summonerd | i just wanna know: who broke it?

Lloyd scoffs in faux-offense, slapping his right hand over his heart and gaping at Zelos, but his giggle betrays his amusement. "What's wrong with our skies!? Nothing! Your skies are the ones that are weird! What the hell is a Uraya?"

He drops the act, allowing himself to laugh freely. Sticking his left hand behind his head so he can lean back against the rock comfortably, he lets his grin soften into a smile, staring back up at the stars. "That cluster you pointed at - the Zohar cluster?" Lloyd pauses, glancing at Zelos for confirmation before continuing, "in my world, it's known as the Origin Cluster. The legend behind that is my favorite. Basically, this spirit with ultimate power, Origin, created the world with the help of other summon spirits that he shared his power with. My world was born from that cluster using starlight."

It's weird how just two years ago, that legend had just been that: a legend. Meeting and forming a pact with Origin was - still is - such a foreign concept to Lloyd. Holding the Eternal Sword in his hand had made Lloyd terrified: no person should ever hold as much power as he did at that moment. And he remembers how in his moment of weakness, the whisper of Zelos' name brushed against his ear, how he thought - just for a second - that he might have the power to turn back time, to right his wrongs.

But humanity was counting on him, so he was able to shake his head and continue on, the shame of his weakness shackling itself around his heart. Lloyd had understood Mithos' plight from the moment he knew the details, but at that moment, he empathized. Lloyd is not his uncle, would not have been able to make everyone suffer for his own desire to see Zelos alive again, but... With that power came a horrifying sense of selfishness.

Lloyd never wants to feel that again.

Forcibly pulling himself out of his thoughts, he continues on with the story. "Origin created the world, moved it to a place in the universe where it would thrive, but we would still be able to see his light. From there, every spirit offered a gift to Origin's new world - Undine gave us water, Gnome gave us the earth, Efreet, fire, Aska, light, and so on and so forth. Finally, they combined their powers with Origin and helped him create humanity, slipping into a deep rest after the creation of our Aselia."

There's a beat of silence, Lloyd trying to figure out where to take the conversation next, before he just decides to bite the bullet and ask, "do you guys not have anything like summon spirits over here?"

While Lloyd's retelling the story of his world's origins--no pun intended, he laughs softly. Or maybe yes, who knows--Zelos keeps his gaze trained up on the stars and the stars only, eyes fixed on the Zohar cluster as he learns of its mirror in Lloyd's parallel, backwards version of Aselia. It almost beckons him with its glow, titillating above as Lloyd speaks of spirits and gifts. Huh. Somewhere in the distance he hears the fire's crackle weakening, and with a quick flick of his wrist Zelos reignites the flame to keep the others warm, mind absent from the motion as he thinks.

Zelos thinks of another Aselia, the one where Lloyd and Sheena call home, and the many gods it houses within its atmosphere. Tries to picture its geography, its heavens, its systems. He wonders where their versions of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla are, or even if they exist at all. If they're at war or at peace, or if they're, Architect forbid, maybe allies, ridiculous as it may sound. If humans are any different there from here. Wonders if there's a connection between mana and ether, wonders about the stone on Lloyd's hand. Thinks, quietly, about this parallel reflection of his own world, and wonders if there's a Lloyd and Sheena in this side of the mirror as well.

Thinks of a memory he shouldn't have. Of blood on a green glass floor. Of his own laughter ringing out of the mouth of another man. And with laughter echoing in his ears, slowly, without even noticing it, Zelos tenses.

There's... clearly a lot more differences between both Aselias than just the cultures in charge of fabricating myths and legends about the stars, huh.

Ha ha.

"Nah, no summon spirits or anything fancy on this side," Zelos laughs again, a darkened sound as he allows himself to fall back on the boulder, resting against it. He sets his arms lazily over his stomach, feeling much more relaxed than he probably has any right to, and keeps his expression blank even as he shrugs. "Just a lousy god called The Architect whom no one but the original Aegises have even seen in the many years of Aselia's existence," he then adds.

