|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2022 6:33 am
Follows mayday mayday.Faustite had made his own escape from that terrible fight, but he hadn't the wherewithal to return home and face his boys after the choices he made. He still couldn't rationalize how or why he had thought he could die on the battlefield then and there, and that it wouldn't mean anything. That everything he had done meant nothing. That had to be magic, right? Yet, he hadn't heard anyone cast but the Basic that shot him and the fake youma dog. He didn't see the Knight cast anything. And the other one, the Eternal — that one had been circling, but Faustite had been assumed it was surveilling the situation, rather than anything to do with a cast.
It was discouraging to even think about. He couldn't go home and face the boys after that — not Alkmene, not Celadonite, not Fafnir. Especially not Heliodor. Not even Albite, either. He didn't want his husband making excuses for him, and he didn't want Heliodor's dolorous and venomous I-told-you-so's as if Faustite regularly contemplated his own death.
So he wandered. Scalped energy where he could to replenish some of what was lost to that terrible idea of a battle. Sometimes, when the cold had soothed the area enough, he would pause to try to pick the glass from his back. Other times, when his back wouldn't have it anymore, he would stop in front of store windows to try to examine his face. Far as he could tell, the area was still red and swollen.
Then he kept walking. Broke an energy orb, felt a little more like himself again. Followed wherever his feet took him until he reached the edge of a park, now quiet but for the nocturnal wildlife. The battle hadn't lasted long, but it was long enough for people to observe the oncoming night and pack up to leave. Better for it, too, for Faustite could claim one of the metal benches and take a moment to reflect.
A small lamp post had been standing next to that bench, lighting the path that guided walkers and wheelchair users deeper into the park. Soon after Faustite took a seat, ti flickered out, leaving him in ******** you too," he breathed. "Mine's brighter."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 8:23 am
Talia had been out walking, trying to clear her head and get more questions ready to ask Cosmos when she decided to actually go through with talking to her. The glow of Faustite was nearly impossible to miss, and she drew in a breath, holding it so as to not make a sound…it woudln’t…
Well it wouldn’t be very good to meet up with Faustite like this when she was unable to do anything to defend herself…and so, a moment later she was Lysithea and stepped out from behind the tree she had been hiding behind. “Are you really having arguments with lamps now, Faustite? That doesn’t seem very…”
Pausing, Lysithea wrinkled her nose, half wanting to say it didn’t seem very stable of him but…that sounded harsh no matter how she looked at it, and so she simply shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like you’re having a very good day. Penny for your thoughts?”
She kept her voice light, though was happy that the two were on even footing again power wise. It…made a difference to one’s confidence, that was for sure.
He didn’t look good, she could see that, and a small crease of worry settled between her brows. “Anything I can do to help?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 10:31 am
Faustite breathed smoke through his nose when he felt it — eternal's aura blowing up his senses. He grimaced openly; they only ever meant trouble, and only ever wanted blood. But the voice that followed hadn't demanded his surrender, or however many starseeds he may have pocketed and however much energy he may have collected. The grimace remained for separate reasons, however; Lysithea was a difficult experience anymore.
"Your friends tried to kill me," he said, watching her approach warily. "And this lamp ******** off when I wanted some light. Everything letting me down."
She was an eternal now — followed the same path Cybele did — which debunked his theory that they were stuck that way. So, then, if one was brought in forcibly and then left the Negaverse, they had but a window of time that the target was at their weakest. Bleak news for an already abysmal day. He was certain Albite would find some way to be happy for her, however.
He spared her offer of assistance hardly a thought, wincing as he sat up a little straighter. Soreness spread through his back as he breathed. "Come back with me."
Home, he meant. Where they could be siblings again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 3:30 pm
“Not sure which friends you’re talking about, since anyone that I’m close to knows what you mean to me so I can’t see them trying to kill you. I can’t do anything about the lamp but,” Lysithea drew a flashlight out of her subspace pocket and shined it near Faustite’s feet. “I have this, which is better than nothing.”
His request that she come back with him made Lysithea pause and slowly shake her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t…that’s the one thing that I can’t do, Faustite. I don’t think…I would survive losing my memories again. I’m already half a person. Already constantly comparing myself to who I was…I can’t…lose me again.”
…Not that she had really found herself yet but…that was besides the point.
“...You could always leave and come back with me, you know. I think you’d like it.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 3:56 pm
"Sessrumnir," Faustite mentioned sourly. "Couple others I don't know. One with black hair and enormous sleeves, green and blue on the outfit. Other one had wings on her back — tiny, Cupid ones.
"Thought you all knew each other. White Moon resistance is small enough." That they were still alive spoke more to the Negaverse's ineptitude than any resiliency on the White Moon's part, he thought. They hadn't been doing enough to root them out of their insipid little corners. Faustite felt the residual shame of that alongside his consternation at himself; were he in his right mind, he'd have summoned his team to eradicate them. Would've been far more successful than taking them on by himself and having to escape the way he did.
