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“Zacharias, you... you came.”
The surprise in Alfonse's voice was as reserved as it was heartbreaking.
Bruno hesitated, considering just making a run for it – Alfonse wasn't likely to follow him, and the longer he stayed the more dangerous it would become. Already he could feel the pulling at the back of his mind, the black smoke of madness beginning to curl its tendrils around him like ivy. He couldn't stay here much longer.
But... It had been so long since he'd even heard Alfonse speak...
Bruno turned to the doorway.
There was Alfonse, standing at the mouth of the library. He hadn't even bothered to put on his armor, dressed only in his nightwear, his hair disheveled as if he'd just rolled out of bed and raced over. Even so, Bruno couldn't help but find it oddly charming that the prince had still managed to remember to grab Fólkvangr, which he held limply in one hand, its blue crystal glowing in the dim moonlight from the window.
Bruno's gaze flicked up to Alfonse's face, and the... relief he found there made his heart jump to his throat.
“... My apologies,” Bruno said, turning his gaze away. “I wasn't supposed to be here long enough for anyone to find me.” Immediately he began searching for an exit that didn't require going through Alfonse; the library itself was small, though, and he was sure the only way out was the door.
“I... was told I might find you here,” Alfonse said, replacing Fólkvangr in its sheath at his hip. He hesitated, and then stepped into the room fully, glancing behind him before easing the door shut.
For a moment, Bruno was surprised – how could he have possibly...?
Ah. He'd thought it odd that there would be crucial information he'd missed within the Queen's personal library; he'd been sure to scour the entirety of it in the days before he vanished from Alfonse and Sharena's lives the first time. Loki wasting my time once more, he thought, silently cursing himself.
And she'd apparently found entertainment in dragging Alfonse out of bed to catch him. He cursed himself silently; if he wasn't so desperate for any shred of a lead, he'd stop listening to that trickster entirely. Working with her was steadily feeling like purposely flipping a coin, one that was always weighted against his call.
Bruno took a few tentative steps towards Alfonse. “I was given a bad lead, there's nothing in here I need for my quest.” He needed to leave, as soon as possible. The longer he stayed in Alfonse's presence, the louder that discordant voice in the back of his head made itself; already it was rising to an unnerving whisper, inaudible but... maddening.
He could only fight it off so long.
Gesturing to the door, he said, “I should take my leave.”
Alfonse didn't budge. There was a soft, sorrowful kind of ambivalence coloring his expression as he looked at Bruno, staring at him with those dark blue eyes of his like he was wanting... something. When he looked away, it was only because his expression broke for the quickest of moments, as if he were fighting off his own heartbreak.
It took all of Bruno's strength to restrain himself from reaching out.
“So,” Alfonse finally said after an uncomfortable silence, his voice low and uncharacteristically strained, “You're... leaving, again.”
Bruno tried to keep the regret out of his voice as he replied, “Yes. I must.” The voices were beginning to fill his head like smoke, a soft, creeping fog that threatened to suffocate his true desires and replace them with the curse's own. “Please, step aside.”
Even so, Alfonse didn't move. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, and when he opened them Bruno could see newfound determination glowing within.
“Don't leave.”
Bruno felt his head beginning to pound, and he couldn't control the break in his voice as he firmly replied, “Alfonse, I... I can't. If I don't I'll-”
“I know,” Alfonse interrupted, closing the gap between them so they were barely inches apart. He looked up at Bruno, that conviction of his so strong, unyielding. “I know you say it's for my sake, for Sharena's sake, but, Zacharias... We're your friends. We can help you- you and Veronica. You don't have to do this alone.”
He swallowed hard, and a desperate pleading so unfitting of him broke into his voice as he continued, “The Order needs you, Zacharias; gods, I-”
Alfonse faltered, looking wholly surprised at himself; then, he let out a soft sigh and reached out, his fingers gently grazing Bruno's arm as he stepped ever closer.
“I need you.”
Bruno's heart felt like it was going to thump out of his chest.
“... Alfonse, I...”
An entire friendship's worth of repressed desire flooded through him, Alfonse's brief touch sparking something desperate and needy within him. Fighting through the rising cacophony in his head, he reached out, cupping his hand under Alfonse's jaw, his other finding a resting place at the curve of Alfonse's neck and shoulder. Alfonse seemed startled for just a moment; then, he leaned into Bruno's touch, closing his eyes as he gently grasped Bruno's wrist.
“Stay here,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Please.”
And for a moment, Bruno considered it. Everything in his being wanted it – oh, how desperately he wanted to stay. How he had never wanted to leave in the first place. If it hadn't been for the godsforsaken curse that flowed through his veins, he'd never would have left.
The voices were audible now. Loud. Violent. Coercive.
Kill him.
The order repeated (kill him) over and over and over (kill him), overtaking his (kill him) thoughts, supplanting his (kill him) own desire, over and over and over kill him kill him kill him kill-
The hand at Alfonse's neck tightened.
It would be so easy, so...
… satisfying-
“Zacharias?”
Bruno's gaze focused in front of him. Alfonse's eyes were open again, and he was staring up at Bruno, a serious look of concern on his face.
“What's wrong?”
All at once Bruno's clarity came back to him, and a burst of horror and disgust flared within him.
“I have to go,” he said hastily, pulling away from Alfonse entirely.
The prince looked equal parts stunned and upset, and he tried to reach out again, repeating, “Zacharias-”
Already Bruno could feel his fleeting lucidity being overtaken again. He couldn't stay, not now, not until this curse was ended for good. He was long past due to get as far away from Sharena, from Alfonse, from Askr itself as possible, and he knew that if something happened here now because of his brief flight of fancy, finding a way to break the curse wouldn't even matter anymore. There were many things in this world Bruno was willing to compromise, to gamble on.
Alfonse's life was not one of them.
“I'm sorry,” Bruno said, and the weight of those two words sank his heart. He shoved past Alfonse, tearing open the library door and taking off.
From behind him, he heard Alfonse one last time, his distress and confusion palpable as he shouted a final, desperate, “Zacharias!”
Bruno didn't look back.