He breathes. Once, twice. The purple-teal-green glow of the Zohar cluster above is already burning itself into Zelos' violet eyes despite his attempts to tear them off cluster, so mesmerized as he is about them and Lloyd's tale. Because, duality sure is a funny thing, isn't it? Zohar cluster in one world, Origin cluster in another. A gathering of godlike light with a deep meaning tied to the creation of Aselia in one world, a simple belt of stars shining down on Aselia in another. Meaningful there, meaningless here.

Dies, died, will die.

Lives, lived, will live.

Zelos thinks he kind of understands, now.

A smile spreads on his face, something amused and accompanied by a little chuckle. Finally, with great effort, violet eyes leave the cluster and turn to look at Lloyd instead, making direct eye contact. Even in the darkness, red on green fills his vision. It makes Zelos grin. "Funny, ain't it?" he asks, light, jokey. "If our stars have completely different stories attached, I think I'm kind of afraid to find out just what else is different, now!"

Edited 2019-04-17 00:44 (UTC)

’I think I'm kind of afraid to find out just what else is different, now!’

A large bubble of toxic panic pops in Lloyd’s throat, and he holds back a flinch as he works to keep the smile on his face, a mostly normal-only-a-little-nervous laugh finding its way out of his mouth as he thinks of the scope of that one statement alone. He can tell Zelos is joking, so he keeps on the cheerful expression, forcing the quickly-rising rate of anxiety back into his mind, desperate to ignore it. Memories continue to rise up past the cold dread that lingers in the corners of his mind, but he puts up wall after wall, determined not to break like he did this morning.

You have no clue, Zelos.

Deflect, deflect, deflect. This is a dangerous topic to be on, so Lloyd changes the subject only a little bit, keeping it connected enough where the shift won’t be obvious, pulling his gaze away from Zelos’ own, one that threatens to entrap Lloyd in it’s cold familiarity. “Well,” he says, pushing back some fringe with his right hand - he needs a haircut, had been meaning to get one before Origin showed up - “it seems like it’s mostly cultural stuff. Which. Yeah, that tracks, actually. Even if our worlds look similar, they’re very different otherwise, I think.”

Segue time! Lloyd taps at his forehead, thinking, and as his next topic comes into mind, his grin turns from a somewhat forced one to one that’s actually legitimate. “Hey, Zelos, at least you don’t gotta deal with weird ass Katz here! That’s a bonus your world has over mine, even if your constellation names are equally weird.”

Lloyd's words wash over Zelos' not-quite-here-but-still-here mind, reel it back in in surprise, and pinch his brow and tear his gaze away from the Zohar cluster again. Wait, what? What? Zelos is already wheezing out another laugh when Lloyd's done speaking, looking so expectant, and it causes an incredulous look to slap itself on his face as Zelos asks, a little too loud, "Of course there's cats in this world? Holy shit, Lloyd, what the hell have they done to you for you to hate them? They're so cute!"

And so it begins.

What started as probably just a joke then turns into a five minute debate as they both struggle to understand the true beauty of homophones, then a short explanation on Katz and why they suck forever and cannot be redeemed in the eyes of any god, followed by a lengthy comparison on other small, mostly meaningless differences between both of their worlds. They compare names, culture, geography. Food, at some point. Art, at another. Superficial things that mostly scratch a childishly curious itch, but nothing more.

But that's okay, really. Under the starlight and with only the sounds of nature keeping them company, together with their voices and the crackling of the fire in the distance, Zelos finds that he just doesn't mind if their conversation sticks to the superficial and mindless. Because he's pretty sure that if he hears anything deeper and more serious about the worlds' differences now then he might not like what he finds--the confirmation that he wants is thus sent to the back of his mind, forgotten for tonight, locked together with the existential horror that he knows will come with it. So he humours Lloyd. So they talk for now, casual and easy, until the dark blues and blacks of the sky begin to leak light blue and pink, until morning comes and Zelos realizes, belatedly, that he's left a human without any sleep.

Damn it. Failed step one, huh?

Well, that's not his fault, right? Lloyd did this of his own accord. Maybe it really was like he said and sleep just hates him. The fire has been allowed to go out at some point, Zelos guessing that the morning temperatures are probably much more tolerable than those felt during the night for a human's senses. He's a fire blade, so it doesn't matter to him, but. Gotta be courteous for the humans. Gotta be nice.

