log; complete

[bequiet_hescreamed]

When; June 8th; evening
Rating; G
Characters; pharles_at_life and conductyourself
Summary; Eagle and Hikaru had just arrived in the City, but already some mysterious discrepancies were bothering Clef. A discussion about the (relative to him) future of Cephiro was a long time coming, anyway.
Log;

Clef waited until the apartment had gotten quiet, signaling that most of its residents had gone to bed, before heading for Presea's room and knocking at the door. This wasn't meant to be a particularly secretive discussion, but nonetheless he didn't want anyone randomly barging in, Ferio-style, and making declarative statements. Something was obviously amiss with Eagle and Hikaru, and he needed to find out what it was before dealing with them any further.

Presea had been expecting the knock on the door. She'd known ever since, well, since Tatra had arrived that they'd have to have this discussion eventually. Despite Mokona's many cautions about messing up Clef's timeline, she had to explain things to him. He didn't deserve to be in the dark; nor did he need to be. From what she'd pried out of Umi, Eagle was still in a hostile stage, and Clef would need all of his wits and information to deal with that. He hadn't asked her earlier, in front of everyone, so she knew he'd be by later.

She set down her book and called out softly, "Come in."

"Good evening," he greeted her as he entered and quietly shut the door behind him. He was smiling slightly, but it was more of a friendly and polite expression than a true smile. "Can we talk?"

She nodded, waving a hand as an invitation for him to sit down somewhere. She was perched on the bed, but there was room, or if he'd rather not be so distracted, her desk chair. "Happy birthday," she said wryly. "Can't even take one day off, can you?"

"It happens, sometimes," he replied, chuckling a little. "Thank you for remembering, though," he added as he moved to sit on the bed, apparently wanting at least a little distraction - for now, anyway.

She beamed at him, lacing their fingers when he managed to scramble up beside her. "You're welcome." She spent a moment staring up at the ceiling, trying to put her thoughts in order, and then sighed. "Hikaru, and then Eagle Vision on the same day," she said. "Sometimes I honestly wonder if the City is trying to complicate things."

"It is certainly doing a good job," he replied, looking at the floor for the same reasons and giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "That's actually what I wanted to ask you about. Umi reacted very oddly to some things Commander Vision mentioned, and I'm not sure what that means. It's as if the point in time he and Hikaru came from was not like the one Umi remembers."

Presea blinked. Once they'd established that she was from near the same point in time as Umi, they hadn't really done side-by-side comparisons. If Umi was from the same time as she was, then why would she be surprised by whatever Eagle said? Presea hadn't been present when Hikaru and Eagle crashed into the City, so she hadn't known of any discrepancy. The thought niggled at her. Weren't... weren't they all from the same world? They had to be, right? But then, why would Umi have been surprised? She'd have to ask tomorrow.

"I can tell you what I know," she said finally. "About Eagle. I'm sure you've realized he's a lot less harmless than the princess is." She shook her head momentarily. "Mokona told us... well, you know. But it's not right, keeping this from you now."

"As much as it might seem prideful to say, I think Mokona underestimated me." He was trying to be reassuring when he said this, and even smiled a little wryly. It took some nerve to question the judgment of the Creator, but there you go - he was questioning it. Take that! "I don't need to know much, but in the course of their conversation, Eagle mentioned that I was preventing him from entering Cephiro and Umi seemed surprised."

Presea stared down at Clef, not hiding her confusion. "But you couldn't do that. That was what was so worrisome. Autozam was invading-- and Chizeta and Fahren-- and we couldn't stop them." She twisted her free hand in her lap. "Princess Emeraude's barrier was gone." Her voice was quiet. She was sure he knew what that statement implied.

"... But if there were any chance that it were possible, I would." Of course, thinking about exactly how much power it would take, there was a good chance that he could do it. He wouldn't have the strength for much else, though.

"Of course! But you didn't. I was there the whole time. So I don't know if the Commander was mistaken," which didn't seem likely to her; Eagle was sharp as a tack, "or there was something else going on. Maybe he was mistaking the City's barrier for ours. It might be visible from a distance."

"But that would mean that he broke through it to get in." Believing that Eagle had a stronger will than he did was one thing, but believing that he could overcome the deities? That was another matter entirely. "Somehow I find it to be almost as implausible that he could have done that without protest from the deities or any other residents noticing."

