Actually hearing his plans voiced aloud like this draws a sharp breath that gets stuck in Zelos' artificial lungs, tearing like a knife, rage and fear and despair and a sick hope dancing along in his core until they mesh together into a sickening flame. The air around the Aegis warms considerably. His breathing becomes erratic and he stumbles backwards, fists shaking, until he finally turns on his heel to face Kratos.
Gone is the pretense of keeping up the mask, lowered to make way for the full-brunt of Zelos' anger instead. "That's the fucking point!" Zelos shouts, the prickling tick-tick-tick-tick sensation in his arms almost indistinguishable from his memories of the cannon itself. "If I'm in the fucking cannon, if I make it public that I'm in the cannon, then Sylvarant can't fire back without risking retaliation! Then all you have to do is get Colette and Martel out! Take Mithos somewhere safe! Everyone is fucking happy!"
Except there's a catch, isn't there?
A single miscalculation.
Right as he says that, Zelos is abruptly hit with the realization that his plan would leave him alone inside a cannon, the entire situation right back at square one as an Aegis is once again used to rain war on a defenseless country without one. Zelos would become the threat this time, the idiot who put them all in a cycle of destruction because he couldn't see himself as free. Suddenly, this whole thing feels like a grave mistake. Suddenly, Zelos' anger falters for only a fraction of a second, fear and dread making its way through his expression before he steels it with cold, angry determination.
"You know what I can do if I'm in the cannon?" Zelos slips out, not really thinking, emotional core dragging the words out of him like they're excuses to keep himself in the plan. It works, somewhat, so Zelos smirks, vindictive. "Ha. Ahaha, well, you ever heard of what an amplified, uncontrolled ether discharge can do?"
BUT LLOYD DID?
Gone is the pretense of keeping up the mask, lowered to make way for the full-brunt of Zelos' anger instead. "That's the fucking point!" Zelos shouts, the prickling tick-tick-tick-tick sensation in his arms almost indistinguishable from his memories of the cannon itself. "If I'm in the fucking cannon, if I make it public that I'm in the cannon, then Sylvarant can't fire back without risking retaliation! Then all you have to do is get Colette and Martel out! Take Mithos somewhere safe! Everyone is fucking happy!"
Except there's a catch, isn't there?
A single miscalculation.
Right as he says that, Zelos is abruptly hit with the realization that his plan would leave him alone inside a cannon, the entire situation right back at square one as an Aegis is once again used to rain war on a defenseless country without one. Zelos would become the threat this time, the idiot who put them all in a cycle of destruction because he couldn't see himself as free. Suddenly, this whole thing feels like a grave mistake. Suddenly, Zelos' anger falters for only a fraction of a second, fear and dread making its way through his expression before he steels it with cold, angry determination.
"You know what I can do if I'm in the cannon?" Zelos slips out, not really thinking, emotional core dragging the words out of him like they're excuses to keep himself in the plan. It works, somewhat, so Zelos smirks, vindictive. "Ha. Ahaha, well, you ever heard of what an amplified, uncontrolled ether discharge can do?"