Laying down on the grass, staring at the swirling colours of day and night, the transitional moment never quite getting old for a once caged bird seeing it outside for the first time, Zelos suddenly feels unease. Maybe he should get up and check in on the others, a part of him thinks, but the tension from last night comes back and haunts him the second he even dares to think about the only other driver-blade pair in this group. Zelos makes a face. His little episode from merely a few hours back already lies limp in his memory, but there's still licks of anxious energy lapping at his feet like water at the prospect of facing Malos and his driver, leftovers from the intense storm of yesterday that haven't quite left the shores of his conscious.

Lloyd and Sheena already seem to not care about it, though. That's... good, right? The fact that literally half the people here have already apparently forgiven him and he didn't get into any significantly threatening trouble for stepping out of line. The fact that his driver didn't do anything.

That's something, right?

Huh.

Stirring in the ambient ether warns him to an early riser. Zelos blinks, sighs. Makes a choice, rises from his spot on the grass, stretches, dusts himself off as he gets ready to join their party before anyone freaks out about their clear lack of an Aegis nearby. He makes quick, direct eye contact with Lloyd, then silently gestures at the dead campfire with his chin. Briefly, Zelos entertains the idea that he might have to explain why Lloyd's out here with him, but then decides that maybe the kid should explain himself instead.

Because what a curious sight this human makes, having just stayed up with an Aegis all night just talking, not even bothering with actually keeping watch, and returning to camp looking like it hasn't actually affected him.

The day's travel is largely uneventful, so far - being two days out of the city and not passing too close to any other population centers they don't need to be too careful with their movements, and no one manages to set off anyone else's PTSD, for once. It's a new high score, for this group. Sheena doesn't press Lloyd on the fact that he clearly didn't sleep much, if at all - she will, if it comes to it, but one night won't affect too much.

It's a little after midday when Sheena makes up her mind, catching up with Anna towards the front of the group while Malos, Lloyd, and Zelos are distracted talking about something else. "Hey, um... is it alright if I ask you something?" she asks, as she falls into step with her.

Sheena's question pulls Anna out of her thoughts, which she immediately forgets after she stops thinking about them. It's fine, they probably weren't important. Doesn't matter much now, anyway.

She turns to Sheena, head tilted a little with her curiosity. "Yeah, sure!" she says. "What's up?"

It's just..." She hesitates a moment, not sure what to ask first. Hey, Sheena, why didn't you think about this before you started the conversation? It's fine, it's fine. "The whole driver thing -- I still don't really know what I'm doing," she admits. "You and Malos are from here, it seems like you've got this down pretty well, I just-- I could use some tips, I guess." She lets out a small breath of a laugh, a little self-conscious thing, and fiddles with a loose thread on her glove, though she doesn't look away from Anna.

"Ohhh," Anna says, understanding. She thinks over it a moment, and then--

Well, she probably shouldn't start here.

She can't not start here.

"Blades aren't tools," she says, scowling. She scoffs a little, angry. "Despite what the general population would try and have you believe. They're people, just as much as me and you are. Which-- you probably figured that out already. You look like you got eyes."

Anna sends Sheena a brief, sharp smile, trying to laugh about it to cover up how much this pisses her off. But. Sheena isn't from here. As much as she doesn't know how to be a good driver, she doesn't know how to be a bad one, either, doesn't know how the world expects this to work, and how the world is wrong.

Sheena... didn't exactly get the easiest blade to figure this out with, either. Zelos remembers how awful the world can be, while any other blade wouldn't, couldn't.

"Lotta people on this world don't think like that, though," Anna continues. "Even though they should. Which fills this world with a lot of bad drivers. But if you want to be a good one... You just have to remember it's a relationship. You have to be open with your blade, trust them, make sure they know they can trust you."

Anna nods, pretty confident in that explanation. Then she feels a little sheepish.

"But, uh, if you'd like some more specific tips...?" she asks.

Sheena mirrors the smile, small and quick and not getting anywhere close to her eyes. "Yeah, I-- I noticed that," she says, and makes an effort to push down her own anger before it can make its way to Zelos. She's not sure yet if what this world likes to do to blades is worse than Tethe'alla's treatment of half-elves, just yet, but she doesn't like it either way. At least no one there had been denying that half-elves were people.

