Work Text:
"You're a chameleon, Oswaldo. You know what I mean? The IPC could use a few chameleons."
Oswaldo's smile fades for a moment at the memory from the IPC Space Academy, as he continues playing with the golden medallion in his fingers, before closing his eyes and placing it on the miniature pair of weighing scales before him on his table. He then places a diamond-studded medallion on the other scale- the scales weigh down in favor of this one, and Oswaldo's resulting smile is humorless.
To think you'd win an imaginary battle of chance as well, old friend, Oswaldo thinks, and he might as well laugh at the irony of it all- to think he'd gambled it all away for the ultimate grand prize, while Diamond, ha, to think he was an old friend once, was the one playing the long game.
So much about him and his old friend was a paradoxical irony that at any other time, Oswaldo would have had fun picking apart. To think they had been inseparable at the Academy, not a soul would believe it now, and to think it was Oswaldo who had taught him what it meant to Trailblaze, while he taught a bored Oswaldo why the way of Preservation was the only way forward- of course, this made sense at present, considering it was Diamond who was now an Emanator of Preservation while Oswaldo was the one who forcibly Trailblazed his way to the position of the chair.
They had claimed it was because he strode the Trailblaze that he was a perfect chameleon- the Trailblaze strode across all the Paths there was...and strode on them when necessary. When needed. That was why they had wanted him.
He remembers the smile on his face when he had told him he had gotten an offer from the IPC- "It's a perfect opportunity! Take it." Had been his exact words. But of course, Diamond couldn't have known back then exactly what the offer had been, what exactly Oswaldo was required to be a chameleon for, and if Diamond had known....well.
What would he have done? Would he have killed Oswaldo right then and there? But ha, no. Diamond was far too soft-hearted, for someone who claimed his heart was unyielding like the monolith, and to think it had been him who received Qlipoth's blessing, waffling nonsense with it and disgracing himself and his department with such a blessed, holy power.
Tragic, how things had progressed. To the point Diamond suggested nonsense in dealing with Archforger. An abomination mocking the Preservation, and more importantly, the might of the IPC. At the end of the day, it had been Oswaldo who had hardened himself to face the war that would soon erupt, while Diamond was still lamentably soft-hearted, even granting leniency to that ruckus-causing Stoneheart of his for his stunt at Penacony. Rumour had it that the little Stoneheart was an Avgin, which was near impossible- but if Oswaldo was anything, it was a betting man, and he knew better than anyone else that never could you dismiss the possibility of anything as a perfect zero. On that much he and Diamond could agree on. It's just that Diamond' s gambles were much more calculated and reasonable, he never knew what it was to seize the odds for yourself and crush the stakes on your own, no, he had to make the whole game of chance so disgustingly sanitized.
Pathetic.
It didn't matter much that Diamond had somehow hired an Avgin, likely he had thought it would somehow be an asset against Oswaldo, for whatever convoluted reason. Oswaldo however, wasn't here to play mind games.
No. What Oswaldo capitalized on, was passion. With passion, even the lowest of the low could seize the power of the gods. There was no doubt Diamond had passion, certainly, otherwise however would he have gained the gaze of the Amber Lord themselves? No, Diamond had to ruin it with calculus, with strategy, instead of simply seizing for himself what he wanted. That was where he and Oswaldo differed- and ultimately, that was why their friendship couldn't last.
So even then, why did he feel such a thrill at the thought of facing Diamond on their very own battlefield again, if he was so pathetic and meant to be crushed? Was it because there truly was no other equal to match, and to be destined to triumph over? Certainly, then.
Come now, old friend, Oswaldo thought, as he picked up the diamond-studded medallion and studied it, turning it around in his fingers. Show me that you are not yet lost to your game of chess and fairness. Otherwise, our supposed bad blood will be for naught. It'll be as if I'm crushing an ant and not facing an adversary, and I know- there are no adversaries quite like you. Let's see what the battlefield of Benzaitengoku holds for the both of us, and who shall come out the victor, yes?
