snowtop | 001. (v2) [audio + commentlog/open]

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001. (v2) [audio + commentlog/open]

A...Again?

[Xanth lets out a hollow, bitter laugh.]

I... n-no, you, you have to be k--kidding. I-I already d--did this. M-My world was... a-already gone. Th--The End took it. K-K'lai, a-and Grams, they... th-they were... already gone.

[He takes in a shuddering breath. His chest tightens, his voice cracks.]

N--Now you say it... it's all g-gone? Unmade? D--Didn't ev--even-- h-happen? How!? I-- I lived that! It-- it can't-- not again--

[There's a small gasp, like a prelude to a sob, but then Xanth slams the book shut.

Xanth takes his record, takes his key, and immediately sets out into the Keep. He's tired, he's so fucking tired, but he has to know if anyone else got snatched into this mess too.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Elegante? Is that was the ship was-Oh.

[They'd reached the wall, and the little gate that would take them through to the thermal pools.]

It's not far. It's just through here and past the library, in the Great Keep.

O--Okay.

[Xanth is silent for a few more steps, but then he pipes up again:]

B-But... um. Y-Yeah. The sh-ship was th--the e-- M.S. E-El--Elegante.

[Such an innocent sounding name for such a threatening place. Xanth hopes Kairi will end her questions there, but he suspects they won't. Kairi is a curious girl, after all.]

So, did it travel between worlds?

[That it was a ship between worlds is pretty obvious. But Kairi wants to know if it actually stopped anywhere.]

Um.

[Xanth thoughtfully frowns down at the ground, cogs turning in his brain.]

I'm... I-I'm not... r-really sure. I--I think it did, b-but it was... h-hard to t--tell.

W-We... we only e-ever stopped t-twice, though. A-At-- at least w-when... I was th-there.

[That's strange. How could it be hard to tell? Kairi skips over a stone as they skirt about the edge of the thermal pools and make for the library, but her gaze is still on Xanth.]

What kinds of places did you visit?

[Maybe one of them was somewhere she would remember.]

T--Two beaches. One h-had a little town. Th--the residents w-were, um, s--stone pigs. Th-the other was...

[Xanth's voice falters.]

...d-deserted.

They both sound nice.

[Kairi misses his voice failing. She's focused on the path ahead of them. Once they round the corner of the library, they'll be able to see the entrance to the Keep. She glances back to check how Xanth's walking and it's then that she catches sight of his face.]

Weren't they?

[When Xanth realizes she's looking at him, he smiles. He's much better at this insincere smiles these days, but she can probably see through it. She could always read him like a book.]

Th--the first one w--was-- r-really nice.

[The deserted one, not so much, but he's not going to tell her about that.]

...Okay.

[The answer is oddly specific but she doesn't press it. If he doesn't want to talk about it then she won't make him.]

The infirmary's just through here.

[And she points across the small courtyard to the little side door in the Keep's ground floor.]

[Xanth is silently relieved that Kairi doesn't push him. He can't start blubbering in front of her again - and if he talks about the shore, he knows he will.

He looks to where she points, then nods quickly.]

O-Okay. I, uh, I can m-make it from-- from here, I, I-- I think.

Oh. [She stops short. She hadn't been expecting to be so abruptly dismissed.] Okay. Well, it's inside on the left.

[She takes a couple of steps back, but doesn't yet turn away.]

I'll see you around, okay?

[Xanth is sorry - truly, he is - but he needs time. He needs a moment alone, or even just with a stranger, to unwind.

Or to fall apart.

He looks to Kairi and feels a terrible sense of longing. Were she the girl he knew, he would want nothing more than for her to be by his side. She would provide comfort instead of causing a pain in Xanth's chest.

But he's sorry.]

Th-- th-thank you. I-I-- I app--preciate this. A--A lot.

I-I'll... see you.

[He tries for a smile, but it's so insincere, and he can't lie to Kairi like that.

And so he goes.]

You're welcome.

[She nods. It's probably more emphatic than it needs to be, but she is determined to patch things up with him... However weird it is.]

