side by side

REMI

Remi had given Ronin exactly 0 explanation other than Vai is in trouble, before the alchemist's hands were on his husband, plunging him into sleep. The pair would wake in Ianto's wagon, and again without much of an explanation to the fox, they'd be up and moving despite any protests on Ronin's part. Likely though, Remi's stern and furious expression would be enough for his husband to tag along without argument as they headed toward the portal.

'Here—' Handing Zephyr's note to Ronin, Remi's jaw feathers with tension as he waits for the Star to read what was written there. Though the alchemist's first instinct was to treat Sunny just as poorly as he'd treated Vai, a small sliver of rationality was holding him back. Remi knew nothing of the strange happenings in Torchline, nor the potential confused mental state the Flood might be in. It made no sense at all that he'd attack Vai, and yet Zephyr said he had.

So unless this was the thief's way of trying to have Vai's sons kill off Sunjata (did Zeph want his place as governor?) something was off.

'—what do you think?' Remi asks anxiously once Ronin had finished reading.

Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

everything has its wonders

A lot happens all at once. Joy at seeing Remi turns to horror turns to nostalgia at the sight of the Wishing Wagon's familiar slopes and walls. But Ronin barely has time to mumble a hello and a sorry to Ianto as he's pulling on clothes - they could be his own, or they could be Remi's or the fox's for all he knows; he's hopping out of the wagon whilst tying his bootlaces nonetheless. It's a good thing Mateo is already with someone (read: Tobi) when Remi comes, because there's little stopping the duo from heading to the portal.

The note is thrust towards him and, although the Star has been able to get the gist of Remi's fury, it's only now that he realises the full extent of it. "What?" he blurts, having tucked the note away only to fall into step with the Lullaby, leading the way now towards the portal. "He wouldn't," he says, sounding near reverent in his conviction. "Not Sunjata, not to Vai. I don't get it... but why would Zephyr lie?"

even darkness and silence

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REMI

Remi is liable to break a few teeth the way he's grinding them together, but he hardly cares. There's something satisfying about the glaciar-sounding groans and then the sharp cracks as his teeth grow more jagged and feral in his mouth.

'But if he did?' The alchemist wonders, his voice low and even, his eyes dark and hateful. There are few things that can turn the Lullaby into the killing machine he's now been made to be: instructions from Ludo, and injury to his family.

Best friend to his husband though the Flood might be, Remi wouldn't hesitate should Zephyr's account turn out to be true. But that's why Remi had sought out his husband immediately. Only he could stop the alchemist from doing what he was honed to do.

Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

everything has its wonders

The conflict that rages within Ronin is much less violent, much less overt. Partially it's because he literally doesn't have the facility to tear up the world like he might otherwise do, but it's also simply not how he's built. Ronin implodes - Remi, the opposite. One of many reasons why the two men work so well together. So it makes sense, in some ways, that Ronin reaches out for his husband as they walk, his hand closing around the Lullaby's, not to calm him, merely to ground him.

"If he did," he says quietly, fingers squeezing against Remi's, "then I will stand and watch you do whatever it is you need to do." Need on a personal level; nothing to do with duty, nothing to do with right and wrong. Ahead of them the trees begin to thin, suggesting the Mathair's clearing is close by. "But until then, until we know, this is more about Vai than it is about Jata. Right?"

even darkness and silence

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REMI

Remi doesn't bother to shrug off the physical contact because of his magic. Instead, he selfishly lets his fury pour back toward his husband. The colours of their combined emotions do not result in a new and beautiful palette, but instead represent the world as it is sometimes: ugly, dark, and bleak.

Nodding stiffly, appreciating Ronin at that moment more than words could say, Remi fixes his eyes on the Mathair to consider his husband's question. "There is no healer better than Vai." She would be fine, physically. Emotionally though? With all she had been for Jata? Even if it was a mistake or a misunderstanding, would things ever be the same again? 'And she has Zephyr.' He adds, swallowing hard, sounding shockingly cold even to his ears.

