Devils in Details

[David B.]

David watched her a moment.

"Mine was the test of sacrifice. That you could put aside your love of those closest to you for the good of the people. The other Dragons like August, Youichi, Olesya, and the civilians. That you could carry out your mission...despite what it might mean to those you feel closest to. Sometimes...a leader has to place their love of the people above the love of themselves. "

He eyed her. 

"It's the greatest weakness of every Elder. And while you care and love the hardest and the fiercest, you are able to trust in those you care about to either make it through their trial or forgive you from the afterlife in order for you to get the job done. It's something I doubt Mathew could have done...or even myself."

He shook his head at her second question.

"Nobody is going with me. I will be going alone."

As it should be. If he failed...if it turned out that he died on a quest that could either save or destroy, he wanted to make sure it was only his life he would be laying down, not anyone elses.

[Kyrie Blaze]

The blonde drew closer, up to stand in front of him as he turned back. "...it would never do to cling tightly and lose all our lives in the process because we did not do everything we could to ensure what amounts to victory. I have been utterly alone before, and while I am terrified of it happening again...if I do nothing, it would be highly likely we would all die..."

She shifted after her quiet words, like she wanted to turn away. Instead, she turned her eyes up. They were clear, those windows to her soul. Quiet and grave and worried...

"...and here you are, taking a page from my book, and demanding the same of me, that I should adhere to the standards I have held myself to." And sorrowful. But beneath all that, the intensity was still there. Not born of wariness, like with Scene. But she was very intently watching for the recognition and reaction to her words, especially the next ones. Her voice was steady, the thickness of her voice hidden only somewhat. "Do not go where I cannot follow."

Kyrie waited.

[David B.]

He stared. He didn't respond to the first part- it was a given. But there was more to it than just this instance. Almost every instance, when she's presented with a choice, she takes the one she needs to, not the one she wanted to. Prime example was letting Gregory die so that thousands could escape. The second bit was a little more...close to home. Like she was hoping to trigger him. Rather allow himself flop down and get angry, he spoke a whispered response.

"What would you have me do, Kiyr? Stay here and 'lead'? Lead what? These people on this ship are children of earth, and someone with more power and weaponry is taking it from us. We can't beat him as we are. I watched the recording of that boy of yours dying. Gregory. He was stronger than me, according to Ceres' statistics, and Strike was far beyond him. Shall we find a new place to nest on Earth, like Hyperion has done, until Strike comes to find us there too?"

He wasn't sounding frustrated, or upset in the slightest- he had thought about it. He wanted to hear her give him a way to win that didn't involve mass suicide.

[Kyrie Blaze]

The intent behind her words was the farthest from trying to anger him. She watched him, head tipping back so she could more easily watch him as he spoke. Either he didn't get it or he was ignoring what she said...or didn't pick up the meaning behind them.

Blue eyes flickered in sudden thought, flicking through ideas until they brightened and David came back to sharp focus.

"We could relocate to a separate planet, for one idea; I was looking at them while you were in the kolo tank... Then, there are also those that cannot be tracked. The Kaiser Project...they intend to sabotage Strike's plans until they can strike him down, but, if we could duplicate their ability to avoid detection, we would have a shield in that. We could perhaps even remain on Earth...and have a decent way of striking out to find what you seek while giving the civilians what protection we can. Ceres has the ability to make anything, so we could wind up making personalized devices for individuals."

He was speaking to someone that had hidden away and used deception to survive for the past few years. Even now it was still a visible trait with her. She was good with what she did and this was a plausible way of taking the first steps.

[David B.]

David shook his head.

"Could. Would. Maybe. Try. The things you say are possible, yes. And those are what you will be there for. To lead them in those possibilities. I...have failed to lead in every capacity. And this is not a feeling Similar to those I've had before. Look at my people. We are floating in space without direction. They need someone who tactically, has an idea in mind to win. I could follow my own ideas, but they generally tend to fail. So I will do what I can on my own while someone smarter leads down those avenues."

David knew what she meant. He just...chose to not address it for now. He wanted to keep this official before he took it personal. Before he told her the second part.

[Kyrie Blaze]

Kyrie was quiet as he spoke. She wanted to strike his doubts down and out as if she could hurtle them back to Earth to smite Strike and end it all. But the jagged pill she swallowed was reality. She couldn't absolve him of doubts any more than she could end it all in one deft stroke of power.

The little blonde took a breath in and started to turn his words over. He didn't want to stay. In fact he seemed solemnly, stubbornly, set on leaving. Why, then, if he thought he would fail even in this?

"You do not believe you would be a benefit here..? I do not quite understand why you are adamant on leaving when you say you have failed and will likely fail in this, aside from following my example of trusting in those around me being capable of doing what is needed in my absence."

