The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

It was a Monday.

It had been a normal weekend.

Arthur, ergo, was in the salle, practicing his staffwork for once. He did have a battle with Mat due tomorrow which was going to be pushed towards next week due to a sudden case of the fox, SPOILERS and it wouldn't do to show up in anything but perfect fighting shape.

He made for a few impressive sweeps through the air as he practiced, showing off for his (Merlin-y) audience as usual.

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[bitchprince]

Arthur took a moment to secure his staff at the back of the salle before doing anything else. He'd seen knights break before, too, but Zack was in several ways a new entity. Nevermind.

"Yes," he said, and with no sarcasm in his voice, "I can see that."

[puppy_fair]

My, but the floor was fascinating right now.

"What was that, that you said? I mean, when you had me running around, remember? And..." He shrugged. "We were talking about Angeal. And you mentioned something about how sometimes, it wasn't so easy to stick by what felt right."

It wasn't that Zack hadn't been paying attention in between bouts of relentless optimism. It was that normally, he was far better at looking as though he really was a relentless optimist.

[bitchprince]

Yes, that was the question of the month, wasn't it?

"There are any number of things that can complicate matters," he settled on, diplomatically. "The trick lies in... finding a way to do the right thing that involves them."

[puppy_fair]

Zack nodded a little at that. Slowly. Thoughtfully. Tiredly.

"We found Angeal, the other day."

[bitchprince]

The expression on Arthur's face gave way to more concern. "He lives?"

[puppy_fair]

"He..." Zack shrugged, lifting his sword and putting it on his back with none of the usual showing off. "Yeah. He's alive. We had a deserter a few months ago. He ran away to... I don't know. At least take the deserter's side into consideration. They were friends growing up."

[bitchprince]

Arthur really wished he couldn't sympathise right now.

Unfortunately, he really, really could. So he nodded, slowly. "I can understand that," he said. "Did he say anything else...?"

[puppy_fair]

"Not much," Zack admitted, frowning more deeply. He shut his eyes and grit his teeth a little and tried his damnedest to get Angeal's mom out of his mind's eye. Dead on the floor. "The only time he really said anything was after I found him in his mom's house. Kinda... Standing..."

Over her body, Zack. You can say it.

"And. She wasn't. I mean. He."

This was hard.

"He was just looking at her body. She was fine not long before that. I'd been talking to her..."

[bitchprince]

"...You think he killed her?"

Arthur was never in a million years going to admit that hit anywhere close to home at all, no.

[puppy_fair]

Zack was now forgetting that words existed at all. Words? Hard. Hard words.

Shrugging his shoulders seemed easier.

And nodding. Good old nodding.

"His friend killed both of his parents. Said that they'd betrayed him from the start. So..."

[bitchprince]

"So Angeal followed his example?"

Squishy feeling in the back of his throat, and no unbidden memories of seeing his father's dead visage in Shilo's father's tomb, thank you. He sucked in a breath. "You need to put down the sword and sit down."

Practicalities were always Arthur's strong point.

[puppy_fair]

"Right. Sit down. No sword." Zack made certain that his sword was nice and secure on his back, and then he... Kinda looked around. And then shrugged. There was a bench over there, he'd just make his way over, and then plop his little tush down on it, and see? He was good at following direction. SOLDIER skills at their finest, and all.

He bit his lip, and then leaned back a little, until the back of his head made a light thump against the wall.

"I wish I knew what was going on anymore."

He did know. It was just easier to convince himself that somehow, he had it all wrong.

[bitchprince]

Arthur's feet walked up to the bench, good and sure and steady ("You and me both," he wanted to say, but it wasn't the time or the place, and considering that Zack was one of his people, thoroughly misplaced) and sank down next to him with a quick exhale of air that was so measuredly idle it took him some effort to modulate it that way.

He looked towards the salle. Silent, for a minute.

This was a mess.

"This friend of Angeal's," he started at last, "Has he joined him?" It seemed like a good enough point (what was going on) to start.

[puppy_fair]

Zack gave his head a little shake, his eyes still up somewhere toward the ceiling.

"No," he said, after a few moments. "Genesis gave him the invite, I think. But Angeal... I don't know if he chose a side, so much. It was more like he chose neither side. He walked away."

[bitchprince]

Nice luxury.

Arthur just nodded. Chewed on his lip.

"No more training over the next few days," he said, after a moment. "You need some rest." Practicalities, again. "Who's your superior now?"

[puppy_fair]

"That'd be Sephiroth, I guess," Zack replied, pursing his lips for a moment in thought. "I don't think there are any other 1st Class SOLDIERs left. And there's just a handful of 2nds. They'll probably start recruiting 3rds soon, to make up for the ones who went missing."

They weren't missing. They were wearing some other man's face.

Zack sighed and shut his eyes.

"This sucks."

[bitchprince]

"It'll get better," Arthur volunteered, his eyes darting towards Zack. "Angeal has yet to become your enemy. Your kingdom's still standing. Unless there's a surprise attack, you'll be fine."

[puppy_fair]

At that, Zack cracked open one eye and offered Arthur a small, tired smile.

"Yeah, there's that, isn't there?" He nodded slightly, as though he was trying to rattle that logic into place so that it would stay put. "I'm still breathing. Angeal's still out there. The rest... maybe isn't all that important anyhow."

Zack, meet your old friend, Denial.

[bitchprince]

Yeah, if we were going to discuss normal, healthy coping mechanisms, Arthur wouldn't be the one to talk to.

"Well, I wouldn't say it's unimportant," he did find it within himself to say, "For the decisions to come."

[puppy_fair]

"Whatever those are," Zack conceded. "Genesis is still out there. We were supposed to take him down or take him in... But things didn't really go according to plan."

For a multitude of reasons including but not limited to 'there was a large dragon trying to eat me,' and 'the target suddenly sprouted wings and flew away.'

[bitchprince]

Arthur sighed. "You know you're barely leaking details," he offered. Which was an offer. Yes. "Whatever it is, though..." his eyes flicked to Zack's side again. "You're decent at handling yourself."

... which was not a warning for Zack not to talk about it, but a compliment, thank you.

[puppy_fair]

And Zack was going to take it as such, because he was too tired and still far too used to taking people at their word to consider it anything but.

He was looking at Arthur now, thoughtfully, poking through everything that had happened on the weekend. Trying to pick out things that he could talk about without cracking. SOLDIERs didn't crack.

"There was a dragon," he offered. Because that seemed like a nice, safe place to start. He was kinda proud of taking down Bahamut on his own, without someone stepping in to bail him out. No amount of confusion and heartache and anger would sweep that much aside.

[bitchprince]

All good soldiers, right?

He nodded, pursing his lips. "And where does the dragon fit into this?" he prompted.

[puppy_fair]

"It was... a distraction, I think," Zack replied. "To keep me occupied while Angeal got away, maybe. Or... maybe not that, either. The summon wasn't intended for me. I think it was for Sephiroth, but Sephiroth turned down the mission."

Turned it down. They really did spoil him too much.

"And... I don't think Angeal had anything to do with it, either. And Genesis stuck around to watch me finish it off... And..."

Trying to figure it out was making his head hurt, and he demonstrated as much with a frustrated exhale as he crossed his arms over his chest.

[bitchprince]

"Could be another party," Arthur offered, evenly. "Could be any of them. Somehow, I don't think the dragon is the most relevant part of the tale." He considered the ceiling. "Which is funny, because they tend to be extremely relevant."

Pooch. Underneath the castle. Yes.