I did what I had to- become a chameleon, and you froze your heart in return, thinking you did something. For all that you call me childish- you are really no different, are you? Oswaldo chuckles at the thought, bringing the medallion closer, letting his vision lose itself in the allure of diamonds. For all that they were adamantine and hardened to the maximum potential- one could very easily forget how mesmerizingly beautiful they were, how one could never really take their eyes away from the prismatic luster they bore that seemed almost divine.
Was that why he couldn't take his eyes away? Was that why this was where he let himself be a fool, even though the way forward was more than clear?
Don't let me down, old friend. Nothing quite satisfies me, gets my blood roaring the way a conflict with you does, these days. It's a shame I'll have to trample on your corpse as well, on this path that I must take- because once you are gone, what else will bring excitement?
Diamond exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Obsidian will have to be reigned in." He says with a shake of his head to an amused Jade and an undiscerning Opal- for all that they were P46, sometimes, they didn't act it. And by they, it was most certainly Obsidian half the time. Jade had her moments, as did Opal, but Obsidian...Diamond resists the urge to sigh. Sorely.
"She knows investments mean nothing if half the resources invested in are made to strangle each other." Diamond continues with a note of exasperation creeping into his otherwise calm voice, exhaling.
"We mentioned as much, sir." Jade says placidly, which Diamond knows actually means This wouldn't have happened if you sent me, and he exhales long and hard at the little taunt from the ever-calculating Jade. "Did we not, Opal?"
"We did." Opal says, with a shrug. "Though, I can't say that what she did was very different from what I would have done in her place, it was just that she was more of a drag about it. You know she likes dragging investments out for her own satisfaction. She could have shut down the operations right then and there."
Diamond disagrees with that as well, but he's not about to start a debate right here in his own office when a headache is about to build up. So it is that he simply dismisses the smug Jade and unconcerned Opal, shaking his head yet again.
Of course- if this conundrum at Epilson-X wasn't dealt with quickly, then aside from the obvious losses in revenue, the other problem was that he would start gloating. Like the child he was, he'd send his thugs over to crow over his own department, and while it wasn't precisely fair to generalize everyone who worked at Marketing as a thug, it wasn't as if Oswaldo Schneider had done any favors for himself in cultivating his workers' reputation as such. Diamond could be forgiven for such an insignificant generalization. While Obsidian's poor handling of the situation was at fault, Oswaldo would have taken any chances to undermine the Strategic Investment Department, nonetheless.
Diamond exhales.
How have we ended up here?
Oswaldo's proposal for taking care of the threat Archforger posed hadn't just been brazen, it was catastrophic, and it was unimaginable that the same young man who had looked out the windows of their shared dorm room at the Academy, who had only ever wanted to rise to heights beyond what Akivili had achieved, was such a threat to himself and to the others around him that he simply had to be removed from the equation altogether.
How had they ended up here?
Diamond exhales, placing a gloved hand to his own face.
Was this what you had in mind, going past what Akivili had achieved? And now-
Diamond looks outside the ornate, yet minimalistic window of his office. If he can focus for a minute- he can almost imagine he was back at the Academy again, with Oswaldo teaching him about the stars, and where the silver rail exactly was positioned, and where Akivili's next destination had been from there. Only- the Astral Express was now up and running, and Oswaldo hadn't taken care to give it a second glance, while Diamond, still ingrained with those stories of yore from a former friend's radiant admiration, of Akivili's heroism, was the one left gazing at where the Astral Express would next dock at with anticipation.
Diamond rests his chin on a closed fist, placing the elbow on the table, closing his eyes.
Passion is never a discouraged instrument, but what of your passion has brought any of us salvation on this road? Why choose such a path, that leads none anywhere except for your required destruction? Is all that Diamond allows himself to think, before shaking his head one last time as he begins drafting a letter of apology to the Board for Obsidian's actions.
He had enough on his plate, without lingering on past affections, after all.