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Dying is still the easiest thing to do. I imagine death as a kind, loving woman in white, with maternal tenderness and supernatural strength, lifting the dying man into her arms. He feels at this time an extraordinary lightness, it seems to him that he rises into the air and experiences true bliss… So little children fall asleep on the lap of a tender mother…
Evgeny Botkin. Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War
"V! V! "
Eduan – it's definitely him, only he smells like ice and the promise of a thunderstorm - holds him tight, shakes him, and keeps calling, more frantically with every word. Blood runs down his chin, over his lips, seeping through the cloth. V tries to open his eyes - the lids are heavy, as if they were filled with lead – and hoarsely catches the air, realizing with surprise that it is not enough.
"Why didn't you, silly, listen?!"
There's a lot V would like to tell him and explain why and what – he still remembers that tiny, bloody bundle in his hands – but the voice doesn't seem to belong to him anymore. Gustang promised, he said it would help Arlene… The blood is salty and somehow bitter. Viridian is suddenly afraid not to bleed out, but to suffocate from the fact that the moisture has flooded his throat with metal.
Blood, viscous blood everywhere as he's getting cold, his clothes and hands of Eduan, so he stood on a tiny body and white fabric.
Poor, poor child – he would have given his life for them, but it was never, never enough. Not for Arlen - good, sweet Arlen, not for his precious friends, not for this god-cursed Tower.
He can feel his body coughing and blood clogging his throat as he screams again, his fingers digging into his shoulders. Maybe it should hurt, but Viridian can't feel his own body. The dream beckons him, promising that it will all be over soon.
The he closes his eyes, feeling Eduan raises him from the ground – it almost feels that soars.
Aguero had never felt much love for his own family , which was as big as the sea and as cold. Nor did he have a tender relationship with his own mother – she was always busy fighting with others, and Aguero was less valuable in her eyes because he was not a girl and could not become Princess Zahard. It was then – after several years of study, constant training, and his sister's promotions, which Aguero had a hand in – that his mother finally found him useful. Always only useful, but not a favorite.
Their Father is an indifferent monster. He gathers people and treasures around him, and he doesn't care what anyone else feels. If Lord Hong has children to whom he pays special attention, then the head of the Khun family has no one. They are equally indifferent to him – and those who have achieved at least something are only valuable specimens, nothing more. Even for his many wives, to whom he gives children and allows the family to be torn apart, he has no special feelings – Aguero has never seen his father show tenderness or even affection for one of them.
However, to one treasure from his collection, Edward still shows interest. The only island of peace in the family, ready to cut each other in the struggle for power. Never in sight, always in the shadows, as if hiding from everyone, hiding his eyes behind dark strands streaked with silver gray.
Veritas.
«Hush, hush. It is all right, Aguero»
His voice is barely louder than the rustle of leaves, but his hands are so warm and soft. He is the ghost behind Khun Eduan's right shoulder, his permanent adviser. And at the same time, he brings comfort and care to his children, as if they are his own – sometimes Aguero, in moments of weakness, deliberately seeks his company just to feel needed for a while. Veritas hides in the shadows of the house, wrapping the frightened and weak in the skirts of his translucent cloak – a ghost, a spirit, a vague memory, somehow still walking among the living.
Veritas does not leave the floor – you can say that he never goes outside the house. The farthest he can go is the lake in the garden, where Aguero most often meets him, running away, not wanting to show his weakness to the others. Veritas does not judge him or instruct him – he speaks to the nm. Spoke as if he understands, like he knows all that Aguero going to tell him. And sometimes he pauses altogether, only stroking his blue curls almost weightlessly with her fingers, as if afraid of harming him. Aguero is not his only visitor, almost every one of Khun's children comes to the garden just to be in love and safety. Surprisingly, Veritas remembers them all by name – and never makes a mistake, although sometimes Aguero himself gets confused about his countless half-brothers and sisters.
He's the one who washes the first bloodstains off his hands and somehow looks like he's going to cry at any moment. This leaves Aguero into a stupor and he completely forgets about the fact that in the presence of other people – as it is always advised the mother not to let her guard down. So he lets himself be comforted, and even seems to cry. It's no big deal, Veritas won't give him away.
