summonerd | i just wanna know: who broke it?

i just wanna know: who broke it?

[Sheena'd thought she was all done with dimensional travel, now that the two worlds were united. But here she is, having fallen asleep in one world and woken up in a Tethe'alla that's just different enough from the one she knows to be constantly jarring. Her connections to Aselia's summon spirits dangle loose, snapped by distance - not even Origin's power could follow her here, it seems. That's more than a little unsettling.

It takes her some time, alone in a bizarro version of Meltokio as she is, but eventually she stumbles on a lead - an old scientific journal, a mention of the power of something called an Aegis being able to transcend space and time, at least in theory. And a little asking around tells her that Tethe'alla has its own Aegis, though no one's seen it for years. Well. Worth a shot, right?

Somehow she manages to talk her way into the Tethe'allan castle where the Aegis's core crystal awaits being woken up, with a series of smiles and her very best politicking - yes, of course she's got nothing but loyalty for Tethe'alla, of course she's skilled at this, of course it'd be a great honor.

(Zelos would be proud, she thinks, wryly.)

They're dubious, but her persistence wears them down, or maybe they're just desperate enough for a return of the Aegis's power to let her try, and the orange core crystal is offered out to her.

She takes a deep breath, and reaches out to touch it.]

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The tapping sensation against Zelos' forehead contrasts harshly against the melodious notes in the shores of his subconscious, the transmission cutting and distorting the song, leaving it in a cacophony of all the wrong pitches, murky and echoing as this new message, this voice, overpowers everything and booms loud in his ears.

But this particular signal, it sticks around long enough for Zelos to hold onto it, familiarity and curiosity both grabbing his attention and pulling it away from Mithos' song. He's... felt this before, hasn't he? He's heard this wavelength before, but not this gently, not this shyly, and definitely not this remorseful. The song fades in the distance, a distorted echo of itself as Zelos follows the message. And as he pushes himself towards it, tingling in his hands, buzzing behind his eyelids--Zelos feels that power once again, laying in waiting, that white noise he's only felt in his dreams before cutting into the song.

With the signal comes a flash of red, the image of a city of glass, and a request.

Oh.

Well, it's... it's not like Zelos has any other choice here, does he?

It's you again, comes the Aegis' slurred voice in his own mind. He doesn't know if it'll be heard, but he can try. Let me out. Just let me out. I don't care how. I can't move, anyways. Let me out.

Okay, comes the response.

And then the Architect pours his ether into Zelos.

Mithos stops singing. The ether in the room shifts, almost imperceptibly, but Mithos would not be Mithos if he did not notice. He turns his head and blinks at Zelos-- who had relaxed, at least, even if he remained unresponsive-- where the shift in the ether is centered around. That signal... it tastes faintly, distantly, like Father's...

Why would it...?

The door clicks and hisses with release, sliding open, and Mithos jumps to his feet. Freedom. Mithos lets out a delighted, relieved laugh, and--

Doesn't have time for anything else.

The ether swells around Zelos suddenly, overwhelmingly, and-- Mithos knows the taste, the shape of that swell. Horror knocks itself against Mithos' core, and Mithos spins to stare at Zelos, watching the ether build around him, swirling orange and teal and-- Why is that Father's ether? What is Father doing.

It's swelling way too much, way too fast. Any second now it's going to--

"Get down!!" Mithos screams, and because that's not going to be enough, he throws himself at Sheena and drags her in the direction of Kratos and Anna and that's not quite far enough either, because Malos and Lloyd aren't close at all-- But there's no time for that, no time to worry, if he doesn't do anything they're all going to die.

He slams a shield down around all of them, anchors it to the floor and pours all of his strength into it. He catches two guards in the shield along with Lloyd, but it doesn't matter because Lloyd is safe, Lloyd is safe--

Everything is drowned in blinding white. Mithos bites his tongue and inhales sharp and pained as the explosion eats at his shield. There's no danger of the shield buckling, but it hurts. It lasts five, ten terrible seconds.

And then it's over.

Mithos lets go of Sheena, only just realizing he was still clinging to her. He spins around, horror singing loud along his veins, as he surveys the scene. Outside of Mithos' haphazard, uneven shield, the building has become rubble, and there-- there are no bodies. The residual ether sings sharp and thick, tastes of Zelos, tastes of Father, holy and fiery and destructive, and underneath all that the residual taste of death, of bodies that were undone. But it's... it's safe to let the shield down. So Mithos does.

His eyes sweep to where Zelos was last. There's nothing there but a dim orange core crystal, now.

"No," Mithos whispers, and all that horror becomes burning fury. "No!" he screams, and pounds his fists against the ground before he turns his head to the sky. "Why did you-- you could have-- I could have taken that!! WHY DID YOU CHOOSE HIM!?"

