[ ...in the end, any answer which Lavi would give...
(It would always be right.) ]
It was very much like this world, but in a different cluster of stars. [ Giving pause, he lifts a hand to brush the fringe of his hair back, behind the shell of his ear, the even cadence of his voice falling somewhat... sheepish. Bashful, as he divulges a truth which he wouldn't dare dream of hiding: ] You... did not care much for me, when first we met, for I think I represented all that you loathed most.
[ An enemy, garbed in black. A heart that, however sincere, would only be twisted and maligned by the harsh reality of the Quad. ]
At that time, I willingly wore a collar about my neck, and in exchange... I was granted power enough to help the people I saw before me.
[ Even if the price had been terrible, unbearable when his hand had been forced, and found himself caught between defending those who strove to change the Company from within—his family, those who knew the Company could become something beautiful, serving the Quad as an agent of good—and the civilians who would rail against them, for in their eyes...
All those who bore the uniform and crest of the Company were the same: monsters who aptly wore the guise of people. ]
And one day, you realized that. I'd acted stupidly, impulsively when all the world was burning around me. There were so, so very many in need of aid, and I hadn't the hands to save all of them, though I tried. In the end, I failed, and I hadn't even the hands to help myself.
[ And it had been a lesson well learned, a push for Sion to grow stronger still to achieve a peaceful place; a gentler world. ]
You saved my life, on that day, and you were injured because of it.
Though you have walked a different path in this life, I... cannot forget what you did, nor do I wish to. [ A tumult of emotion colors his voice: gratitude, shame, regret, and something threadbare, something as resilient as it is tentative... something like... hope? ]
More than anything, it makes me want to know the you as you are now.
[ And maybe that, there, is just a bit selfish of him. ]
1/2
[ ...in the end, any answer which Lavi would give...
(It would always be right.) ]
It was very much like this world, but in a different cluster of stars. [ Giving pause, he lifts a hand to brush the fringe of his hair back, behind the shell of his ear, the even cadence of his voice falling somewhat... sheepish. Bashful, as he divulges a truth which he wouldn't dare dream of hiding: ] You... did not care much for me, when first we met, for I think I represented all that you loathed most.
[ An enemy, garbed in black. A heart that, however sincere, would only be twisted and maligned by the harsh reality of the Quad. ]
At that time, I willingly wore a collar about my neck, and in exchange... I was granted power enough to help the people I saw before me.
[ Even if the price had been terrible, unbearable when his hand had been forced, and found himself caught between defending those who strove to change the Company from within—his family, those who knew the Company could become something beautiful, serving the Quad as an agent of good—and the civilians who would rail against them, for in their eyes...
All those who bore the uniform and crest of the Company were the same: monsters who aptly wore the guise of people. ]
And one day, you realized that. I'd acted stupidly, impulsively when all the world was burning around me. There were so, so very many in need of aid, and I hadn't the hands to save all of them, though I tried. In the end, I failed, and I hadn't even the hands to help myself.
[ And it had been a lesson well learned, a push for Sion to grow stronger still to achieve a peaceful place; a gentler world. ]
You saved my life, on that day, and you were injured because of it.
Though you have walked a different path in this life, I... cannot forget what you did, nor do I wish to. [ A tumult of emotion colors his voice: gratitude, shame, regret, and something threadbare, something as resilient as it is tentative... something like... hope? ]
More than anything, it makes me want to know the you as you are now.
[ And maybe that, there, is just a bit selfish of him. ]
You've many stories to tell, I'm sure.