Mar 02, 2009 04:24
The Head Doctor seemed a little rushed as he spoke on the intercom, not taking as much pleasure as he usually did in describing the delicious food that would soon be served
(
Read more... )
methos,
tsuchimiya kagura,
s.t.,
klavier,
kagura,
batman,
intercom,
tsubaki,
kaiji,
anise,
snake,
teisel,
impulse,
tony castaway,
ken amada,
sam winchester,
wolfram,
indiana jones,
utena,
allen,
seiya,
asch,
demyx,
zex,
suzaku,
angel,
peter parker,
luxord,
shinichi,
mello,
hikaru,
brainiac 5,
the flash,
takasugi,
albedo,
blue beetle,
van,
peter petrelli,
mele,
soma,
elena (ffvii),
two-face,
porky,
akihiko,
the scarecrow,
ayumu,
honey,
daphne,
juri,
alec,
kratos,
tony stark,
ronixis,
endrance,
kenshin,
dairine,
senna,
adelheid,
hanatarou,
alexander conklin,
sora,
bourne,
jason,
yahiko,
evangeline,
luffy,
naoto shirogane,
junpei,
renamon,
claude,
keman,
kristoph,
haruno sakura,
superboy,
javert,
joshua,
shikamaru,
harley,
dean winchester,
beyond birthday,
grell,
hanekoma,
guy,
emmett,
kvothe,
diego,
kio,
armand,
hinamori momo,
nigredo,
claus,
vlad,
lelouch,
chise,
yomi,
fai,
yue,
sheena,
beatrix,
falis,
ophelia,
gin,
sanzo
Or sweets. Or anything like that for that matter. But it didn't matter now. That was behind him. Whether or not Albedo left this playground, he was not returning to the Yuriev Institute. That place was gone from his life. Like other things surely were.
A twinge of rememberance, some kind of drifting thought that asked how he was so thoroughly distracted. He had a brother here, and a twin as well. One to torment and one to torture (but was that really what he--), and he had planning to do. He glanced back at the notebooks with something like longing for a brief second. He wished he could spend the night going through Angel's notebook, and filling up space in his own.
But a call was too insistent in his mind, too sweet to resist. If nothing more, Albedo needed to gain use of his abilities tonight, and for that Nigredo must suffer until he relinguished the hold he held on the white-haired Variant. Albedo would settle for nothing less. The slower healing of the telomerase was unsettling.
The doors hadn't opened yet, so there was no reason to ignore the friendly person in front of him. Albedo was soaking up kindness like the sun's rays, trying to make up for the years of lack. There was a pause as he watched the door, thinking. Then he looked back at Hikaru with a small grin. "Albedo. It looks like we are. How long have you been here?"
Reply
"Nice to meet you, Albedo. Or...well, not exactly nice, but you know what I mean." He gave the kid a self-deprecating grimace. "It's nice meeting you. Just not under these circumstances. I wouldn't wish this place on anybody, which is saying something. I've been here...almost a month, I think. Longer than a lot of people. I hate it here. My brother and I...we're trapped here, and we're useless. Nothing we ever did before we came here could've prepared us for this place."
Reply
He would have continued asking more detailed questions here, but again something pulled him short, making him draw his brows together. "You have family here, too?"
Reply
Hikaru rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Uh...yeah. My twin brother, Kaoru. You too, huh?"
Reply
"Twin brother?!" Albedo blurted. "My... I have a twin, too. He's... here. And my..." The boy made a face. "Little brother, too." He hadn't ever met anyone that was a twin before. Albedo had thought that Rubedo and him were the only ones.... Like everything else today, it filled him with excitement. Someone else knew what it was like.
Maybe. Maybe the kind of bond that was between them was amphlified by being a URTV. He couldn't know. But just the same, maybe Hikaru understood.
Reply
Right?
...Oh, that was a coincidence. Hikaru blinked, wondering if they'd planned it like that. Two different twins, forced to room together. "I'm sorry," he said genuinely. "I'm sorry that your brothers have to be here too. I'd give anything to see Kaoru get back home, even if it means I stay here." Why was he opening up so much to this kid? It seemed so odd. And yet, he needed to talk. And Albedo was a twin too, so he'd know what Hikaru was talking about, right?
The Host smiled a little. "Are you two identical or fraternal? You and your twin, I mean."