There's just enough time for Sheena to enter the room they'd been held in, eyes locked on Zelos still unresponsive on the floor and every intention of getting him to safety even if she has to carry him again, when ether suddenly starts to build around him and Mithos tackles her. Backwards, away from Zelos.

"No!" she screams, tries to pull free even as Zelos's form is overtaken by brightly swirling ether. "Let me g--"

And then the world explodes into light around them.

More important to Sheena, though, is that even with the link closed down as it is, it's impossible for her not to feel it as their connection frays and then snaps. She fumbles, cries out wordlessly, trying in vain to hold onto him somehow, but--

It ends.

Even before she can see again, the sunspots in her eyes leaving her with only patchy vision, the second Mithos lets go of her she pulls herself back up, heart pounding loud in her ears. The sudden silence in her head is awful, but she clings to the only thing she can think of right now to make up for it.

(Even if I were to die, you'd just have to make sure nothing happens to my core crystal.)

She takes one unsteady step, trembling, then runs the rest of the way to Zelos's core crystal, scooping it up before anyone else can. It's still faintly warm as she holds it to her chest, head bowed and breath hitching.

Anna throwing a guard into Tabatha knocks off her focus, so Lloyd takes a second to breathe deeply and otherwise ignore how his lungs and shoulder blades ache, fighting back against the guards at full strength. His wings are still weak in their luminescence, but the angel strength remains, so he thanks his lucky stars, raising a blade to meet a guard’s -

Everything happens at once. Mithos screams, and Lloyd, distracted, barely dodges a swing before a shield goes down around everyone in the immediate area. The room goes white, with not even the guards able to stay focused as they pause in their battle, covering wide eyes with their arms. The light lasts for a few seconds, blinding, and then the illumination dims, letting him blink and observe what just happened.

Complete and utter annihilation. The remains of the building are nothing more than exposed wiring in concrete walls, dust and debris covering the floor around them. Lloyd would wager that the explosion took out several rooms within this single floor, and he wouldn’t doubt that the foundation of the building had been severely compromised. Aside from the guards around him, every other person nearby has been killed, without bodies left behind. Even Tabatha’s reflection hadn’t been spared, and Lloyd feels a quick pang of guilt in his heart for her - they hadn’t been able to save her.

Without notice, one of the guards yells out in surprise and shocks Lloyd into action. He cuts them down quickly, too concerned to otherwise worry about being particularly merciful, and really, it’s their fault for trying to sneak up on him, but then horror sinks deep into his mind, an unwelcomed and entirely heart-stopping presence. Lloyd gulps, slowly turning to face Mithos, the source of the horror, and then double checks the room around them.

Where’s Zelos?

Where is Zelos?

Lloyd had assumed that Zelos was within the shield, too, unable to check before everything happened as he was, but now - there’s no red hair, no bright orange ether lines, nothing to indicate that he’s here. Mithos’ same horror grips at Lloyd’s heart as he begins to shake his head, in denial. No, no no no no no, nothing could have happened, not to Zelos, not again.

Mithos begins yelling as Lloyd watches Sheena take a step forward, distant in his mind and in his body as he tries and fails to process what’s happened, what this means. Once again, he’s threatened by falling deep into memories and experiences he’s never wanted to live through, fresh dread ready to break him and his stitched-up heart in pieces. “No,” he whimpers, as Sheena picks up Zelos’ core crystal, the realization of what that means slicing through Lloyd like a sword through his chest. “No, not again.”

Grief picks up the places where Lloyd’s optimism usually lies, causing him to drop his swords, which clatter to the ground loudly, as he stumbles towards Sheena, already fighting off unbelieving tears. Throat filled with words he can’t say, a scream he won’t scream, he swallows hard, willing his lungs to breathe air they no longer want to breathe. Not again, not again, not again.

Wordlessly, he approaches the ninja, making his intent obvious, and pulls her into a hug, using all of his remaining strength to keep standing. His wings finally vanish from behind him, breaking off in a spectacle of sparkles as he grieves, holding Sheena close like a lifeline. “It’s not fair,” he mumbles, not even embarrassed when his voice cracks. Twice, now, they’ve been forced to watch Zelos die. “It’s not fair.”

And then silence reigns.

Anna forgets how to breathe for a minute, as the light engulfs them, too close too burning, everything roaring in her ears. Her arm aches in ways it hasn't for five years. She bites her tongue and waits it out. Finally it does end. It does end, and she's still here, and she's still conscious. Cool. Bad. What just blew up.

Mithos is screaming and Sheena goes running and. Oh. Oh no.

She straightens herself up-- the blast knocked her to her knees-- peering to watch Sheena find Zelos' core crystal (at least that is fine) and gets about that far before Malos plops himself down next to her, clinging to her arm. She reaches over and squeezes his wrist, sending him a tentative smile. The emotion bleed is still tight with sick panic, and Anna's pretty good at compartimentalizing shit when she has to, but she understands if Malos' balance is nowhere near as good as hers is, right now, after that.

