wingsandwill | 027 [Voice]

[He's quiet for a moment, just dead air until he speaks, voice quiet and carefully neutral.]

My sister, Anna, has returned home.

[To be imprisoned, go insane, and be killed. She's one of those that, for her, being here was better than being at home.

Two friends in two days; it isn't the worst anyone's dealt with by any means, but it still hurts. And Anna... Anna, one of the few siblings he loved, he would never see again. And she left here hating him.

Notification done, he just turns off the feed with no additional comment.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

wingsandwill.livejournal.com

How long?

From:

flameandpassion

About twenty minutes. I want to show you something.

[But what, she doesn't say, nor does it look like she's going to say until they arrive at their destination. She falls quiet again, feet crunching the fallen leaves as they continue down a path, towards the wooded areas of Adstringendum -- just within the Safe Zone borders. Her hands are in her pockets, and it takes another five minutes or so before Rei speaks again.]

-- I was the first person from my world to turn up here. I'm the only one that hasn't left. And every time the senshi leave, I can feel it. We're all connected through the crystal that keeps Usagi alive, but even when she isn't here, I can still feel the other senshi. And when they leave, it almost feels like they've died. They're just -- gone.

From:

wingsandwill.livejournal.com

She is dead, at home. Now that she's gone, unless she returns or unless I succeed, I'll never see her again.

From:

flameandpassion

There are a lot of people in this world who have that fate.

[She is quiet, for another moment, before she offers him a small smile.]

You know what's funny about you? You have all of these plans that are insane -- like, literally insane. Changing lines of fate and time travel and breaking in and out of Hell, but the moment something bad happens to set you back, you forgot that you're clever enough to actually make it all happen.

[She reaches out to take his hand, tugging him gently towards a side street, but also for the added practicality of offering comfort.]

Anna might be dead, and she might've been angry, but she still loved you. You shouldn't forget that and keep working towards whatever it is you're trying to accomplish, for her sake.

From:

wingsandwill.livejournal.com

I won't. I'll succeed, in this. There's no other choice.

From:

flameandpassion

Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

[But it's a little absent, and Rei tugs Castiel to a stop as she frowns ahead of them. In front of them is a massive tree, old, for Adstringendum, and covered in carvings. When they get slightly closer, after Rei has silently paid her own respects, Castiel will be able to see that the etchings are names, in a variety of languages. Names of all the people who have left Adstringendum to go back home.]

I think the first time I came here -- it was when Cloud left.

[And Rei lets go of his hand to move to a specific spot on the tree, reaching out to touch the Japanese lettering. It's carved deep, as to not be written over.]

Since then, Mamoru, Makoto, Minako, Michiru, Ami, Haruka -- pretty much everyone I know from home is on here. And Riku, the first version of him I knew... I wrote Tyki down because I'm pretty sure no one else would.

[She pauses before pulling a knife out of her pocket, extending it to the angel.]

I think Sam and Anna deserve to be remembered, too. By this world, even if you do succeed.

From:

wingsandwill.livejournal.com

From:

flameandpassion

[Rei watches, quietly, eyes flickering up and down the tree briefly while she waits for Castiel to finish. The last name -- Balthazar's -- is a mystery to her, but after some quiet contemplation, she comes to her own conclusion over who the symbol must belong to, even if she can't understand the language of the angels. When Castiel is done, Rei takes the knife back to stand on her toes, towards Sam's name, in order to carve his name in her own language. Sam was her friend, too.]

I hate you tall people.

[It's a quiet mutter as she stretches to finish, scowling slightly at the slightly crooked kanji, before she lands back on her heels, folding the knife in a smooth clean motion before putting it back into her pocket. There's another silence before Rei looks at Castiel briefly, at peace, but slightly sad, before the girl looks back up at the tree.]

I was alone, when I first got here. Half-dead and I didn't know what to do. And some people took me in to make sure I didn't get myself killed. Toushirou was one of them. Everyone else who did -- they're mostly gone, now.

[She's quiet for a moment as she runs her fingers over a few unfamiliar symbols, frowning.]

The first loss -- someone who love so much that you don't ever want to let them go, that's always the hardest, especially when you won't see them again when you go home. And that's always when you realize that this world isn't home. It never will be. But that's the torture of it -- you stay here so long that you build your own family and your own life and you love people and then they disappear. Sometimes I think it's a punishment for something you've done in your world, but -- nothing could be worth that much pain. And it's a horrible thing to understand, and anyone who tells you they've come to terms with it is lying.

[Her fingers hit a letter and she digs into it slightly, her voice much softer.]

No matter how many times I tell myself that I'm prepared to lose everything, I'm not. No one is. And you won't be, if you're stuck here for as long as I've been. It's always going to hurt and it's always going to be painful and soon -- very soon, you're going to wonder if it's even worth holding onto people that are just going to leave, and you're going to be afraid to meet new people and grow to care about them or even rely on them, because once they're yanked away -- it hurts.

[Rei lets her hand slip down the tree to drop to her side.]

So I come here. I pray for them. I hope they find happiness and safety. I wish I could see them again, even if they won't remember me. And then I tell the Animus that if they dare take away the people that I need, I will go to the Inner City and force them to obey me and take them back.

[Toushirou is never allowed to leave Adstringendum. Not without her. Or a way to see him again. He may not know it -- but he isn't. Rei forbids it, and what Rei demands, Rei gets.]

Edited Date: 2011-10-24 01:05 am (UTC)

From:

wingsandwill.livejournal.com

In my world, I've gotten used to it. It's more difficult here, somehow.

From:

flameandpassion

It's more difficult here because it's not permanent.

[Quietly.]

People come and go all the time. They just don't remember.

From:

wingsandwill.livejournal.com

Angels have perfect memories. For one of us to forget something is... Unnatural.

From:

flameandpassion

[She smiles at him, a little sad.]

You won't even feel something missing.

No one does -- not really. Which is fine, I guess, for the people who leave. Better for them. They'd go insane if they remembered this world, going back and forth so many times. It would destroy them.