Leo ~ [004]

[disruptstatice]

Who: disruptstatice and Somarium
Where: Espoir village -> main city
Style: Either, but prose is love
Status: Opeeen
Note: He's from late PH canon and it's quite spoiler-y, so if you really care about that I'd suggest not tagging this.

Comments

This post has been ruined by the letter T :|

[unsureazure]

Feeling Vanessa's resistance to being pinned down, she increases her strength in pushing the woman back on the ground. Ugh, this was starring to become a bigger mess than it already was? Why did it have to all accumulate to Elliot's sister trying to kill his best friend, with said best friend practically letting her? Briefly, Noel was reminded of those lectures about self-sacrifice, and how he hated such a concept. And these people, who were supposedly closest to Elliot, were just trampling all over his beliefs. The beliefs of one of the greatest friend she had. The beliefs of the first person she fell in love with.

Noel gritted her teeth. These people. Thesepeoplethesepeoplethesepeople. Why did they have to be such idiots?! The cool flow that used to ebb within her brain at these times began to stiffen and crack. What was this feeling that could break Bolverk's control on her emotions? Noel figured it out. Ah, yes. This was... anger. It was one of the rare occassions that Noel lost her almost infinite patience.

"Do you think Elliot would be okay with you doing this?!" she snapped, her expression livid. "He wouldn't forgive you, and you know it!"

Her glare switches its focus to the boy lying on the ground. Not only was Noel angry, she was disappointed.

"And you! What were you thinking, Leo?!" Even Noel herself was surprised by the volume of her voice. "That you deserved this too?! Elliot would be pissed if he saw you right now!"

As those words left her mouth, a thought came to Noel: Maybe... Maybe she was the idiot for trying to uphold a dead man's beliefs.

*Doesn't get it, but okay* |D

[disruptstatice]

The glare that he can barely see through his hair startles him, because he has never seen Noel... angry? It's a bit like that, along with her words, make something snap, tug him back down a little.

He did think he deserved that, but the part about Elliot, that stings and tears, makes something flash as well. Images, memories, of Elliot holding a blond boy, Oz, pressed to the wall and lecturing him for being self-sacrificial. And he can remember what Elliot said back then clearly.

"You know, you don't have a single clue about the pain of the people left behind!"

"People who think so lightly of their own lives, DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTECT ANYONE!"

"People who think so lightly of their own lives...!"

He has always tended to think that Elliot is just a bit of a hotheaded idiot and exaggerates things a little, when he starts going off like that. It's not that he doesn't take Elliot seriously, it's just...

He has never really thought of those words, of how he, in reality, is kind of like what pissed Elliot off about Oz. Looking at things like that...

Elliot would definitely be really mad.

But the thing is that... who does Leo have left that would be hurt--?

"You're my friend... Of course I'll be worried!"

Ah...

And Oz is here... Oz considers them friends, right? And maybe Leo does the same. There's Ada too... She would probably be upset. It doesn't really make him feel any better about any of it, but especially Oz is Elliot's friend and he would be angry if Leo hurt him in any way.

Wouldn't he? And for, well, thinking of letting himself die... because Elliot did. He thinks the circumstances are a bit... special? But...

Noel has a point.

Leo pushes himself up a little, swallows heavily over the lump in his throat.

[stfuelly]

He wouldn't forgive you.

No, Vanessa is well aware of just how attached Elliot was to this boy. How he'd denied even his father's request early on to find a new servant to stay at his side after he'd put it off for so long. How afterwards, Ernest and Claude had both attempted to find a way to do away with the child so that Elliot could have a capable servant - a lesser nobleman who understood what it was to protect and care for another human being rather than an orphaned fool who didn't understand dedication to a family the way that the Nightrays did. A person who could always value their master above themselves. How could this boy understand how important that was? Understand their status?

He never did, and, in Vanessa's opinion, doesn't now. Or else he would gladly insist on giving his life to repent for his misdeeds.

But Noel is right. She knows that Elliot wouldn't forgive her for killing him. Her little brother has always been more forgiving, understanding and kind than the rest of her brothers. He had been the only one to extend a hand to the Vessalius house and offer a truce of some kind. However...if that hand had never been extended, none of them would have been there that day. The Nightray line could still go on. But now they'd be left without an heir--

...All of the children are dead. The family line is gone now. The other noble houses back home would no longer have to deal with the "traitorous" duke house of Nightray. In the end, despite Elliot's best attempts, that's still all they were.

She closes her eyes and lets her body go limp, still breathing hard and strained, but no longer fighting against Noel. There's nothing and no one left to fight for anymore.

[unsureazure]

Noel did not expect the wave of silence that resulted from her outburst. If anything, when she came to her senses, she thought that it would've made things worse. Vanessa had stopped struggling, so after a few moments of confirmation, Noel released her hold on the woman and got off her. After she stood up, she made the motion to brush the dirt off her skirt in reflex, though it really did nothing with all the mud and grime she had been exposed to during work. Her lowered gaze went from Vanessa, then to Leo. After that, up towards the sky. A vast blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds, almost cushioning their Queen, the Sun. It was a beautiful sky. And at this moment, the fact it was beautiful made it the most ugly sight Noel had seen in her life. Elliot was dead. But the world kept going.

She pulls in a small, but deep breath.

"... This isn't what Elliot would want," she felt weary... All this stress was taking a toll on her. "If you both really are close to him, then please... Respect his beliefs."

[disruptstatice]

Respect Elliot's beliefs...

Leo wants to, he really wants to, but it's so... so hard. He can't just settle into something like that, he can't, and he doesn't feel like he has any real right to follow the beliefs of someone he has ruined, led to his death.

Elliot would surely not like that either.

He lowers his head, swallows. Still, he knows one thing he can do; not die. He can do that. So he nods, lightly, but doesn't move otherwise.]

[stfuelly]

It takes her another moment before she sits up and then rises to her feet, legs shaking slightly from the adrenaline starting to wear off. As angry, depressed and hurt as she is, she only glares at Leo's head, her hands still twitching to rip it from his body in retribution for her fallen brothers and for herself, but she doesn't step towards him again.

"Neither of you...neither of you should be allowed to even attempt to understand the beliefs that Elliot upheld," she spits, shaking her head as she turns to leave. She's not sure that she'll be able to cry openly and genuinely for her brother right now, but if she does, she doesn't want to have these pathetic idiots see her.