But, well. Getting angry about this world and blades probably isn't the most productive course of action here, not when the only blades in the vicinity are one whose driver clearly cares about him and one who she's trying to be a decent person towards. She makes a little bit of a face as she listens to what else Anna has to say, taking it in. The idea of earning Zelos's trust is…

"I dunno," she says, rubbing awkwardly at one shoulder. "Probably most of it is stuff I have to talk out with him, it's just--" Boy, is she awful at that! "It's hard knowing where to start? Especially since it's only been a couple days." At least those few days had been enough for her to start to differentiate this Zelos from the one she'd known, in her head.

Anna sends Sheena her most encouraging smile.

"Maybe try finding some kind of common ground?" she suggests. "Even if it's about something silly."

Anna wishes she had better tips on that front, but at this point she's known Malos for longer than she hasn't known him, so it's hard to remember how exactly they started getting along. And... again... Zelos is different becuase he's the Aegis, and even if Kratos told her a lot about Aegises Anna wouldn't call herself an expert. She only knows what Kratos knew about the originals, anyway, and... she's beginning to think the artificials lead much different lives...

(Zelos is also different because he's Zelos, and not Malos, and...)

"The good news is that being on the run from a government that wants you dead tends to be a great bonding experience," Anna adds, grinning. Maybe she shouldn't joke about that. (It's true though.)

"That's true," she says, with a soft laugh. Common ground is good advice, but she's not sure what common ground they could really have. (She's not even sure what she'd had shared with her own Zelos, come to think of it.) "He did get a kick out of me not knowing what to do with his sword, I guess. That's something." Better than nothing. She nods, cementing something like a plan of action in her mind, then stops, turning her attention back to Anna.

"Oh, um," she says. "Actually, I also meant to ask about the… sharing emotions thing? Is it always," she pauses for a moment, trying to think of the words for it. "So strong?" It's… helpful, she guesses, at least as far as knowing if something's wrong, but do blades and drivers really live like this all the time? It had felt almost like drowning, when Zelos had panicked - she's not sure she could protect him, if that happened in a fight.

"Ohhh." Anna hums. She barely thinks about it anymore, since it's been some twenty years she's been in resonance. "You can siphon it off a little, but you have to like... actively siphon it off, y'know? So it's hard when you're distracted, sometimes. Mostly just good for keeping embarrassing things from slipping through."

Embarrassing things like... not wanting to feel what your dad feels when he's flirting with his husband, or similarly not wanting to send what your dad what your husband makes you feel. Especially not when--

Anyway.

"I'm not sure if I'd be very good at explaining how to do it--" (It's kind of just something you... do! She hasn't thought hard about it in years.) "--but I could give it a shot...?

She nods at that, thoughtfully, trying to wrap her head entirely around the concept. It doesn't sound impossible, at least, but, well... learning to use a sword isn't the only thing she'll have to work on.

"If you're okay with it, please," she says. "I'm not-- there's not really anything like resonance back home, so I'm not sure where to start." Maybe if she treats it like a self-discipline kind of thing...? Sheena's never been as good at that as she wishes she was, though.

Anna thinks about it for about two seconds and then decides to just go with the first thing that comes to mind, like always.

"Okay, so you know how you can like... feel Zelos, in your head? It's kind of like... throwing a blanket over that awareness you have of him."

Hmm. Actually, no, that was terrible.

"Well. Maybe not quite like that." Anna sighs and shrugs, helpless. "I wouldn't stress too much about it though, you'll figure it out. Just play around with it, a little. Ask Zelos, maybe. He'd probably love to help."

Sheena frowns a little at the description. It's a very Lloyd kind of thing to say, so it makes some sense but isn't at all the way she would have thought about it. "I think I get the concept," she says, slowly. Reaches for their connection to try it, but there isn't much of any strong emotion on her end to test it with, at the moment. It'll have to wait til later.

"Yeah, I will," she says, to both things Anna'd said, really. She's right, probably; she'd been able to distract him last night by asking him about the differences between their world, after all. It's easier to handle that kind of conversation - just Zelos telling her something she doesn't know - than it is to imagine the two of them being open with each other, at least. That's something. "Thanks." She smiles, grateful.

