#empyrinus sidonis

Regardless, Lex was free to mill about the streets of Omega, at least that was the extent as far as what Empyrinus cared to ascertain at that moment. From where Lex stood, the graces held just moments before were naught but hurdles as his stride became more purposeful. Towards a place held in secret to even his makeshift family was his destination, surely where Carver planted himself to lay eyes upon the message left only for him.

His footsteps set the pace for his thoughts, fragmentary passages that weaved to and from each other to match his pulsing heartbeat. That Earnest, the name and the word, the sound that meant home and family and a compassion that never sat right in him, rung a touch hollow with the way he kept secrets. A message for his first was the last thing on his mind, despite how it sent the sentiment everyone else seemed to have for him tumbling down for Lex.

Through the crooks and alleys, he found the little haven. It was marked by a panel on the wall, a panic room built by someone who most likely now no longer had the means to panic. Lex stemmed the urge to unlock the panel, though what little inhibitions he had left reminded him that there was no point. If he barged in, there would be no trust left to find anything out. If he eavesdropped, it would be no matter for Carver to figure out the interloper. Only he and Lex knew the way to unlock the door.

And so he waited. It was not Lex’s intention to steal with his eyes and ears the information Earnest left for Carver, rather it was to coax honest answers from him. Such things would be harder with others – some possessing a very tenuous right compared to others, mind – shouting him down in the process. In the place only the two could know, he could at least ask for everything to become bare before he heard everyone’s loud nothings come between.

It was not long, and Carver shuffled from the opening panel on the wall. From his rest Lex pushed himself from the wall next to it and met his wary gaze.

“Lex. I think you know the answer to your question.” From Carver, a skeptical glance with it.

Lex heaved a bitter sigh and set his jaw. “I want to know why with all the secrets.” He said as he walked into the small room, but a finger beckoning the other to do the same.

Carver shook his head. “And why would I make an exception for you?”

Lex leaned on the small hallway leading into the panic room. “Because no one’s going to question when you go back there and tell them nothing’s wrong.”

Carver let out an exasperated huff and hurried inside. “Let’s at least not expose ourselves if we’re going to do this.” With that, he closed the door panel.

In the room ahead lied a couple footlockers and the VI projector, little else. The small panic room was meager and made to be dismissed by those who found it, and they would be pressed to deviate from the original design. Lex found his seat on one of the two bedrolls and thinned his lips. “How bad is it?”

Carver rolled his eyes. “No comment.”

“Pretty bad, then.” Lex surmised as he crossed his legs.

A groan. “I didn’t say that.”

“Didn’t have to.”

“What the hell do you want from me, Lex?” Carver snapped.

The tide of words pressed against his mouth and spilled all at once in the same moment. “Why Earnest kept so many secrets. Why was he uncle to Commander Shepard while he himself was left in the dregs? How the hell did he manage to have all that he had while not even having a job? Very little contacts, and yet he could supply Raa’va with growing child-sized exo-suits all throughout her childhood in Omega. How the fuck did he do damn near anything he was able to do and raise five kids?” He shook his head. “Who did he piss off... y’know, in the end?”

Carver looked down. “No one’s ready for that, Lex.”

“For what?” A stern gaze.

“Stuff they aren’t ready for. Not with all they just heard.” Carver sighed.

Lex canted his head. “Will you tell me, at least?”

Carver closed his eyes. “I… don’t know. I don’t even want to hear it out of my own mouth.”

“So you trust me?” A twinge of hope within.

“Not enough people to trust to say no…?”

With furrowed brows, he shrugged, “I’ll take it, I guess.”

Carver gave Lex a gentle jab on the shoulder. “Once more, not enough people to trust to say no.”

Lex returned the gesture with a hand rested idly on Carver’s shoulder. “Sure, why not.”