Beyond the Dispatch
vampirevocalistyuli:
The coast was clear; any passersby wouldn’t consider the both of them to be anyone suspicious. They wouldn’t care, as usual. Aeolus scoffed at his own thoughts as he took Siarnaq’s word, but with a grain of salt. Surely the ninja hadn’t had anything in store for him, right? That’d have to be absurd, for Siarnaq to have made himself scarce only to show up now, and for what? Kidnap him? Murder him?
Of course, their meeting would have to be a coincidence. After all, what are the odds of Siarnaq being hired by his own elder sister, of all people? It’s all just one big coincidence, right? Feeling suspicious with his paranoia seeping into his mind, Aeolus glanced sideways at the ninja, silently studying him.
While they have been paired together during the Game of Destiny, Aeolus had found Siarnaq to be tolerable at most, mainly because the ninja didn’t speak unless necessary, and even then, his words were short and precise. Just the way the boy wanted it. But, other than that, Aeolus knew practically nothing about him. Would Siarnaq turn against him on his own will? But, what if the ninja was tasked to…?
Aeolus pulled his bicycle into a stop, turning his head towards Siarnaq’s direction with a narrowed, puzzled frown. Siarnaq’s intentions were unclear, yes, and Aeolus wanted to know what he was really up to. But, true to the ninja’s straight-forward nature, the boy was given a blunt question. Very blunt. It was so blunt that even Aeolus was stunned for a good long minute.
Did Siarnaq just ask if they should keep in contact with or cut ties from each other? Aeolus’ mind had finally processed the query, and it had made him stare as the boy was forced to stand in front of two branching paths. Now he’d realized that he wasn’t prepared to make this decision so soon! “I…” Aeolus found himself saying, and with much hesitation. How should he answer?
As if Siarnaq had plans to go out of his way to hurt his last partner in a long time. This, if he laughed at jokes, would be considerably humorous. Aeolus was one of the few people he considered were likely living up to Siarnaq’s own ideals, besides the councilwoman now and maybe his colleagues of the underground network. Most of them, anyway.
No, the only people he had plans for that sort of hunting Aeolus feared of had succeeded in eluding him for all this time after and before Ouruborus fell. While he was still trying to find them, it seemed growingly less plausible that his old goals would ever be completed. Unfortunate, but he would simply move on to his own ideal that he’d taken on so strongly in the Game; one that to this day, he had not really discussed. Mostly because his version of justice was not one that many people likely agreed with.
That green bike slowed to a stop, and he watched as the human turned to face him in his wary intent. His own narrow gaze was met with a similar one, and it was that moment that any uncertainty he might have had disappeared. This was who Aeolus was, truly; all the politeness with his sister early on had been a farce compared to now. Perfect. Just as Siarnaq knew the human could do, he was scrutinizing him, studying for ulterior motives. Except Aeolus wasn’t going to find any. Just a cold stare reflecting back at him, empty and waiting for answers.
It seemed to take Aeolus a good bit of time to understand the severity of his query, but that was to be expected. Siarnaq wasn’t surprised by the great hesitation either. What with how the human acted earlier, one might have thought off the bat that he wanted nothing to do with him. But that wasn’t necessarily true. And that was why he simply had to ask.
Siarnaq didn’t have anything to say in the human’s silence. In the past, when Aeolus had to think, he let him think. So the two of them stood there a moment in the middle of the sidewalk without saying a word. After a beat, he averted his gaze away from him in order to take some pressure off. Another Aeolus-taught tactic, he recalled. For now, he was being ‘polite’; he could wait however long it took.
