3. your prince has come!witheasygraceAugust 11 2011, 05:17:46 UTC
[You're awakened from whatever altered state you were in by a breeze and a kiss. Keith Goodman (costumed, but easy enough to identify without his helmet) is holding you in his arms, smiling down on you. Lunatic's mask is nearby in the grass. The former King of Heroes (now Prince of Heroes, maybe) has obviously removed it.] I've been looking for you-- I'm so glad I finally found you. It's all right now.
Awwww, Sky High, take me away! <3a_civil_serviceAugust 11 2011, 05:39:22 UTC
Looking for me? [It takes Yuri a few moments of confusion to realize where he is, what is happening. His face feels so bare. He feels the wind against his skin. His eyes widen. His mask is gone, exposing his face and his identity. He looks up into Keith's face, then glances away, with a pained grimace.] Ah, of course. This is the end. You've apprehended me.
[But his voice is soft, uncertain. Keith's attitude, his words, don't fit that scenario.]
Re: Awwww, Sky High, take me away! <3witheasygraceAugust 11 2011, 05:58:07 UTC
[Keith's smile wavers, but doesn't completely disappear-- like the sun hiding momentarily behind a cloud.]
You're right, it's the end. But-- it isn't what you think. [He glances at Lunatic's mask, turned on its face in the grass.] It's just-- you don't have to do that anymore. You disappeared-- everyone thought you were lost. But I found you, and you're all right. Now things can be how you want them to be-- we're all free.
I-- [He turns back to Keith, for an instant almost believing--then shakes his head, incredulously. What Keith says is impossible. Things don't happen that way. That's not how the story is supposed to end. He looks away again, toward where the mask lies on the ground.]
I can't be. Free. This must be a dream. Or I'm dying, hallucinating. [He says this flatly, as if his own death doesn't concern him greatly.]
[He shifts Yuri closer in his arms, his expression serious, but not sad.] You're not, though. I promise.
[The he does smile a little, bending his head, pressing a kiss to Yuri's forehead, then to his mouth.] Does it have to be a dream, just because it's what you want?
If this is a dream, your promise is meaningless. [His glance flickers toward the mask. Part of him wants it back, but wouldn't it be meaningless now? He could struggle, or try to escape, but he feels so drained. There's no fight left in him.] It can't be--
[The kisses surprise him, and he breaks off, frowning. That seems to confirm that this must be a dream. He doesn't quite pull away, but he doesn't understand. If Keith knows...] No, I'm a realist. I'm not accustomed to getting what I want.
It's not a dream, either. [Keith smiles, watching Yuri's face.]
Yeah, I understand. But realistically, you'll get what you want at least sometimes, right? Or maybe just once in a while. It doesn't mean it isn't real, or that you don't get to keep it.
I know you're tired. I wouldn't lie to you. It really is over. Now everyone can just be what they were born to be-- there's no ranking for that.
[It is a relief, in a way. To lie still and not fight. He can rest. Keith is holding him.]
I suppose that would be true, according to the law of averages, but not for something like this, such an unlikely occurrence. [He speaks calmly, trying to be rational about the matter, although this is such an odd situation. If not a dream, it is dreamlike.] How can it be?
[Yet it's true that, if this were really happening, this man would be one of the few he wouldn't suspect of lying to him. No rankings...] Let's say I accept your words as truth. What's to become of me?
I always tell the truth, and I guess I understand the law of averages, but I'm not a judge. I can't decide what's going to happen to anyone but myself.
I think it's up to you, what happens now. If you didn't feel like the things you did were necessary anymore, would you still do them?
[Lunatic had been unreal almost, a dark idea made up of all the inhumanity and superhumanity of being a NEXT-- but inside, all along, there had been a man. A man who feels all too human in Keith's arms.] I don't think you would. I think everyone would understand that.
I only did what I did because I felt it was necessary. The courts, you heroes--you weren't doing enough to save innocent people. [A light of judgment flickers in his eyes, then dies out. For the moment, the events of the recent past feel so distant, as if they didn't really happen, but they did happen. That cannot be denied.]
Surely it's not that easy. There must be a price to be paid. [He smiles, but not happily, a flicker of bitterness and sorrow in his eyes now, with the judgment gone out of them.] I'm prepared to pay it. I would be a hypocrite, otherwise.
Try to take it easy, you were out for a while. [Keith shifts his hand to Yuri's chest, rests it there. He bows his head, the hair falling over his brow making him look like a schoolboy.]
I know-- we know. What you say is true. We're supposed to save people. All kinds of people. That's why I'm here, I'm saving you. That's what I'm supposed to do.
Maybe some debts are so big that they belong to everyone-- and everyone has to come together to either forgive them or repay them. We'd all be hypocrites if we didn't try. Yuri.
Was I? Yes, I must have been. I do feel so tired. [Keith's hand is warm on his chest. He gazes up at him through half-closed eyes, considering the fall of golden hair, the open, almost innocent concern in the blue eyes looking down at him.]
Save people. It sounds so easy when you say it like that. [He'd wanted to save people, hadn't he? At one point, that had been all he'd wanted. He manages to put up a hand, as if to ward Keith off, but it's a small, symbolic gesture. No flames flicker from his fingertips.] What if I don't want to be saved? I can't absolve myself of responsibility for what I've done.
[He closes his eyes the rest of the way.] You shouldn't have come.