Faustite listened to her rejection, then snorted. "And you expect me to?" He saw little reason to be so quick to throw away his memories, his identity, and for the sake of what? What could he possibly gain from that? What the ******** did she think he would like about it?
Grinding his teeth, Faustite slowly pulled his legs up onto the bench. He turned gingerly, hoping that delicate movements wouldn't disturb the glass in his back, and stopped only when his back faced his ex-sister. "Make yourself useful, then. Pull the glass out."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 4:51 pm
Sessrumnir? The name sounded vaguely familiar, or at least…enough that she knew she should know it. Ish. Something to do with Alastor, maybe…and the black hair and enormous sleeves…that sounded like Alastor, so she figured she might be right. The third one was drawing a complete blank and Lysithea shook her head. “Nothing’s really ringing a bell, sorry.”
Lysithea held back a wince at his words and simply shrugged. “Then you see what a difficult decision it is, then. I’m glad. And…damn.” She scowled at the sight of the glass and hissed softly, shaking her head. “...How do you get yourself into these situations, Faustite…” Her voice was soft, and she looked at the mess in front of her, trying to figure out the best way to get the shards out without hurting him more than she needed to…and without hurting herself as well.
Finally she tore a large piece of fabric from her top skirt and wound it around her hand, reaching for one of the shards and drawing in a breath. “Pulling this out now, get ready. When it’s all out I can heal you up at least. And you don’t have to be so cutting to me, Faustite. I enjoy helping you.”
But, she had limits. Maybe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:05 pm
He hadn't expected to get anything out of her, but it was still just as disappointing to her her play empty-headed about it. Even if she didn't know them, she could've offered to track them down if she cared about him as much as she said she did.
"Doesn't mean I respect it. Hard to be nice to someone who abanfoned me," he tossed over his shoulder at her. They gave her everything she needed — she had a family, she had friends, she had a whole team to share with him. So what if she didn't remember anything? She didn't need to when she was faced with myriad opportunities to make her own memories. All the Negaverse asked for was the cost of the energy used to keep her powered up, and never once did she need to take a starseed if that so bothered her. They had orders, but she was an Eternal — she could issue her own.
The choice she made was nonsense, and he had to blame White Moon propaganda for why she chose it. That she resisted coming home, even now? They must've gotten their claws deep into her.
No matter. If there was no one left on that side to support her, then she would come home.
"Was draining energy. They interrupted," he explained after heeding her warning. He heard the tear of skirts and assumed she was either protecting her own hands or preparing to bandage the wounds afterward. Once he felt the first shard start to jostle as she got a grip about it, he exhaled and waited for the pull. It'd be painful, wincingly so, but it was necessary. "I don't know… Why it ended the way it did, though. Got this overwhelming feeling I should just give up, let them kill me. Never felt that way before. But I didn't see any magic, either.
"It's troubling." And dangerous.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:10 pm
“Well don’t give up. That’s stupid.” Lysithea refused to even acknowledge the taunt of her abandoning him. It stung, as she supposed it was supposed to, but she made no reaction to it other than perhaps pulling the next shard of glass out with a little more vigor…but that could be called an accident. Easily called an accident.
“You’re tired, Faustite. I know that. I can see that. You need time to rest, you need time to just be you. You push yourself too damn hard and sometimes when you’re doing that, you do feel like giving up. I know I have more than I care to admit.”
The glass made soft tinkling sounds as she tossed it onto the bench Faustite had been sitting on, and she fell silent as she removed the pieces, getting as many as she could. “I’m glad that they’re all pretty large…did they push you through a window or something?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:36 pm
"I know. But it's — I've never felt that way before. Never." Even when he was pushing himself as hard as Lysithea had stated. Certainly he'd felt like giving up on his place in the Negaverse and walking into the Rift, but never to give up on being alive — the Rift was a simpler, if hostile, space where he could gather his thoughts and work with youma. But what happened during that fight? It was a grim resignation, a bitter acceptance that there was nothing more and nothing worth fighting for, not even the chance of coming home to his boys. It was nothingness. It was emptiness.
Faustite hissed in a breath, recoiling when she dug another piece out. "No," he answered after he braced himself against the bench. "The Knight broke his storm glass against a brick wall. Sent me into that brick wall with his summons afterward — pieces got slammed into my back. Shattered windows went the other direction, away from me."
Then he fell silent for a time. Wrenching shards out proved a terrible, nauseating task for the spikes of pain, and Faustite was lightheaded from it by the time the majority of the pieces were collected. He made no attempt to look at the black-spattered, jagged blades of glass laying across the bench.
"Why do you think it's better over there?" He ventured at last.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:44 pm
Lysithea hummed softly, gently running her hand over the half youma’s back, gently digging out a few of the smaller shards and then giving a pleased nod when she didn’t feel anything else poking out that shouldn’t be.
“Lysithea Healing Horn.” The words were whispered, and she lightly placed the tip of her magic against his back, watching as the cuts began to knit themselves up even as she tried to figure out what to say.
