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fluixon stood wordlessly in front of a railing of infernus’s castle. he was on one of the upper floors of the fortress, one only accessible by the royals and their close guards. he’d been growing weary of an attack against the newly formed infernus alliance by trihelm. he’d began to find solace watching the stars rise in the otherwise pitch-black sky of the infernate volcano.
**
cynnika was starting to feel worried for her brother. ever since they’d reunited, fluixon had slowly pulled away from her, much as he had when they were kids. he stopped responding to her directly. he stopped making his quick remarks when someone did something stupid. he had overall lost his arrogant charm. cynnika knew something was wrong. she knew fluixon was in a bad place right now, same as many others. she could only offer support to him if he was willing to accept it, and it was obvious he had already began rebuilding the sky-high impenetrable walls that kept his heart shielded.
she expected to find him outside, as he’d walked out the doors multiple times already since he’d come to infernus.
“flux?” she called. he barely stirred.
fluixon had removed his coat and waistcoat, leaving him in only his frilly white blouse and black slacks. it was a rare sight to see him without his coat and adornments.
“i know it’s a lot warmer here than you’re used to,” she said. she found herself positioned to his left. his metal arm was visible beneath his sleeve cuff. cynikka steeled her expression at the memory of the incident.
“how do you move on?” fluixon suddenly asked. it caught cynikka by surprise.
“move on? in what way?” she responded.
“you seem so…” he began. his gaze drifted from the sky and towards the barely visible light of westhelm’s outer edges. “..collected. calm. you haven’t lashed out once since i’ve come here. how?”
cynikka paused to think about that. she truly didn’t know, either. she’d been so stressed ever since the issues with the lingulini mafia, she had definitely lost her temper more than once. though fluixon and his ‘goons’ coming to infernus was a more recent development, so maybe she had moved on lately, to use her brother’s words.
“i suppose i just never thought about it.”
“never thought about it?”
“mhm. i get angry when i need to, and allow myself to be un-composed so that i can recover without bottling it up.” she reasoned. fluixon narrowed his eyes.
the two remained in silence for a while. it was relatively comfortable, considering the two hadn’t spoken in upwards of six years. cynikka was first to break the silence.
“why do you ask?”
fluixon gripped the railing at that question. cynikka couldn’t decipher what he was thinking, nor did she think she wanted to. he seemed to be struggling.
“i don’t–” he stuttered. “you know saps?”
“i know of him, yes.”
“i don’t think– i think that i don’t…” he took a shaky breath.
“i don’t think i love him anymore.”