[Keith moves the hand on Yuri's chest up to his face, combs the heaviness of the man's hair aside with his fingers. He looks so different like this-- delicate, somehow. He's never really had a moment like this, where he felt someone was depending on him, just him, as himself. Even as a hero.]
I couldn't have done anything else. I was looking for you, all this time.
[He smiles softly.] So I'm going to save you. I'm going to take you away from here, to some place where you can rest. Then you can decide what you want to do, about everything.
All this time? How long has it been? [The way Keith says it makes it sound like a long time, but that doesn't make sense. It was only moments ago, wasn't it? He keeps his eyes closed. He enjoys the sensation of the touch on his face, the fingers in his hair. He tells himself that he shouldn't enjoy it, doesn't deserve to, but he does all the same.]
You're very persistent, but it's all for nothing. I can't be saved. Even if I wanted to, I can't. [There's pain in his voice.] Leave me here.
[It's isn't pity Keith feels, but something more difficult to name-- a complexity of emotion that shows in his expression, and is easily heard in his voice. He has a hard time hiding things.]
He runs fingertips over Yuri's shut eyes, traces the downward turning line of his lips.]
I can't do that. Even if I wanted to. Nothing is ever for "nothing", I don't believe that-- especially not about you. I know you don't want me to, and maybe it's a little selfish of me, but I can't leave you here. It isn't right. I'm going to take you with me.
Reply
I've been looking for you-- I'm so glad I finally found you. It's all right now.
Reply
[But his voice is soft, uncertain. Keith's attitude, his words, don't fit that scenario.]
Reply
You're right, it's the end. But-- it isn't what you think.
[He glances at Lunatic's mask, turned on its face in the grass.] It's just-- you don't have to do that anymore.
You disappeared-- everyone thought you were lost. But I found you, and you're all right.
Now things can be how you want them to be-- we're all free.
Reply
I can't be. Free. This must be a dream. Or I'm dying, hallucinating. [He says this flatly, as if his own death doesn't concern him greatly.]
Reply
You're not, though. I promise.
[The he does smile a little, bending his head, pressing a kiss to Yuri's forehead, then to his mouth.]
Does it have to be a dream, just because it's what you want?
Reply
[The kisses surprise him, and he breaks off, frowning. That seems to confirm that this must be a dream. He doesn't quite pull away, but he doesn't understand. If Keith knows...] No, I'm a realist. I'm not accustomed to getting what I want.
Reply
[Keith smiles, watching Yuri's face.]
Yeah, I understand. But realistically, you'll get what you want at least sometimes, right?
Or maybe just once in a while. It doesn't mean it isn't real, or that you don't get to keep it.
I know you're tired. I wouldn't lie to you. It really is over.
Now everyone can just be what they were born to be-- there's no ranking for that.
Reply
I suppose that would be true, according to the law of averages, but not for something like this, such an unlikely occurrence. [He speaks calmly, trying to be rational about the matter, although this is such an odd situation. If not a dream, it is dreamlike.] How can it be?
[Yet it's true that, if this were really happening, this man would be one of the few he wouldn't suspect of lying to him. No rankings...] Let's say I accept your words as truth. What's to become of me?
Reply
I think it's up to you, what happens now.
If you didn't feel like the things you did were necessary anymore, would you still do them?
[Lunatic had been unreal almost, a dark idea made up of all the inhumanity and superhumanity of being a NEXT-- but inside, all along, there had been a man. A man who feels all too human in Keith's arms.]
I don't think you would. I think everyone would understand that.
Reply
Surely it's not that easy. There must be a price to be paid. [He smiles, but not happily, a flicker of bitterness and sorrow in his eyes now, with the judgment gone out of them.] I'm prepared to pay it. I would be a hypocrite, otherwise.
Reply
[Keith shifts his hand to Yuri's chest, rests it there. He bows his head, the hair falling over his brow making him look like a schoolboy.]
I know-- we know. What you say is true. We're supposed to save people. All kinds of people.
That's why I'm here, I'm saving you. That's what I'm supposed to do.
Maybe some debts are so big that they belong to everyone-- and everyone has to come together to either forgive them or repay them. We'd all be hypocrites if we didn't try. Yuri.
Reply
Save people. It sounds so easy when you say it like that. [He'd wanted to save people, hadn't he? At one point, that had been all he'd wanted. He manages to put up a hand, as if to ward Keith off, but it's a small, symbolic gesture. No flames flicker from his fingertips.] What if I don't want to be saved? I can't absolve myself of responsibility for what I've done.
[He closes his eyes the rest of the way.] You shouldn't have come.
Reply
He's never really had a moment like this, where he felt someone was depending on him, just him, as himself. Even as a hero.]
I couldn't have done anything else. I was looking for you, all this time.
[He smiles softly.]
So I'm going to save you. I'm going to take you away from here, to some place where you can rest. Then you can decide what you want to do, about everything.
I'll stay with you.
Reply
You're very persistent, but it's all for nothing. I can't be saved. Even if I wanted to, I can't. [There's pain in his voice.] Leave me here.
Reply
He runs fingertips over Yuri's shut eyes, traces the downward turning line of his lips.]
I can't do that. Even if I wanted to.
Nothing is ever for "nothing", I don't believe that-- especially not about you.
I know you don't want me to, and maybe it's a little selfish of me, but I can't leave you here. It isn't right. I'm going to take you with me.
Reply
Leave a comment