"You good?" she asks him.

"Fine, I'm fine," he says back. "I'm-- fuck. We're all here, right?" He sits up tall so he can look over their little crowd, and Anna watches as his lips move as he does a headcount under his breath. "Oh, Architect," he hisses, finally, face scrunching up.

Anna sends a nervous glance at the kids-- Lloyd has joined Sheena, and part of Anna wants to go over there, go check on them, but what even is there for her to say? What can she even do for them? She's not sure there is anything...

"Yeah, Zelos is dead," Mithos snaps, pacing back and forth on his feet. "And I know he'll be fine as soon as he reconfigures himself after that, but-- If Father wanted to blow this place up, he should have used me as a conduit, the irresponsible bastard." He shoots a glare up at the sky, eyes fixed more towards the twin moons that hang near the sunset (had it been sunset, earlier? Anna really has no way of knowing, but she doubts they were all unconscious that long) than immediately above him and he gestures wildly as he keeps shouting. "I know how to channel his power! I would have been fine!"

Anna blinks. "Your father-- The Architect-- he can just...?" she begins, old scars still aching, especially as Malos tightens his grip on her arm.

"Just?" Mithos presses, spinning around to face Anna. But in that moment as their eyes meet over Kratos' head, they both take stock of just how not well Kratos is doing, at the moment. He's trembling violently, his breathing erratic as all the stress he'd been clinging onto up until now starts leaking out of him. "Kratos," Mithos says.

"Hey, hey, Kratos, it's okay," Anna begins, about the same moment, trying to aim for soothing despite how tight the emotion bleed from Malos still is, despite the pit in her gut where her knowledge of Zelos' death sits. Here-- here she knows what to do, for the most part.

Kratos shoots her a half-hearted, withering glare, and then briefly, sharply, signs something with his hands. He's taught her a little bit of sign, but it's been five years since she last practiced, so it isn't until Mithos says "You don't look fine," that Anna has more than a half hearted guess at what Kratos was trying to say.

Kratos signs something else, and Anna thinks she sees a 'where', at which Mithos immediately drops to his knees in front of Kratos, and though his expression is still tight, frustrated, his tone is gentle. "It's okay, Kratos," Mithos says. "It's okay, we're safe. You're free. Not much of a building left for them to trap us in, anyway." He laughs, nervous. "You can see the stars-- over there. You're alright, Kratos. Just-- take your time."

And Anna realizes that maybe she isn't needed here, right now, actually. Mithos has it handled, and Kratos is probably going to respond better to him, anyway. Swallowing, shoving down how useless she is and strangling it with her decision to do something useful somehow, Anna squeezes Malos' hand one more time and makes to get up. She still has no idea what she's going to say to the kids, still quite certain there's nothing she can say. (They both know that this isn't permament for Zelos, right? They have to. They have to, and bringing it up is a dick move, because-- this still sucks, and it's not going to suck any less until Zelos is back, so--) But she wants to say something, anyway, wants to check on them somehow, wants to...

She doesn't get to.

There’s a shout, a rush of movement, one more guard that had gotten caught in Mithos’ shield getting to his feet, sword drawn from his belt. Before Anna can get up to meet him, stop him, there’s a crack of a whip, a flash of blue flame, and--

Ah.

“Morag,” Anna greets, getting to her feet. “Fancy, uh, seeing you here.” As if she isn’t Sylvarant’s goddamn Special Inquisitor, the second highest rank in the entire empire, as if her being here isn’t potentially a very very bad thing. Or maybe a very very good thing. The guard is dead, but neither Morag nor her blade, Brighid, make any effort to make another attack.

“What do you want?” Mithos demands, on his feet and sword blazing, very deliberate about moving so he can step between the new arrivals and Kratos and, by extension, everyone else.

Brighid definitely tenses, but Morag remains still. Military training, Anna guesses, mouth curling in distaste. "Truthfully, I just want to find out what the hell is going on here," Morag says, icy.

"We intercepted a communication that said this checkpoint had two Aegises captured and ready for transport, even though the Emperor gave no such order to begin with," Brighid elaborates, her tone sharper than Morag’s. "So he sent us to check on the situation."

“Oh great, politicians,” Mithos sneers.

“Worse,” Anna tells him, sidelong. “Military.”

“Yeugh.”

Anna laughs, lightly, well aware of Morag’s and Brighid’s eyes on her, but not really caring. “Yeah,” she says, and then raising her voice back to normal speaking volume: “Well, we’ve got it handled, so you can. I dunno. Fuck off?”

