アレクセイ・ディノイア

Schwann didn’t expect Alexei’s permission to leave the capital, but to be refused so staunchly was still a disappointment.  He was chained to this place, to this man who he had once served so eagerly.  Don had offered him a permanent place in Altosk, all Raven had to do was turn his back on the knights.  But he couldn’t bring himself to take a step like that, and not just because Alexei held the key to his blastia heart.

   He still cared about the man far too much.

   “You’re going to help me release this anger.”

   A shiver ran up his spine, dread setting in.  He could feel the malice that exuded from the Commandant.  What his punishment would be, he didn’t know.  Alexei was a creative man when it took his fancy.  But Schwann could be sure of one thing– it would hurt.

  For a moment he didn’t follow, his eyes lifeless and on the Commandant’s back. He was steeling his mind and soul to whatever followed.  His hands curled into fists and he fell into step behind Alexei.

Past-Alexei lead him back to his quarters. He held open the door and looked back at Schwann. "In." he ordered. “And you know what to do once you get in.”

The room was pitch black. And it was very obvious what his intentions were.

 The raising of the hand caused Schwann to tense, bracing for the slap.  It wouldn’t be the first time Alexei had lifted a hand against him, nor the last.  Schwann couldn’t blame him; they were soldiers, after all.  They’d been raised into violence, conditioned to find it as natural as the passing sun.  When powerful emotion overtook them, violence was the first reaction, it was why Schwann was here in the training grounds at all.

    Alexei’s hand lowered to his face.  The man looked weary.   “I’ve been busy,” he said, “With the addition of the new recruits– whose training has been more difficult than anticipated –and Leblanc’s illness, it must have slipped my mind.  I’m sorry.”  It wasn’t a complete lie, a few of the new recruits were… green behind the ears, to say the least; especially a strange little pair named Adecor and Boccos.  What was worse, Leblanc had fallen ill enough to be bedridden, leaving Schwann without his Lieutenant.

     “Perhaps if you would permit me to travel to Aspio…”

"Absolutely not."

Out of the question. Past-Alexei couldn't risk the locals of Aspio finding about his research and possibly disrupting or stopping him.

"...I'm not letting this mistake slide." Past-Alexei was fuming. Even if Schwann had his hands full, the commandant's orders came first. Always. Especially when it came to his research. He thought he drilled it into Schwann’s head, but obviously he was mistaken. Past-Alexei turned and began to walk away. "Come with me. You're going to help me release this anger." The tone of his voice dripped with malice. Meanwhile, Alexei’s gaze fell on Schwann, looking at him in a different light from Past-Alexei.

It was very hard to watch.

“...”

  Why?

   He wasn’t sure he could give an answer.  He’d headed to the edge of town with full intent on carrying out Alexei’s orders, but when he saw the contact he was to meet with…

   It had been a face he recognized.  Not well enough to put a name to it, but familiar none-the-less.  It was someone Alexei had known for a great many years, longer than Schwann had known him. He’d always seemed kind when he’d come by, and had even helped Damuron with an errand once.

   Killing him seemed like a disservice, but he couldn’t exactly meet with the man and then let him leave.  Instead, Schwann had turned his back on his orders and come here.

   He probably should have headed straight to Dahngrest, but he didn’t want to risk Alexei deciding “Raven”s escapades were a bad influence.

   “I must have forgotten,” he lied easily.  He’d become far too good at lying over the years.  “I apologize.”

Past-Alexei had been blinded by rage at the time. Alexei now, with his cool head and having known the calamity that would befall the future, could tell that Schwann was lying. But he could only watch.

"Forgot? My best captain, forgot?!"

Past-Alexei raised a hand. At first, it looked like he was going to strike Schwann, but instead, Alexei brought it up to his own face, rubbing his forehead .

"And what in the world, pray tell, would have caused you to forget? I needed his information, Schwann. It's vital for my research!"

’#schwinningatlife’ get out

ooc; Okay but, Alexei being one of his own biggest fans makes me laugh. It’s like:

“Yes, Alexei. Good job.”

