’Mine,’ Regal had said, because he’d known that putting this trip off would just make it more and more difficult to commit to, though physically being here did not actually strengthen his resolve to any particular degree. He took in an uneasy breath, fingers still curled loosely around his husband’s as he gazed at the crumbling and dilapidated remains of what had once been Regal. He was probably supposed to feel some sadness or longing at the sight, but his connection with his knighthood had always been tenuous, at best. He was here now exclusively because the Code “needed everyone’s help,” not because he felt a desire to fix something broken within his own abilities. Not because he felt strong ties to this bizarre location.

And… maybe it showed.

The Code had offered its assistance in locating its fragments for those that had never found it before, but Regal had not spared a moment to accept such aid, and he didn’t actually know almost anything about the ruins in which he currently stood. Where could a Code piece be hidden? Nothing pulled on his senses; he wasn’t drawn anywhere in particular… He was a Squire that had no knowledge of his own namesake. That was surely the worst he could possibly be…

Well, he’d been a Negaverse agent first. Maybe that was worse.

Maybe.

“We should walk,” he decided softly, crystalline blue eyes flickering to his husband’s face in question as if he wanted Sawtooth’s guidance on Regal’s wonder- He did. For whatever it was worth, Sawtooth did feel an attachment to his knighthood, more than Regal did, and Regal didn’t blame him for that; he wasn’t offended that his husband felt empowered to do something important and be something special. …It just wasn’t a sentiment Regal shared.

If he had any kind of spine he would’ve said that he wasn’t interested- He wasn’t interested from the start! Not in the Negaverse, not in Regal. He should have told Sawtooth that he didn’t want this. He could still be Micah… and still be normal… But there was no resolve to be had, here.

He moved first, tugging gently on Sawtooth’s hand as he stepped carefully through stoney debris.

The vegetation here was incredibly sparse, a few wayward brown sprigs poking up through the rubble. Nothing that looked like trees, shrubs, or foliage anywhere- no evidence that it ever was. And in fact, everything looked quite brown, as if anything that had once been here had been eroded down so fully that the residual dust painted everything with its color.

There may have once been buildings. It looked to Regal like there may have been some semblance of a settlement here, someplace that looked like a stopover point on a highway. Nothing significant in and of itself, just a place you would pass by on the way to someplace greater.

But it had to be more than that, didn’t it? The Code had chosen to leave a piece of itself behind here, after all.

“I’m open to ideas, if you have any,” Regal invited, not even trying to hide the trepidation from his voice, from his face. “You have exactly all the information I have, so…” Regal rarely visited his wonder, and never alone. Every step he’d taken here, Sawtooth had taken with him. He was supposed to have memories of a time long past, but even those had eluded him… He didn’t feel connected at all. He had nothing to offer this assignment. Just a Body.
EchosSweet