Brighid looks about ready to set them both on fire, but a look from Morag keeps her from doing anything more than glare. (Anna would kind of hate that, the whole driver-not-letting-their-blade-do-shit thing, except Morag’s expression was the gentle, loving kind of save-your-energy-it-isn’t-worth-it look that Anna’s received from Kratos time and again, so.) “Tell me,” Morag says, clearly, and Anna unfortunately admires how she’s managing to remain completely and utterly calm and lowkey intimidating (n- not that it’s working!) despite the circumstances and the fact Mithos could literally cut her in half in between one blink and the next. “Did you manage to gather any information at all, or were you too eager to blow this place up? We suspect the traitors here had ties to the rogue cannon facility…”

“Rouge--” Mithos scoffs. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Gonna blame the torture of my sister on someone else huh? Humans.”

“The last thing the Emperor wants is war with Tethe’alla,” Brighid insists hotly.

“And how can we trust that?” Mithos counters, though if he hadn’t said it Anna would have. She kind of hates that they’re on the same page, right now. Mithos spends so much time at odds with her that actually agreeing on something feels… Weird.

“I suppose you do only have my word,” Morag says, with a sigh. “But trust that I would not lie about my brother’s wishes.”

As soon as she says the word brother, Mithos relaxes an inch or so.

“Well, what do you want with us, then?” Anna demands, because even if Sylvarant didn’t want the cannon to fire that doesn’t change that Morag is here and has the authority to have them all arrested again, even if she doesn’t have quite the manpower to see the endeavor through successfully. (But then, they don’t call her and Brighid the most powerful driver and blade in Sylvarant for nothing.) “Because quite honestly if you aren’t planning to just turn around and pretend you never ran into us, we may have to do something drastic.”

She turns to send a look at Mithos, and he grins. His sword, for a moment, glows brighter.

“How about a truce?” Morag asks.

“A truce?” Mithos repeats, disgusted.

“We all want to see that the cannon doesn’t fire again, don’t we?” Brighid says, terse. “Even if for different reasons, it only makes sense for us to join forces, doesn’t it?”

“And what exactly would we gain from a truce?” Anna asks, wanting to get the terms settled before they make any kind of decision.

“Safe passage to the facility,” Morag answers, without hesitation. “Faster passage to the facility, along with as much of the Sylvaranti military you think you need to pull off your rescue.”

“We won’t need it,” Mithos says, and you know what? That’s fair. Anna doesn’t want to involve a bunch of military troops that could theoretically turn on them any minute, either.

“The Emperor’s full pardon,” Morag says.

“Don’t need that, either,” Mithos says.

“Actually, it wouldn’t hurt,” Anna argues. At Mithos’ glare, she adds: “I’m serious! Politics are a bitch, and-- listen. If the Emperor himself endorses us blowing up Sylvarant’s cannon, that’s... I mean that’s at least worth maybe talking to him about, if you can arrange that, Morag?”

“I can try,” she says.

“We can also provide you with somewhere to rest, if you’d like,” Brighid adds. “You look like you could use it.”

“Pass,” Mithos says.

“No, we’ll take it,” Anna interjects.

“Wh--” Mithos grabs her by the arm and yanks her both towards him and down so she’s more his height. “What are you doing?!” he hisses. “Why are you trusting-- oh.” He drops her arm, glaring. “Because you’re human, that’s why. Of course you just trust unthinkingly--”

“If you don’t like it, you can sleep outside,” Anna snaps at him. “But I think the rest of us could use a goddamn bed after what we just went through.”

“What we really need is to be somewhere safe,” Mithos counters, and maybe he’s got a point there, actually, but.

Anna nods over to where Lloyd is, still. She doesn’t need to say anything. Mithos follows her gaze and… his expression softens.

“Fine,” he says, then turns to Morag. “But if I even think there’s funny business going on I’ll kill the whole lot of you.”

Morag chuckles. “That’s understandable,” she says, then turns and makes her way out of the rubble. “When you are ready, let me know. Take your time.”

Sheena's quiet the whole way back to the inn, sticking close to Lloyd's side. The conversation washes over her, lost in grief as she is, but she does her best to at least look like she's paying attention. Zelos's core crystal remains gripped tightly in her hand, the only thing she can focus on, its warmth and residual ether both fading as time pass in a way she hates.

When they do make it to the inn, she sits down hard on the closest bed, the tears she'd been forcing back threatening to spill over again now that she doesn't have to feign any kind of cohesion. Fuck. Fuck.

Mithos hates to leave Kratos, really, but he's coherent, even if clearly having a horrible time right now. And this... is more important than Kratos, actually. Now seems like the best time for it, anyway.

So Mithos approaches Sheena.