He termed it as sacrifice. It was. But this was how she truly viewed it. It helped her to move through the very real fears she had surrounding those situations. But David...he was, indeed, sacrificing. And she didn't know why, but strived to keep it in the field of an Elder to the up-and-coming Elder as he was keeping it.

The young woman wasn't a mind-reader, and at times such as these she wished otherwise. So Kyrie chose to ask in hopes of shedding some light on the situation.

[David B.]

David took a deep breath, turning away a little as he sat, staring off at the far wall.

"Imagine you have power. More power than you have demonstrated for others. A power that was...born inside you. And you are able to do things, and people believe in you. But everything you do, no matter what, ends in someone's death. Many peoples death. Or failure. It's not that your a failure, just that when you try and help others with a group mentality, you fail."

He turned back to her.

"I am not self deprecating. I am giving facts of my history. You are not a failure, and the people love you. Me...they love me, but I have not done as I wished. So you and Mathew and Leon can try. And if I fail in this too...then I will be the only one harmed."

And there it was. He loved her. He loved his people. He loved those who he was charged to protect.

And they kept dying. He didn't want to kill anymore of his friends.

[Kyrie Blaze]

As he turned away, she moved forward to stand and shift her arms behind her back. She gently clasped her elbows, observing and listening but most importantly: letting him say what he needed.

She met his gaze when he turned back and continued to listen and take in what he was saying. With a blink...she shook her head.

"I know what you mean by it, but even so: you would not be the only one hurt by it." Kyrie didn't just mean the people he loved, that loved him, or Maddie, Olesya, his brothers, or even just herself. She meant them all, collectively, but knew it would strike her, hard... And so she said what she said, how she said it, but left specifics unspoken. "...if you fail and you die...that future could well come to pass, regardless, and we could all die. Someone must have lived to be able to create and place the coffins if there is truth in what Scene showed me, but...I do not know who. All I know is what I saw, and that you had not come back..."

[David B.]

David's eyes narrowed.

"You trust his visions?"

A simple question.

[Kyrie Blaze]

That wasn't an easy question to answer. Kyrie furrowed her brow.

"Yes and no. I trust him enough to not trust him entirely. I have reasonable doubt for his visions, yet I cannot discard them quickly or entirely. So I prefer caution because nothing is out of the realm of possibility. I never thought two people could be linked by a dream manipulator, but..."

[David B.]

David watched her, and stayed silent for a while before speaking.

"Did he say, explicitly, that I died? Or that the future would be set in stone if I went?"

[Kyrie Blaze]

"He said 'there is no David, here', that you left just after Damien's wedding and that you would not come back, nor could he see far enough if you ever did..." She closed her eyes, breathed a sigh out, and opened them back up. When she looked up, she seemed torn. "That if I let him stay and what amounted to assigning him some kind of position that enabled his presence, it would change."

She had already done that. It was possible that David would come back...then again, it was also possible David's future wasn't directly tied to that act.

Thus, her current look.

Kyrie was honest, at least. She even said things that would probably seal the fate she didn't want to watch or be part of. Not this facet. But she couldn't withhold information from him, either.

It didn't make it any easier for him to essentially tell her without telling her she had to let him go for the same reasons she could do what she had.

[David B.]

David gave her a small smile.

"Okay, Kyrie. I will make a deal with you. I think we both know that I love and trust you. If you trust his word, then I will too. You get him to find out what happens to me, and who set everything up the way that it was in this...vision, and if it turns out I am dead, I will agree not to go. But if I am alive, then there is a chance that what I do saves us. And I have to take that chance. I will trust you to tell me honestly what he says, and I will trust your instincts about him."

He would tap the screen, pulling open a schedule and removing his departure date.

"You have two weeks. If I don't get an answer by then, I am going. Deal?"

[Kyrie Blaze]

The lines of tension in the blonde's shoulders started to unwind just a little, and she closed her eyes to listen. Kyrie wasn't entirely sure if she could discover anything, but...she hadn't asked about the circumstances surrounding David not being seen coming back. Her eyes opened as he continued, obliterating his current schedule to depart.

'Deals within deals...'

Still, it was better than his abrupt departure in only a few days. And it would give her a little more time...

"Okay, David." She caught the inside corner of her lip between her teeth. "If you do go, I would appreciate knowing where it is you are heading and for what..?"

She didn't demand, or even make it part of the deal. But at least if she knew...

[David B.]

David responded quietly- watching her.

"And how would you follow me?"

He would be in space, after all. But he stepped down from the lip, his itinerary closing out as he did so, walking up to her. He would keep a hand in his pocket, and one at his side. He was standing very close. His voice came in a whisper this time.

"Did you hear me, Kyrie? I said I love you."

Something was different this time. He wasn't hiding it, or trying to. He wanted her to see it.