dappledleaves | CICONIA: WHEN THEY CRY

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!!

[Oh! Um. Hmm....Sinclair cups his face too and shouts]

ADULTS CAN ALL GO TO HELL!

[ Oria laughs. It's always amusing to see this side of Sinclair. ]

I hope they cark it before I do.

[ It has a solemn-like tone to it as he says that as he raises his gaze to look at him. ]

... So I better see them all die in the next two years or so.

...now it sounds like you're the one saying goodbye.

[ Sinclair takes Oria's hand. The air here is terrible. But he can imagine what it would have been like before 8ms has to proliferate every inch of the atmosphere]

[ Or at least, places like first world countries. He remembers overhearing Gunhild rant about how they didn't have it back in her home. Rough. ]

Look, I'm not gonna die if I can help it.

[ He reaches out to hold Sinclair's hand tightly. ]

But I might not live past 25 at the latest. My danger zone starts from 20.

[ Sinclair glances up sharply and keeps his grip on Oria's hand firm]

What do you mean...? Are you unwell?

[But Oria had always been the healthy one]

I'm pretty healthy!

[ Sinclair would be right about that. Oria was almost always healthy as long as he's known him. ]

Remember when I said I talked to my mom? She revealed a few things about me, like how I was factory-born, that I'm not the "first Oria Severine", and that I was modified so much that my lifespan would be 25 at most and 20 at the earliest of "natural causes". It was a lot to take in at first and I was pretty upset.

[ Flashback to other people hearing Oria yelling angrily in his room that day... ]

[It takes Sinclair a moment for it to sink in and he reaches out to take Oria's other hand, holding them both. He understands now, what that little note meant]

What did they do to you?

[ He breathes out. ]

I dunno.

[ which is the infuriating part. ]

I dunno why I was like this and what they did to me. She wouldn't tell me.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject