arc_wrench
in
damned
Night 53: M61-M70 Hallway
Well! For once Landel said something worth listening to: revealing a potential weakness for exploitation! Now! What to do with it. What should he do to completely ruin Landel's bright and shiny plans for a wonderful day, toppling them like a small meatbag kicking over a carefully-constructed sand structure, making sure to get the constituent
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"You should consider it, at least," Claude said, and he offered his friend a fond smile. "Not many people have the drive and motivation to build their own house, you know. You'd probably really thrive in that kind of learning environment."
He understood it wasn't his place to tell Guy what ought to make him happy, and that wasn't what he was trying to say by a long shot. But it did seem odd that someone with that kind of passion and dedication for fontech wouldn't want to invest more time and effort into that particular field. Besides, they probably needed all the brainpower they could get in figuring out alternative sources for energy. As someone who had exposure to other cultures and planets, Guy's perspective would likely be quite valuable.
While Guy might have thought they'd gotten off-topic, Claude didn't feel that way. It was something he'd wondered about, and so now seemed like as good a time as any to ask. Thankfully, he hadn't accidentally opened up some deep can of worms by doing so. They already had enough to sort through as it was.
When his friend glanced over to him, Claude met his eyes, but didn't immediately say anything. He wasn't sure what else he ought to ask, or if it would be better to let Guy talk about what he wanted. Claude also knew he had his own things he needed to come clean about, but it was hard to know how to broach those kinds of subjects.
Either way, grilling Guy too much at once probably wasn't the best way to handle this. He didn't want to start making the other blond feel more uncomfortable than he likely already did. For now, Claude decided to steer the conversation into a different direction.
"I guess...you're probably wondering about the woman you met in the library the other day," he said after a pause.
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Granted, whether or not he wanted to pursue something like that, it wasn't something he had to think about for a while -- or so he guessed. Guy had started to accept that it was going to be a lot longer before he'd be seeing Auldrant again, and seeing how moping about it wasn't going to do him much good, all he could do was just move on.
There was a silence for a moment that bordered on awkward, something he hadn't felt around Claude in a while. He held back a sigh at the realization, not wanting to point it out and yet feeling relieved when his friend finally broke it.
With everything else that had happened, Guy had almost forgotten all about Ilia. He felt bad, seeing how important it had been to his friend, but there had just been so many other things on his mind with Asch reappearing and then disappearing, not to mention the shadows. Now that his memory had been jogged, however, he still stood by his original guess that Ilia was related to Claude.
It wasn't something he was just going to come out and state, though, seeing how Claude was clearly treating the situation delicately. He nodded. "Yeah, you could say that. I kind of have a suspicion about it, but I'd rather just hear it from you, if you don't mind." It had been easy to put the pieces together when he knew all about Ronixis, after all.
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"She's my dad's first officer," Claude slowly explained, "as well as one of the people who went back in time with him in order to save the planet Roak. And, well..." Rubbing the back of his head, he glanced toward the floor. "She's my mom. Well, I mean, not yet, obviously, but...soon." It was sort of awkward having to explain how someone could be your parent, even if they hadn't given birth to you yet.
"After she decides to marry my dad, anyway," he added as his expression grew somber. "Which was supposed to be after they found a cure for the Roakians and thwarted an invasion against Earth, but now..."
Now? He didn't know anymore. Claude didn't believe it was a coincidence that she arrived the time Dad disappeared, but he wasn't entirely sure what the implications of all that were.
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Maybe it had something to do with the fact that both Ronixis and Ilia had gotten involved in some pretty important things -- saving a planet, for one thing. Landel generally didn't pick out ordinary people to bring here.
"She doesn't know that Ronixis was here before, does she?" he asked with a frown as he shifted in his spot on the bed. Guy couldn't really blame Claude for keeping that from her. Knowing it wasn't going to make her time here any easier for her.
As Claude explained in more detail the time she was from, Guy frowned as he let the implication set in. "She hasn't done all that yet, right?" He could put two and two together; Claude was probably worried that things weren't going to turn out the way they were supposed to because Landel had gotten in the way.
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When Guy asked whether she'd done all those things that would eventually make her a hero back home, Claude shook his head. "From what I understand, she was still on Roak before she woke up here."
Finding the means to make that vaccine, saving Earth, becoming a world-renowned authority in heraldry...there was still so much for her to accomplish. Had Landel taken all that away on top of sabotaging her marriage to Dad? Was she really doomed to fade away, like Ashton, Dias and his father? Claude didn't think he could accept that, and yet that hadn't stopped the others from disappearing, he realized with a knot of anxiety in the pit of his stomach.
"There's...something that's been bothering me since she introduced herself in the library, though," he said with a frown. It felt weird to admit it out loud, but there seemed to be little good in keeping things like that from Guy anymore.
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He nodded as his friend explained. Chances were that Ilia was pretty eager to get back to what she'd been pulled away from, in that case. Hopefully Claude would be able to explain to her that it wasn't that easy to get out of here. The two of them had hit it off right away, though he supposed that made sense now that he knew for sure what their relation was.
Though Guy couldn't help but think about the implications that Claude's shadow had made about Claude's relationship with his parents. He didn't know if now was the time to ask, and besides, it seemed to have been a bigger issue with Ronixis anyway.
"What's that?" he asked when Claude hinted that there was something off about the woman. He turned to face the other blond more fully, watching him as he waited for an answer. Seeing how this was Claude's mother that they were talking about, he had to imagine it was pretty important.
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"She gave her name as Ilia Silvestri," he answered. After a beat of silence, he added, "My mom's name is Iria Silvestoli."
Claude didn't think it was something she was saying to somehow hide her identity in the face of stealing a Federation vessel and using it for an authorized mission. The names were far too similar, for one thing. There was no way she'd do something like that if it was a matter of laying low. She clearly believed that it was her name. With that in mind, Claude found the similarities were more unsettling when they were mixed in with such glaring differences.
"I can't say I know exactly what that means," he quietly said. "But, after some of the other stuff I've seen around here, I don't like it."
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"I don't blame you," he said after a pause. "I'm not sure what it could mean, but... maybe something got jumbled up when she was brought here?"
Guy was only speculating and he was sure that Claude would know that, seeing how the sorts of technologies utilized in this place were totally beyond anything he'd encountered in Auldrant. He could only work off of what he'd seen himself.
"I mean, we know how that something is making it so we can understand each other," he pointed out, recalling that night when they'd had to resort to writing things down and sounding words out to communicate. "If something went wrong or got confused... I don't know, it could be something along those lines." It would be nice to just assume that it was a simple clerical error and leave it at that, but Guy was pretty sure Claude was going to continue worrying about it anyway.
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"You may be right," Claude said slowly. "That sounds like as good an explanation as any." But it was hard to put aside so simply, even if he knew that was what he was going to have to do for now. When he considered what had happened to his other friends, though...
"It just worries me a little because there's been some pretty big discrepancies among my Expellian friends before," he added before glancing away for a split second. "I never mentioned that to you because...well, I didn't think it was worth bothering you with it, but..." It had been one of the things his shadow had touched on last night, hadn't it?
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He didn't know if it was a good idea to bring it up, but the whole point of them gathering here to talk was to sort all of this out, and he had to admit that that was one of the things that had surprised him the most. Issues with parents were normal enough, but Guy had met Ashton and yet he'd never heard a thing from Claude about any weirdness between them.
"I know how that is," he said when Claude explained why he'd remained quiet about it -- it was that sort of reasoning that had gotten Guy into trouble in the first place, after all. "But... did something happen between you and Ashton, or... what was it, exactly?" He felt kind of bad asking even when he knew that he had the right to. At this point he was really just worried on Claude's behalf, even if didn't seem like whatever had happened had left a lasting impression on his friend.
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He still didn't think his own issues quite compared to what Guy was grappling with, but, after hearing some of the nasty things his shadow said last night, he could understand why it was unfair to expect Guy to share his problems with Claude when Claude himself wasn't willing to do the same. It was almost as though part of him was desperate to feel useful or some sense self-validation by trying to help with his friends' baggage while remaining mostly tight-lipped about his own, save for maybe a few exceptions. But had that been his only reason? He didn't like to think his motives were that impure, and yet he was having to seriously ask himself those kinds of questions after last night.
