victory_road | Arrival; [Video]

Sylvain very nearly quips about Felix being back on his favorite word for Sylvain. But for the sake of still wanting to have someone coming to rescue him, he keeps his mouth shut. Only self-preserving enough to do it once though.

"Yours would be a cat, you're practically one yourself." He's immediately glad Felix isn't right next to him, or he's fairly certain he'd be swatted for the comment. Then realizes, no, he'd actually be fine with it. Because then Felix would be here.

"Guess it also makes sense I'd get a horse. I named her Bonnie, just like my warhorse back home. You remember when she was a foal this small, don't you? She made you cry when she bit your fingers to get a sugar cube out of your hand." He's mostly just idly talking to fill the quiet, but it does feel good to just talk to his best friend. It always has been his own personal form of entertainment: chatter boxing at Felix.

Sylvain's absolutely right, he would be swatted for that comment if Felix were there. As it is, he gives the screen a flat look. "That feline menace is nothing like me. If anything, she's more like you. A charming troublemaker."

And yes, he's endlessly fond of them both. So sue him.

...wait, did he just call Sylvain charming to his face? Shit. Whoops. Anyway, moving on--

He makes a face at the reminiscing. "Of course I remember. It wasn't my fault you didn't train your horse not to be so sloppy and overeager. Besides, she's never liked me." Just like every other horse he's ever met. In his opinion, anyway. Hmph.

Goddess, how much he's missed this. Just being able to talk to Sylvain, hear his voice. He's almost too happy to keep up his usual prickliness.

He steps up to the warp pad and pauses. "I'm about to go through the warp to the next city. Don't disconnect."

He has no idea what it will look like to Sylvain, or whether his Gear will even stay online...guess he's about to find out! Time for warp #1 to Ecruteak.

Oh, he's charming is he? And of course Felix thinks he can just change the subject like he's going to get away with that line. No, no- Sylvain's not about to forget.

"Oh please, she likes you. She likes anyone that brings food within biting distance." He waves it off, and watches Felix step onto the warp platform. There's a split second of apprehension that worms into his gut. He never stopped to ask important questions like if warping hurt or if there were unsavory consequences. Warp spells back home always made him somewhat sick to his stomach-

Well, Felix doesn't seem worried. Maybe a little teasing just to let him know Sylvain cares.

"Yeah, yeah see you on the other side. Try not to think about how charming I am while you're gone."

"Tch. Brings their hands within biting distance, you mean."

Dammit, he knew Sylvain would make him suffer over that...the trouble is, he's having a hard time remembering how he used to react when Sylvain teased him like this. Which means it's almost a blessing that before he has time to do anything other than let Inda into her ball, the warp kicks in.

Mere seconds later, he's arriving at the Pokemon Center in Ecruteak. Not that there's much difference, of course. Most Pokemon Centers are more or less identical, down to their creepy Joys. Warping just once has pretty much no consequences, so he's perfectly fine when he brings the screen back up to see if Sylvain is still there.

"Hmph. I never said you charmed me." Even Felix knows that's one of the least convincing excuses he's ever given. He steps down from the warp pad only to walk a few feet away and step onto another one. "I'm warping again."

Edited 2021-12-09 07:30 (UTC)

It doesn't look as though Felix has gone anywhere when the screen flickers back to life after a brief 'signal lost' message flashes on the screen. Did it not work? Or maybe it did and Sylvain just has no earthly concept of this technology- yeah, he chalks it up to that.

"Heh, just you wait. One of these days it'll work on you." He says it as he always has, that air of teasing that's impossible to tell genuine from play. But he's always been like that with Felix. Offers of dinner dates and nights on the town, always rejected, but it never stopped Sylvain from trying. "Might be when you're old and wrinkly, but I'll win eventually."

He watches and waits as the screen cuts out again, and within a few beats, it's back. Sylvain sets a hand on his chin, and puts on the theatrics like he's been contemplating something deep and scholarly. It is far less so.

"Y'know, I've been thinking: you're as stubborn as a mule, but even you have to see there's an easy way to get me to stop, right? Can't you concede defeat just once? Good sportsmanship or whatever?"

"Will it? Ha. In your dreams." How is Felix supposed to keep a straight face, here?...this is not a problem he ever has, but this situation is so absurd and it's making him...

