[ch. 7] post-investigation, w/ ion

[asswipe]

[HEY, FELLOW SHADY TWEEN.

After Veronica's gone through all the stages of grief—]

... I heard about what happened. Are you okay?

Comments

[fonlines]

I'm fine.

[ There isn't a single mark on his body, in fact; nothing to identify any aggressor with. No bruises, or handprints, or... anything, really. No, the only things out of place may be the faint shine of gold, here and there, in his hair or across his skin, but only when the light catches them right.

For all intents and purposes, he's otherwise exactly as he was yesterday, or the day before that. ]

Disoriented... but fine.

[asswipe]

... Disoriented sounds about a right.

[Since, hm. Turning into a gold statue sounds wild.]

I'm really, really, really glad you're alive.

[fonlines]

I apologize if I've been the source of any worry.

[ it isn't as if he'd asked for any of this, after all. whether being strangled, or for a wish made what seems so long ago to finally come into play, or to be in this game at all... ]

... But even if I'd been gone, Miss Stephanie would still have been here, wouldn't she?

[asswipe]

I don't care if Stephanie would still have been here. [SNAPPING, immediately.

Before realizing how that sounds and backtracking. She looks embarrassed.]

No— Wait. No. That, that came out wrong. Sorry, sorry. I do care that Stephanie is still here, just as much as I care that you're still here. This isn't a... A thing where I'm relieved that you're both alive because you're heroes. I'm relieved because you're my friend, Ion, and I don't want you to die.

[fonlines]

... I would have been back soon enough, unless everyone left had managed to make an even bigger mess of things.

[ but yet another person calling him friend, and not wanting him to die... his gaze goes a little distant, his usual blankfaced smile that bit much more sad.

there's a reason, after all, that he's never been the first one to extend friendship. Natsuo had been the one to call them that first. anyone else had simply followed Natsuo's precedent. ]

Did you know, Veronica? In my own world, I was always meant to die.

[asswipe]

... I didn't. I didn't know.

[Ah. Making friends with the sicklies was a mistake because this keeps happening.]

But— You're not in your world anymore. Isn't there something that can be done about that?

[fonlines]

Ah. I'm sorry you had to learn this way, then. [ He seems... genuinely apologetic. He'd assumed that after he snapped at Natsuo in public... ] I have known about this since I was very young, before I became ill at all.

[ He'll just let that sink in for a moment, it and any possible implications. He doesn't really qualify as sickly anymore anyway, his health fine other than for the lingering effects of having been dwindling for over a year prior to any miracle cure. ]

Last week, my counterpart wished for my health, and all I wanted to ask him was 'why? Why would you do such a thing? Why would you throw away a wish that way?' Not in the least because I suspect that if I ever go back, regardless of my own health, it will be made to happen- one way, or another.

[asswipe]

[...]

It's not your fault. You don't have to apologize.

[Except, now she's a sad sack. She doesn't know what to make of it. She can't even begin to wrap her head around what kind of screwed up life both Ions must have had up until this point? But.]

If... If it'll be made to happen if you go back, then don't. Don't go back. There has to be a way that you can leave with someone else.