Reply
And here the two differed. Albedo was estatic his brothers were here. It meant he would have oppertunities with them that he would have otherwise missed--for good or bad. He was always a selfish creature--especially when it came to his twin. "I'm not sorry. We were separated. Now I can see them again." See them, play with them, torment and torture. Maybe Rubedo would come around, admit his wrongs if Nigredo was out of the picture. But should Albedo forgive him even so? Probably not. He should try to stick with his original plan.
The words confused him for a moment, his mind opening his science class memories. Those classes had at least been a little more interesting. Fraternal or identical didn't exactly fit them though. He supposed that was because of him. "We're identical. But our hair and eyes are different colors." He focused more on this, and less on what had happened before. "And what about you? Are you identical twins?" he asked excitedly.
Reply
Twelve. Hikaru sighed, staring down at his lap. Albedo was twelve, and he was acting like he was perfectly calm here and talking about war like it was nothing. What was wrong with the kid? What had happened to him to make him so blase about it all?
"Separated? I...I'm sorry." Hikaru knew what that was like. Sort of. It was his biggest fear, being separated from Kaoru. It was bad enough that they hardly ever saw each other in this place. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to be separated full time...
"Uh...we're identical too. How can you be identical, if your hair and eyes are different colors? I'm sorry, but the definition of identical twins is that they're...you know, identical."
Reply
Separated. Such a calm word to describe what happened. Back then everything was chaos--loud and harsh, quick and brutal, laced with fear, hatred, loss, and betrayal. It was all quick. Much too fast, much too soon. Looking back... Albedo could pleasantly detach himself from the memories as it were, pumped full of U-DO from that one taste that everything was separated as through a film. Nothing mattered. Everything mattered.
Albedo blinked once, then raised his arm up to scratch at his face. Rubedo and his bond wasn't something he spoke about to just anyone, and the reasoning behind their physical bond was something spoke of in hushed tones. But the attraction of another set of twins hadn't worn off yet, and even as he contemplated the torture of his younger sibling, Albedo was still entranced by the kindness shown to him by two strangers. So he spoke bluntly, albeit hesitantly.
"We were... conjoined. Attached at the back." Meant to be one person, meant to have a stronger bond. "And... I don't know." He didn't actually. All of the Variants had different colored hair and eyes, even though they all looked the same. Some scientists muttered about albinism, but half of what they said turned out to be false in Albedo's mind. "We're designer children," he ended up saying. "We're genetically altered, so that might be why. Or maybe... something like an albino? I don't like sunlight, but neither does my younger brother and he has black hair."
Black to red, Nigredo. Albedo would have to see if he could change the color that poured out of the younger's skull.
Reply
Designer kids though? That was...horrible and impossible and yet the way Albedo was talking about it, it was hard not to believe it. Hikaru stared at the kid, visibly disturbed and distressed by this new revelation. "That's...why? Why would they do that? That's horrible!"
Reply
An enemy that would taint Albedo with inspiration and illumination; truth and despair, enlightenment and sorrow.
They were never meant to win against it. They were to be sacrifical lambs, led to the slaughter, dragged there by the one that mattered most. Most precious.
By now Albedo's face had effectively closed down, leaving nothing on the surface as a tell. His gaze slid to the side, focusing on something and nothing. Anything but the past. Not right now, when he was trying to focus on a different brother, on hate instead of pain.
He stayed silent, looking off to the side, before asking quietly, "Your brother's name is Kaoru?" That was obvious, Hikaru had said as much before, but Albedo wasn't social enough with others to make a smoother transition.
Reply
"Yeah," he replied, smiling a little, "Hitachiin Kaoru. I'm fifteen minutes older than he is."
Reply
And that in itself was new. He didn't delve too far into it.
Albedo would remember the name, give the boy courtesy if he met him because of his brother, instead of writing him off like all of the others. Albedo nodded carefully. "Rubedo's older, too. And he's bossy enough for it."
He concentrated on the before memories: before U-DO, before learning he couldn't die, before Sakura, before everything had shattered. Those times before weren't perfect, but looking back for moments at a time showed that they were something to remember (something to let fester with resentment)--something like a dream.
Though Albedo's answer was mild and seemed normal enough, his face was still a little off, an obvious sign that there was more involved than what he cared to share.
Reply
Leave a comment