Aguero understands that this man is doing in this den of snakes. If he had had a choice, he probably wouldn't have stayed on this damned Floor and in this house covered in blood and lies. Perhaps it was indeed one of the items in Khun Eduan's collection – some poor wretch who had the misfortune to turn up at his side. A desperate debtor? Too bold a rival? Too kind?
Really too kind.
For a dead, V feels... too much. Too alive and too sick. Too tired.
It's hard for him to breathe deeply – he tries to feel his chest with his unruly hands, but can only lift his hand. A sharp pain pierces his being and his head becomes empty.
"Don't move, V, please lie still.
When the pain recedes slightly, Viridian winces and opens his eyes. Familiar - soft, cold, straight as rain - blue hair flowing over him. V wants to look at his face, but his eyelids are still as heavy as life itself.
"Ed... an..s ... an…"
"Be quiet. Don't strain yourself. Please, just stay where you are. "
Eduan never sounded when he spoke his voice was always full of laughter and joy. The most carefree of them all, the easiest to lift – now he speaks to Viridian as people speak to wounded animals. There's an indistinct edge to his voice that V can't quite understand.
"Just… Stay here. Everything will be better than it is now. "
One day , escaping from the unbearable general lessons – he already knows all this, he spends all day reading books, and at night his mother whispers to him about distrust – on a fishing trip, Aguero wants to visit him and goes to the place where Veritas likes to spend his time. But when he gets there, he freezes in place and sneaks to hide behind a tree.
The monster and ruler of this floor, the terrible and indifferent Eduan Khun, lies on the ground like a tired animal. His hair in disarray flow, getting tangled in the grass, a web of entwined with flowers – his head resting on the lap of another man. Veritas, still calm, pats him on the head.
They both look peaceful, as far as can understand Aguero. They even seem to be talking quietly, but their words are meaningless, seem insignificant and incomprehensible. Somehow, Aguero feels a vague jealousy, though, and doesn't understand why. Veritas leans over to Eduan closer and seems to be whispering something. Her dark, gray-streaked hair falls on the bluish silk of someone else's strands - and for some reason it looks beautiful.
Aguero considers this a few days – he's never seen my dad like that. He would forget that he would drop it, but suddenly, Aguero feels terrible offense. Not for myself. For Veritas.
He has long noticed that the head of the family values him as if he were the most important of his treasures. No matter how high one of the mothers stands, Veritas is always invisibly higher. Eduan Khun listens to him, though, and allows their wives to do whatever he pleases. Maybe Aguero have to use the word "love", but his tongue stumbles over the word, and his chest bubbling anger.
If his father really loved him, what was all this for? Why all these wives and children, who are only getting bigger every year – and doesn't Veritas feel like… Humiliated by all this? The way more and more women come into the house, as if he's going to make another collection, just of living people.
"Don't you feel good?"… How can you even stand him?
Veritas never shows his emotions, but from the way his fingers twitched in Aguero's hair, he's surprised by the question. Auguro not retreating – it should be such as to convey to the Veritas that he doesn't belong here. For him and for Maria – but if he could save Maria by raising her to the rank of Princess, then Veritas wasn't going anywhere. Then why, why is he so calm? Aguero understand it less.
"Aren't you offended?" Why are you ... messing with all of us? Aguero suddenly feels like a small child and turns away, not wanting Veritas to see his face. In some incredible way, he always knows what he thinks of Aguero, and Khun didn't want him to hear about his ridiculous jealousy.
A warm, narrow hand rests on his back, and Veritas holds him close, wrapping his cloak around him. Aguero pressed her forehead to his garments, and often, blinking again not to cry. He's exhausted – it's terribly hard, making plans, lying, pretending-especially when his mother looks at him with approval, thinking that he's doing all this for his sister. Kiseia adores her, ready to follow her into the fire and into the water. When she goes to clean up her rivals, there is a kind of primal lust in her eyes, she looks less and less like a man, and more and more like a beast.
"Don't cry," - Veritas whispers, stroking his head. Aguero breathing heavily, trying to recover himself, - "It is such a pathetic form of shelter."
He smells of rain and night wind. Aguero wants to sleep.
He sinks down beside her, not touching V – he can only feel the air swaying around him. Viridian feels nothing, he is empty. He was trying to reach out to Arlen, to feel the caress of her Shinsoo somewhere in the Tower. He can't leave this Floor, but still, if only he could touch her…
But she's gone, she's gone. Not dead, not back with the others, but gone. Gone, like the morning mist.