Okay. Well, bye.

[And she turns, setting off toward the barracks.]

[He raises a hand and waves, but he does not look back at Kairi. Already, he can feel a lump forming in his throat, but he holds it back and tamps it down. The door's not far. He can make it.

Thirty feet. Twenty feet. Ten.

Xanth yanks open the door and rushes inside. His eyes are blurred with tears and something in his chest is tight, like grief has grown hands and is crushing his heart.

So far, he'd found no one from the M.S. Elegante that he knew. This Lord Deior had deemed only Xanth fit to save - but why? He's little more than a broken boy. Ironhide would have been a better choice. Or Vie. Or Gideon. Or, hell, even Jinx was more capable than Xanth.

And now his family was gone. Kairi was gone.

They were all gone.

His shoulders shake with a broken sob and, covering his eyes, Xanth slumps against the door.]

[It's some minutes before Isabel happens upon Xanth there. She triest to enter through the side door behind him and there is no avoiding the collision.]

I beg your pardon. What are you doing there?

[In those minutes, Xanth cries. There is little else he can do.

But when the door pulls out from behind him, he can't help colliding with Isabel. Immediately he stumbles away, wiping his face and sniffling.]

S--Sorry, s-s--sorry--

[He backs up a step. He must look such a mess, covered in blood, tears, and seawater. He takes a breath and it's meant to be steadying, but the sharp gasp it comes out as is anything but.]

I-I, uh, I-- a-are you th-the--the d-doc--doctor?

No.

[She had been carrying a stack of fresh laundry and she sets it down now. She needn't ask if he needs the physician. He is crying a filthy.]

The physician will be returning shortly.

[She pulls a handkerchief from the pile of laundry and offers it to him.]

Dry your tears.

[Xanth takes the handkerchief from Isabel and wipes his face. It's something of an improvement, but that won't fix the rest of him.

He glances back and spies a cot just a few feet away. He takes those few steps back, then sits.]

Th-th-- thanks.

[Excuse him just a moment as he blows his nose.]

[She averts her eyes.]

How did you come to be so injured?

... A b-big-- b-battle. [Sniff, wipe.] R-R-- right b-before I... g-got here.

[Talking of the battle with The End comes easier with this woman than it did with Kairi. Then again, Isabel wasn't there. Xanth hadn't been dragged away from her side or give her a hasty kiss on a sinking ship.

He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. One hand hangs, the cloth crumpled in his grip, and Xanth lifts the other to rub his temples with his thumb and forefinger.]

B-But I've... h-had worse.

[Isabel looks back at the boy and nods curtly. As long as the large battle that he spoke of had not happened on the grounds, she did not particularly care.

Still, if he is so new that his wounds are still fresh, better she set him to rights to begin with.]

And you are safe here. You will have time to heal. Provided that you do not provoke further confrontations.

[Xanth sighs, then looks up to Isabel. She calls this place safe, but how can he believe her? This was yet another refuge from the broken fragments of whatever worlds might be left, or whatever worlds had been undone.

Then again, no crewmember had ever said the Elegante was safe.

Still, casting his gaze down again, Xanth scoffs.]

I-- I-I'll-- try. M-My luck's... i-it could b-be better.

[Luck had very little do with anything on that count, but Isabel does not say so. She frowns at his scoffing and narrows her eyes, but passes no comment. He does not yet know to whom he speaks.]

Tell me, how long have you been here?

H--Hours. L-Less than a d-day.

[And yet it feels like so much longer. Xanth is so, so tired, but he doesn't know if he can sleep.

Insomnia's a bitch.

At least his tears seem to have dried up. He blinks, then just... stares into space. But he keeps the conversation going.]

How-- h-how long-- h-have you b-been here?

[Isabel bristles. No, he certainly does not know to whom he speaks. That much is obvious. Time to remedy that particular problem.]

I am Lady Isabel, the Keep's chatelaine.

[She drew herself up and stared down her nose at him.]

I have been here longer than I care to count.

[Or at least, longer than she cares to tell him.]

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