...happy. Oh, he's trying to temper it. He knows plenty of things could go wrong. He knows all of this could fall apart the second he tells Sylvain the whole truth. He's trying so hard, because like this he could almost imagine that Sylvain does remember and he's just playing along, but that's a dangerous way to think. Felix could end up taking this for granted. Getting too comfortable and making assumptions, counting his Torchics before they hatch. But Goddess, it's so, so hard to walk his feelings back like that.

The second warp is a little nauseating, but he's had much worse; it's not hard to just ignore it, particularly when Sylvain picks right back up where he left off. Now, Felix is not one for jokes. He expressly disavows them at every opportunity. He loathes pranks and dislikes surprises. So what he does next is none of those things.

He's just...playing along, just a little.

He gives Sylvain a thoughtful look as he steps down from the warp pad. "I see. So you only want me to say yes once, and then you'll be satisfied? Hmph. Not worth it. If I concede defeat, it will be for nothing less than a wholehearted effort."

He quickly lowers the Gear and steps onto the next warp pad so Sylvain won't see him smile.

Sylvain wears that smug grin a second too long. It's only as Felix steps up to the next warp pad that it actually hits him. Seriously? Is he gonna get that dinner date or not? Signs point to no.

"What- wait- Felix!" he whines like a petulant child as the screen dims again. With a tremendously theatrical huff, Sylvain flops back against the tree roots, and ruffles Bonnie's fiery mane. She looks up at him with those big, dark eyes, and flicks an ear. Sylvain gets the impression she's amused.

"He says he's not a cat, but he's a liar, Bonnie. I've never a met a guy more fickle, I swear to all the Saints."

After a moment, the screen returns, and he fixes Felix with such a Look (tm).

"Jackass." Except it comes out so much fonder than his bluff.

It's true, he is a liar - he knows full well he's a cat, otherwise he never would have started using cat emoji in his text messages. But Sylvain has yet to see those. He remembers the very first message in his own Gear inbox and decides that once they're finished with the video call, he'll return the favor.

"Perhaps. But I haven't yet heard what I get out of it." It's mildly haughty, but in a way that's the Felix equivalent of playful.

Now he's starting to really feel the effects of the repeated warping. He puts out a hand to steady himself on a nearby table, closing his eyes briefly. "Ugh. I've arrived in Cherrygrove, that's the last warp. Fortunately."

He makes his way outside and releases his Vikavolt from her pokeball. Ordinarily, he'd tell her why they were making the trip - she'll be glad to see Sylvain again, too - but he can't explain it while he's on the call, so he'll do it later. She'll get the picture when she hears who's on the other side of the call, anyway.

"Ha, so you admit you're a jerk," Sylvain chirps like he's won somewhere along this conversation. Which he has. Definitely. "What could possibly be a better reward than the company of yours truly? Not to mention you get a nice dinner out of it too. If anything, maybe you should sweeten the pot."

Except he's grinning, and his eyes are bright. Whatever tone of grudge he's trying to hold rapidly falls apart into amusement. He's never been good at pretending to be mad long. It always turns into a 'gotcha!' moment any time he even tries.

But where he'd naturally be chipper after teasing Felix, watching him lurch makes Sylvain sober up immediately. His first instinct is to suddenly stand, as if he can somehow catch Felix through the screen. Poor Bonnie gets bowled over, and he tries to soothe her with a hand on her neck while he frets. His gaze never leaves the screen though, and his brows upturn with worry.

"Fe, are you alright?"

"I'd rather be a jerk than a pushover," Felix counters easily. 'What could possibly be a better reward than the company of yours truly? Sylvain asks, and Felix doesn't say aloud 'literally nothing.' But he thinks it really hard. "Why would I need to sweeten anything? You're the one asking. So convince me."

As if he needs any convincing. But whatever. Honestly, he's surprised Sylvain hasn't gotten suspicious already, because Felix never used to humor him anywhere near this much...

Ah, of course Sylvain noticed. Felix waves the concern off with his free hand, though the look on his face makes it clear that the queasiness hasn't stopped. "I'm fine. It's just a reaction to warping too many times in quick succession. It will subside."