After the mess that have been these past two days, Zelos decides to get serious and spends most of this day observing his companions through miscellaneous interaction and formulating questions and theories at the back of his mind. So when he's not bothering Sheena or avoiding Anna out of shame, Zelos is hanging back with Lloyd and Malos instead. The latter is thankfully a little easier now after last night, talk of stars and culture and jokes flowing easily as they trek through otherwise undisturbed nature. Zelos still sticks to Malos' side more often than he does Lloyd's, though, the presence of a fellow blade more comforting than a human's, but at least the poor kid doesn't look like he's ready to cry and bolt it away any second anymore. Good, good.

Don't fuck that up again, Zelos.

Talking to the two humans non-native to Aselia makes him wonder. All the questions he'd fostered during his talk with Lloyd surface every now and then, as do the observations of their eth--their mana that Zelos gathered the night before. But that's not what catches his attention most of the time. Instead, Zelos focuses on something else entirely; something written on Lloyd and Sheena's faces from time to time, something about his initial meetings with the two of them that he really, really can't ignore.

So he waits.

He waits until nighttime hits, until their camp is set and someone else other than him offers to take first watch. He lets everyone else fret over who's doing what as soon as he makes sure that Sheena will be asleep during first watch, then settles down comfortably, making it a show out of finally going to sleep. This is a human issue, anyway. If the rest of their party has anything to discuss about keeping watch and sleeping and whatnot, then they can do it without Tethe'alla's Aegis in the picture.

Zelos closes his eyes. Waits, sleeps, falls, lands. Pings outward as an invitation and request.

And when he opens his eyes back up, he's standing on a green circle of green glass surrounded by green mist and void, standing right before a man covered in blood who once wore his face.

There's more people here, of course. Faces and presences that Zelos had never quite cared to focus on during his waking hours, a little sharper now that he gets to project this memory stored in his core back out into the dreamspace, making it more corporeal and here and easier to examine. Four new people along with three he recognizes--seven. They stand frozen in time, completely silent, statues playing out a scene Zelos has only seen once, but that he's grown obsessed with the more time that passes.

He just... wants to know. He has to know.

Standing near Sheena's position, unmoving and afraid to test just how far he can push his projection, Zelos grimaces, curls his hands into fists, and breathes. Despite the novelty of the clarity of their faces Zelos cares little for most of the people here, and so his eyes catch somewhere that draws his attention in and simply won't let go. His mirror grins from where he lay dying, tired and triumphant and miserable all the same, looking up at and closely held in the arms of a boy that Zelos is beginning to think isn't actually seeing the Aegis of Tethe'alla when he lays his eyes on Zelos.

He shivers, at that. Barely manages to hold his ground.

Closes his eyes instead. Breathes, waits. Exhales. Opens his eyes.

Tries again.

'To tell you the truth, I was getting pretty tired of living anyway,' comes the echo of his other's voice. Despite the differently-shaped stone on his chest, both the sight and the memory of his words still makes Zelos shake, fills him with confused sorrow and rage. He's too afraid to let the little bits of the memory he's got stored play out, to hear the rest of his mirror's words once again. He's stuck. Frozen. And even as he feels the dreamspace shift and twist and a guest arrive, as his port becomes occupied by the one he'd made his request for, Zelos doesn't move.

He stands here in the silence of his dreamspace, back to his guest and eyes on his mirror, taking in the way Zelos Wilder looks up at his killer and boasts about his own death instead.

Sheena's first thought is simply not again.

She breathes it, in a tone that would be too soft to be audible if not for the dreamspace's eerie silence, as it coalesces before her, as she takes the place of her memory-doppelganger.

This memory has played out in her mind over and over since it happened - every moment of it, from every possible angle, even versions that didn't happen. (As if she could have stopped it, when she'd been oblivious until the last possible second that it was even happening.) That it's not actively playing out right now is a kindness, if one that feels doomed to end. There's an awful tension to the air, heavy with dread and the ghost of Zelos's dying words. How many times does she have to watch this? It's not like she can forget that it happened, for all that her subconscious seems convinced she needs reminding. It's enough to make her jealous of Lloyd's ability to just opt out of sleep. She takes it in, slowly, moves to wrap her arms around herself, and it's a little like a spell breaking - like she hadn't realized she could move til now.

