A Hasty Brother

Just as Till is about to stop singing and prepare for a humiliating retreat, the boy appears in front of him. The first thing Till notices is how tired he looks, worn down from more than just the last few weeks of fighting. A bone-deep weariness that can only be attributed to a painful life. Till can empathize.

The second thing Till notices is just how young he is. Why does it mostly seem to be children stepping up to defend him? Till fights the hardest for his family, but beyond that, he wants to fight to give others the sort of life they could never have in his old world. The type of childhood Till could never have had.

Almost never one to take orders, Till finds himself nodding unexpectedly instead. He grins in a manic way that’s more a baring of his teeth than an actual smile.

“Usually, I don’t take requests, but I’ll make an exception just this once. Give ‘em hell, kid.”

Till shoulders his guitar and grips the microphone stand in both hands.

“They had tongues like guns, I had nowhere to run Yeah, this world can get so lonely The paper and pen were my two best friends 'Cause the sad songs understood me

"The irony that all my dreams were keeping me from sleeping 'Cause there's something so fun being young and being dumb 'Cause you're not afraid of feeling

"Yeah, all of my demons are kicking and screaming, but I'll never leave them behind Yeah, maybe I'm crazy but don't try to save me 'cause I've never felt so alive”

The natural rasp of his voice accentuated from overuse, Till wills his song to weaken the monsters surrounding the two of them and empower the young person who stepped in to help him.

“Understood.”

Whether it be a command, request, or encouragement, Claus takes Till’s words to heart. With the music beginning again and the roaring of the engines on metal wings in his ears, Claus darts back into the fray.

There’s a lot of enemies, a lot of them attempting to clamber onto the stage. He cannot tell if there’s any kind of consciousness behind their actions or if it’s instinctual. Whatever the case, the lack of coordination offers an opportunity.

While they claw and crawl, music weighing down their limbs, the metal canon on Claus’s arm takes aim and fires.

Again. Again. Again.

Beam after beam of pure psychic energy strikes the weakened foes in any perceived weak points. Limbs, joints, their faces if need be, anything to rob them of movement or slow them down. The soldier circles the area with this tactic before flying in to pick off the barely alive stragglers with further canon-fire or his blade. With the injured in their front line, the chimerical monsters are either trampled by their own in their haste, saving Claus the work, or serve as an obstacle to slow them down. It’s effective, but there’s no telling how long the strategy will work. Attacking singular targets won’t reduce their numbers quick enough if he’s to keep up.

Kicking off the mangled head of another beast, Claus narrowly dodges a twisted limb reaching for him. A pair of mismatched eyes look over the current standing.The enemy’s defenses are lowered to a staggering degree. Perhaps they're weak enough to... hm....

Claus hovers in place, the whir of the engine is still loud in his ears yet somehow does not out the music from the performer.

“Yeah, maybe I'm crazy but don't try to save me 'cause I've never felt so alive

Claus loosens his grip on his sword by releasing his pointer and middle fingers. A hexagonal symbol lights up in front of said fingers, the shape shifting colors between light blue, yellow, pink, and deep red.

“Yeah, when they knock you down, down, down Kid, you gotta stand up.

He focuses on a feeling from deep within, a searing emotion threatening to leave him charred, an emotion so cold it burns, his very self could crack open from it. He holds tight onto that emotion, and-

“Stand up!”

-directs it at the group of enemies before him. A bright blue light bursts forth in a show of ever morphing hexagonal particles and patterns. The psychic energy engulfs a crowd of the mechanical hybrids in a devastating attack of brilliant light. Claus watches those caught up in it collapse, the survivors barely able to move.

Perfect. He might be able to get by with only using β or γ levels of PK Love. Less strain, a wider radius, and more controlled than PK Thunder.

It has worked on him, at least when he'd woken up. Getting jarred awake from a nightmare was a good way to get him panicked and confused. But that wasn't the only part of it that made his heart race. After he'd oriented himself, at least enough to realize he still had his sword and parse what the alarm was actually saying, Raiden was caught up in a rush of hope. Were they out? Was this the real world? Could they-- could he-- actually escape?

It was all but crushing when someone pointed out one of the Branches in the distance from the window. Maybe if he hadn't been in so disoriented, he would have recognized that it was too good to be true. Of course they were still stuck in here.

