dappledleaves | CICONIA: WHEN THEY CRY

[ He eventually finds Sinclair and zooms over to him except... he feels sick. Oria takes over again with a gasp. The spiritiums are so abundant here. He should have known that, but it feels like he's drowning in air. Being a project that enabled a factory-born to be created with a blueprint of the Dreissig Conversion apparatus offshoot takes its toll. All this spiritium isn't his, but he wants to convert it into energy anyway. Convert it and he'll no longer have to feel like he's drowning.

He barely lands on a place where he can stand once he finds Sinclair. ]

Emil!

[ He feels so dizzy and warm at the same time. The apparatus part of him collects the converted spiritium to store it. Oria feels so full and sick. Anyway, he stumbles his way to Sinclair. ]

We gotta get outta here. This place is super bad for me— what happened to your hand??

[Sinclair snaps to attention the moment Oria lands]

Oria.

[Oria. Oria. Sinclair stands up, and then nearly falls over. He's pale now and shaky, with the effects of the Dreissig Conversion kicking in. He looks down at his hand, the bits of glass embedded through the leather]

I don't know. I was just thinking how stupid it was we're all fighting for...this.

[His shield is back at 100% and Oria...]

We shouldn't be here if it's bad for you.

[ Two kids in the Glass Sea, drowning in something like vitamin water. Oria runs over to Sinclair to help him stand with his support. ]

You look awful. Here.

[ That's the only warning Sinclair gets before Oria shoves a whole peep into his mouth before eating one himself. He feels less sick, but still sick. ]

There's probably an uninhabited island somewhere near here. Come on.

[ He tries to get Sinclair to straighten up so that he can carry him. Time to fly!! ]

Where are we going? [Ooph--but he eats the peep automatically. He feels awful. How did he get to this point? He straightens at Oria's prompting]

[ Oria is now carrying Sinclair bridal style and flying off to whatever other nearest land there is, away from the Glass Sea. ]

I dunno. Some island, preferably uninhabited. I saw a blotch of land on the way that didn't look like anyone touched it.

[Sinclair could fly, probably. But his head is pounding and he feels sick so he stays in Oria's arms, tucking his head against Oria's shoulder. Warm. Soft.]

Oh, there are islands that weren't destroyed? That's good...

There are new islands being made everyday from volcanos and stuff.

[ But the problem was the pack of 8MS for air filter. Well, they'll only stay for a moment anyway. He tucks Sinclair closer to himself. ]

... We'll have to go back to base eventually, but I don't want them to take you away. Do you think Limbus will do something about that? AOU caving into ABN's demands by ordering a ceasefire probably already lowered morale and the general trust of the government.

I think so. Limbus has invested a lot of money into me and it's not like they can work in the ABN.

[He presses his face against Oria's shoulder, feeling a strange sense of panic]

I...I just need to prove I'm not someone they can hand over. Right now, I'm not very valuable because I'm not doing what I'm meant to be doing. If I can do that...

[But he doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to be the AOU's ticking time bomb]

Huh...? What are you meant to be doing? I thought that was being some super soldier for AOU. That's not it?

[ He doesn't have a good feeling about this. Anyway, they finally land on a beach of some sort. The ocean is kinda murky and the sand is just. Sand. Nothing fresh here though, not even the air. ]

It's that, but...[He wiggles out of Oria's arms as soon as they land and then wobbles a little. He looks out onto the ocean and clasps his hands together. He needs to be standing tall for this]

I...saw footage of what happened a few years ago. Involving me and Shion's family...his friends. [He squeezes his eyes shut. He has to talk through this] I understand why he wants me dead. I blew up an entire district by using the Dreissig Conversion. All those people, their blood is on my hands. I think AOU wants me to do the same thing again. They don't just want a super soldier...they want to throw me in the middle of a battlefield and have me kill everyone that's in their way.

You can... what?

[ That's the first he's ever heard of something like that. ]

Hold on. You can convert it to energy, but you can convert it again to a different kind of energy? Like seismic? Sounds??

...yeah. It takes a lot out of me, but...I can turn it to heat and light.

[Hence, the explosion. The bodies. The dead...He dreams of a different set of screams now]

Or at least, I could.

[Had Sinclair been willingly defying the researchers all this time? Or had it been a trauma so deep in his psyche that his body could no longer remember the process]

[ All Oria can do is store an indefinite amount of converted spiritium into energy even if it makes him feel sick and full.

But wait. ]

What the fuck... isn't that basically what a 8MS does?

Yeah. I guess I was made to be like an 8MS. [Every implant was designed to keep his body from suffering from the backlash. His body healed faster than the average human. He has greater strength and endurance even after suffering from a glucose drop like this.] But, from what I read from my files...I could potentially create a bomb like this. Spark a nuclear reaction. Thousands of people could die in the process, but for the AOU and ABN that's something they're fine with.

[Sinclair would die. No matter how many implants had been put in his body, it wouldn't save him from the wave of heat energy from incinerating him on the spot if it went that far]

[ That's the next thing that he brings up because that definitely doesn't go unnoticed. ]

But you're not immune to the stuff you make...

...yeah. If I ever went that far, I'd die too. [He had been badly injured when he destroyed that district. The reports told him as much, even as he remembered being pumped full of nanobots to restore his burned skin. Going further than that would mean...] It would be instant.

And you considered it?

[ Doing that. Back there. Oria won't tell him to not do it, but that really hurts. He would like him alive, even if... he most likely wouldn't live long anyway. ]

Why do adults suck so bad... why did this have to happen to you...

...I just thought if I destroyed what every country was fighting over, no one else would have to die because of it.

[It has been a brief thought but he didn't need anyone to tell him the answer to that - people wanting this war would do whatever it took to make it happen. Trying to stop it was useless. He looks down, nodding]

...I don't want to die. But I don't want you to die either. Or anyone else...

[ Oria walks over to Sinclair and hugs him tightly. He wants to hold him, to protect him from anyone who wants to use him. Sinclair is a person like anybody else. He isn't equipment, a tool or some degraded test subject—this is Emil Sinclair, Oria's best friend that he loves so, so much. Seeing him in pain like this hurts his heart. ]

Mm. I know. Even if you do destroy it, they'll just be fighting over something else so that sort of death must be avoided at all costs.

[Sinclair folds into Oria, hugging him tightly in turn. He's always liked hugs and Oria always had a way of keeping him steady. Even now]

Mm...I don't want unnecessary sacrifices from anyone. But I don't know what I should do.

Edited 2024-12-01 07:11 (UTC)

I know that you don't, but it's not your responsibility. The outcome of anything isn't your responsibility.

[ between two worlds intensifies ]

So don't shoulder things too much on your own. I'm here with you. I always will be.

[Sinclair is quiet for a moment as he tightens his hug briefly]

...mm. I know. I'm glad I got to meet you.

Don't make it sound like you're saying goodbye.

[ :T

Oria lightly nudges the side of Sinclair's head. ]

What should we do before we go back and face our inevitable consequences...

Sorry. [Sinclair ducks his head a little with a sheepish laugh. He feels calmer now, less strained, even though they'll both be punished when they get back. He wasn't alone]

Mm...no idea. It wont take long for them to track us down.

[ Oria rubs Sinclair's back. There, there. ]

Yeah, so before that time comes, we should probably do something that we don't get to do back there.

[ He lets go of the hug and faces the ocean. It's so dreary, the air quality is terrible and he feels his throat getting scratchy, but he's alone with Sinclair and that's all that matters. He cups his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and shouts: ]

ADULTS SUCK!!

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