Maybe slower than usual thanks to immediately flying, but whatever. Anything is worth getting to Sylvain faster.

Being catapulted into a new world has mostly thrown Sylvain off his normally ever-perceptive game. Sure, Felix doesn't usually indulge him quite so much, but he's still being as stubborn and prickly as a belligerent cactus, so it doesn't feel as off as it might. Or maybe he's just in a decent mood today. Or maybe he missed Sylvain. Sylvain certainly would have missed him tremendously in a new place.

Whatever the reason, it's overwritten by the fact Sylvain worries. Felix has practically blanched, and Sylvain wishes he could be there to... to what, he doesn't entirely know. Rub his back, or just hold him steady? Maybe coax him into sitting down and resting. Sadly, it's not a feasible option, given he's not physically there to beat out Felix's stubbornness. But he tries.

"Maybe you should rest a bit. Seriously, you look like you're gonna hurl. Don't push yourself, Fe. You getting messed up on my account isn't worth it."

Yes, it is, is what he wants to say. I made a vow to be a home for you and to work to be strong enough in body, mind, and heart to fight against anything that would separate us. I'm going to keep it no matter what.

Instead, he sighs, less aggravated than Sylvain might have expected, as he carefully climbs up onto Foudroyant's back. From what Sylvain can see on the screen, Felix is apparently riding...a giant insect?

"I don't want to rest. I told you, I'm fine. I'll have six hours to sit here and do nothing but rest." Sure, that's how travel sickness works. Whatever.

Foudroyant makes a happy-sounding, buzzing chirp that has an undertone of crackling static electricity and launches into the air. Felix holds on with one hand and holds the Gear in his lap with the other. The takeoff is as smooth as a giant electric beetle can make it, but he still closes his eyes again for a few seconds until the flight levels out.

He takes a slow breath and lets it out. "Fortunately, Pokemon are smarter than ordinary animals. Foudroyant doesn't need my guidance."

He expects pushback, as he always does from Felix. So not getting it beyond a minor protest actually worries him more. Before he even realizes it, Sylvain starts to pace. At first it might look like he's going somewhere, but then the exact same scenery repeats and it's clear he's just making a wide line beside the trees. Ponyta even trots after him, delighted to finally be up and moving, even if it is just this.

As it stands, Sylvain sees the situation as: Felix is rushing, obviously to the point of making himself vaguely ill. He's riding a giant bug, which just can't be safe, can it? And it doesn't even look like a smooth takeoff. He's rode enough wyverns to know the uncomfortable lurch.

"And you wonder why I worry," Sylvain mutters, and a hand comes up to run through his hair. "Seriously, just be careful, alright? I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

"Hmph. Says the man who refused to heed my warnings about being careful." It's just a grumble, though, not a real argument.

I'm not going anywhere. If only Sylvain really could keep a promise like that. Felix knows that he can't, though, and it has exactly the opposite effect that Sylvain intended; he just wants to get there even faster.

"Are you pacing? Stop it." Felix shifts to lean forward against Foudroyant's head carapace, holding the Gear steady with one hand and folding his other arm to pillow his head on it. "This will fade soon enough."

"I know, so don't pull a me is what I'm saying." Yes, he's self aware. No, he's not about to let Felix get away with mimicking his bad behavior.

Thankfully, he's got some sense of obedience, and comes to halt when Felix says so. Leaving Bonnie to crash into the back of his legs, and let out a disgruntled whinny. She gets an apology in the form of a few pats while Sylvain's distracted.

At least Felix seems to be resting now. It's a start.

Sylvain coaxes Bonnie over to come lay down with him to give them both reprieve from the chill in the air. He settles back down into the nook of the tree roots, cheek laid against the bark. It's not the most comfortable he's ever been. But with Bonnie under his arm it's not so bad.

"Dimitri said he's sending food. Somehow-" he still doesn't understand that, but details- "You want me to save you some?"

Felix snorts quietly. "That's the most convincing thing you've said so far."

He sort of wants to close his eyes and just let the chilly air wash over him for a bit, but he doesn't want to let Sylvain out of his sight. So instead, he pulls his hood up to narrow his field of vision to just the Gear screen and Foudroyant's long mandibles.

