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"If you heard it, then it must be true" He says, the half-lie rolling almost too easily off his tongue. Like all the lies he had told himself before.
Then again, what was he supposed to say? ‘I knew he only saw us as pawns. I knew it all along. All he did was beat us, push us and manipulate us. Made us feel guilty for ever doubting his intentions that one time. Made us depend on him, serve him’. It was something he couldn't tell his siblings, not now. Not ever, perhaps.
They believe it, to his credit, the nonchalant acceptance of something he supposedly hadn't known before, the unconditional trust placed in information relayed by the most honest of them all.
[The false acceptance of a reality too harsh to face unassisted.]
Even as the rest moves on, he lingers, watching the corpse of his father, almost wishing the man would rise, that he was okay and alive, and could love Macbeth like he had always wanted.
Perhaps that’s why the image of Brain fighting off Jellal is the only thing that comes to his mind, but try as he might, even as a revenant, he cannot picture the man truly fighting to protect them.
His brother is right.
And he knew it all along.