Day 40: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]
Well, that was... special. No wonder he was losing respect for this place--the fearful Martin Landel was coming undone, most probably with boredom. So scary. Even Nursey seemed a little exasperated, though that most likely had more to do with X's constant insistence to stay in the Sun Room rather than go inside the Greenhouse
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His nurse had tried to get him outside into the greenhouse, but Angel managed to convince her the Sun Room was where he needed to be. He hadn't minded the greenhouse the last time he'd been out there; he'd kept a garden for awhile there in Sunnydale, but that was largely because he'd...liked the way it made the place look. And because Dru had insisted on it. It seemed a bit pointless to plant flowers here.
He sat on one of the couches. He'd planned on sitting only, but his nurse popped up and shoved a book into his hands with a smile that was both gratingly bright and suggested that he wasn't going to get away with refusing the book.
Angel took it and flipped it over to the front cover. ( ... )
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Away from his brothers, where his own prying eyes couldn't see them, his overconfidence and hostility slid away to be replaced by fatigue and anxiety. And what had been the point in that? From whatever standpoint he chose to have at the moment, approaching Nigredo was a poor decision, and made him question his actions. Was the youngest truly only a distraction? Albedo couldn't handle watching Rubedo interact with another again, and so he went to Nigredo, who in turn sparked Albedo's hatred, taking his mind off of his love for another.
A muscle in his neck jumped.
No. No, he knew Nigredo was wrong, needed to be nullified, and after that, he would.... Would what? What would he do after?! How could he ( ... )
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Surprised, he blinked and closed his book, brows furrowed slightly as he glanced over. "Are you all right?"
He didn't know what was going on, but a part of him did not actually find Albedo's state of mind unexpected. It'd been clear from the first moment Angel had spoken to the boy that the kid wasn't the most stable head out there. If he had to admit, that had been part of why he'd been drawn to Albedo initially.
Albedo still had the notebook, too. Or, notebooks. It seemed he'd obtained another one. Angel knew he'd been in awe of the item, but he hadn't realized how much until now. It was...concerning, in a sense.
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So, obviously Albedo was upset about...something. Should he ask? Yeah, he identified with Albedo in some ways, saw parts of those he used to know in him in other ways, but that didn't still help him know what to do next.
He kind of wished he was better at this. These situations cropped up more often than he expected. And it made him wonder what had happened that had made Albedo like this. He didn't mean who had upset him; he meant just...overall. Was it someone in particular or just circumstances in general?
Because it could certainly be someone. Angel knew all too well how easy it was to singlehandedly drive person insane. Drusilla wasn't the first nor the last. Maybe that was why he wanted to help the boy here, right now, and he wasn't sure if he should hate himself or not for apparently having ulterior motives; motives that, if he stopped to think about it, he knew had always been there in ( ... )
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Albedo took some odd kind of strength from this silent presence next to him, attempting to still at least his waveform to a point where his dear brothers wouldn't be able to tell something was wrong. Still--calm was far too away from him. His brothers?! The yet-to-be-murderous favorite still masquerading as a lamb--the most beloved twin who ripped everything away with his own hands. And Albedo was to be calm? Not to alert them to his plight? He was sickeningly reminded of muffling tears at night as not to wake them up. He would have rathered them wake! Rathered them come to him, caring, instead of peacefully sleeping, dreaming of inner ( ... )
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Oh. Damn.
He'd forgotten about that. Then again, most people didn't hold onto him long enough--or even at all--to realize that he was lacking something fairly important to most living beings.
He hesitated. There was no way he was going to tell Albedo what he was exactly, but there was no point in denying that he wasn't quite human. Something told him that Albedo wouldn't be too concerned about that, anyway.
"No," he admitted, finally tugging his wrist gently from Albedo's grasp. "No, I don't."
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"Uh." He scratched the back of his neck absently and put the book he'd forgotten he was still holding.
That was a difficult question. Technically, he wasn't even really alive, but a stake to the heart could dispatch him. It wasn't something he wanted to explain in full, though. Albedo knowing he was different was one thing, but bringing in the part about vampires was a whole other issue.
"It depends," he replied. "I guess I'm just harder to kill."
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Albedo leaned forward a bit, eyes shining. "I'm hard to kill as well," the boy stage-whispered conspiratorially. He laughed again, before looking up. "Actually. I can't be killed. Or die."
The Variant's mind had divided violently at that. Part of him was extremely curious to see this man's--this heartbeat lacking, hard to kill, friend--reaction to what Albedo had just said. The other half had shied away instantly, fearing that that open knowledge would cause yet another to leave him. But this was not something he should hide. This was the... sign, as it were, that he was different. That he was set apart ( ... )
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Albedo had smelled off from the start, not quite human, but given this was the norm for most of the people he'd met here, Angel hadn't paid it much thought until now. Albedo had, after all, demonstrated his healing powers, but he hadn't realized it was something much more extreme. It wasn't that he could heal, it was that he simply couldn't remain injured.
Was he as young as he appeared, then? Or was he somehow older? If he couldn't die...
"Do you age at all?" Angel asked.
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Destruction? The word reminded him of Nigredo (reminded him of Rubedo), the only one who ever tried to destroy him. But no matter how many times the baby tried, complete destruction was not Nigredo's gift. That was reserved for another.
This was an old feeling to him, something contemplated long before U-DO took its hold, and frankly, it spoke of humanity more than any kind of divine attributes. But in this, they would be together!This was an old line of thought, with an older loneliness attached, and Albedo wouldn't go near it. He was not that insane to put a deep kind of faith in that hope. Death would cause him to ( ... )
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Well, that wasn't completely unexpected. Some people or creatures truly were one-of-a-kind, but more often than not, they were part of a larger group of...species, he supposed. For lack of a better term. And Albedo had stated he had family or those close to him, hadn't he? These others could very well be the people he'd been referring to at the time.
What was more interesting to Angel was that Albedo seemed to view the use of we as a mistake. Something he didn't want found out? Possibly. Considering where they were, extra caution was only reasonable, but it could be something more, as well.
Angel left it for now, deciding he could bring it up later if he had the chance.
"Telomerase?" he asked instead.
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Either way, it was interesting. Made him wonder if there was something to explain away the demon inside him. He hadn't ever thought about what rendered him incapable of aging.
And this was the first time he'd met someone else who didn't see immortality as a gift. Most vampires enjoyed their long life. More time to slaughter, after all. He had certainly enjoyed it once. But after, it was...
His lips quirked into a wry half-smile. "That makes two of us."
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There was something odd gracing Albedo's eyes--a weird mix of a deep pain and a bright hope, and the kind of look that one gives when they're expecting something bad, like being the punch-line in a joke. Because... a joke would make the most sense. Someone else... Someone else like him? Albedo couldn't think. Albedo couldn't breathe.
Being unable to die was a simple fact of life at first, until it was learned that everything else--everyone else (Rubedo)--would die. Everyone would die and leave him alone. Everything that mattered would fade into dust. And death was not even an option. Self-inflicted harm disappeared in seconds, and even U-DO didn't do much damage, and the boy thought that even if Sakura hadn't ( ... )
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