It was a comfortable night in Enarc. The sun was high in the sky, its warmth gently woke Lucaen out of his restoration process. His HUD, being the constant system in his life, greeted him with a reminder. Received from the HQ itself.
[G. Lucaen Theron//ASSIGNED//STATUS: IN PROGRESS// LIVE UPDATE>90% Completion]
[REPORT: A Mission is On Standby]
Lucaen registered the notification. He sat by the bed, brushing his chest. A subtle check on his core, his rhythm, and his temperature. An unconscious habit that he always does for Aurelius as well. His clawed hind legs settled on the warm concrete below, pushing him towards the window that cast him the first light of the dawn.
The day had barely begun, yet the culture here was a tragic contrast to Tevar. Under the rule of Lucaen, to wake and cause commotion is unheard of. Tevarians prefer a way more respectful, solitary kind of routine than brutishly spending the day away. Lucaen noted the hour by his HUD. No matter how often he had recovered in this isolated room, he never failed to replicate his habit time to time again.
[0650]
Despite the contempt, a part of him, admires the grit, the defiance of the Enarchies. To train at this hour, a little undue.
Yet, he can't dismiss the sense of loss that stumbles in his core.
He and Aurelius can never stand together. Lucaen can't justify their behaviors. Aurelius can't comprehend procedures. They will always be parted by regions and, in a sense, philosophies.
As Lucaen watched the soldiers below. Their regional salute to the higher-ups. Their lack of words. The language of actions. Lucaen's system concluded the current status of him with a muted chime.
[Report: Restoration Completed]
[Report: Operational Prowess 100%]
His injuries were shallow to begin with, made sense that it took only a night to fully recover himself. His chest left no history as it evened out.
Aurelius'?
[Report: General Aurelius Everhart's Operational Prowess 70%]
Lucaen stared at the report for a brief moment. The display came across his HUD frame with a revelation of Aurelius's 70% operational prowess.
He had been buried. Make some sense, will you?
[Report: Core Stabilized]
[Report: Exo Restored]
[Report: Mana Restored]
[Report: General Lucaen Theron Fully Recovered]
And Aurelius'..?
[Report: Core Upgraded]
[Report: Exo Restored]
[Report: Mana Capacity Increased]
[Report: Skills Unlocked]
[Report: Body Extension Repaired]
[Report: General Aurelius Everhart Fully Recovered]
He froze, a flicker of doubt stung his chest. He rescanned Aurelius' operational prowess back again.
[Report: Core Upgraded]
His limit from when we were kids had always been 50%.
[Report: Exo Restored]
Aurelius was too weak to recover himself, more so alone. He had to wait for his system to stabilize. System restoration takes a day minimum.
[Report: Mana Capacity Increased]
Linked to the core. Was upgraded, didn't it?
[Report: Skills Unlocked]
Monstrous. Aurelius-
[Report: Body Extension Repaired]
To make sense, something had changed.
[Report: General Aurelius Everhart Fully Recovered]
Scoundrel.
Whatever he did, was not authorized. No booster had been sent to us.
Lucaen pivoted his back to the Enarchies below. His claws pushed through the caging door. Resulted in his chamber being swung open, slamming the walls that held its spine. The court was quiet. Good time to save his face from the act of his impulsivity. But the thought of restraining himself? Sounds like a luxury he wishes to not partake in.
How much is he hiding from me?
After all these years, am I still an outsider to him?
Onlookers stood rigid in the presence that greeted them in a rather unpleasant way. Lucaen nodded slightly, a gesture of courtesy. It was still early to work, but the court was, as always, alert.
Lucaen hesitated as he was met with the Aurelius' office. A brief hesitation before he went straight for Aurelius' door, barging in. No knocks, no dignity.
As sudden as Lucaen was to Aurelius, the feeling was mutual. Aurelius straightened himself unconsciously, seeing the exo in front of him. While Solivane had blocked Aurelius' figure by intercepting Lucaen's view under the guise of giving Aurelius the bigger picture of the current project.
The cold air was a good groundwork for the holograms to project the latest reports of Enarc. Perhaps a good temperature to take a stroll away from this. This uncomfortable confrontation.
Lieutenant Solivane, again.
The room felt too bright for his liking. He didn't know what to say. He came here out of spite. To break the assumption. To see, to prove, to what?
