hugtopia | [Text]

Gladio please

what do you need to say, pyra?

I want to see you.

dont know if that's a good idea right now

And if you too leave before a better time to see you comes around?

then I probably won't remember any of this.

Then when can we meet?

I don't know, pyra. When I'm done punishing myself probably

That can't be making you feel better.

actually it does.

I need to hit something. So I'm hitting something.

Oh. When you wrote punishment I was worried. But if it's something like exercise, that's good.

somethin like that, yeah

[There's about a ten minute delay before he sends another text]

later. come by the house later.

Later, then. I'll see you when you're willing.

[ 'Later' is a vague time. But if and when he messages her that he's willing to meet with her, it is then that she'll be right there-- wherever 'there' might be, whether it is his house, the arena, or somewhere else. ]

[As it turned out, later becomes in the afternoon the next day. Having got drunk with Prompto the day before and sleeping off the worst of a hangover, he remembered his promise. Around midday Pyra will get a text letting her know he'll be home all day if she wanted to come by.

And the door will be left open.

Why?

Because Gladio has no plans to move from the couch. The living room is lit only by a lamp in the corner and he'll be nursing a cup of coffee when she shows up. He looks rough. If it wasn't the alcohol then it was beating on nanobots in the arena and the nice bruises on his cheek and slip lip. The rest of him is clothes and out of view.]

[ One can never know when another will leave, and she's been trying to exist within this realm when that's in mind, balanced with her own personal life. Sometimes, however, when another leaves, she's struck so soundly that her foundation begins to crack. Ignis, then Tony. Two have left, one after the other. Too soon. Who could be next? ]

Gladio...?

[ She knocks on the door and enters, her worried expression changing to one of relief when she spots him-- ] Gladio, [ She repeats, softer this time. ] You're still here.... that's good. That's good.

[ --only to shift back to worried again when her gaze lifts and searches his face, spotting the bruised and injured cheek and lip, to say nothing of his overall state. ]

...You're hurt.

... Just needed some time at he arena. Regis helped me.

[Another one worried. That sadness... He didn't really want it, he didn't want her to be worried about him.

Not that he could stop her, or any of them, from doing that. In their place he'd be the same.

He gestured to the end of the couch and pulled his legs up to make room. ]

I'll heal. Just... needed to vent.

[ After a moment, the tenseness in her shoulders deflate. That must have been the exercise to which he had been referring. A few bruises from combat isn't terrible, in that context, although she's still alarmed by the 'punishment' comment.

Nodding to him, Pyra takes a seat at the end of the couch, and offers him a tentative smile. She brings up a hand to her chest, her expression hopeful, as if trying to find some good of it. ]

You... said that it would help. Did it help? That way of venting, I mean.

[Gladio was quiet, considering his reply. It wasn't an easy thing to quantify. Had it helped? Had there been any need for what he'd done other than to cause himself harm? Regis had already told him off for that.

But the fact was... he hadn't really cared if he lived or died. There just hadn't seemed to be a point.

He sipped at his coffee and then sighed.]

Some. The initial anger, frustration... now alls left is pain.

Ah... [ She exhales quietly when he gives his answer, first looking down at her lap, then back up at him. Anger, frustration... and perhaps he experienced denial when he was searching for Tony, too. Gladio's grieving, and that mourning has only just started. She'd like to say that it'll get easier, but-- she knows it hurts most when it's so new.

Mourning can be a healthy response, too, if it's not toxic to oneself. She's just uncertain if such injuries are something he needs right now. Personally, she doesn't like it-- hearing that pain is the result of that exercise. Or maybe it's just the lingering pain of his heart. Or maybe, she just flat-out doesn't like seeing someone she cares about in pain. ]

It... hurts most in here, doesn't it? [ She motions to the side of her chest, where her heart would be. ] It's not something a little band-aid can just fix. [ A half-wry smile at that, as if she means to bring some casualness to her tone, but her smile doesn't last.

At last, she says quietly: ] I'm sorry... I'm sorry he's gone. I'm sorry that he's not on this couch with you.

Yeah. That's where it hurts.

[Any other hurt, bruise, cut or broken bone couldn't compare to the ache in his chest. And yes, it would take time to heal. It never truly went away. Losing the others, the pain of that had never fully gone away, but it had been easier with Tony at his side.

And now he was gone.

And he was alone again.]

Yeah. Me too. Guess Verstael was right... This place, for all it's need of coupling and affection, really likes taking people away when they get too close.

[ She remains quiet for a moment, mulling over his words. Verstael: another name, another of the same world of Gladio's, has left.

Pyra's hand drifts from her chest, and she places her palm on the cushion between them, an offering of her hand. She knows that the world 'takes' people away, whether or not one becomes close to another, for there are a great many who appear, make little bonds, then vanish outright. The ones one becomes close to just hurt much more viscerally, when they vanish, because of those closer bonds. She knows that pain of loss.... But she also knows that pain is worth it.

For Gladio, though... She knows that he had come from another world before this one, losing those he loved in the process. Now he's lost another. And Tony, well-- he'd be gone from his own world, too. ]

You and him... Your time was precious together, here. I imagine you were closer than any of us thought. [ Glimpses of them here and there, at their bar, or at their birthday parties, or the way they interacted-- it seemed so sweet, as if they had known each other for far longer decades. ]

[Close enough he'd had plans on asking Tony to marry him... Again, a mistake of his, he should have known better. It had happened the same way on the train. Before he could utter the words he was torn from them.

Maybe that was his fate? He should devote himself to being a Shield, not someone else. Finding a partner for life was not meant for people like him.

Gladio gave a low, hollow laugh and shook his head.]

Precious... yeah. Yeah it was. He won't soon be forgotten... But I'll never see him again.

[And if he did, the chances of him being remembered, of being the same Tony, were astronomically slim.]

[ “Won’t be forgotten…”

What beautiful words, ones that are very true. ]

He… has a legacy here, you know. [ She begins quietly, thoughtful, and keeping her voice even. Somehow, this feels more as if they’re at a wake than not. ] The bar, the contributions at the arena, everything he built… [ A small, weak smile.

They might all disappear from this world one day, and what he gave to it will still remain. She never got to tell him that, she realizes, even though she had wanted to. ] And the impact he had on all of our hearts. Especially yours.

I see him in you. It’s like—…. [ She draws a breath, shakily. And if she can, she’ll reach for his hand, wanting some sort of connection rather than the crude distance between them on the couch. It feels too far, for all that they’ve interacted before. ] He’s still here, because of you.

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