"Pff. Of course he is. You probably won't have to save me anything, because he'll send you more than you could ever possibly eat in a sitting. ...but yes, I do."

In his mind's eye he can so clearly see Sylvain in his dumb apron, cheerfully making spaghetti. And Sylvain sitting with him on a blanket at the top of a hill, laying out a picnic spread and making fun of him for his sunglasses. Ugh, stop.

...he can't do this. There is no possible way he can make it six hours like this without telling Sylvain the truth. He's not even sure he can make it one hour.

"Sylvain..."

But how is he supposed to say this? For once, he manages to think before he just comes out and says the bluntest possible thing. He has to get this right, or he could end up ruining everything.

"What's the last thing you remember before you arrived here?"

The shift is palpable, and not in a way he appreciates. It's almost as if there's a bad taste in the back of his mouth, at the edge of irritating his throat like bile. But why? He can't place it. It's just a feeling. Nonsensical and worrying.

Sylvain tries not to let it leech into his voice.

"Enbarr," he says, "you and I were watching out from the windows just before the throne room doors. Dimitri and the Professor wanted a moment alone with Edelgard, and then it was over. We won. I..." There'd been a thought on his mind in those last moments. Relief and exhaustion, but even moreso, a gratitude to everything they had done, and still made it out alive. He'd just been so happy to be beside Felix without visiting yet another graveyard full of friends and loved ones. "I remember asking what you were thinking about doing after we finally got to go home. You never answered me. Or maybe you did, and I couldn't hear you, but suddenly I was here."

"Enbarr..." So he's seen the end of the war, but isn't quite as far beyond it as he ended up last time. But the rest...

Felix slowly smiles a little. After we finally got to go home, huh? "There are a few strange things about this place. Since time doesn't pass in our world while we're here, sometimes people from the same place come here from different points in time. The last thing I remember before coming here was retaking Fhirdiad. So I haven't experienced that moment you're talking about yet, but I will."

That shouldn't make sense. It really shouldn't. Just like fire ponies and electric beetle transportation shouldn't make sense. And yet here they are. So Sylvain can only let out a tired and resigned laugh. Accept it. It's easier. And it makes some of the apprehension bleed out of the tense way it knots his stomach.

"Sorry I spoiled the surprise for you then. We did it though. Alive and only a little worse for wear." A little. Because he doesn't know there's a word for how deeply scarring the war was on all of them on levels far more vast than the scars on their skin.

"Guess that means I don't get my answer then, huh? Or did you give it some thought before Enbarr too?"

"We both survived, huh?" Felix knew that already, of course, but it's worth appreciating again. "Good."

Sylvain's question gets his heart doing something funny in his chest. His mind drifts briefly to that moment in the snow, battling against Sylvain's pessimistic streak, making plans for their future for the first time since the war began. Right before they...

Felix lifts his head up so he's no longer seeing Sylvain sideways, regarding him thoughtfully from under his hood.

"During the war, no. I didn't. But since I've been here...I have given it plenty of thought. It's difficult not to, spending a year in a world at peace." It's ludicrous, really, how his pulse races. They've had this conversation already. But they also haven't.

"I'm going to accept my old man's title and lands." He watches Sylvain's face closely. "And you're coming with me to Fraldarius when I do."

Sylvain's eyes go wide. There's no way he's heard that right. 'You're coming with me' as easily as that. Like somehow Felix can read his mind, or read his memories. Entertaining Sylvain's grand plans- well, not really grand and not really plans; they're more like fantastical machinations. How he'd thought of an end to the war. Peace with Sreng. Dissolving Gautier into Fraldarius- after all, it's essentially what they'd done after Dimitri's supposed 'execution.' A single front line they'd desperately held against the Western Lords for five long years. But maybe it could be permanent. Maybe there wouldn't be a need for guard dogs like Gautiers. Maybe in a world at peace there could be room for Sylvain, and not Gautier. Not the Lance of Ruin.

But they'd all been stupid, childish fantasies. Peace is never permanent. So on the eve of storming Enbarr, he'd settled for a compromise. If they both lived, he'd ask Felix if they could spend their well-earned peace together. At least for a little while. Enough time to sort some things out. Silly, useless things, really. Things like childhood crushes and death pacts.