Well, maybe that could be good news for this kid. "I don't know if you've been here for long, but I'm guessing you haven't. The people in charge just do things like this sometimes. They make up these weird scenarios and throw the people living in the city into them. I've been through a few, and they've never done anything permanent to me-- or anyone else I've met. And everything just goes back to normal after... a week or so."

He winces at his own words. Now that he was saying it out loud, this probably wasn't going to be as reassuring as he hoped, considering how badly the boy was taking it just in this short of a time. If how his boy acted was any indication, for a kid, just waiting a day for something was a long time.

He doesn’t have much time to linger on the feeling, for that creeping shame morphs into a concerned confusion clear as day in his expression.

How do people just…do something like this? It was a mass kidnapping of numerous people to a lab so massive and expansive it was more akin to a labyrinth than a building! On the moon!He's no stranger to absurd acts done to accomplish strange achievements but therein laid the issue. There were reasons desired outcomes in those cases. Why go through all that effort for no gain? And how could it all go back to normal after a week? This didn't seem like a temporary thing!

What was even the end goal for something like this if that was the case?It was so illogical, baffling— why—

“The Stars are just toying with us.”

It clicks.

All the color drains from Claus’s face, his expression becomes blank. An answer proposes itself in the form of a memory pushing to the forefront of his mind. It was wheezed out between cruel, croaked laughter and vicious hacking.

Because it's fun!

After all this time, was he still in a toybox? Had the only change been that he was no longer the favorite?

“Why..? Are we...just toys to them..? Whoever kidnapped us...” The words tumble from his lips while his throat constricts. His eyes stare at the floor with a gaze unseeing.

The claw positions, lowers, and lifts up with nothing to show for it or the player's efforts. It returns to its original spot over top the aforementioned chute, even releasing its nonexistent prize as though to mock the attempt. Nothing.

His brows furrow, pondering the strength of the claw until another question is posed to him, another which gives him pause.

"Huh?"

Again Claus looks to the stranger, that same look of muted surprise on his face. Though, this time the ginger finds he not only doesn't have to tilt his head up as much as before, but the stranger is looking at him in expectation of an answer.

His favorite animal...

He hadn't actually thought about that in quite some time... What was his favorite animal? He didn't know. There were numerous animals on the island he came from. All 'boring' he recalls being told— No...No they weren't boring.

The boy's lips pull into a thin line, his eyes lowering as he mulls over the question. Shame creeps over Claus due to it taking longer than he'd like, but he finally settles on an answer.

"...Dogs. I like...dogs. And sheep."

Fuzzy paws and a wet tongue drawing out squeals of laughter. Woolly creatures baaing as they served as a pillows to nap on in the midday sun...

Yes...those were his favorites. When he raises his head to face the other again, he looks a little bit more sure.

"Perhaps you would like to join. Though I think a young man such as yourself would find more exiting things to do."

"Of course, only if you want to."

"That is kind of you-"

He looks between the creature and the man, his eyes lingering on the way he's stared at. The boy's entire body remains stiff, hands squeezing behind his back.

"but I shouldn't take what I cannot pay for."

He's already intruding, pushing his luck for the sake of a fleeting curiosity. It would be even worse to indulge in things that weren't his to have.

He could still feel the cold, metal of the table pressing into his back. The white lights making the sterile room bright and blinding.

Blades and needles cutting into his skin. Persistent hands poking and prodding.

He was back in the present when he heard Claus's voice and tightened his hug around him. He had to be strong. He had to steel his heart and mind.

No one came for Sephiroth, but he was needed. Claus needed him. Sephiroth needed to protected him.

"huh..?"

It was all Claus could manage as the arms which held him slipped away to instead take his hand. He barely had a moment to fully process before he found himself pulled up onto wobbly legs. The world was still far too noisy, too bright, too everything, but Sephiroth was already walking, guiding Claus by the hand. The younger of the two stumbled after Seph, a dissonance between the ginger and his own prosthetic limbs. It took longer than he would've liked to regain his footing.

"W-Wai-"

There was no true resistance from the ginger. Instead, the broken word was another expression of his astonishment.

To stay safe, to fight without being beaten down, for resistance to not be met with a painful surge of electricity...