“I feel more in control of myself. I don’t have people telling me that I shouldn’t be in a role befitting my rank…I don’t…have any guilt for taking souls or hurting people…Faustite, you have to admit I’m terrible at hurting people. It’s just against who I am, and I just…I can’t. I mean. If I have to defend those I care about, sure, I can do that but just.”
She shrugged and called her magic once again, letting it graze his back again, watching as the last traces of the wounds vanished.
“I wasn’t cut out for chaos…I didn’t like who I was. What I was turning into…I didn’t feel like me. I didn’t…I mean I didn’t know what me was supposed to feel like, but I didn’t really feel like anything. And I hated that…”Strickenized Lysithea Healing Horn Lysithea calls her attack, and a slightly larger unicorn horn made of energy appears in her hand, this one being about a foot in length. She can use this to mend all minor and moderate injuries by placing the tip of the horn on her target. The injuries will rapidly patch themselves back together, causing them to fade to nothing. The energy horn fades after the cuts are healed. The injuries can take up to 25 seconds to heal and once she has cast her magic it cannot be interrupted. She can use this two times in battle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 6:22 pm
As she called her magic, the pain ebbed. He lacked the words to describe how his back knit back together, but it was painful in a manner quite different from getting stabbed. A temporary one that faded into a dull ache as her magic worked, and left him hale after such injuries. Even his face stopped throbbing from Sessrumnir's violent left hook.
"Who told you that you shouldn't have been your rank?" The statement had him perk, curious for the answer. If it was Benitoite again, tormenting another Negaverse senshi as he'd tormented Cybele before her —
When he was sure he wouldn't accidentally impale himself on the unicorn horn, Faustite turned back around to face her. It was strange, talking to her when they were at such angles with each other, so he kicked away the pile of glass from the bench with the heel of his boot. That left spatters of his ink-like blood, but he hadn't cared about those, and instead scooted over them to offer her some space to sit. While the flashlight offered some more light by which to ssee her, he'd rather view her in the light of his own fires. It felt a margin more familiar.
"We could work something out. Could keep you in Infiltration. You'd only have paperwork and talking people into joining, wouldn't have to fight anything. And you'd have everyone — they'd welcome you. Know Albite would.
"He'd love you as a sister-in-law, you know." He reached for her hand, but paused before he could take it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:38 pm
“It was a misunderstanding, not that important. It was more that…I should be reporting to a General when I had an office of my own, but.that’s what happens when you don’t tell everyone your cover story, I suppose.” She gave a little, half amused smile, though it turned sad at his next words, already mustering yet another refusal.
“Faustite, I can’t. I’m sorry. I love you, that’s not going to change, but I’m not going back to Chaos, I can’t do it. I wouldn't survive it, no matter what story you fabricated, I don’t…I don’t think I’d want to survive it.”
After saying it, she realized that her words could be taken as an invitation for him to attack her. Kill her instead of bringing her back. That she would rather be dead than be his sister again…which. It wasn’t quite that extreme. But she would rather be dead than be corrupted again. The idea of starting over again...
Made her feel ill.
“...I can still be his sister in law, just because I’m in white doesn’t mean that I’ve given you up as my brother, you know.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:35 pm
"Don't need you criticizing me," he replied bitterly. He must've gotten it from everyone by now, including his own ex-sister. What else was there to berate him for? According to everyone but his husband, there was nothing worth praising here.
She wasn't sitting with him. She wouldn't. She was spouting the same White Moon bullshit he came to expect from the rest of them, and wrapped it in the comfortable guise of love and care. Played him for a fool and strung him along, because the only thing she would ever offer him — the condition on which her full acceptance would hang — was joining them. Being human again. Helping the other side to perpetuate this ******** world that should've ended a millennium ago.
And that felt tragic. Cold and dolorous. Sapped Faustite's anger and left him exhausted for the conversation. As she spoke, he felt a familiar ghost of that desolate feeling from before.
"It means exactly that, and you saying otherwise doesn't erase it." Faustite shook his head at her. "Your actions have ******** consequences, Lysithea. I'll take it out on everyone around you until you get a ******** clue. We'll see how many lives you'll throw away, just as you threw away all the care we had for you." He stood, then, and kicked the pile of glass as hard as he could. The spray of it didn't make him feel any better — didn't reawaken his more familiar, more useful, rage.
"Stop pretending. When you left, you decided we weren't siblings anymore." Then he vanished, bound for a deeper, darker home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2022 7:22 am
Lysithea frowned and looked towards him, opening her mouth to say something–anything. She wasn’t trying to criticize him, she wanted to help him…wanted him back...but.
But then with one last threat, he was gone.
For a moment, a cold, emptiness seemed to fill Lysithea and she gave a soft, bitter chuckle. “Never decided we weren’t siblings anymore…Never wanted to not be siblings anymore…” Her words were spoken to the empty air, the empty night.
It took a long time before she stopped crying, and an even longer time before she managed to make her way back home. Perhaps this was best shoved to the back of her mind…perhaps it was best to just not think about Faustite for a while…there was…more than enough on her shoulders right now anyway but…
She would always be his sister.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
