AQUA

[richesse]

Comments

[selfreliar]

Mm.

[Aqua doesn't follow her all the way to that chair. He stops before she does, just looking at where Ranma was, where he'd examined his small body, from further back, like he can't make himself close that distance.]

My sister had outbursts like that. ...Not quite like that, but. Similar enough.

[richesse]

She’s grieving, isn’t she? In her own way. I just couldn’t stand…

[ wanders away, finding a chair much closer to him to sit in. ]

I should be used to things like this.

[selfreliar]

No, you shouldn't.

[On autopilot, he moves to sit beside her, resting his elbows on his thighs and letting his hands dangle.]

None of us should. Nobody should be.

[richesse]

I’m not…

You must think I’m nice, [ she sighs. ] I’ve been trying so hard to seem that way. This isn’t very natural for me…

[selfreliar]

What does being nice have to do with it?

[richesse]

I don’t usually have friends, Aqua. Usually I have enemies. I’m used to …

[ sigh. ]

I saw a lot worse growing up. I didn’t grow up rich. I had to do horrible things to survive. I’ve done horrible things to survive. I should be used to it.

[selfreliar]

...So that you can be strong for everyone else?

[He reaches over, brushing his fingers lightly against her cheek before they land slightly beneath her chin.]

Or so it won't hurt you as much anymore?

1/2

[richesse]

[ … ]

[richesse]

Why are you excusing me? You don’t even know what I’ve done. What I plan to do.

[selfreliar]

...I guess.

[His thumb grazes her jawline, then he lets his hand fall away again. Gazing ahead at nothing, he absently touches his stomach.]

But you don't know what I've done, either.

[richesse]

[ she sees where his hand goes.

looks up at him. ]

… what happened before you died?

[ she just says it. ]

[selfreliar]

...

Hopefully? I killed my father.

1/2

[richesse]

[ she startles, and stares at him like she’s never seen him before ]

[richesse]

[ rather straightforwardly: ]

I’ve been planning to do the same thing for years.

To my adopted father, that is. Elte Kehelland. He killed my parents.

1/2

[selfreliar]

[He weathers the first look she gives him as though he expects it, then opens his eyes a bit wider at what she says.]

2/2

[selfreliar]

...Mm. My and Ruby's biological father, Kamiki Hikaru, had our mother, Ai, murdered.

[He rests both his hands on his knees. They curl into fists.]

I spent the rest of my life searching for him so I could take everything from him in return.

[richesse]

Hm~ We’re more alike than I thought.

[ … ]

I took Elte’s company from him. I took everything.

[ ……

very softly: ] I wish you hadn’t died for it.

[selfreliar]

...I couldn't think of another way to keep my sister free and clear of the consequences. It had to look like he killed me. There's no room for ambiguity.

That said, if they don't find my body, I... don't know what the world will think. It might all have been for nothing. Or worse than nothing.

[He really screwed the pooch this time.]

[richesse]

You said “hopefully” … you don’t know if he died?

[selfreliar]

I took him over the cliff with me. I... think he hit something on the way down. But I lost hold of him in the water at some point.

The likelihood of his surviving is low. I just have no way of knowing for sure, since... well, I was dying, too.

[...]

If I'd known I'd have to worry about how it went, maybe I could have planned something more concrete. I was making do with what I had available.

[richesse]

[ …

How does she reassure him? Why does he sound so unsure? ]

“Have to” worry? And what does that mean? It sounds like you succeeded, as far as you can tell.

[selfreliar]

...If he survives, and he goes back to targeting Ruby to kill for his sick delusion of love...

[He bites the inside of his cheek, then lets out a ragged, shuddering breath.]

Then I'll have left her alone for nothing. I'm her big brother, I'm supposed to protect her.

[richesse]

[ unable to help it, she takes his hand in both of hers. The words rumble out of her before she can stop them, as they gush forth straight from her heart. ]

Aqua. You worked your whole life on that plan and even managed to execute it. I just can’t see failure as something that happens to you. You gave your life to kill that disgusting man. Don’t believe it was for nothing. Of course it meant something.

… this will sound macabre, but I think even in the best case scenario for him, he bleeds out before he can get help.

I know—well… I think I’ve gotten to know you, at least a little. You didn’t fail. Ruby will be fine. [ more exquisite lies. but the determination in her face is real. ] And that man? Is dead.

1/2

[selfreliar]

[He blinks at her when she takes his hand, listening as she pours words over him like an overflowing vessel into a waiting pool. It's not that everything she says is kind, necessarily, or that she can have any more insight into Kamiki's fate than he does, or that saying he couldn't fail makes it real.

But she's reaching him. Touching him, despite the ocean of distance that's always held him, even before he was named for the sea.]

2/2

[selfreliar]

[Swallowing, he leans towards her until his closed eyes rest against her crown. They're in the sitting room, and it'll be good for the others to see them like this; at the same time, it doesn't matter. Aqua would do this anyway.]

I know you had to pick me because the pickings were slim.

[His voice is a murmur, just for her.]

Still... thank you. Thank you for saying this. Thank you for... working so hard to save me.

[A little trickle of wetness finds its way into her hair.]

I didn't want to die, [he admits. Since Lortel has one of his hands, he reaches across both of them to touch her arm with the other.] I don't want anyone else to die anymore.