Were such things possible..? He could hardly believe they were even walking out the cell door. Through the flashing light he could make out the other cells, the other victims. He could practically picture the twisted forms of half finished chimeras laying helplessly in the cells...he could still remember their cries. The only one who could hear them...

Claus's empty hand moved to grasp onto Seph's, encompassing the teen's one hand with both of his own. He squeezed tight.

"Wait-- What if they hurt you?"

His voice cracked as he spoke. Rebellion is punished. Disobedience is punished. Weakness is punished.

She paused when she noticed a lone boy fighting in the midst of it all. A single look told her that he was struggling with something inside of him. She grabbed the lyre she stole during the chaos and strummed it. Even if it meant putting a target on her back, she couldn't just standby, especially when someone was fighting just as hard!

"Keep fighting!" She called out to him through the microphone. "I'll help make it easier!"

She didn't need words for this song as her voice harmonized and entwined itself with the sound of the lyre. She sang an ancient ballad of a time long past. She hoped the melody would calm his heart and relieve his spirit of whatever was plaguing it. The way he was fighting would only harm him more than the enemy.

What was it? An announcement? An order? A command? The answer was…none.

Keep fighting. A girl on the stage had called… Countless times had Claus heard those words, willing himself up each and every time no matter the state he was in. But this declaration was…different. It was no admonishment or barked order. Rather, it almost sounded like an encouragement. Especially when followed up with her desire to help.

When was the last time he had received back up during a mission?

Emotion sparked within his chest, pulling at the rest he tried to smother beneath the apathy he’d become all too used to.

Claus wasn’t sure the unknown girl could see him from where he was, but he nodded all the same before flying back into the fray. He had a mission to complete, it becoming easier didn’t mean he could slack off. It meant he had to work harder, the harder he worked the sooner it’d be over. The sooner everyone would-

“!?”

Claus gasped when a voice rang through his mind, the surprise almost making him miss his shot with an arm canon. It still hit, thankfully, the chimera-esque being screeching as a result. The attack absolutely did more damage than prior to the girl’s musical support. However, that wasn’t what Claus’s attention was on.

He flew up again, eyes darting around for any other possible source of the voice. Even if it was in his head, it wasn’t the one he’d wished it’d be. No, that voice was…wait how had she..?

There was no time to fly over and ask, not in the middle of combat. Already he could see the enemy pursuing the source of their newfound weakness.

Steadying himself, Claus focused on combat, taking fire at the quicker foes before diving in to finish them off with his blade. However, even if he was busy with the enemy, it didn’t mean he couldn’t respond back. Hesitantly, his own mind reached out. His own energy, previously closed off and fraying, attempted to reach the mind of the unknown girl’s.

Did you…speak to me..?

"I'm doing a-ok!" A smile and a wink was all the assurance she tried to give Claus without worrying him too much. "Not gonna let some oversized appliances get the jump on me that's for sure."

Though some of them did give her a little bit of a run. Especially with how strange they were in their mechanics in the first place...

It seemed somewhat vague in wording, but paired with the further reassurance, it was enough to put the worst of Claus’s worries at ease.

”I’m so glad…”

Claus let out a small, trembling sigh, his left hand reaching to grab at the front of his jacket. While he was certain the painful knot in his chest wouldn’t loosen until he and the people he knew were finally out of this awful place, it helped to know Mika was alright…

Mismatched eyes lifted to look at the girl, Claus’s head nodding in agreement over the lab’s complexity.

“It’s confusing. There’s too many rooms and- and too much security! I tried- I tried looking for things but I couldn’t find anything to help..!”

His voice rose briefly from his frustration. The second he realized he had, he froze and took a step back, gaze darting to the side in shame.

“Just…these.”

He spoke softly again and lifted his right hand. It opened to show the scalpel he’d been clinging onto. His lack of progress was…expected, despite how much he hated it. As he currently was, he was practically helpless. A feeling far too familiar in a place like this.

”I’m able to throw them but, that’s it.”

For those with the strength to tear down anything in their way, this place was likely a breeze. The security systems and the robots and the confusing puzzles and the horrible rooms..! But Claus didn’t have that kind of strength, not anymore. He should’ve preferred it! But…

“I hate this place…”

Claus spoke in a weak voice, his gloved fingers wrapping around the handle of the scalpel again. In that moment, Claus swore he could faintly feel his hand again, could even feel a hilt pressing against the meat of his palm.