She turns away, unable to take the sight, and finally catches sight of the aegis Zelos, at her side. That's--

Well. It's a new one, at least, one that pulls a surprised noise from her. He's as frozen as everyone else here, and she's not sure what that means. She can still see the original Zelos out of the corner of her eye, bloodied and dying in Lloyd's arms, and the contrast between the two just - hurts, an intensified version of the ache that interacting with the aegis brings. Sheena laughs, a low miserable sound with no humor to it. She doesn't - can't deal with this. She just wants to wake up.

It's that laugh that pulls Zelos out of his isolated reverie, at least. The laugh accompanied by sharp misery and anxiety, coming together into a concoction of horror in his core that's steadily flowing from his driver. The Aegis struggles to reign it in as it starts mixing with his own anxiety and fear and confusion. Keep it together, keep it down. But despite her entry to the scene Zelos still can't take his eyes off his mirror's face, taking in the twists to his expression, the blood trickling down his mouth.

Zelos grumbles under his breath.

He doesn't move still, remaining stubbornly in place next to Sheena without truly acknowledging her. Her side of the link feels sick. She's uncomfortable, Zelos can tell. He feels a little bad cornering her like this, but, whatever. Zelos wants answers. He needs answers. Slowly, the Aegis clenches his hands into fists, opens them. Clenches them again. One, two, three, breathe. Breathe, breathe. Fight back Sheena's influence over the dreamspace, try to keep her here as long as you can.

Keep the dreamspace up and under control.

Breathe.

"Who killed him?" Zelos abruptly asks. He doesn't gesture or point, but he knows that Sheena will be looking at the dead doppelganger on the floor, so he makes no further move other than clenching and unclenching his fists. "Why?"

She's forgotten all about the emotional link, asleep as she is - not that muffling something this sharp would make much of a difference, anyway. Sheena rocks back on her heels, trapped between the two ghosts. At least it means she doesn't have to look him in the eye while she says it.

The answer comes without her really thinking about it, without questioning it. (Of course he'd ask. Why wouldn't he? This is a nightmare, after all, and having to explain her role in her oldest friend's death is about as nightmarish as it gets.) Her response is halting, shaky. "He… handed Colette over to Cruxis, and then attacked us. He-- We didn't--" She cuts off abruptly, grips herself tighter. The tactile feedback isn't really there, but it's better than nothing. There's a ragged edge to her breath before she forces herself to continue. "We didn't- realize until it was too late to stop."

Oh. He... his mirror was a traitor?

Zelos stumbles back a step.

He draws a sharp breath, holds it. Takes his wide eyes off his mirror's face and lets them fall onto the glass floor, lost and unfocused in his horror as Sheena's words settle in his core and repeat themselves ad infinitum. The emotional link trembles with each iteration. It... tracks, kind of. Makes sense. Because really, how else would Wilder have achieved what he wanted but by forcing their hands, right? Suddenly the pain and grief makes sense. The little fucker really did use these people for his goals.

They're not so different, huh.

Prickling anger makes him shake. Whatever Cruxis is Zelos doesn't know, but the way that Sheena says it, the way the word's dragged out of her mouth, it easily makes it seem like an enemy. And Colette... Zelos logically knows that this isn't his fellow Aegis that Sheena speaks of, but the similar name still throws him off regardless. So his mirror handed his Colette over to the enemy, then left the stage without dealing with his own actions by killing himself. Left two people obviously grieving. Left, like a goddamned coward.

The idea of sharing anything with his mirror suddenly fills him with disgust.

"He betrayed you," Zelos abruptly spits. It's more like a statement to the air than a question, with raw, shaking fury strumming at their emotional link as the rest of the statues in the scene disappear in clouds of dust. The mists surrounding the area begin to move in a circle around them both, slowly gaining traction and speed, though the statues left remain immobile--there's only three left, reflections of people Zelos knows. The only people he could care about in this scene.

