aionchat | PLEROMA | FRIENDS LOST (END OF SOVISERI)

[Estinien can be felt in the communion space, after having essentially gone missing during the final days of the mission. He's only just now returning to Greentruth in the company of friends. The tone of his psychic transmission is fraught with sorrow and anger in kind.]

Himeka and Abel have been taken by the Kenoma. They... are the Regent's prisoners.

[His presence becomes distant for a few beats after, like he has to steady himself.]

The creature of Innocence we found in Venera... its hold on me is far greater than I ever realized. I was drawn into a battle with the Kenoma, in the defense of other Pleroma, and when I found myself outnumbered and trapped... it came to my aid. Yet, 'twas at a cost I would not have willingly paid.

Angered by their broken "promise", it lashed out at those that bore its mark. 'Twas this moment of weakness that allowed them to be captured. It struck Ryunosuke and Alphinaud as well... Ryunosuke is safe. Alphinaud... has vanished somewhere I cannot reach.

[He's doing his best to give an objective account, something he became skilled in doing as a soldier. It's clear how much this is weighing on him, though.]

The... creature has been attempting to enthrall me. To change my body and steal my memories... it told me that Alphinaud was 'among the light', and that he had no further need for me. That Himeka and Abel had chosen to suffer in this world. I...

[And finally, the anger takes precedent, a fire wrought with misery.]

I will take them back. No matter what it demands of me. I... will bring them home.

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[ dextera had been so absorbed in his own problems. it’s not the first time his selfishness had completely blot out the world around him, and he’s horribly guilty with the realization.

the sickness tinges even his response, despite his best attempt to keep it to himself to avoid rattling estinien further. ]

…I’ll help. I’ll fight.

[ he hasn’t been the most proactive about the inevitable violence of the divide between their sects and surely estinien knows that, but this is one of the few things that will bring him to the necessary battle. ]

[For some reason hearing Dextera say this, who he remembered being so unsure, heartens him a little. Surely, if they could all fight for anything, it would be Himeka and Abel, ones that had been so kind to so many.]

If the Pleroma are all of one mind... then mayhap it can truly be done.

I’m sorry for wavering.

[ dextera knows estinien isn’t the person who can forgive him for that, and in the end, only dextera can forgive himself… but he has to say it out loud, an assurance that he is devoted to seeing their friends rescued. ]

Your memories… do you still have them? Do you know?

My memories...

[He's almost forgotten that he mentioned that part, until Dextera asks. It's a question full of uncertainty for him, but...]

...Mayhap so... Some things have returned to me, with time. When the creature first released me from its control, I remembered naught at all. But now...

'Tis memories of my home I have lost. People... that I only know I loved.

[ dextera’s heart twists in sympathy. whether it’s temporary or permanent, no one can possibly know, but this is an issue he can’t leave alone. ]

They’re in there.

[ his soft, intangible voice is as reassuring as it can be. ]

You’ll see them in dreams. Even if you can’t remember them now, they haven’t left you.

[He just had his yearly cry, Dextera, he isn't doing it again. It feels dangerously close, however, with the way that Estinien's own heart twists in reaction. He can be a sentimental man, at times.]

I... would like to believe that. Very much.

[After all, he knows that he's lost something very dear. That, at one point, everything he loved was taken from him. Even if he can now barely form the image in his mind, it still hurts.]

…it’s the same for me.

[ dextera has talked to a few people about his amnesia, but it’s not something that has any reason to come up in the normal course of events. ]

I see my brother. I’m sure one day I’ll remember him. Some of your memories came back, after all…

Your brother...

[For some reason that makes his gut twist. His mental projection shifts uncomfortable, as if struggling with something on the edge of thought.]

I... [What had he lost? He recalls the wait of a small body against his lap as he held them close. Another among what had been taken from him. He can't bear thinking about this.]

...What caused you to forget?

[ did estinien have a brother? dextera wonders. the sensation he gets through communion is a familiar one, something he experienced even before he came here. he knows the yearning from his own memories. ]

I…

[ he begins to answer, but falls into a hesitant silence. he shouldn’t lie, but he’d prefer to obscure the truth. ]

There was a cataclysm. A massive explosion. I survived, but I lost my voice and my memories.

[He thinks that he did. He feels that he must have, for these emotions to be rising in him. Yet, he cannot see his brother in his mind's eye. How cruel.]

I... I see.

[That sounds familiar to him. He remembers loss, he remembers fire. What else was there?]

Then mayhap it feels much the same.

It will come back.

[ dextera says that for the benefit of them both. estinien will slowly remember, and if estinien can remember, so will dextera. he has to believe that, even if he logically knows the circumstances are different—or were they, really, with his own memories taken by a wrathful god?

he will follow estinien’s lead and hope that trusting the process will rescue him. ]

Will you tell me? When you start to remember?

[He has no idea where Dextera's certainty on the matter is coming from, but he chooses to take his word for it. Yes. He will, he tells himself. Whatever has been taken from him... he won't let it stay gone.

Some things are too precious to simply let go of.]

I will. I... will tell you what I remember of them... as soon as they return to me.

[His... brother? Was it a brother? If they are truly alike in that way, maybe it will inspire something.]

PLEROMA | FRIENDS LOST (END OF SOVISERI)

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