Either way, Guy's curiosity wasn't expected. If their positions had been reversed, Claude would have wondered the same thing. He was glad Guy was starting to feel comfortable asking him things that might not have been pleasant to talk about, though. That was one step closer to making sure this sort of situation didn't repeat itself, right?
Pausing, he tried to think of the best way to explain. "It's sort of a long story, but..." Talking about Ashton when it wasn't clear where he was right now made Claude uncomfortable, but he also knew what happened hadn't been anyone's fault -- except for the institute's.
In the end, he decided it would be best to just spit it out, but that required some background information first. Claude shifted on the bed, trying to get more comfortable. "Ashton and I first met on Expel because we'd both heard about a pair of demon dragons inhabiting some mines," he explained. "He was already fighting them by the time I got there, so, umm..." He ducked his head, looking a bit sheepish now. "Rena and I decided it'd be a good idea to cheer him on, but then Ashton turned around and told us we were distracting him." Claude sighed, rubbing the side of his head. "And that was when the dragons decided to possess his body."
He remembered Ashton had told Guy that Claude was responsible for getting him possessed, but neither of them had gone into details. It was probably about time for his friend to finally hear all that, just so he had the full story.
"Needless to say, he was pretty upset about it," he continued. "He held me accountable for what happened to him and insisted I do everything I could to take responsibility for it."
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He had to admit that meeting because of hearing about some dragons was kind of odd, seeing how they weren't exactly the kindest of creatures -- at least not in Guy's experience. And, as it turned out, it seemed like Ashton had been in it for the fight. It was odd to think that the man was the type who enjoyed that sort of thing when he thought about it on a surface level, but Guy remembered almost as quickly the conversation he'd had with Ashton about different sword styles. Clearly it was something Ashton was interested in, so maybe he'd been using the dragons to test his skill level.
The rest of Claude's story seemed normal enough, up until the word "possess" got tossed in there. Guy's eyes widened for a moment as he stared at his friend. It was a detail that Guy had almost forgotten, seeing how he'd never known Ashton that well in the first place. While Claude seemed to be sort of embarrassed about the whole thing (guilty, maybe?), he was also acting like that sort of thing was normal.
Guy had never heard of dragons doing that sort of thing in Auldrant, but...
"Huh. So you guys definitely didn't start out as friends, then." Maybe that was where the point of contention started. On the other hand, Claude and Ashton had clearly been close when Guy had seen them interacting here in the institute, so he was still failing to understand where the confusion between them came from.
"So what made the shadow say what it did?" he decided to ask, not knowing if he'd get all the details unless he did. He had already told himself that he needed to pay his own dues when it came to long explanations once this was over, and he would.
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He could understand why Guy would want him to just get to the point already, but Claude knew he needed to give more clarification in order to fully explain where the discrepancies between them came from. It also helped shed some light on the background between him and Ashton. So, in that sense, he felt like he was killing two birds with one stone.
"You see, we never found a way to exorcise the dragons without killing them," Claude explained. "Rather than having to watch them die, Ashton seemed willing to live with them forever, even though it was hard for him." It probably didn't help that some of their friends had made him feel guilty for even considering it, though there was no doubt that Gyoro and Ururun had also become comrades of theirs during the battles they fought together.
"But he and I became close. After our journey was over, I told him I'd stay with him until we discovered a safe method to separate the dragons from his body," he continued. "My final moments before coming here were with Ashton. We were preparing to start our new quest together." He couldn't quite hide the troubled expression on his face. "At least, that's how I remember things."
Claude met Guy's eyes, wondering how all of this was going to sound to him. "Suddenly, I woke up here. Ashton had already been trapped for awhile, and Landel had somehow gotten rid of the dragons himself. Except, Ashton sounded surprised that I'd wanted to keep trying to find a way to free him. He thought I'd already made plans to run off with my friend Rena...and said that there was no need to travel with me once we escaped from the institute."