'What will you think, if it's his word against hers?' Mother versus bestfriend. The Flood's words against the witch's bruises?

Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

everything has its wonders

"And if she wants to see you?" Ronin doesn't say and if she doesn't want Zephyr - that isn't Vai, but she might want Remi close. She might not want Sunjata hurt. It's that which leads, ultimately, to the answer to his second question. All the same, the fury that erupts down the Lullaby's hand and into Ronin's is enough to have the Star's breath catching in his throat; instinctively, he reaches out to curl an arm around Remi - it's as much for him as it is for the other man.

"It didn't happen to us," he manages eventually. "If it's her word against his, though... I believe her. I'll do whatever she wants us to do." Even if he might want to bash Sunjata's head against the wall at that point. And the idea of it right now is painful, even with the rage that richochets through him courtesy of his husband. "What if she doesn't want you to go after him?"

even darkness and silence

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REMI

'Obviously I'll be there.' Remi says, almost defensively. But with his emotions overflowing from him into the Star, it isn't as though the alchemist has any way to hide the depths of his rage. 'But for as violent as Torchline can be, Sunjata can't just walk around free if he did do this.' Once, Remi would have set everything aside to comfort those who needed him. Now it seemed that vengeance and justice were his primary concerns.

Stiff in Ronin's embrace, the alchemist does his best to take a breath and calm himself. It hardly does anything more than keep him silent for a few moments, but perhaps that's enough. "I don't know that it's up to her." Remi says after a moment. He can't bear to look at Ronin, but for the weight of what he's saying, he owes his husband that much.

"Whatever Vai might be able to forgive...if it's true, there is nowhere he can be banished that's far enough. Only Mort's realm will do."

Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

everything has its wonders

Ronin has no response for his husband; not when (at least at first) Remi comes off so logical. Torchline is a dangerous place, but nothing gives the Governor the right to walk around and take hits at anyone he feels like. He doesn't blame the alchemist for his defensiveness - honestly, given that they don't yet know the state of Vai or the circumstances surrounding what has happened, it's hard for Ronin to stop his imagination running away with him as well - and he slows his steps as the Mathair comes into view, silent and brooding in the dark.

"Okay," the Star says slowly in response to the dark words that leave his husband's lips. It's neither approval or denial - mere acknowledgement of things as they are. "Will you let me try to find out why first, if it comes to that?" It won't come to that, he wants to say. "Will you be able to find out yourself, if you touch him?"

They're speaking as if Sunjata isn't someone they know well. As if he isn't someone Ronin trusts. And it's rough, Ronin can't deny that.

even darkness and silence

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

Remi's jaw clenches as his eyes scour the snow moss and bits of peppermint bark that litter the pathway to the Mathair. The words he wants to say are perhaps cruel—or could be construed that way perhaps—and yet as soon as they spring to the surface of his mind, the alchemist is helpless to tug his lips off of them. "When it comes to Sunjata..." He begins, turning toward Ronin and doing his utmost to soften his expression. "..you might be the easiest for him to trick." They were best friends after all, and without any abilities save for those Ronin had cultivated himself, the Star was arguably weaker than he'd ever been, despite also being stronger.

Raising a brow, having not thought of his abilities as any sort of litmus test, Remi frowns as he considers. "I...can feel emotions. If we're wrong about who he is, and he's the type of man who could do this to Vai, he might also be the type to feel nothing at all about what he's done. But.." It would at least be something to go off of.

The alchemist can feel his husband's uncertainty and frustration at the situation. Certainly, they're both confused as to how this could have happened, but Remi doesn't have quite the relationship with Sunjata that his husband does.

"What if.." Leaning forward, Remi whispers something in his husband's ear.

Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

everything has its wonders

It is cruel, and Remi will feel the metaphorical knife as it twists in Ronin at the thought of manipulating his friend. But he'll feel, too, the dark ribbon of something distinctly other, something that speaks of practice when it comes to that sort of manipulation, of learning to outwit, to survive in that environment.

"Oh," he says unhelpfully, unaware that he's clasping Remi's hand more tightly. Around them a soft wind whispers through skeletal trees, and the Mathair looks somehow more intimidating than it ever has before.

Only nodding dumbly at Remi's response about his empathy abilities, Ronin glances up as the other man leans in to whisper to him. His blue eyes widen a fraction, and he responds just as quietly; a warning, something to keep in mind. "...But if you're sure, then yes."

even darkness and silence

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

Remi doesn't want to double his husband. Rarely has he before. Perhaps this isn't even doubt, but just some close cousin of anger that's annoyed the Star isn't as riled up about this as he is. Only...Ronin is plenty upset. He just isn't as outwardly aggressive as Remi is. Sighing, Remi forces himself to still as the world around them grows quiet and speculative.

"I'd rather that risk, than letting him walk free." Remi replies gravely. 'Perhaps just me, then. For Mateo's sake.' Because if Ronin was right, what of their son? "But I can't imagine Ludo letting us toil away like that. Not with everything happening with the ascended."

Shrugging his shoulders, Remi squeezes Ronin's hand twice as they step into the portal. It welcomes them perhaps far too readily, and all too soon they're standing on the beaches of Torchline once again.

Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

everything has its wonders

This ought to have been a happy occasion; a homecoming, almost, as the dark beaches and the littered bonfires come into view. The sound of the sea has never felt so comforting, and the salt, smoke and booze on the air has his breath catching in his throat. But Ronin feels nothing but sick, and he frowns into the dark water and nods gently to the other man. "Both of us," he says quietly, though whether it's so Ronin can be there to help or to stop Remi from going too far... even the Star doesn't know.

Glancing to the Lullaby, and then up at the cliffs where even the Aumakua is muted by Longnight, he squeezes his hand back. "Let me go first," he suggests. "If this is the plan, and you need me to..." To get close, though he doesn't want to say it. "Then let me go first, okay?" His husband is adept at manipulating the shadows; he trusts him to be around where needed.

even darkness and silence

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

Remi bites the inside of his lip as his feet press into the sand. He hadn't expected to be back here so soon. Not for shrine destruction, not for this either. But here he was. His discomfort manifested in feathers that turned into snarls of golden hair at the base of his neck. Taking care not to press fingertips now punctuated with claws into his husband's hand, the alchemist nods.

'You first, then. But Ronin?' Tugging softly against the Star's hand to halt their forward progress, Remi gives his husband an almost pained sort of look. His emotions slosh uneasily, his fury curdling against the trust he had in both Ronin's judgement as well as Sunjata. "No matter what happens, do what you have to." Whether that was stopping him, or allowing justice to be done, even Remi didn't know yet. Everything seemed so uncertain in ways it never had before. The men had never lived in a world that was purely black and white, but now even their landscape of gray morals seemed shattered and disjointed.

"I love you." Remi's smile is weak, his lips unable to hold even a flimsy smile in the wake of all they were about to do.

Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

everything has its wonders

Ronin halts on the beach at the tug of Remi's hand, at the sound of his name through a voice that curls around it so beautifully he still can't quite believe it. And so he turns, giving a wobbly smile and a nod at the Lullaby's remark, committing himself to this one way or another. The other man will feel the storm that rages within him, that pulls him to and fro, and much as he doesn't want to believe any of what's happened, anything is possible. If there's one cruel thing that Caido has taught him, it's that.

"I love you too. I will," he promises, leaning in suddenly for a kiss that feels like a goodbye, somehow, even though they're approaching this together if not quite hand in hand. And so the Star and the Lullaby slip away, into a dark night with even darker intentions. And Ronin is sorry for it already.

~FIN

even darkness and silence

Coding base by Sky!