019 [Voice/Action]
[On the evening of the 25th, one of the few days where he didn't find himself wearing a mask, he's sitting on the rail of the bridge near his apartment and staring up at the sky. Yes, it's scary, especially with how large and angry the moon looks right now. But he can't help staring, because he's contemplating something. He's pretty sure that it
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... He's never seen Van look like that before. Amazingly, Luke feels something like concern. He gives him a long glance for a moment, battling between talking to him or just staying silent until Van takes the hint, before he decides to go with the former.]
Is it bothering you too, M... Master? [Dammit. Sometime he needs to stop calling him that.]
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If Luke will feel better without Van's eyes on him, then he's in luck. All of Van's attention is on the moon. He's so focused, so stressed, that the air around him seems to be vibrating with it.]
It isn't getting larger... [Dammit! He worked so long, gave up so much of his life and himself to escape the Score, and cataclysm; and yet here he is, a world apart and still robbed of free will and facing down disaster. But what can he do? What can he possibly do?]
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Luke presses his lips together and ducks his head for a second, to look down at the water, before he raises his head again. It's... weird, talking to Van like this. For once... For once, after Van revealed his true nature, they can agree on something.]
No... it's getting closer. [It was just a crazy idea at first. After all, how could the moon be coming closer? The Malnosso needed them, what would killing them accomplish?
... But the more Luke looks at it, the more the suspicion grows. His master confirming it just makes the idea settle further, making it a truth instead of a mere possibility.]
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[It took him more than a decade to begin to overcome the Score. Three days just isn't long enough to overcome a falling moon. If ever people could have used a little foresight...]
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Dammit! There has to be something we can do!
[He had an idea, a way to use his power for good. But... Asch pretty much obliterated any thoughts of using hyperresonance on that thing. Because... what if he really did what Asch said he'd do, and...?]
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He stays where he is.
It's almost strange, seeing the replica be concerned, and driven, and angry for something beyond it's own pride. Certainly a change, he will grant it that.]
I saw what Asch wrote to you.
[...He saw Asch being a thoughtless, conceited child. How backwards the world has gone.]
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At those words, he looks down at Van (sitting on the railing like this, he's really only an inch or two taller than his master) with wide eyes. He... He saw what Asch wrote. Luke was hoping that no one would see it, or if they did, they wouldn't know what he was talking about.
But Van saw. And of course he knows. He was a primary part of something Asch said.
After the initial shock, Luke looks down at the river again. He's never... actually talked about Akzeriuth with Van, and he doesn't particularly want to now. Besides, he gets the feeling that Van isn't here to remind him, once again, that it was Luke's fault for listening to him.]
I didn't want anyone to see it. [But there's nothing I can do about it now, that goes unsaid. Idly, he moves the hand he practically punched the railing with to hold his opposite arm, letting ( ... )
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The thought had occurred to me. [He shakes his head; a tiny, restrained motion that nonetheless makes his ponytail bounce and sway.] Not even Asch would be capable of such a thing. The scope is simply too great.
[Van's not about to hand his discarded tool validation...but if the replica wants to pick it out from among the words for himself, there's plenty he might find. He wasn't the only one to have the idea. It's not just because he's weak. Asch isn't any better, not this time.
And Van came to find him -- to stay his hand. To prevent him from doing something foolish. Just this once.]
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... I thought if we worked together, we could do something about it.
[He looks away. He knows Van's words are true, even though... Maybe, with Asch, it might have worked. They were able to move the entire outer layer of the planet's crust downward with their combined power, not that Van would know it at the time he came from. Maybe, maybe it would have worked... but.]
I don't think Asch can do that right now. [It's not Asch's fault, really. He obviously has a mask on, and it's hard to take it off. That has to be the reason he acted like... that. And he's sure that Asch would just use hyperresonance for something stupid and to make someone angry rather than for the good of the people.
So, he has to say it. He even looks forward again.]
... You're right, I know that. I thought I could do it, but... I might end up killing everyone, like Asch said.
[He can't help the wince on his face, one that Van might see if he looks at him. This isn't about Luke. This is about the people he's come to care about. He ( ... )
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(To be honest, Van has very few qualms with dismissing Asch's contrarian pique entirely on a normal day.)
Van does catch that wince, out of the corner of his eye. He finally moves, stands up, turns his back on the moon, and again leans on the railing. He doesn't want to look at it anymore... although its reflection in the river is hardly better.]
I'd prefer to be wrong. I'm quite sure that I'm not.
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Can't we do anything? If not about the moon, then the people here?
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So there's really nothing we can do, huh... [His fists clench. It's so frustrating, knowing he can't do anything to help these people.]
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