damned_institute | Nightshift 42: Twin Pines Rooftop

Entry tags:

kratos,
stahn

Nightshift 42: Twin Pines Rooftop

[from here]

Once he was on the roof, Kratos exhaled slowly. They were safe for the moment on the roof, although he couldn't afford to relax: they had no control whatsoever over what happened inside the restaurant, and judging by the bright flames issuing from a store in the distance, that meant another possible mad dash for safety in the near future. That was of course assuming the zombies didn't get onto the roof first, but Kratos doubted they had that sort of coordination.

He turned to find Stahn. "Are you alright? We still haven't seen any sign of Leon..."

Now was a good time to pause, gather their thoughts, and plan their next move. Objective number one would probably be finding their friend; after that, Kratos wasn't so sure. He was hardly in the mood for playing the hero.

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"Yeah..." Stahn looked out, but it was hard to pick out individual people, especially since when he looked for Leon he had to actively remind himself not to search for the outfit he was used to. "Dammit. At least when he wears that flowy light purple cape he's easy to find at a distance, but without it we're going to have the worst time spotting him."

He was silent for a while (probably not long enough in Kratos' opinion) before he said, "It's weird that he hasn't just shown up--on our first journey together he always did, because he could track us through these tiaras we had. But I guess he'll find us eventually, up here." If they could stay long enough, and if he could get around well enough to search for them.

Dammit, Leon--! You better be okay.

Kratos looked out over the town and then back at Stahn. "Has it ever crossed your mind that perhaps he wouldn't want to find us?" There was no hint of sarcasm or annoyance; this was in its entirety a sincere question. Leon surely had other acquaintances to team up with - ones who were probably less irritating, judging by his tastes - and if so, why the certainty? There was some piece that he was lacking, some part of the story that he had yet to be told. "And what do you mean, 'tiaras'?"

Well, one had to start somewhere.

"Not really..." Leon didn't exactly make friends easily, and Stahn didn't remember hearing about other allies.

He couldn't help but look sheepish at the question. "When we got sent off with Leon--it was by order of the king--he wasn't willing to trust us since he'd heard of Rutee and we'd all just been arrested, so we had shock tiaras forced on us; that way he could always find us, and he could just press a button to give any of us a bad shock. We... didn't get off to a great start."

"Mm..." Being able to trust that easily and expect the same in return - it was something he lacked. It must be nice. But Kratos knew Leon, and knew that the young man wasn't too far off from himself: distant and far more willing to work on his own than with others.

"So he was sent to observe you only - and probably told not to get attached," Kratos observed. It was a similar situation to his own during the journey of regeneration, minus the shock tiaras. "And how did this managed to get reversed?"

"We grew on him a little. Went through a lot together, and all... he never admitted he liked us and was always being insulting, but one guy we met said that Leon insults people more when he likes them, and Leon told him to shut up, so..." Stahn half-smiled. "He wouldn't say anything, but I bet he never said anything to Marian, either, and it was obvious she was like family or something to him.

"Anyway, he eventually stopped being so bossy--started letting us go off on our own and stuff like that. The first time he told Rutee, the one he trusted the least, to go off if she wanted without adding any threats I had to check if he had a fever." He figured he didn't need to add it HADN'T been appreciated!

Kratos nodded absentmindedly. "Yes, people can change like that..." He looked at Stahn. "Most of the time they barely realize it too until someone mentions it." No one liked change; it was probably why people always denied it ever occurring. What change meant was that whatever you were doing to begin with, it wasn't enough.

His commentary finished, Kratos continued in his quest for information. "I digress. So about Leon - why was he observing you in the first place? To keep your little group out of trouble or for, say, some mission?" Officials using criminals to do their dirty work: he'd heard of that one before.

"Both, I guess. We were sent after the Eye of Atamoni, a giant Lens, because it had been stolen--it's really powerful, so we had to keep it quiet. The king didn't seem to mind trusting us, but Leon sure did." Stahn shrugged; maybe Leon's presence was why the king figured he didn't need to worry much. Then again, Leon didn't trust easily in general, and it had been obvious he resented being sent with the group. Not that Stahn knew why; wasn't it better than staying with Hugo?

He fell silent for a moment, looking out over the hordes of zombies in the streets. "Damn, I hope he's okay," he murmured.

"Ah. That's interesting." It was clear, however, that Kratos's attention was diverted elsewhere: just under the roof there were already cracks in the ground appearing where zombies would soon arise. "Incidentally, if we ever decide to descend from here, it's going to be rather tricky." Hands were already emerging from the soil.

"And to reiterate, I'm sure Leon is fine. He can hold his own." Plus the boy was not so stupid as to throw himself into deliberate danger.

"Yeah, but..." Stahn said, troubled. "He's probably terrified. I mean, he doesn't scare easy, but the last time we saw him..." He fell silent, not sure if he should go on. Leon wouldn't want his issues shouted from the rooftops, but telling one person wasn't the same, especially since this might convince Kratos to go look for him.

Admittedly, he wasn't sure he wanted to go tearing off into the night, himself (as Dymlos would have pointed out, getting themselves killed didn't do Leon any good), but if this place wasn't going to be safe to escape from soon, they should run while they could, right?

Kratos gave Stahn a swift look. "What do you mean?" Stahn's unwillingness to say anything further slightly disturbed him - especially since this was Stahn. It meant that whatever he'd been about to say, it was extremely private business. "Actually - don't tell me unless you think it'll change our circumstances." The zombies were not quite unearthed; if they had to move, now was the time.

"It might," Stahn said quietly; honestly, he wasn't sure. "I told you about how when he died, someone else found him after, but... it wasn't anyone we would've wanted to. Because Kronos, the guy who was behind everything we'd gone through... raised him. Like... this." He was looking down towards the street, so he figured he didn't need to clarify.

"It didn't last long, but I don't think that matters, much." He wasn't about to add that they'd taken Leon down; that part still hurt too much to talk about.

First the revelation that Leon was dead, and now the add-on that the boy was also a zombie? That was a bit too much. Kratos looked from the decaying corpses below to Stahn and then back to the zombies. "Leon resembled...that?" He pointed slowly toward one of the things. "Truly?"

This did change things somewhat, although it wasn't enough for Kratos to demand a plunge into action: it was more disturbing than motivational. "You might have had a point earlier," he said quietly, "but then again, perhaps not. Leon might have been taken from a time before his" - Kratos coughed - "transformation, in which case he wouldn't know about it."

Stahn shook his head, grimly. "I mentioned it and he snarled at me. He wasn't a zombie long, at least, because we..." He couldn't finish. "Still. Even seeing it was bad enough. Living through it..." When he realized what he'd said, he laughed bitterly--a lot like Leon had, really, the last time they saw him alive. "Or not, really."

When he thought back to it all, he'd honestly all but forgotten the betrayal; Leon had been forced into what he did. What came to mind now was how little they'd been able to do for Leon, in the end. They'd saved Marian, at least, and he knew his friend was glad for that much. But he still wished they'd been able to save at least one more life.

"Oh." And for several seconds, that was all Kratos could say. He'd been a generally lifeless being himself for a while (if one counted several millenia as "a while"), but at least he hadn't been rotting or brain-dead. No, it was hardly the same.

"But at least you saved him from having to maintain that sort of forced existence," the older man said, looking off into the distance. Stahn hadn't finished his sentence, but Kratos was good enough at reading between the lines to understand what he had stopped himself from saying.

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Nightshift 42: Twin Pines Rooftop

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