Setzer (gabbiani) wrote in imperially, @ 2008-08-03 23:28:00 |
|
|||
Though Setzer left the tent they were keeping Terra at when the night had barely begun, her words stayed with him in the hours after. Enough so that when Edgar and the soldier returned to the tent they were all given to share, he didn't even give the youngest man another look. It was a tense silence at first, but there also came the mutual unsaid agreement now wasn't the time to sort anything, not between him and that man and not between he and Edgar. The former wouldn't come for some time, the later would come tomorrow, after they were rested.
When sleep came, it was a light one, and it had little to do with the situation they found themselves in-- something that would of been the cause any other time. As Setzer lay on his back on the cot he had been given, he looked up the cloth above his head that was too thick to allow any of the moonlight through. He imagined if he lived his entire life like that, if he was never given the chance to experience that open space up above and all that came with it. It was true that Vector had taken a little of that freedom from him, but no one got by in this world now without having made some sacrifice. His position granted him more than he thought any of the others would ever have, and he had always been more careful than was let on in his dealings with the Emperor to make sure it would stay that way. He still got to travel through the expansive place he saw as his real home, a perpetually transient one like that suited him perfectly. Because of that, he could do his job as willingly as he did.
Perhaps because it was a place that meant so much to him, that he found himself considering the girl's simple request. But even simple ones were a great risk when it came to her. It was only when the moon had almost disappeared from the gradually waking sky did he remember that taking risks were one of the few things that reminded him he was still alive.
Those who lived at the small resistance camp were still asleep when Setzer emerged from his tent, and made his way to hers once more. The sun would be up within the half hour, and he doubted this was a bunch that slept much longer than that. He knew Edgar wouldn't, and the same could probably be said for the other man who had joined them. It was more them, than those at the camp, he would prefer not knowing the choice he had made. The only other one he thought to even give more than a passing concern about would be the man who was called leader here, but then, if he was so concerned about how they should treat her...
Setzer found Terra exactly where he had left her, and though he would of expected that at any other time, he knew this to be the longest she would of ever been simply left alone without the crown. To think she had used all of that time to remain as she had been with it, her discipline was unbelievable to him. No-- her purpose was.
"Have you been awake this whole time?" He kept his voice mindfully lowered as he addressed her, a signal that she could drop her act. There was a certain smile on his face that hadn't been there since the regularity of their meetings had ended, even though his real thought on the matter was something far from amusement. There was always a kind of careless air to him, in the face of nearly anything. But for this time, it was because of what he was going to say to her next. If there was anyone he would have to reconsider how well he knew, it was himself. A one time thing, he mentally reminded.
"Get up," Setzer said after that, as he glanced towards the flap he had come in through. For a moment, the mood seemed to suggest that something may of happened-- many times he expected her to follow whatever his orders would be even when she was free of the crown. "We only have a few minutes to do this."