"Hey," he says, distracted, kind of rough. "Sorry to bother you, but can I see Zelos' core crystal? Father shouldn't have damaged that, but I want to check, anyway." He hates being open, vulnerable, especially with a human, but Zelos seemed to like his driver well enough, and it's for Zelos that Mithos is here. "It'll just make me feel better, I guess. Give me an estimate on how long it's gonna take him before he's ready to come back, too. I'll... be quick, promise."

Sheena looks up at Mithos blankly for a moment, not quite processing what it is he's asking. She must look awful, worse than she'd really want anyone seeing her, but that's pretty far down on the list of things she cares about right now.

"Before he's--" she starts, and then stops as something clicks for her, and she doesn't make it all the way to a smile but she doesn't look quite so crushed as she had a moment ago. She wipes her face off on one sleeve, swallowing hard. "Here," she says, unfolding her other hand from around Zelos's core crystal to reveal it. There are pale lines on her palm, where the edges had dug into it.

"Thanks," Mithos says, gingerly taking Zelos' core crystal from Sheena. He turns it over in his hands, probing it gently with his own ether, pinging it for regular system checks. Zelos' ether doesn't feel sick, and there are no cracks or deformations on his crystal, so Zelos is probably okay. Mithos almost thinks thank the Architect before he remembers the Architect is exactly why they're in this mess to begin with.

"Yeah, he's fine," Mithos reports, handing Zelos' core crystal back to Sheena. "At least, he isn't damaged, which is what I was worried about. Father should know better than to play around with that much ether." Mithos scowls, trying to wrestle with the icy bitterness that rests in his core. His hands clench, unclench, clench again at his sides. "I mean, I'm glad he got us out of that mess, but there were definitely better ways to do that than just blowing Zelos up. He could have killed us. All of us. If I'd reacted just a second slower--"

Mithos breaks off, keeps glaring. More than angry, he feels betrayed. If Father wanted to help, why choose Zelos, instead of his son? Was it because he thought Zelos expendable?

Mithos isn't really sure he prefers that option. In fact, he's quite sure he doesn't.

"But maybe Father doesn't care about that," Mithos whispers, tired, furious. "I wouldn't be surprised."

Sheena's careful when she takes Zelos's core crystal back, but her mind is fixed entirely on what Mithos just told her.

Okay. Zelos is going to be okay. Even if the memory of their link being pulled apart until it snapped is still haunting her - it's going to be fine. Zelos will be back; this isn't permanent. She lets out a slow, shaky breath, the worst of the weight lifting from her shoulders.

Mithos mentions his father - that's the Architect, right? Right - being the one responsible for what happened, and... okay, that makes more sense than Zelos just... exploding for no reason. But what the fuck? That doesn't sound like anything she's heard from the others about this world's god. Sheena frowns in confusion.

"I don't know why he did that, either," she says. Actually, she's not sure he was even really talking to her there. It's probably fine. "But-- thank you." She offers him a small smile, something still shaky but genuine. "For checking on Zelos, but for earlier, too." It hadn't hit her at all how close they'd all come to just being vaporized, but it sure is now. She shivers a little, turning Zelos's crystal over in her hands.

Edited 2019-10-21 10:53 (UTC)

Mithos blinks, startled. "Y- You're welcome," he says. Then he scowls, tries to keep his face more nuetral. Sheena looks... relieved, though. That's good?

Mithos sends a look to Lloyd, who's been sitting on the floor, leaning up against Sheena's bed. The emotion bleed there is all relieved, too, and a little hopeful. And that makes sense, Mithos supposes, that they're both relieved, but-- did they not know blades just come back? He did that whole dying and coming back thing just a week ago, so the idea that they've forgotten is ludicrous, and he's about to point that out--

But he catches himself, his mouth still open, and throttles the sounds in his throat. He... really, really shouldn't.

He looks at Lloyd again. The relief that dulls the grief is like a breath of fresh air, though Lloyd still doesn't look... great.

"....are you okay, Lloyd?" Mithos asks, quiet, a touch concerned.

So the thing about watching the person you love die? It fucks you up. It fucks you up for life, honestly, an unforgettable memory that tucks itself away into the deepest corners of your mind and comes back to haunt you in every living moment you can let it.

The thing about watching his reflection die? The same reflection you’re currently fighting feelings for off with a stick? It only compounds the pain, a very weighty dagger twisting itself into a wound that’s only barely healed. Every time Lloyd blinks, the images of Zelos, either dead in his arms or not even visible, reverted into a core crystal after being killed by his own power - they flash in Lloyd’s mind, torturing him in silence. Dry, aching eyes stare blankly out in the world as he tries his best to cope, grief choking every word he could say and leaving them stuck in his larynx, shock coating everything in a layer of hopelessness and regret. Lloyd can barely find the strength to be awake right now, but the threat of nightmares keeps him from sleeping. The idea of talking just seems like a waste of time and energy, the words unable to be pushed out.

