The point of no return

[powertotearer]

Who: Eiji and Ankh, Open portion HERE
When: October 7, night, continues for 46 hours
Where: Shopping district
What: The power of the music of the night
Warnings: Standard monster-fighting violence, addiction (thanks to the monster), some self-harm/semi-suicidal undertones to conversation

There is a phantom who's been singing late at night in the shopping district. And this angel of music has been drawing a lot of monsters. And Eiji being Eiji, he can't just leave this alone.

A flash of light from LaToraBatta doesn't do much to distract the monsters, and they begin aggressively beating Eiji now that he's closer to wherever the singing is coming from.

"Ankh, I think I'm going to need a combo for this one," he calls back, trying to block while at the same time slashing at another monster. "There's too many!"

Comments

[notsogreedy]

Ankh relaxes slightly when he sees just how much difficulty Eiji is having. If he's still crazy, he's at least not in good enough shape to run off again easily. It takes him a second to say anything, mostly because he's not sure he actually wants an answer to the question of whether Eiji's still crazy.

"You better not be planning on trying to run off again."

[powertotearer]

He shakes his head.

"I'm sorry."

It comes out as a whisper, if only because he doesn't trust his voice right now.

[notsogreedy]

When Ankh hears that, he lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. For the first time in two days, that seems like it's actually Eiji talking. He's not sure what broke the hold. Maybe time, or maybe Eiji having been knocked so hard asleep from that combo. It doesn't really matter.

"I guess you remember all that, then." He says it for a couple kinds of confirmation. First, that Eiji's really back, and second, exactly how much he actually remembers, because there were a few things in there Ankh would be okay with him having forgotten entirely.

[powertotearer]

There's enough hesitation to confirm it before Eiji nods, a warm blush rising to his cheeks. Everything.

"I'm sorry," he says again, when he can get his voice under control. "For everything."

[notsogreedy]

Ankh replies with a vague sound, almost dismissive. There's not really much to say to an apology. He's definitely not going to say it's unwarranted after all that, but also most of that wasn't Eiji's fault in the first place. Except for one thing.

"You had those Medals the whole time, didn't you?"

[powertotearer]

Eiji closes his eyes and nods.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you from the start."

[notsogreedy]

Damn right he should have.

"But you didn't. Were you ever going to if that hadn't happened?"

[powertotearer]

Eiji hesitates. He really doesn't know. On some level, he'd known he should say something, but he tried to avoid it.

"I was scared," he finally says. "You sacrificed yourself saving me from becoming a Greeed forever. I didn't know how to tell you."

[notsogreedy]

That just reminds him of something earlier, said in the midst of Eiji's posessed insanity.

You mean care like when you killed yourself to save me?

And it earns Eiji a bop on the shoulder; not hard, but probably enough to hurt considering he's not in great condition already. And then Ankh looks away, hiding his expression. He wishes Eiji would stop making such a big deal out of that.

"That Medal was already broken back then, anyway." Something Eiji should have known, either because he saw it or because Hina told him when she didn't have to keep secrets anymore. It was an easy decision to make when he wasn't going to hold up much longer regardless.

[powertotearer]

Eiji winces at the bop--no chance of him seeing your expression anyway, Ankh. Even light, he hurt himself enough in the fight to see stars for a minute.

"I..." He hadn't known. Hina hadn't told him, maybe specifically to spare him the horrific sense of guilt he feels shooting through him--he should have seen it. He should have known. If he had, he never would have put Ankh into that situation.

It doesn't change much.

"I couldn't risk breaking your Medal more when I tried to bring you back," he finally says instead. "So I tried something I could."

[notsogreedy]

He hadn't known. He'd figured that out already from the way Eiji was saying things, but that reaction just confirms it.

There's a bit of a huff at the explanation. He can't fault that logic, really but... "Why those?" There had to be other medals to experiment on, ones that didn't almost turn Eiji into a Greeed at one point.

[powertotearer]

Eiji looks away from him. That's exactly the reaction he had been afraid of, and the whole reason he'd kept it a secret for so long.

"I didn't know who I might bring back."

Two Ankhs had ended up being born from the Medals. And restoring any others meant risking any of the other Greeed. He would need a way to fix his mistake, no matter what the cost to himself.

"Not that it would have worked. I can't use the destructive power."

[notsogreedy]

Ankh wants to point out that by that logic Eiji could also have brought back the same thing that happened to him the first time. But he suspects Eiji already realises and that was ignoring risk to himself as usual, and saying it will do about as much good as every time he tried to convince him that going back to the phantom was a bad idea. So he's not going to bother.

And that aside, he can't really fault the rest of what Eiji said, so he just falls back on his usual standby.

"Tch. Idiot."

[powertotearer]

"I really did try to get rid of them," he promises.

But it's hard destroying Medals, especially when the ones that destroy everything are the ones you're trying to destroy. And when they're not cooperating.

"I didn't know any safe place to hide them. I couldn't tell Mr. Kougami."