“...Ilse told me you were lying, but I don’t…think she had any idea of why…I…” She what? Wouldn't have questioned it? Would have rather known that she had lost everything? No, that wasn’t true…and she had loved having a brother…it had been wonderful.
Everything had been wonderful until recently. “I don’t know…what to do now, Faustite..”
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:13 pm
He hadn't cried in so long. Couldn't remember the last time he cried – truly cried, instead of gritting through the pain and pushing on until he was too distracted to think about what was broken. He'd grown accustomed to keeping his mouth shut about all the rotten pieces of his life. If he didn't speak them, they didn't exist. So to break that careful rule – he wasn't surprised by his own weakness.
Felt as though he wound barbed wire through his body to hold everything in place – all parts, from intestines to brain to trachea to arteries to his lungs, all set into position with successive winds of thick, violent wires. He kept those wires taut for years, kept them secure. All pieces of him learned their place, and on the rare instance that he felt himself slip, the goring was enough of a reminder to step back in line. Thus did his experiences stalk him, but they seldom caught him. And when they did, it was never like this.
Faustite leaned over, slammed his head into the face of his desk with enough force that he felt it in his teeth, and covered himself with his arms. In his slump, his shoulders shook, black tears pooled and dripped down the lip of the desk, fire whorled and wound up around his bent spine into the free air behind him. He didn't want to speak anymore. Didn't want to answer any questions.
Hurt was a terrible, violent, choking thing. Even if he could breathe, he couldn't keep enough air in him to make an answer out of it. And if he could, wouldn't it make everything worse? What a pity, what a mess. Who could respect him now? Did Lysithea, when she burned her fingers on him by trying to comfort him?
He wasn't going to keep her, he knew.
By the time he managed to draw it all back inside, swallow it back enough to be coherent, several moments had passed since her question. "No one knew why. Didn't tell anyone." Would it have changed Ilse's mind if she knew? Would she have committed herself to death if she knew?
"Wanted to leave a long time ago. Only kept coming back because you were nice to me, when there wasn't anyone else."
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:13 pm
Lysithea had never seen him like this. Obviously, she didn’t know him as she thought she did but…she had never seen Faustite like this.
As the fire shot out, she had to step away, and after a moment, after he spoke, she spoke sharply, firmly. “Put your glamor on right now, Faustite. I can’t do anything when you’re like this. Put it on, do you hear me?”
She could fix this. She had to fix this. She loved him. Obviously she loved him. That was why it hurt so much when he wouldn’t hug her. That was why it hurt so much when she found out he had been lying.
“Put it on, and get your a** into my arms. I’ve got you. I’m right here.”
Maybe not forever. But for now…and if…
…If she did go back…back to where she had so many who loved her…
….Maybe…
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:14 pm
He knew he could've donned the cincher instead, but it was easier to allow Eion's second skin to overcome the fire and metal that comprised his person. Soon the fire was smothered, and only the unburnt youth remained, with his coal hair down to his shoulders and his red-rimmed coal eyes, puffy and unkempt.
He choked back more of his sorrow, wiped his eyes on a jacket sleeve. He thought about making a joke to space himself from his own thoughts, but nothing came to mind.
Instead, he sat up, Scrubbed at his face until the skin was raw and reddened and only lightly damp. He hesitated a moment – a vestigial thing – before he reached for her.
She'd be gone soon, like all the rest. Then he would have to find Ilse.
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:15 pm
It was so easy to just draw him into her arms, and she did so with no hesitation, taking a step backwards and falling hard on the floor as she missed the chair. Holding him was more important. He was more important. This stupid, foolish boy in her arms. This child who thought the whole world was against him.
…Who might have been right about the whole world being against him.
Softly she carded her fingers through his hair, pressing kisses to his forehead and the top of his head. “...Eion…Eion you…if you want to leave, then we can go together. We’ll find a way, we can be a family, you and me. We can help people, we can be happy. All the fire and all the pain…we can leave it behind. Walk away.”
Her words were soft, spoken against his hair, hopeful words that if she were thinking and not feeling, she would have never dared to say.
“I love you. I don’t want to lose you. Don’t want to leave you…”
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:15 pm
Eion didn't care that he went down with her, or that one of his legs tangled with the stool and brought it on its side with the pair. The door was locked; no one was brash enough to teleport directly into his office. They could be vulnerable for a minute, two minutes, five minutes. He could demean himself a little longer.
Couldn't explain how it was different when he felt her fingers meander through his hair, but he knew that it was. He'd had lovers do the same, he understood it as affection, but – it felt like she wanted to protect him, too. Like she understood the quiet menaces that he carried around with him each day, and knew how to help him banish them. Like she was looking out for him, a fireborn thing with more ghosts than he had subordinates.
'If you want to leave, then we can go together.'
She said it so simply, so perfectly, as one elegant solution to the turbulence they navigated each day. Simply leave – walk out his office door, lock it, leave the key with Albite, and teleport out of the Negaverse one last time.
He started to cry again. His face twisted up with the pain of it, and he lamented into her shoulder. Buried his face in the cloth. His fingers clutched fast to the soft cloth gathered along her back.
"But you're going to."
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:16 pm
Ana was quiet for a very long time, holding him, trying to drink in the fact that he was clinging to her. Crying against her shoulder.
Needing her.
“I don’t know.” She finally managed to get out, voice barely a whisper. “I don’t know what I’m going to do…but I want you with me, Eion…You’re not happy here…we can bring the others too…Waru and all of your little team…we can all be a family together…”
They could do so much good with the power that they had…they could change things, she was sure of it.
“...You wouldn’t have to worry about burning people when you touch them anymore…Think of how often I can hold you! It wouldn't even have to be…” She swallowed. “...During times like this. Just during times like this…”
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