And maybe he doesn’t want to talk. Maybe he doesn’t wanna show just how close he is to losing his goddamn mind.

Because, here’s the thing: Mithos’ reminder that blades can come back to life sends relief through Lloyd’s heart, piercing through the grief like a light in the dark. It’s comforting enough where Lloyd feels like he could allow himself to wrap himself up in it and try desperately to put the pieces of his shattered stability back together. But something else knocks at his head, incessant and maddening, something Malos had told him ages ago, back when Lloyd had first landed in this world’s Meltokio.

“We return to our core crystal until someone comes around to wake us up again-- but, we do lose our memories when we return to our core crystals, so it's kind of like dying, I guess.”

So even though Lloyd rejoices in the fact that Zelos will live, that his flame wasn’t coldly snuffed out like Lloyd’s Zelos’ was, Lloyd is left mourning for the memories this Zelos won’t have, for the late nights and the conversations and everything that had been built up. Zelos isn’t dead, but their friendship is.

And Lloyd doesn’t know if he has the strength to try again.

(But then again, a small, hopeful part of Lloyd's mind refuses to surrender, Mithos had died, and he had kept his memory. Maybe there's still a chance.)

Mithos calls out to him, and Lloyd blinks, staring up at him, distant in mind and body, as he speaks. He’s not okay, that’s the answer, and even though he appreciates the wave of concern he feels from Mithos, Lloyd can’t find it in him to open his mouth and say it. Instead, he grabs his pack, finding a pencil and a piece of paper he can write on, and explains in writing.

Can’t talk, his messy scrawl reads. I’ll be fine.

Edited 2019-10-23 14:26 (UTC)

Mithos blinks, considering first the note Lloyd handed him, then Lloyd himself. Chest heavy, slowly he smiles, pained but understanding. "Yeah, I get it," he says, quiet. He hands the paper back to Lloyd. "Kratos gets like that too."

Kratos is currently like that, actually. Damn. Whatever Lloyd feels about Zelos' pseudo-death must be... pretty awful, if it's made him nonverbal. Mithos sighs, long and slow. He's... pretty sure he's no further help here, though, and he checked on Zelos, which is all he came here for.

"I'm gonna go, then," Mithos says. He smiles at Lloyd, then at Sheena. A part of him wonders if Lloyd would appreciate a hug or a kiss on the head but that always helped Martel and never Kratos, and Mithos should err towards the Kratos side of Dealing With This, shouldn't he? Plus doing something like that would be... weird, he thinks, with Lloyd. As far as drivers go, Lloyd isn't bad at all, and Mithos wants nothing more than to see Lloyd recover. Physical affection is just... not something Mithos feels comfortable doing right now, and it's probably a bad idea, anyway. So. "If you need anything-- either of you. Just let me know, okay?" Mithos waves, gently, then heads out.

ZELOS IS STILL DEAD CRAB RAVE

Lloyd manages a nod to Mithos as he leaves the room, turning on his heel and walking out the door, and as soon as the Aegis is out of sight, Lloyd sighs, something barely audible, more of a slight puff of air than anything else. This sucks. This all sucks so bad.

At least Sheena is here.

It's with that thought that he shakily picks himself off the floor, ignoring the soreness of his body that lingers as a side effect of abusing his angel abilities, and plops down on the bed next to Sheena, wrapping an arm around her waist and resting his head on hers. Lloyd can't say anything, can't find the ability to say anything, still, but he wants her to know he's here for her too.

Part of him wonders if he should write to her, tell her about what he knows about a blade's revival, but the rest of him decides against it. If Lloyd is wrong, and Zelos revives with his memory intact, that will have been grief he didn't have to put her through. So he keeps his mouth shut, his notepad closed, and a tight grip on the knowledge which haunts him.

Sheena answers Mithos with another small smile and a nod, and another quiet "thanks" as he goes. The fact that he seems worried about Lloyd too is the most important part to her right now - she's not sure what she'd do if he'd decided to make things worse, instead. She's so tired. But this is a different Mithos, and the -- situation with Zelos isn't the same, either. It's going to be alright, she reminds herself, firmly.

She nudges Lloyd gently with her close leg, just enough to reassure them both that the other is here, and thinks about joining him on the floor - a blanket fort might be nice, but it's probably beyond either of them right now - but Lloyd beats her to it, getting up to sit next to her, and so she just pulls him in close, free hand still carefully holding onto Zelos's core crystal, with a low sigh of her own.

Neither of them get anything that could really be considered rest, that night - Sheena tries, awakening after a few hours from a nightmare that wakes her sobbing, and curls against Lloyd for comfort instead - but the sun rises, eventually, as it always does, and morning comes. The rest of their party must be awake by now, too, she thinks. Maybe some distraction would be good. So she stretches and pulls away from Lloyd a little reluctantly, suggests they go see what the others are up to.

