Long Time Coming

Kyro ducks through the door behind Yoru, and Ingen, who has been ducking since walking through the doors to the lower deck, squats and turns to fit his shoulder through the threshold, "Couldn't we have done this on the upper deck? I can barely breathe down here," he complains, straightening up only for his head to crack against the ceiling, "Ow! Damnit!"

"Just sit on the floor, you big oaf," Yoru says, turning toward him as she nears the desk in the room's center.

Ingen narrows his eyes at her, rubbing the top of his smooth hairless skull. Then, he moves to sit down and lean against the wall near the door, mumbling under his breath.

Kyro gazes at the one who called this impromptu meeting, the pounding in his skull joined by a rising anxiety. Cage sits on the desk, legs hanging, arm in his lap, black eyes shifting between each person in the room. Kyro knows that trying to read the man's empty eyes is a futile endeavor, but the deep frown on his lips says enough.

Does Cage already know about his connection with the Umbra? Is that why he called them here? Is he going to plead for them to not judge his beastly existence? Or is he going to tell them that he's planned on destroying reality from the start, and they were only pawns that have outlived their usefulness? These, and a thousand other questions race through Kyro's mind, but he doesn't show it.

"...How are you doing?" Kyro asks, mustering a slight smile as he looks at Cage.

Cage nods, "Better than most," he says, returning his own smile, "You?"

"Good," Kyro says. He looks and meets Yoru's eyes. Right, Kyro thinks, she didn't hear what Ludan spoke of back then. She knows something though, that much is obvious. Kyro looks at Cage again, "So... what did you want to speak about?" he asks.

Cage's smile fades, the same way Kyro's had earlier. His eyes linger on Kyro, then drift to Yoru, and finally to Ingen. Cage runs a pale hand through his long hair, sighing, "You have to believe what I'm about to say, okay?" he says, "This isn't something I would be sick enough to lie about. I'm telling you all because you need to know, and I've waited long enough."

The confusion in the room is great enough to reach out and grab. Kyro gulps, hoping against all the thoughts that tell him he shouldn't. Please don't let me be right, Kyro thinks, I said I would kill you, but... I know it was a lie. I knew before I even said it.

Cage takes a deep breath, eyes glued to the floor, "I saw Mavyl some time ago," he says quietly, "Or his soul, I should say."

"You..." Yoru's eyes widen, her jaw hangs open. She stares at Cage, and for a moment, he meets her gaze, "How? I... I don't understand. Mavyl is..." It's difficult for her to get the words out, for obvious reasons.

Kyro would feel relieved, that is, if it wasn't drowned out by shock. His mouth opens and snaps closed a few times, having even more difficulty speaking than Yoru. He pauses for a moment, taking a few breaths to gather himself, "But for you to do that, you would have to... absorb him. I saw him disappear in the lava, so how..." Kyro gasps, a sudden realization slamming into his mind.

Cage nods, pursing his lips, "Mavyl was inside the parasite you saw me absorb," he says, "He told me himself."

Yoru jolts with the words, returning from the flood of thoughts in her mind, "You spoke to him?" She says, grabbing Cage's arm with damp eyes, "What else did he say? Please, tell me."

Cage nods, putting his hand over hers, "Of course." He begins to recall the full conversation between him and Mavyl, which has been burned into his mind ever since that night. He tells Kyro how his nephew forgave him, and Yoru how her son apologized for all the pain he's caused her. Then, only quiet sobs break the hovering silence.

Kyro tightens his arms around his sister, feeling her tears soak into his leotard. He stares at the wall with blank eyes, and for once, his thoughts are clear and controllable. The pulsing pain running up his spine and into his skull becomes an afterthought.

Since that day on Kalar, when Kyro saw his nephew for the last time, there had been a terrible voice in the back of his mind. It taunted him, whispered to him, "You should be dead, not him. Why continue struggling when everyone you love will die just like him? Why not end it all and join Mavyl in the afterlife? Come, you know that no one will miss you."

Now, the voice is gone. Mavyl forgave him. The nephew that was forced into slavery by Kyro, he has fogiven him. It may seem a small thing to most, but to Kyro, It's everything.

Kyro runs his fingers through Yoru's soft hair. The sobbing has ceased, now he only feels her warm breath. Suddenly, Yoru pulls herself from Kyro's embrace, pulling on his leotard and wiping her eyes with the fabric. She looks at Cage, pulling one long breath in and releasing it, "Thank you for telling us, Cage," she says, "And thank you for waiting. If you had told me this when it happened... I don't know if I would have taken it well."

"The same goes for me," Kyro says, "I didn't know as much about you then as I do now. I know I wouldn't have believed you, and if I'm being honest... I don't know if you would have lived to see the next day."

Cage's brows raise until they nearly fly from his forehead, "Oh. Well then," he says, chuckling nervously.

"Did uh... Did Mavyl say anything else?" Yoru asks, sniffling, "From the way you speak about it, it sounds like he said a lot more than what you've told us."

