fandomhighdorms | The Salle, Monday Morning

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The Salle, Monday Morning

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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"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.

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.

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."

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?"

"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."

"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."

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.

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."

"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.'

Edited 2009-11-24 21:10 (UTC)

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.

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.

All good soldiers, right?

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

"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.

"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.

"Usually," Zack acknowledged with a small nod. "It's all... kinda complicated. I mentioned the SOLDIERS who had gone missing, right?"

Probably a few times by now, Zack, yes.

"Once or twice," he agreed, charitably. His eyes had narrowed as he watched Zack; it was mainly concern.

If you put him at gunpoint, he might even admit it was for more than simply a fellow reserve leader crumbling. "Listen-- just start at the beginning. Where did you go."

Zack sighed again, a little more reserved than the huff of air he'd exhaled a moment before, and he nodded. Right.

"We went to Banora. Um. Tseng and I, I mean. He's a Turk. They're kinda..." He shrugged. "That's not important anyhow. We went to Banora, which is the hometown of Genesis, the deserter. And Angeal's hometown, too."

"He went back home," Arthur said, thoughtfully.

Zack nodded a little.

"They both did. When Genesis went back, he brought... Well, a bit of an army with him. They slaughtered nearly all of the townspeople."

Arthur's mouth may have creased just a bit more, there, but he said nothing about it. Yet. "How many."

Zack's eyes were now on his lap. Because the ceiling was getting boring, supposedly.

"Everyone except Angeal's mother. Including two of our Turks."

He nodded once or twice, quiet affirmation to himself.

His mouth... was not losing that crease, but his eyes darted towards Zack. "Did you find his mother?"

More nodding. His head was far more eloquent than his mouth today.

"When she was still alive," Zack replied. "She wanted to know what was going on with her son. And I... Didn't know. She was fine when I left her there. She wanted me to take care of Angeal."

Arthur chewed on his lower lip for no reason at all. "I'm sorry," he opted for, at last, reaching to put a companionable hand on Zack's shoulder.

For his standards, that was downright soppy.

Soppy, but much appreciated. He nodded (again), sighed (again), and glanced Arthur's way.

"We found the missing SOLDIERs," he noted, idly. Because this was totally not a big deal and they could move right along without getting into this bit, honest.

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