It's quiet for late morning, when they step out into the hall. She'd been in too much of a haze to remember much of what had been said after - after, but she thinks she recalls someone saying the inn would be empty but for them. The others' rooms are close, at least, and Sheena pauses before tentatively knocking on one of the doors.

Kratos doesn't sleep well, exactly, but certainly better than Mithos had anticipated after the horrible day they'd had. They've been awake for hours (Mithos, actually, didn't sleep a wink, but he didn't need to) by the time Sheena knocks on their door. Mithos hesitates, flashing a worried look at Kratos. He knows that they have this inn to themselves (minus the staff, anyway), but Mithos doesn't trust that easy, regardless. Most of all he hates getting caught in the middle of political bullshit. The sooner they're on the way to Martel the better.

Kratos sends him a look like he better answer the door because odds are good it's someone they actually want to talk to, and reminds him that he promised Lloyd and Sheena help if they needed it for anything-- really, it's quite amazing what Kratos can convey in just a twitch of his eyebrows and a quiet disapproving stare. Mithos huffs, getting to his feet. "Right, right," he grumbles.

"Yes?" he asks, terse, pulling the door open only enough to see who it is, then relaxing when he sees both Sheena and Lloyd. Score one Kratos, he guesses. "Oh," he says, tone softening with his surprise and then with clear intent as he pulls the door open the rest of the way. "Good timing, actually. I was just gonna come get you two."

He steps aside to let them in. Kratos, from his perch on his bed, waves.

Edited 2019-11-02 04:12 (UTC)

Following after Sheena like a lost puppy, Lloyd takes the quiet walk to Mithos and Kratos’ room as a chance to try and test his ability to interact for the day. He opens his mouth, tries to will himself to saying something, anything, but nothing comes out. So it’s another one of those days, he thinks, resigning himself to another day of being mute. For now, the grief of what’s just happened continues to clog his throat, causing any possible words to stay stuck in it.

Sheena knocks on the door, and Lloyd places the best smile he can form on his face - something small and tired, though he doesn’t feel a drop of exhaustion even without sleeping the night previous - but a smile nonetheless. Lloyd waves at Mithos as a greeting, stepping in when the Aegis opens the door wider, and then looks over at Kratos, making sure to wave at him, too.

Good morning, Lloyd mouths, plopping himself down on the floor, legs crossed underneath him.

Sheena relaxes part of the way when it's Mithos who opens the door and not someone she doesn't know, and the rest of the way when he doesn't seem bothered by their presence. "Thanks," she says, grateful, as she makes her way into the room. She offers Kratos a small smile in return, leaning back against the wall behind Lloyd. "I just..." Hadn't wanted them to be alone all day, but that's probably obvious, she realizes. If she looks half as exhausted as she feels (and she does), she must look pretty rough right now, and Lloyd's condition is going to be clear to them pretty soon if it's not already.

She shakes her head instead of continuing her thought, looks back at Mithos curiously. He'd meant to go get them? "Did you need us for something?" she asks.

Mithos nods at Sheena's question. "Yeah, I do," he says. "Nothing really urgent, but... I mean..." He looks meaningfully between Kratos and Lloyd. Kratos shoots him a silent be nice with a flick of his hands. Mithos rolls his eyes and rephrases, a little. "I was thinking I should teach the two of you sign language, so that Lloyd has a better way to communicate when he can't speak, and so that you two can understand Kratos without me having to translate everything."

It's a pretty sound idea, in Mithos' opinion.

"Granted, the most I'm going to be able to teach anyone today is a crash course in finger spelling and a few basic words, but it's a start."

Look, Kratos is aware that as far as meaningful interactions go, sitting in the same room as your brother teaches your kids how to sign barely counts as one. But he's having a good time. He really is. Maybe it's just because no one's expecting him to interact at length, maybe it's because it feels normal after the hellhole of bad that yesterday was. Either way, it's a nice hour or so they spend drilling letters, which is going to only be useful if no one has pen and paper on hand, but it's only day one of lessons, so. Maybe they'll get somewhere if they keep at this for a few months, but Kratos isn't sure how long they'll all be traveling together.

He's not sure Lloyd and Sheena even have an idea of how they intend to get home...? He'll have to ask about that. Later. It'd be too difficult a converastion to have, right now. And likely not one anyone wants to think about, either, not now.

Especially considering Sheena has yet to put Zelos' core crystal down.

They're wrapping up, so Kratos waves for Mithos' attention and, letting Mithos translate for him, asks with a cautious smile:

How are you two doing, today? ...Better?

Lloyd listens as Mithos speaks, translating Kratos' signs with an ease Lloyd hopes he could achieve. The fingerspelling and basics were fun, but it is a new language, so he can't read shit from what Kratos signs.