"He did," Cage says, "Mavyl told me about someone..."

Two pairs of eyes, grey and yellow gaze at him expectantly. Even Ingen stares at him, seeming to have escaped the lost look he's had since Cage first spoke of Mavyl, "Well?" Yoru says, "Who did he speak of?"

"Go on," a familiar voice rings out in Cage's mind, "Tell them. Don't worry, even if I could, I have no interest in harming your little friends."

Cage grimaces, a ringing in his ears following the voice. He looks between the three waiting pairs of eyes before him. Then, Cage tells them about the mysterious man named Lithi. He tells everything, how Lithi is the ruler of Oblivion, how he is the one that gave Cage this life, and how Lithi plans to make him into his "Successor". And finally, Cage reveals the place that Mavyl told him to go to, the palace that Gira wrote about, which floats alone in the Trunk of the Praesi.

"So I was right," Yoru says, her expression a mix of satisfaction and worry, "This man, Lithi, he revived you so that he could use you."

Cage shrugs helplessly, "What can I do?" he says, "Even now, he knows what I'm thinking. He knows who you all are, what you look like, what your fears and hopes are. He knows everything that I know... He sees everything that I see."

"He... What?" Yoru says, eyes wide with horror.

"It's okay, he can't hurt any of you," Cage says quickly, a reassuring look in his expression as he gazes at Yoru.

Yoru nods slowly, taking a minute to calm down. She rounds the desk, plopping down in the chair behind it with an exhausted expression, "You should still be careful, Cage. If he can bring someone back to the dead, then..." Yoru trails off, staring at Cage's back.

"Well, just like most things, all you can do is prepare for the worst," Kyro says, looking down at Cage, one brow raising, "You spoke about the palace in the Trunk. Is that our destination?"

Cage nods, staring off at nothing, thoughts organizing, "Mavyl told me that's where I should go, and he was already right about Lithi, so I trust him on this," he says, humming, "He also told me that I should find my brother 'before he finds me'... But I'm not sure what I should think about that."

Once again, silence takes over. Only now there is no sobbing, just a collection of minds deep in thought. Then, a deep, burly voice interrupts that silence, "Kyro," Ingen calls.

Kyro turns, meeting his gaze. Ingen nods suggestively toward Cage, then looks back at Kyro with a raised silver brow, "Ah... Right," Kyro mutters, turning back. It seems that either Cage doesn't know about his connection to the Umbra, or he simply doesn't speak about it. This seems to be the best time to find out which one it is.

Kyro clears his throat, earning everyone's attention. He holds those black eyes with his own, and just as he told Cage to do earlier, Kyro prepares himself for the worst, "While you were fighting the Spider-Eyed Wolf in the city, Ludan said something to me and Ingen," he says, "He was alive all those years ago when the Umbra attacked the Praesi. Ludan saw the creatures with his own eyes. And when he saw the barrier that you put over Yoru and Detor, he said that it was the exact same as the Umbra."

A plank creaks above. Cage stares up at him, silent, "You understand what I'm saying, don't you?" Kyro asks, voice soft and words even.

Cage nods, expression blank, "I'm the Umbra stuffed into one body," he says, "I understand."

Kyro's forehead wrinkles, "You don't seem surprised."

Cage hums, "I've thought about it since learning of the Umbra. For a long time, I didn't want to believe it. But after my fight with Ludan, and the things he said to me..." he says, sighing, "...To keep lying to myself would be idiotic."

"Lithi hasn't spoken of it?" Yoru asks from behind, "He clearly has something to do with it."

"I'll speak to him," Cage says, glancing back at her, "He's probably expecting me."

Yoru nods.

"Well," Kyro says, sighing, "Is that all you needed to speak to us about? I need to get back and make sure Krash hasn't run us into the branch."

Cage nods, "That should be all," he says.

"Good," Kyro turns, and Ingen slowly rises from the floor, looking up and watching the great threat that is the ceiling.

"Ah! One more thing," Yoru says, leaning over and peeking past Cage, quill raised in her hand, "Pick your rooms. And not this one. This room is the only one with a desk big enough for me to teach Cage on, it will be his."

Kyro pauses, looking back at Yoru. He glances at Cage, who shrugs, a faint smirk on his lips. Kyro shakes his head, "Will do," he says, opening the door and stepping through it.

Ingen follows him, muttering something under his breath, "...I'd rather sleep on the upper deck. At least there I can stretch my legs."

"Alright, I'll need you to move your butt," Yoru says to Cage, "You're sitting on something I need."

Cage hops down from the desk, and Yoru pulls the sheet of parchment he was sitting on and sets it in a stack. Cage looks down at her for a moment, raising a brow, "You're still reading those?" he asks.

Yoru glances up at him, hand pressed against her forehead, "Of course," she says, "There's still years worth of letters and journal entries that I haven't read through. The drawers in this desk are full of them."

"Oh," Cage says, head bobbing up and down, "Well, I'll leave you to it then."