The undiscover'd country

[maddeninghatter]

Date & Time: Backdated to the evening of May 21st
Location: Room 403
Characters: Xerxes Break, Gilbert Nightray, Oz Vessalius
Summary: Fallout
Warnings: None

[ This time yesterday, there had been brightness and giggling in Room 403. The air had been fragrant with the aromas of tea brewing and tarts baking. Such simple self-deception on the part of all parties: life during wartime.

Now this room is dark; nothing but dreadful stillness within. No cheerfulness, no warm familiarity, no pretty fiction that this might be some simulacrum of home. It's cold like a tomb, and quiet.



…apart, that is, from the soft sound of chewing. ]

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[retraced]

[The walk home is one of the longest and heaviest that probably either of them has ever experienced.

Gilbert can still feel where his hand had ached earlier, the seal straining against the power that Oz had been exerting with his Chain. He hasn't asked any questions about that, but since his young master doesn't have any obvious bloody holes in him, it's probably best not to prod. It's what he did say upon returning to the Hold that has forced this heavy weight on top of them.

Xerxes Break was killed on the battlefield.

Gilbert knew that someday Break would finally die. Just a few months ago he'd even proclaimed for everyone to hear, "As for myself, I won't last another year." But he'd only just saved his life at Yura's, given him another chance to reach his goal, whatever the hell it really was. To die in a place like this...it wasn't fair to him. Someone like Break deserved better than this.

This burns through his chest the same way that Elliot's death had. As much as he'd like to promise himself that if Elliot were able to reappear here, then Break would too, he can't let that thought settle into my head and calm his heart even the slightest bit. He can't swallow past the painful lump in his throat, and he doesn't dare speak as he and Oz walk back to the apartment complex. He only rests a hand on Oz's shoulder and steers him the right direction.]