"These are the deities we're talking about." She shrugged, brushing her thumb over the back of his hand in wordless affection. "They might have let him have the illusion. People fall into the City in all kinds of ways. I just opened a door."

"That's true. That's not the only thing that makes me wonder, however. Umi mentioned something about a test, which I assume could have been the Test of the Pillar, but Commander Vision didn't appear to know what she meant." Unconsciously, he leaned a little closer to her as he spoke. Although he had no idea what the Test of the Pillar entailed, seeing as none of the Pillars he knew would ever speak of it, he was sure that one would remember something like that as distinct from anything else. "He and Hikaru might not have been from that point in time yet, but... I don't know why Umi would make such a mistake..."

"I suppose I should simply suspend my disbelief," he added, rubbing his temple with his fingers. It was also bothering him that the Knights were there at all and still fighting for Cephiro.

Presea was getting more confused by the moment. "Well," she said, "this whole thing started with an invasion of Cephiro. After-- after the Magic Knights went home, we were vulnerable and so Autozam and the others wanted to invade and control us. But the Test of the Pillar didn't happen until the very end of the whole mess. The Road wasn't open at first. But we assumed they were all invading with the goal of becoming Pillar, so why wouldn't Eagle know about the Test?"

It was a rhetorical question, perhaps, since Clef would have no way of knowing the answer, but he might have some insight, too. This was getting more complicated as time went on. It had been difficult enough to have a familiar enemy-who-became-friend in their midst without having to wonder if it was the same Eagle.

Clef considered it carefully, rather than stating the obvious fact that he didn't know. "He might not have known everything about the Pillar system before deciding that he wanted to conquer Cephiro."

Presea nodded. Given that most of the candidates for Pillar hadn't even qualified for the Test in the end, that wouldn't surprise her. "Okay. Well, that establishes his timeline. Do you know much about Commander Vision at all?" Eagle hadn't come back to the apartment with them, so that meant that someone had recognized him as dangerous, but she wasn't sure how much Clef knew about him at this point in time.

He shook his head. "I can't say that I know much about him, except that he's supposedly affable in demeanor and fairly young for his station. His father is the President of Autozam."

"The girls-- well, he became a friend to Cephiro. Eventually," she said. "But right now? He's definitely not. And he's a lot more dangerous than Lady Aska or Princess Tatra. He can be quite ruthless under that smile." She pursed her lips. "Umi and Fuu probably want to treat him like the person he became later, but I don't think that's a good idea. Not for a while, at least." She lowered her head. "I hate to say something like that about a person who is so important to Hikaru, but it's true."

"I can tell that already, having spoken with him a little bit. I almost want to like him." That was saying a lot, for Clef, and this was despite the Commander's obvious chicanery and teasing.

"He's not irredeemable." She smiled a little. Hikaru had made sure of that. Presea wondered for a moment if the same thing could be accomplished here. It would be different circumstances, but more importantly, would Hikaru feel like she needed to reach out to him in the same way? ...Timelines made her head hurt. She rubbed at her temple.

"I'm not really sure what to do about him, honestly." It wasn't a decision she thought she'd ever have input on, really. "I don't think we would want to join him if it was the reverse situation and he'd arrived here first."

She gave a somewhat pained smile. "I wish--" No, she couldn't wish that he'd already been through the mess ahead of him, because she couldn't wish that on Clef or anyone. "This would be easier if you were from my time. You might be able to make a better decision."

"If I were from your time, I would not be afraid to let him stay with us." Clef looked down at the floor and decided not to elaborate on the specifics of why, but Presea knew him well enough that she wouldn't be surprised to know that he had thought this through in his head already and come to the conclusion that if there are enemies in the City then the person furthest ahead in time has a distinct advantage.

"As things stand, however, I feel vulnerable being from the relative past."

Presea nodded. "Even if I tell you everything I can think of, it's not the same as being there to judge yourself." She shifted uneasily on the bed. "And honestly, I don't know if you would want him staying with us. Those were some pretty dangerous battles he had with the girls. He probably still has the FTO with him, and I'm not sure that Rayearth is gone either. He might decide that it's better to settle this here." She was scared of what might result from that. There were too many variables. And even if the dead could be revived, it would cost.

Not only that, but she'd lived through this mess already. Having it crop back up, and not having Clef on the same page with her, was incredibly stressful. This time, sure, Cephiro wasn't crumbling. But again, there was little she could do if anyone decided to fight, and the girls would if they had to. Why must they always be fighting these battles for them? She scowled. This would be so much easier if she could just punish the Commander until he agreed to behave. But even in her anger she wasn't going to try that one. She'd be the one in hot water, in the end.