Ah. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out the pencil and paper from the night previous, scrawling out a messy reply. I'll be okay, it reads, I just need some time. Feeling better.

Truthfully, he won't feel better until Zelos reforms, hopefully with memory intact, and Lloyd can put this episode behind him. Until then, the quiet emptiness left behind by Zelos' death will keep Lloyd's words in his throat.

Edited 2019-11-14 20:34 (UTC)

Sheena stretches a little as Lloyd writes out his answer, thinking about her own. She'd struggled more than she'd expected to, some of the letters harder to differentiate than she thinks they should have been, but then, she does still feel all wrung out. Having something to think about instead helped, though. It's not as hard as she thought it might be to answer Kratos's smile with a tiny one of her own, and she leans forward to see Lloyd's answer once he's done.

"What he said," she half-jokes, weakly, brushes her bangs out of the way with her free hand. "But... yeah, a little better. Thanks."

Kratos smiles back, relieved, and though he wants to say as much, he can get the point across with said smile and a thumbs up. That's good. Not perfect, not ideal, but neither is Kratos right now. They don't have to be 100%. Okay is enough.

There's a knock on the half open door, before Anna pokes her head in. Kratos relaxes immediately at the sight of her, which he admits is probably a little silly, seeing as in this company he isn't any safer with her around than he is without, but still. He waves at her, smiling, and she shoots him a smile back, her face full of joy in the way that suggests he briefly distracted her from what she even came here for.

"Hey!" she says, and its bright but kind of tight. Not completely distracted, then, but that's probably for the best. "Um, so, I just finished talking to Morag and I have... news."

That isn't comforting. Kratos would ask what kind of news, but whatever sign he'd taught Anna she's forgotten, and it's fine because Mithos is asking anyway.

"Good news or bad news?" Mithos asks.

"Uhhhh," Anna considers for a moment. "News," she says. "Listen. So, sometime last night, Sylvarant's cannon facility just, uh. Blew up."

"Where's Martel?" Mithos demands, before Kratos can even breathe.

"They looked, but no one found her," Anna says, clearly well aware she's giving bad news. Before Mithos can make more than a half-strangled sound, Anna continues, hasty. "But, there's been reports of some guy spotted near Asgard with the Aegis."

"Which Aegis?" Mithos counters. "Martel or the- or. Colette?"

"Colette," Anna answers. "But, uh, here's. The bad news." Based on the way her voice tightens with anger, it must be really bad news. "Morag believes Sylvarant was doing experiments that would have involved fusing Colette's core crystal with shards of Martel's."

"What the fuck," Mithos spits, sudden and furious. Kratos flinches, even though a part of him had expected this. "That's--" Mithos shouts, then cuts off. He twitches where he stands, clearly trying to keep a hold of his composure (Kratos fears what the emotion bleed must feel like right now, for Lloyd). "I. I need to. Go. I need to." Mithos's hands open, close, fists clenched tight at his sides, spine rigid and body trembling. "To talk to Father."

And then he slides out of the room, pushing past Anna.

"....a'ight," Anna says, hands up as she watches Mithos go. "So I guess the plan is to head to Asgard, or wherever else this guy ends up, track him down, find Colette, etcetera-- But I dunno if we want to wait for Zelos?" She looks to Kratos, and he takes a guess at what she wants to know.

2 D-A-Y-S, he spells out, which everyone in the room should understand.

"Two days," Anna repeats. "Colette's not in danger of being put in a cannon, but..." She looks to Lloyd and Sheena, now. "Well, what do you guys think? I don't think waiting two days is going to hurt the way things are right now, and we could all probably use a little more time to recover from that shitshow that happened yesterday, but... If you guys are eager to find Colette, then."

Edited 2019-11-19 05:01 (UTC)

THANK YOU FOR THIS

I'M NOT SURE YOU SHOULD BE THANKING ME BUT

FUCK YOU, DAD

ZELOS IS DEAD

🦀🦀🦀

DON'T CRAB RAVE AT A TIME LIKE THIS!!!!

FOLLOWS UP THAT INCREDIBLE TAG WITH A TINY ONE

IT'S FINE IT'S FINE

I AM TENDER?

MITHOS GETS HEAVY ON MAIN

WHEN'S THE FUCK GOD CLUB GETTING FOUNDED

(MITHOS VOICE) RIGHT NOW

Lloyd is volunteering to make club t-shirts

oh HELL yes

no subject

SORRY FOR THE WAIT FOR SUCH A SHORT TAG

SHH I LOVE IT

SORRY I'M LATE I WAS GETTING DERRIS KHARBUCKS

OH DID YOU GET ME SOMETHING

i want a cruxis latte

well i bought 3 black coffees but they're all for me

rude,

you know what though that's fair

let's all go on the coffee run together next time

anna's paying and she can't tell me no