Work Text:
When they got back to Centropolis, Claude stayed in his room for the rest of the night.
Nobody really knew what to do. Things felt like they were happening so quickly. The events of the El Continent. Their arrival on this new world. The trials. The indications that Claude and Rena were privately experiencing things.
The news that Expel was destroyed. Their failure to stop the Ten Wise Men.
So the events directly preceding their disastrous battle with the Ten Wise Men were hard to respond to. Even with the… other news, they had been ignorant of it until Mayor Nall explained it.
Claude… Claude watched…
So that evening was full light discussion. Precis toyed around with Robbie and spent time building new weapons, Celine and Welch discussed the treasures the party has found since arriving on Nede, and Rena and Ashton ended up talking with Noel about Creepy and Weepy and potential dragon care tips.
Expel itself was an unspoken topic. Even in light of what Mayor Nall said, nobody wanted to be the one to bring it up. There were roads that that topic could lead towards and now was not the time to be dwelling on them – especially when the enemy was still an uphill battle. For now, they would just be content with the knowledge that Expel could be restored and ignore the implications.
As for Claude… perhaps it was better to let him have some time alone.
“Big Brother?” Leon knocked on the door to Claude’s room. Leon wasn’t sure if he was expecting Claude to actually answer, but Claude did anyway.
“Hey, Leon. Did you need something?” Claude asked politely while opening the door. Claude had his eyes closed.
“Uh-” Leon stammered for a moment and seemed torn. Then, he looked back to Claude. “Can I read in your room for a while? It’s getting noisy out there.”
It wasn’t noisy at all. If Claude noticed, he didn’t comment.
“Sure.” Claude opened the door wider for Leon to scurry in.
For roughly an hour, not much happened. Leon sat at a desk in the room, reading while Claude… Well, Claude was holding a book as if he were also reading. It certainly was doing a good job of hiding his face from view.
Leon had lied. He had wanted to talk about something, but he didn’t know where to start. Well, that in itself was a lie; In the time that they’ve been traveling together, Leon came to see Claude as something stable. It was a far cry from their first encounter in Lacour, where Leon had written him and the rest of the gang off as nosy tourists or their second encounter where Leon accused them of being spies. Claude had given Leon clear hope at a time where Leon was blinded by his own despair.
Earlier that day, that image of Claude had been shattered into pieces. Leon witnessed Claude be reduced to begging his enemies. Leon witnessed Claude, with rage that he had never seen before, threaten to kill all of the Ten Wise Men; A rage that, even then, was not enough. Leon witnessed Claude, after they returned to L’Aqua in light of Mariana staying back to buy them an escape, look defeated.
Leon felt like he needed to talk to Claude. Perhaps it was his way of helping Claude as Claude had helped him, but he felt that it was necessary nonetheless. It was foolish to believe that Claude was invincible, but with how he and Rena seemed to be going through something as they went through each field, it was still a shock to see him break as he did then.
For that matter, Claude seemed to have a degree of underlying tension ever since they arrived on Energy Nede. Occasionally, he would come off as uneasy. Almost as if he somehow knew what had happened before everyone else...
Realization hit Leon. It was days ago, back at the Psynard Research Facility. Rena had asked about a way of messaging Expel to let them know they were on Energy Nede. And Claude’s response...
“Look, about Expel…”
“...Never mind.”
The book dropped out of Leon’s hands and onto the table where he was sitting at. Leon’s voice wavered as he spoke.
“Big Brother. You knew. Didn’t you?”
“...Yes.”
“You knew about Expel. My parents and everyone else. You knew they all died.”
“Leon…”
In an instant, Leon forgot all about what Mayor Nall had said about Expel being savable. All that mattered was that his parents were gone – had been gone this entire time – and Claude had said nothing.
Leon turned to Claude with angry tears in his eyes, but hesitated.
Claude’s eyes were red. Tired.
“Leon, I’m sorry. I know I should have said something sooner but… I just couldn’t. If I had, then everyone...”
The burst of emotion faded, replaced by rational thought. Claude was shocked by Mayor Nall’s claim. He didn’t know that Expel could be brought back. Was it any wonder that he didn’t want that hanging over everyone during their time on Energy Nede?
A memory forced itself to the front of Leon’s mind. His own words, previously said out of carelessness and hysteria, echoed hauntingly in his consciousness.
“Why couldn’t I have died along with them?!”
Claude gave him a reassuring smile. It wasn’t the same smile as on the Elurian Coast. There was uncertainty. Tension.
“I know. Today there was nothing we could do. But one way or another, we will defeat the Ten Wise Men and we will save Expel.”
When Claude mentioned the Ten Wise Man, a shadow of the Claude that was revealed earlier that day was cast into his eyes. It lingered even as Leon thanked him and left. Outside, Leon stared at the door to Claude’s room.
“Big Brother... I’m so sorry...”
Leon sank to the ground and put his hands on his head, ashamed that the topic had shifted from what he had wanted to talk about.
They can bring back Expel.
They can bring back Leon’s parents.
They can’t bring back Claude’s dad.