"I'm sorry, V," Edward still doesn't touch him, as if he respects his friend's right to grieve, " I... I didn't tell her, I didn't have time."
"This is not your fault, Eduan-San," – V responds, not too into thinking what he says. It's too painful to realize everything that's happened - "It's all my fault."
Eduan suddenly turns to him and hugs – so tight that V feels like he's got the shakes. Khun has never been like this before – Viridian closes his eyes wearily and leans his head on someone else's shoulder, as if giving up. He's not used to crying, but the tears come out of his eyes like raindrops.
"Stop taking all the blame. None of us are saints," - V feels his fingers tighten around the fabric of his robes, as if he's trying to say something. But the words have not come, and they sit in silence under a false sky.
Aguero’s plan is cursed. He exalts Maria, gives her a chance to break out of this snake's tangle and no longer participate in all these bloody intrigues – and with the same action, he destroys his own family. His sister breaks down, unable to admit defeat. In fact, she is weak – she only lived to become Princess Zahard. And when her goal was gone from under her nose, she just wasn't able to admit defeat.
"It's you, you killed her!"
Kiseia screamed and howled, struggling from the hands that held her. She looked more and more like a wild animal, and Aguero was sure that if she were released even for a moment, she would tear out his windpipe with her bare teeth. The mother still wore her cold mask, but even so, her eyes expressed everything. She is lost.
And Aguero understood that he had broken everything with his own hands for the sake of Maria alone. And he wasn't going to regret it.
Kiseia calms down only when Veritas comes, bringing comfort by his very presence. She is crying, the mother of Aguero looks at them with an ambiguous expression. Suddenly, Aguero feel ashamed and embarrassed, when he sees, but feels the gaze of Veritas.
Of course, everything ends as it should have ended. The branch of Agnis withers away from the main tree and soon Agero will be rejected by everyone. There is still anger in his chest, and a vague sense of betrayal – there is no word from Maria. He just hopes with the part of him that raised Veritas that she's okay.
Aguero decides to commit a daring crime – he needs money, he needs strength to survive, and he also wants to show his father... that it's all for a reason. To make him understand. To let him know that this is a challenge.
When he comes out of the treasury, Manbarondena pulls his hand away. He hid everything he could in it, and now it seems to weigh a ton. While Aguero translates the spirit of the corridor rustle steps. Khun draws his knife with a practiced movement and waits.
Veritas comes around the corner. Aguero down his knife and hides his eyes – he doesn't think he is able to inflict at least some damage, even if he was going to condemn him for theft and lead to the General court. The footsteps come closer – a warm hand on his hair.
"Come back as soon as you can."
Veritas is in mourning – for some reason he takes every death of a child to heart. Aguero still can't look him in the eyes and just enjoying the short arms.
"You look a lot like your father."
If someone else had said it, it would have sounded like an insult. But when Veritas says it, he's not insulting - there's a gentle note in his voice, as if he's somehow ridiculously proud of Eduan. So Aguero takes it as a compliment and tries to remember someone else's warmth, not thinking that he will ever feel it again.
And on the Test Floor, he is already waiting for an unexpected meeting.
"I'll keep him alive, I'll keep its shape, but you Edwan of Hoard Khun should pay for it. Any woman who wants to be your wife will be your wife. As long as your wives live, as long as your children live, he will live»
Eduan opens the bottle – the faint plum scent barely discernible. Great, V is gonna love it. He pours the wine into the glasses and waits – if don't pay too much attention, the gray light of Shinsou looks like the light of a real moon.
Viridian is almost inaudible – Eduan walking towards him. V slides into his arms and freezes for a moment – after all these years, they've grown closer than he'd ever dreamed possible. He was right that V would be a better king than Zahard – he takes care of everyone here.
"There were my favorite things in the treasury," - he almost complains to V, seeing the faint trace of a smile, - " And you just let him in and out."
"I can't help it. He looks too much like you, " - V glides over to the table and raises her glass thoughtfully,"And yet, Eduard, why Veritas?"
"In vino veritas," - Khun shrugs and comes closer, - "The truth is in the wine "
V freezes – as if he feels something. Eduan waits patiently, watching as a gloriously gray hair shining silver in Viridian’s braid. Then he exhales and turns to face him. The faint smile still adorns him like a light veil.
"I think someone's going to need the truth soon."
Eduan kisses him on the forehead.