Frowning, he looked down at his own shoes. "But Ashton and Dias..." And it was here that he hesitated, unsure of whether he ought to go on. The shadow made a point about how pathetic this all sounded, and he imagined it wouldn't come across any differently to Guy.
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Guy could only imagine how difficult living with that kind of burden, both physical and mental, had been for Ashton. Even though he didn't know the man that well, it had seemed to him like he'd made the best of it, and he'd certainly come out of the experience all right; it hadn't wrecked him, in other words, which was good to know.
Honestly, he wasn't surprised to all to hear that Claude had dedicated himself to helping Ashton, setting aside his return to home and everything else for the sake of his friend. It was that kind of thing that made him realize even further how serious Claude had been when he'd said that he'd help him get his memories back, and the thought was enough to bring a small smile to his face.
However, as the younger man continued to explain, it became clear that they were reaching the troubling part of the story, as Ashton hadn't remembered that promise at all. More than that, Dias got brought up, which only further complicated matters. Guy ran a hand through his hair, but managed to suppress a sigh, at the least. None of it sounded very good, but he didn't need to make Claude feel worse about all this.
As for Dias and Ashton, he'd gotten the feeling that there was something going on between them. It'd been hinted at before, and more than that, the fact that Dias had forgotten Ashton spoke volumes on its own.
"Did they seem closer than you remembered?" he asked, wanting to help Claude along if he needed it. He honestly didn't know what all of this meant, nor how to help, but at this point he might as well hear the whole thing.
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Sure, they'd fought alongside each other back when they were trying to repel that demon invasion, but Dias never accompanied them during their sorcery globe investigation. At least, not as far as Claude knew. Was there a chance that his recollections were the screwy ones? His shadow apparently thought so.
"But to Ashton, they were good friends, so he had no problem sticking with Dias once he got here," Claude quietly added. "By the time I arrived, they were...close." And while 'close' entailed a lot of things, Claude didn't feel at liberty to go into all the details right then. Neither Ashton nor Dias were around, for one thing, and it felt a little too much like gossiping for his liking. Not only that, but it didn't relate to the point he was trying to make.
Claude sighed, wishing more than anything that his comrades were still around. Now wasn't the time to get bogged down by those sorts of feelings, though, and so he pressed on with his story.
"It was pretty obvious they intended to stay together if they ever got out of here." Neither of them had outright told him so, but then, they probably would have known better than to advertise something like that -- or even fully commit to it, seeing how difficult it was to escape in the first place. Claude frowned as he recalled what ultimately became of them. "But when Ashton disappeared and came back a second time, he didn't remember what happened in Landel's, and he didn't keep any of his old memories of Dias, either. Instead, he claimed he'd been traveling with a different friend of ours, and that Leon and I were about to leave Expel together."
His gaze shifted away for a second, and his expression darkened. "That was the day I found out Dias had lost most of his Ashton-related memories as well."
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From what Guy could ascertain when he read between the lines of what Claude was saying, it seemed to him that he'd ended up feeling pretty left out when he'd realized that the other two were far closer than he remembered. Granted, Guy had a hard time imagining Dias being close to anyone, but there were certain people who were able to make those reserved types come out of their shell; maybe Ashton had been one of those.
Still, Guy could imagine what it had felt like to Claude. He knew it would have been weird if he'd come to Landel's only to find that Luke and Jade were best friends -- or even worse, Luke and Asch. While the latter would have been a good thing when it came down to it, it still would have left him feeling displaced and probably a bit jealous. He was the one who'd put so much time into helping Luke, after all.
In the end, though, it seemed that Landel had decided that he wanted to take what Dias and Ashton had had and tear it apart. Though now that Guy thought about it, with the way that Claude described it... It all seemed very deliberate, didn't it?
"Maybe Landel realized the discrepancy between the three of you and decided to correct it," Guy suggested with a frown, not liking the implications much himself. "I don't know why he decided that Dias and Ashton shouldn't be friends, but... it does seem weird that he'd go to so much effort without a reason." Then again, if Ashton had thought that he'd been traveling with a different friend, then that didn't match up with Claude's story either, did it?
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