Lucaen dropped his claws. Opened his arms as if laying everything out, asking to be understood. "You are being nonsensical by the second."
Look, we used to comfort each other with our presence. Back then when we held no skills, duties, or responsibilities. We were.. just kids.
"Your synchronization with me is getting weaker." Don't- don't push me away. It's dangerous out there.
"Come back." He pleaded. His voice was low, glitching slightly with the tremor of his own rhythm. I'm trying to save you. "Do you know what will happen to you if you keep this..unknown rhythm here?" The Optic will shut you down. Don't you get it?
"Can't you see the future laid in front of you? Do you.." Are you not worried? Why are you so..
"Want to die a meaningless death by the very family that restrained you, by me nonetheless?"
I know you hate me. "Sync back with me. Before the Optic knows this. Synchronize with me again. You know I need your..rhythm." Don't leave me. Aurelius, Aurelius Everhart. You can't do this to me.
"Don't..don't make me go through that all over again. To devour my own family." *You know how much it broke me. You were there. You were there! When I was at my lowest. Don't leave me now. Please.*
It hurts. Cold, I want to get out. Let's go. Aurelius. Let's go home. Forget everything.
"The rhythm is irreversible, Luc." He angled his head to the side.
What?
"It's one with me."
The words echoed too loudly in his head. The two of them are trapped in this box of what? box of confessions? Lucaen clenched his claws. Did Aurelius hear his plea? No, he told him, didn't he? How ironic. Aurelius never fails to get a reaction out of him.
A nervous dismissal was made sound. "Then why did you do it? I doubt you didn't knew of it."
He loves to play with me, doesn't he? Years on end, I'm just a plaything to him.
"Look,-" Aurelius tried to argue, but was cut short.
My emotions as what? His entertainment?
Lucaen's open gestures turned defensive. With a final shove, he continued. "You have nothing to elaborate, you fake!" Aurelius recoiled back, stumbling his lower extensions to the desk. It rattled in protest. The clutter pushed the others to their fall.
"Making me, a fool out of myself! If so-"
"Calm down!" Aurelius demanded. His hand gripped Lucaen by his collar, pulling him in.
Calm down?
With a loud clunk. Lucaen's vision traveled fast, and so did his rhythm. The furniture, the walls, all became an abstract painting. The pain soon followed across his vertebrae. Sharp and rough scratches against his back.
Keughk-
Lucaen was taken aback. A low grunt was vocalized. While his tail was stuck against the wall behind him. A puzzle fitting to the rupture behind him. The mere force shattered the wall slightly as it came crashing down. Pieces of corten bounce off Lucaen's exos with a flat melody.
Aurelius had rooted Lucaen to the wall.
As he came to his senses, Lucaen had already instinctively countered by gripping Aurelius' wrists. While the other was asserted on the underside of Aurelius's jaw.
Despite the physicality, the vulnerable symbiosis felt warm.
Idiot.
"What are you-"
"Don't leave me, Lucaen. Even in this form." His gaze carried a quiet request. As one might..be guilty.
"Trust me."
Ah.. He's still him.
"We will go back as planned." Aurelius loosened his grip on Lucaen's collar. At last, the world feels, breathable. Lucaen's rhythm stabilized. That's all he wanted to hear. Reciprocation.
Lucaen fixed his robe, swiping away the pieces of corten that had settled on his shoulders.
Another presence- He turned his head to the side the moment he realized the intruding exo.
"Apologies, I came with good intentions, generals." The presence spoke with a nonchalant flair.
"If you don't mind, lord Aurelius. We have a problem we're currently facing. The rest of the lieutenants seek your counsel regarding this matter."
Aurelius promptly distanced himself when he heard the heaviness in his voice.
"Lieutenant Seyvron." Aurelius glares at him slowly.
"I have multiple of lieutenants under the Cort, and you still demand my attention?"
Seyvron let out a weary sigh. His grey exo dulled under the steam. "I know, I know. I had to fight tooth and nail with Solivane earlier, too. But it's about the Enclaved."
Aurelius shifted his weight, "What?"
A hint of dismissal edged to his tone before looking at Lucaen with that vulnerable demeanor of his. "Luc, look. We will continue this later. We can go back to Elysium tonight."
Lucaen pushed himself off the wall, walking past them. Every step taken had deliberately been heavier than all his weight combined. "You Enarchies are void of common decencies." He got the hint. He's not a lover of Aurelius to cling to him every moment. Just that thought alone sent shivers down Lucaen's spine.
"I have some matters of Tevar I need to attend to as well."
The door was left open. It was as if it were inviting him out. Probably that moron did it. In fact, Aurelius should assert his boundaries more. The lieutenants come and go as they please. Where is the respect?
Lucaen strode past the door. His attention caught the glint of the window's glare that extended all through the hallways, hidden between the columns. Yet, in the corner of his vision, Solivane stood upright. Reflecting a statue overlooking the forms of the Enarchies. Grinding, the crash of metals, filled the environment. Solivane, who was like an immovable statue, broke the two exos that were grappling with each other in front of him. Sheathing his longsword back into his cloak like it's another Tuesday.
I lost track of his movements.
The two exos who were locking each other, one buried under the other's, scrambled, pushing each other apart the moment they sensed the mana stroke aimed in their direction. The instinct to save oneself and the other from the sharpness of it was woven into them.
"Cut me some slack!" One of them cried out.
"We could've died there!!"
Why learn close-quarter combat when you have your own mana? Leave it to the brutes for not being able to estimate their own limits.
Lucaen's ears perked up at the occasional demands of Seyvron Varien behind him. "They seek your presence, Lord- of course, we had tried to negotiate with them, but you know them well, don't you? How demanding they are." Followed with a not-so-subtle slam to Aurelius's table, probably a threat wrapped in politeness.
Lucaen shook his head slightly, a mocking breath was heard only for his ears.
Your governor is a fool. It was a mistake to strike a negotiation with that planet in the first place. I've told him countless of times to seek my guidance.
Enclaved rejected Elysium, Corra, Osthm, and even Tevar. Fastidious people.
Multiple of heads turned, the eyes on him, the disdain. You can taste every hatred in it. Their expressions were a blatant show of their beliefs.
It wasn't a long walk from Aurelius' office to the only Linking Port of Enarc. Enarchies or the lieutenants rarely leave this place as often as other regions. Preferring their own familiar sands.
Though with their inclusivity, they were viewed with high regard by the regional people. Respected for their discipline and assertive nature.
Something about them demands seriousness.
Lucaen flicked back to the Linking Port laid bare in front of him, a foreign material as its base and structure. A stainless steel amidst the corten and concrete. An intentional oddity or perhaps a symbolization of their strategic alliance with Osthm, the main producer of steel.
[Inbox: General Caius Had Sent A Message]
[General Caius>General Lucaen]
[Meet me in your office. The cases. We need to talk.]
[Alone.]
The notification was unexpected. A rarity from Caius himself. Despite the minimal words, the point was made across.
The rise of emergence cases.
At last, someone else that had noted it. For duty's sake, no matter how much he hated syncing, he had to do it. With the efficient rise of his left arm, Lucaen rested his vulnerable syncing port. Systematically injecting his rhythm into Elysium's channel.
Syncing... To sync is to be alive. What Aurelius did, had not been defined in any records. It's better to keep a low profile. For the both of us.
The canvas of his current view eased together at a stable pace, leaving a sole black figure by the corner of his eyes. He was large, hand clasped, a noble perhaps.