   Schwann’s blade cleaved into the wooden training dummy, leaving a line thick and deep enough to kill a real man.  It had been a long day, and he’d hoped to work out some of his deeply buried emotion in the training grounds.  

    Any hope for peace was shattered when the Commandant’s voice rang out.

   Schwann’s hand tightened around his sword, then sheathed it and turned to face his old friend.  Alexei looked angry, but what else was new?  Alexei had been angry for almost a week straight, something about his plans hitting a snag.  He didn’t share the details with his first captain, not in the way he used to; but Schwann was still, as had become increasingly common as of late, the focus of the Commandant’s anger.

   He really needed an excuse to get away to Dahngrest for a few weeks.

   “Sir?”

It only took a small "Sir?" from a familiar voice for Alexei to get over his initial shock. He turned his attention to the source of the voice.

Schwann.

...just as beautiful as he remembered him to be.

Yet...

"Where have you been?!" Past-Alexei boomed. They were further away from the barracks, so unless if somebody was near the training grounds, nobody could hear them. "Why didn't you head to the edge of town like I told you to?!"

He was supposed to have died that day. The moment the adephagos breached the atmosphere, he was ready to die. After his sin, he couldn't face the world. He didn't deserve to live, after being blinded by justice and having unleashed this monstrosity. So why did death not come to him?

Instead, he awoke in one piece, staring up at the night sky and the light glow of the barrier from the blastia.

"Was that...a dream?" He looked around. This place was oddly familiar. "No..."

He was back in the training grounds, at night.

"Not a dream."

The Commandant - now ex-Commandant, he imagined - stood up, legs shaking. The training grounds were empty. But judging from the condition of the equipment and arrangement of the fauna...

"Schwann!"

Alexei turned his head and immediately, his heart stopped. Before him was him, but from years ago. So he was in the past? How was that even possible? And why was he calling him Schwann? Alexei opened his mouth to speak, but the past-Alexei kept walking forward, phasing through him.

Oh.

...oh.

Alexei felt a part of him break as the past-Alexei yelled out again, this time with more intensity.

Raven was not the superstitious sort. Maybe a bit in his younger years, but now after everything he’d seen and done, ghost stories normally didn’t spook him much. However, there was a building in Capua Nor that Altosk was looking to acquire with some interesting rumors surrounding it. Something about there being sightings of a silver-haired ghost (some say it even resembled the late Commandant) roaming around the building, Capua Nor, and the surrounding cliffs at night.

Of course this had the guild talking, and while Harry dismissed the stories as silly rumors, Raven was the only one that was willing to go see what shape this building was in despite the supernatural rumors. It was late when he got into town, but Raven decided to go check and at least make sure the rumors weren’t due to kids breaking in or something before retiring to the inn for the night.

Stories didn’t normally get to Raven, but something in the air had him uneasy tonight. Perhaps it was just the eeriness of the lack of moonlight that night. Either way, an uncomfortable sense of being watched settled uneasily in his chest, and he ignored the desire to check behind his shoulder every two seconds.

Raven turned up the path towards the edge of the cliffs along the shoreline and froze when he spotted a figure sitting on the edge of the cliff, staring up at the stars. Silver hair almost glowed in the faint light from the stars, and something about this figure seemed oddly familiar. Either way, this man had to be the source of the rumors. “Hey, buddy,” Raven called out, starting to get closer. “Little late to be sittin’ out here all by yer lone-” Words were cut short and it felt like even his blastia was grinding to a halt when he got close enough to see why this figure looked so familiar.

“Al- Alexei?!”

The familiarity of the voice awoke something within him, and he did not quite understand what the feeling was at first. Fear? Pain? Whatever it was, his chest started to hurt.

Slowly, he turned his head in the direction of the voice, eyes making direct eye contact with the man he once held high hopes for. Still held high hopes for, somewhere deep in him.

"...Raven." He said, simply, not quite sure what else to say. His eyes, once filled with the determination and madness of a born leader, now reflected a hollowness and brokenness. The ex-commandant gave him a small, sad smile before turning back to look at the ocean. As he spoke, where was a somber tone to his monotonous voice.