His mirror still grins, laughter in his tired eyes and bloodied mouth.

So Zelos laughs right back. "What a goddamn coward, huh? Look at him. He's pathetic."

Her gaze follows him as he stumbles back, the sound of footsteps on glass loud in her ears.

The anger running through the dreamspace is echoed in her heart, and it's enough to make her frown, bring a hand up to her collarbone. It doesn't feel like hers, though with something of her own bubbling up to match it, any distinction is hard to make. Even in a dream, even with the words coming from a reflection of Zelos, Sheena isn't about to let anyone talk about him that way.

"It's not like that," she says, sharp with grief. "We should've realized. I should've realized, before it ever came to-- to this." Yeah, right, Sheena. As if she ever knew what was going on with Zelos. As if she would've known what to do if he hadopened up. She swallows hard, shaking her head in an attempt to drive those thoughts away.

"Oh, yeah? You were gonna realize he was a traitor?" Zelos asks, hands balled into fists as he looks up to meet Sheena's gaze. Sharp anger ping-pongs between them both, grief blooming from within Sheena and rooting itself in Zelos' own core. And with it, suddenly, like a flickering fire, a desire to hurt rises up his throat. A desire to release this rage somehow, to get answers in the only way he knows how.

So Zelos scoffs at her, grins sharply as he glares, lets his face turn cruel. "That's so stupid. What was he to you, anyway? To you and Lloyd both? 'Cause what I'm gettin' here is that he was a big, good for nothing traitor who played you like a damn fiddle." He laughs, shrugs. "You sound like you deluding yourself."

Edited (Important) 2019-04-29 03:03 (UTC)

It's Sheena's turn to take a step back, wide-eyed and hating all of this. The hand at her collarbone curls into a fist to match, the dream and their link intensifying her anger as it bounces between them. This isn't a normal dream, she's realizing, but does that mean--?

"He was our friend," she says, finally, glaring. "I don't-- I don't know if we could've changed anything, if we'd known, but-- we still should have tried harder to understand while he was-" Her voice is tight, shaky with rage as she speaks, but it breaks on the last word. "Alive."

Somehow, the way Sheena's words break and stutter at the end is enough to rip Zelos' anger away from his chest and out into the air in a harsh exhale through grit teeth. When he breathes in, shame and confusion fill his lungs instead, and he tries his damn best to keep his face and posture calm and stable, if slightly annoyed, but the dreamspace betrays him anyway.

The mists surrounding them both turn grayer, and slowly, like a heartbeat, the green of the glass floor underneath them loses its light, shutting down and graying out as well. Still making eye contact with Sheena, Zelos can only see out of the corner of his eye as the statues begin to shatter and dust away, carried by a wind that spreads the mists between driver and blade.

Zelos sighs. Steels his expression, bites foreign and familiar grief down, allows it to be consumed by that confusion and shame from earlier instead. He blinks, relaxes, and asks, "You put a lot of faith in him, huh."

That's all he says. Something small and quiet in the wind, vulnerable only in the realm of dreams. Zelos tilts his head, face blank and voice even, calm. "He must've hurt you."

A little of the tension bleeds out of her as the dream shifts, enough that she's able to uncurl from herself, gaze drifting downward to the fog rising between them.

"I guess," she says, soft. Of course he had, but-- that's obvious, isn't it? "But I…" There's something else she should say, like she's not giving Zelos the full picture somehow, but she doesn't know how. It's too much to sum up the mess that their friendship had been. She just trails off instead, letting the sentence vanish into the mist. There's… something else, anyway, something she hadn't been able to put words to under the weight of their anger. It's a long moment before anything happens, but she shakes her head, props a hand on her hip as she looks back up at him. "This isn't a normal dream, is it?" she asks, expression hard to read. The full range of emotion coming from her is hard to grasp, too, conflicted as it is, but there's an edge of uncertainty to it.

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HE GOT HEAVY ON MAIN AGAIN

LISTEN, HES VALID

One timeskip ready to go

whoops

IT'S FINE IT'S FINE

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNJ6LO1QIyk

WELCOME TO HELL

AAAAA WHAT THE FUCK

I Am Dying

Man he's having a fucking awful time

that makes two of them!

GREAT

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