chikaidestroyer | ∞ 86: Awakening to the stars [action]

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∞ 86: Awakening to the stars [action]

[He had awoken before the sun had set, in time to see Yuber attempting to write out his boredom over the journals. Just dealing with that conversation had been exhausting, and he had rested again before finally getting out of his room. And out of the house. How long had he been out and bedridden? Long enough to miss the monsters disappearing and the village being repaired, apparently.

His flowers had been pretty ravaged by the earthquake. He nudges at the broken flowers with his shoe, then ignores them in favor of the slowly blooming moonflowers on the trellises. Something familiar and yet new, after the chaotic happenings. An earthquake, John's recovery, monsters, a stab in the chest... Too much for one month.

He flexes his right gloved hand restlessly, a slight wind picking up as he looks skyward. The clouds would move in soon, and tomorrow would be overcast.

They would block out those damn stars.]

(ooc: I'm baaaaack~ ♥ Albert's AU can be found here.)

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[Like I haven't done it before. The phrase repeats in his head, turned this way and that as he tried to make sense of this. How he manages with his anger so close to the surface is nothing short of surprising.

At his age? He hadn't said anything to refute what he had mentioned beyond the war's end; hadn't questioned its happening, or Harmonia, or...]

...The war.

[He quashes the urge to say more, as he isn't even sure what he wants to hazard guesses about.]

[He nods slowly. His brother hadn't said anymore, so he probably didn't know what to expect. But whatever it was, it was very different from what he remembered - he could tell.]

It was mostly my doing. [Caesar's words are cautious. Almost like he's afraid of how the other will react. Much like Albert hadn't wanted to talk about his 'past' again, Caesar didn't want to repeat this, either.]

How is that even possible? You have no resources, no connections. [You're too young, too inexperienced, too naive. How would he have managed that? Why would he have considered it?]

I don't? I had access to everything that you did. And if I didn't, I'd just have to find another way. We're supposed to be resourceful, aren't we?

[He shakes his head once, sharply. When in doubt, denying what he's hearing is always a good way to go.] Enough of this foolishness. There's no reason you would do something like that. Nothing that would motivate you to such heights.

[Foolishness. So he didn't believe him, either, just like Caesar hadn't believed Albert.]

But if I had done something like that, what would you have done?

[The question makes him stop. Depending on where he had been...

...If he had still been in the employ of Harmonia, or even remotely in the area...]

I would have been involved in the war as well.

Doesn't seem so complicated now, does it?

You...

[The revelation doesn't shock him. How can he be shocked? Caesar was, at heart, a boy of simple desires.

No. The revelation doesn't shock him. It fills him with dread.

His brother had been turned into a monster.]

[The way Caesar remembered it, Albert hadn't taken it well before, either. You know, back in their world, when it had supposedly happened in the first place. And that was why he wasn't so enthusiastic to explain it 'again'.]

If you wouldn't come home, just talking about it wasn't going to do the trick.

Come home? [He repeats the words incredulously.] How would starting a war make me want to come home? [What kind of warped thought process was that?]

It wouldn't! But I'd be able to see you again. You couldn't ignore me if I was right there.

I wouldn't be focused on you. I would be focusing on ending the conflict as quickly as possible. [But he stops himself from saying more. Why is he trying to argue against this madness? This conversation may be filling him with adrenaline, but it's also giving him a headache.]

It's this shift, or whatever else is causing this effect. Your memories are a mess.

[He isn't quite sure who he's trying to convince.]

[He sighs. This whole thing was a mess.]

Yeah, I think I got that part. [He'd been convinced since Albert mentioned the True Rune. He didn't care if it was on his hand or not, there was no way in hell that would happen. Or, at least, he hoped it wouldn't happen. But that whole thing was scary enough that he didn't care about trying to convince his brother of his own story.] Uh... Sorry.

[He doesn't say anything to the apology. What was he supposed to do with it? He couldn't even trust that Caesar was genuinely sorry.]

You, taking on that role. [His mind raced.] You couldn't have succeeded in getting far.

[Even Caesar wasn't completely sure why he said it. He just had this feeling that he should.

But Albert had said his memories were a mess, and yet they were still talking about this. Was he in that much disbelief...?]

You'd be surprised, my dear brother. You'd be surprised.

[He looks down at his hands. His gloves. He shouldn't be so rattled by what Caesar is saying... But he is. With the war under his orchestration, things had gone smoothly. His ego is battered by the thought of Caesar succeeding in the same way, seven years his junior. But he knows this isn't about his ego, selfish he may be.

It's about sanity.

He begins to tug off his gloves, the stiff leather tight over his fingers.]

[Caesar watches as he does so, unsure of what to expect. Was that rune really going to be there...? It didn't exactly matter, of course, since there's no reason Albert would have made something like that up anyway. It was just as he said, the shift or whatever.

...but that didn't change the fact that it would be there, did it?]

[For once in his life, Albert is relieved to see the mark on his hand. It had its usual vibrant glow, now that Luc had vanished and the rune came out of dormancy.

He also looks at his left hand contemplatively. The contract mark had vanished when the monsters had shown up, but had not returned. And yet he knew that he had spoken to Yuber.

The tired confusion is showing on his face.]

[Even if Albert said it was there, Caesar is still surprised to see it himself. No, he still didn't believe it, because they both seemed to remember very different things.

That strange feeling goes away, however, once he notices the look on his brother's face.]

A-are you okay?

[His voice is quieter now, thoughtful.] The contract mark isn't there. It should be there.

[...oh dear.]

Are you... uh, sure?

Unless everything that had last week was in fact permanent, yes -- I'm sure. [He leans against the railing of the porch, running his right hand through his hair.]

[...no way. That didn't make sense, either.]

Huh. I'm not sure what happened, then.

[Guilty. But it's a good thing that Caesar always keeps his own hands in his pockets anyway - totally not suspicious.]

You were there. Did anything happen after I lost consciousness? [Why is he asking when he knows Caesar's memories are faulty? ...Because the only other person to ask would be the demon who had stabbed him.]