And yet Sylvain had entertained working them out just long enough to want to ask Felix to be a part of it. That day in Enbarr...

"I'd wanted to ask you something just like that." His gaze is still wide, the sudden rush of adrenaline making his pupils large and dark against the normally coppery tint of his eyes. "How... How did you know? You said you hadn't made it that far."

That was Felix's vow, too: that he would make Sylvain feel safe enough to be whoever he wanted to be. No 'maybe' about it. A promise just as sacred as the one they made as children. Peace may not be permanent, but some things are more important than war.

It's Felix's turn to gaze with slightly widened eyes into the camera. Sylvain had wanted to ask him? Here in Johto, it had been the other way around...but then, at the time, Sylvain was mired in the bleakest part of the war. Now he's seen their victory. It makes sense. And it makes him smile again.

The question dims his smile a bit with apprehension, but at this point he's said enough that it would be worse than pointless to conceal the rest. Not to mention it would end up eating at Felix and pissing him off to keep it quiet, the longer he sat here.

"I hadn't. But you're not the only one who wants that, you know. Besides..." He drops his gaze for a moment, but steels himself and lifts it back to Sylvain before he goes on. "Sylvain, this isn't the first time you've been here. The force that brings us here sometimes sends us home, too. And sometimes when we go home, we forget. When I first arrived, you were the one who came to pick me up. You answered all these questions for me."

Ah, the smile is back. He's not even aware of it. Stupid easily readable face. Stupid mushy feelings.

Sylvain doesn't want to tell another person they're wrong. He hates confrontation, he hates arguing. But what hurts more is finding implications where they're not explicitly mentioned. But he's not as stupid as he likes to appear. Sylvain can feel them, those accusations nobody ever means, but their words imply anyway. And how can Felix smile at him when Sylvain feels like he wants curl up and die?

'-you were the one who came to pick me up. You answered all these questions for me.'

And now Felix is here, doing this for him. It means-

I left. I abandoned you.

Like any good actor, Sylvain forces a smile, and swallows down the bitter bile rising in his throat. Felix is smiling. Sylvain should appreciate that. He hasn't seen one of those in a very long time. His own feelings be damned, he can't ruin one more thing or he feels like he'll shatter. Maybe he can do this gently.

"Felix, doesn't that sound silly? How could I be here and helping us win a war at the same time? I think maybe those warps are making you a little delirious." There. That's... gentle, right?

Edited 2021-12-11 00:07 (UTC)

Felix knows something is wrong as soon as Sylvain smiles. It's not real. It's that horrible fake smile that he loathes. It's somehow ten times worse than it used to be, because he got so used to Sylvain smiling for *real.*

His own smile vanishes immediately, replaced with a disbelieving scowl.

"Don't do that. Don't smile when you don't mean it. You know I despise it." Shit. Fuck. He cannot believe that after all this time, Sylvain is finally back, and within an hour Felix is already snapping at him. What is wrong with him? Why does this always happen?

But Felix is not a patient man, and he's never been half as good at controlling his emotions as he used to think he was. He can't have fucked this up already. He hasn't even gotten to the most important part. Beneath the level where the camera can see it, his left hand clenches into a fist. He can feel the ring digging into his finger. He tries to calm down, taking a breath or two before he replies.

"I told you. Nothing progresses at home while we're here. When we go back, it's exactly the same time and place as when we left. I'm not delirious. You can't tell me you have no idea what's going on and then tell me I'm wrong."

If nothing else, Sylvain is obedient. He drops the mask, and it's an immediate change. The brightness in his normally soft eyes dims, and he can't quite meet Felix's gaze. His expression is painfully neutral for a moment, and then it is a sad, horrible extension of all the inner cynicism he hides from most people.

"I'm sorry."

He means it. He is. He's sorry for so much he doesn't even know he did or didn't do. Because apparently he's been here, and apparently he's left.

Sylvain doesn't know what to say besides that though. What can he? Felix is right, he doesn't know what's going on. He only has bits and pieces of a story, and he's filling in the gaps with expectations of his poor behavior. To him, it makes sense to. The obvious answer is often the right one.

"I'm so sorry."

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maybe claude told him like...just before this? idk XD what even is continuity

yeahhh hes having that argument with claude

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