damned_institute | Day 39: Intercom, Evening

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Day 39: Intercom, Evening

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.

"Hello, everyone! Tonight is turkey night, which means turkey breast in a great turkey gravy with some nice turkey sides: peas, herb potatoes, a small garden salad, and for dessert, a slice of pumpkin pie. We of course have vegetarian substitutes available, as well as our usual assortment of drinks.

"...I believe that's it! I'll talk to you soon!"

The intercom clicked off abruptly.

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"Twelve," he answered seriously. URTVs were trained to handle all of the aspects of a war, and he knew how to take care of himself... even if he'd rather Rubedo do-so.

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.

[Really sorry about the wait! Backthreading is go for a few rounds? :D]

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."

[and sorry as well. backthreading is go. ^^]

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.

Now, conjoined twins Hikaru could deal with. It happened all the time. Well, no, not really, but there were always a new set of Siamese twins getting separated (and too often, with tragic results) on the news. He'd always watched those stories rather closely, even if he didn't openly admit it to anyone other than Kaoru.

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!"

Why? Why? For war of course, but that wasn't what Hikaru was asking. He was really asking how. How could someone do that? What would be the justification? The answer was the same. For war. To win. To create weapons that could fight an undefeatable enemy. That they wouldn't win against anyway. That would kill them all because of Rubedo. Except for Nigredo.

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.

From the way Albedo's expression seemed to close off, Hikaru could tell that the kid wasn't entirely comfortable with this line of questioning. So when Albedo tried to change the direction of the conversation, Hikaru let him.

"Yeah," he replied, smiling a little, "Hitachiin Kaoru. I'm fifteen minutes older than he is."

Something larger than relief swept over Albedo for a moment--if the boy knew a word to describe it, it would have been gratitude. But the Variant wasn't familiar with things such as that, and so Albedo simply relaxed somewhat.

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.

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Day 39: Intercom, Evening

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