[0708] His eyes darted to his HUD. A thought came to his chain of thought that had tangled upon one another. With a shift of his robe, Lucaen shoved Solivane aside. Waving the holograms to make his point.
"We need to report to the Optic and close the mission. We do not have the time to be distracted upon. Have you forgotten we were assigned an emergence mission?" Lucaen cocked his muzzle to the side, a challenge, a dare to the both of them.
Unknowingly, his own instinct betrayed him with the tail stilled.
Aurelius looked at him. A nervous laugh was buried under Lucaen's gaze.
He held Lucaen's shoulder. The warmth was creeping through his EXA, but it was left unnoticed by him. "Eager to get me away, huh?"
What..? Had he lost his mind? Does he take me, for a fool?
His rhythm pounded, the same reversal pain when Scarred had been crushed to death. Something in his words hit close to home. Something he doesn't want to process or perhaps something he was turning away from.
"Leave us, Lieutenant Solivane." He seethed.
With the discipline of a lieutenant of Enarc, Solivane gave a crude nod to the both of them before taking his leave. He didn't wander far. Lucaen could still sense his presence as he waited outside of the door like a trained dog waiting for a treat.
"Luc, what's gotten into you?" Aurelius snapped him out of his drunken thoughts, attempting to ground him with the present. His wings tucked neatly, seeking his approval. Yet, the void of its systematic twitches only fuels the accusations he left untold.
"Stop it, Aurelius." Lucaen hesitated. For once, his left hind leg jerked back, followed by his tail recoiling stiffly at the mere touch. Is he still the man he grew up with? Can he trust him? Is he an Elysian or.. an exo of unknown origin?
Lucaen's response made Aurelius recoil slightly. Letting his talons fall to himself, fisted loosely, afraid that tightening them might cause Lucaen to distance himself further. Aurelius searched for answers to the unsaid questions, the rigid span of his shoulders, the tight tension of his tail.
The oppressive silence broke with a fault from Lucaen. "We don't need to linger here longer."
"We need to go back. General Nefertari would disapprove of this kind of behavior."
Aurelius tilted his head. Defensive. "We never cared about it before. What's gotten into you?"
"Was Enarc lacking in some way? Did someone wrong you?"
"Even if, I can take care of myself. I'm not a damsel in distress." At last, Lucaen told him. A subtle self-doubt painted Aurelius' office with a plague of self-worth.
"Snap out of your fantasies. It's getting burdensome." He continued.
This was not what he had intended to say. As harsh as he was with Aurelius, he never spilled the truth. Yet, even this truth was not what he had planned to reveal. A demand for an explanation was buried, and only the answer to his insecurity surfaced.
"If you want to return, we will." Aurelius scoffed.
"The sync port, you know where it is. Leave if you wish. Why bother pulling me into your pace?"
"Aren't I, a deadweight? As a judge of order and truth, you are awfully contradicting yourself."
Lucaen let out a mock chuckle at his words. The audacity, the challenge. The air itself was deafening.
"Your delusions know no bounds. Someone ought to clip your wings, Aurelius Everhart. Not fix it."
"The Therons were right."
"You were incorrigible."
Aurelius' rhythm ran cold at the admission of his fears.
"Don't look at me like that.."
Colder than Enarc should be. Colder than needed to maintain his core functions properly. He took a step back. Retreating so slowly, the chamber was loud with the unspoken. It felt as if the time had frozen.
"Leave." A shameful plea.
"You won't cast me out. You never will." Lucaen closed their distance. His eyes landed on Aurelius' sync port.
It had changed. The exterior...resembles of an Enclaved architecture.
"Leave from this land." Aurelius demanded.
"Was this land ever yours, to begin with?" He retorted. "Are you even serving the Optic?"
"No- do you even know who you are? Your birthplace?" Lucaen slowly clawed Aurelius by his chest, digging it through.
A futile attempt, as not a single scratch was seen... And Aurelius hated it. Hated the fact, he had changed. Against his wishes.
"I suggest you go back. Perhaps, are you afraid that they won't accept you?"
"You know all the answers to it, Luc."
"Say it yourself. Admit it then."
As prideful as Aurelius was, he chose to challenge the pride of the anubis. "Summon the court of Maat, condemn me. Let Ammit devour my core. That is your duty, is it not?"
"After all, you have been far too blind to see me as your brother!"