Clef was silent for a while, mulling that over and putting all of the pieces together. Why were the Knights in Cephiro in the first place? Why were they always fighting for them, and why couldn't they be allowed to be children just once?

He wasn't aware of the fact that he was holding his breath as these questions barged through his mind and ate at his conscience. Lost in thought, he hopped down from the bed and walked away a few steps before his mind found a possible answer. He sighed, and his lungs fought a little to catch up on the air they had missed. Holding one's breath was bad for rational thought, so it was several calm and silent seconds before he said anything.

"It may not be hopeless."

Presea's heart leaped for a moment. Clef could fix this. He always knew what to do, right? And then she felt guilty for thinking that. Clef always carried the world on his shoulders and that had been so hard on him during both crises. She'd done her best to help where she could, but she knew he was already over-stressed then, and he was getting that way here as well. Still-- still, she couldn't help but ask. "What do you mean?"

"There may be something I can do." What would he have to sacrifice? He wondered this as he looked back at her. Their relationship, just when it was beginning to blossom? The sadness the very idea made him feel probably came though in the hopeful expression he had - it looked more like quiet pain than anything else. "But it will require some thought."

"Well," she said, and tried to muster a smile, because she hated seeing him sad like that, "we could talk about it if you wanted another opinion. Later, I mean. I'm used to being your advisor." Her smile was a little more genuine. "I sort of fell into the position after a while. At home."

"I would like that." He tried a more genuine smile this time, and it worked. "If it turns out that what I'm thinking of is even possible, I don't believe that it's a decision I should make on my own."

Not since my life is no longer solely mine, he added mentally. It never was, truly, but now there was not even the illusion of sole ownership of himself.

She nodded. "Well, I'll be here!" she said. Perhaps the distance between them at the moment was a good thing, even though the tension had eased a little. Presea stiffened again as she realized something. She'd been telling Clef that Eagle was dangerous, and that he might try to finish things here, but not why. This wasn't just about Cephiro. "Clef, Eagle is dying," she said flatly. "That's part of the reason he was coming to Cephiro to start with. He's almost out of time. So... he'll probably act like it."

"Oh..." was all he could manage to say, in his shock. There was of course the realization that Eagle might panic and do something drastic - but then there was a pang of sympathy for the commander, too. A wish that he could do something to help, even if Eagle was an enemy. He was so young, wasn't he? And Clef truly did believe the others when they said that he was a good person underneath. "That does complicate matters."

"He didn't die at home," she said swiftly, because really, she might as well share everything relevant at this point. "Autozam's technology couldn't do anything, but the strength of will in Cephiro-- he'll recover. But he doesn't know that yet. And I don't think he'd believe me if I told him. He has no reason to. But if he's here for any length of time, I don't know what he'll do." The idea hurt Presea too. She thought of Eagle as a friend, the Eagle that she knew at home. She really did not want to watch him die. She wanted him to be well again. But she didn't know if curing him here was even an option.

This really made things difficult. Fortunately, Clef didn't think this would make his actions unpredictable. "... As terrible as this is to say, it may actually work in our favor. In his position, the only logical course of action is to put all of his energy into finding a way out. The invasion would take a lower priority."

Clef did have a point. And if the Commander spent all his energies on trying to go home, at least that wouldn't be harmful to them. "This is true," she said. "I still don't know if welcoming him here is a good idea." She bit her lip. "I don't know if Umi and Fuu have seriously thought about this."

"I don't know if they can consider it objectively," he replied, fidgeting with his hands a little. He wasn't certain of his words, whether they couldn't consider it, or simply wouldn't. Clef did not personally comprehend why, but the fact was that they generally didn't when it came to these things - Umi especially.

Presea shook her head. "Probably not. Eagle became very important to Hikaru. And they love Hikaru a lot."

"I'm sure he ended up being very important to all of us," he said gently. It was difficult to imagine that someone Hikaru loved that much could not be.

"Yes." But it was easier for Presea, who was older than the Knights, to be objective in this instance than the girls were being. She hoped she could explain her worries to them. She'd probably have to, no matter how this conversation with Clef ended. "He really is a nice man. He was just dealing with a bad situation."

"Aren't they all?"