Slave Line (The Young Ancients) (11 page)

It didn't hurt him, but it made the Prince blink.

"I was just going to say we should meet to discuss some plans for Noram day or some projects to work on, to help make connections. Gods Tor, do you really think I'm going to proposition your sister in front of my intended? That would be beyond rude." There was a grin with it, but it looked a little confused and baffled, as if he didn't get that Tor was responding to his propositioning his sister in front of him.

Which only made sense. He wouldn't get it as wrong really, would he? Oh, his friend knew on some level that Tor was more provincial than anyone else he knew, but it didn't really translate to the idea that he'd lash out over something like that. If they'd been in Two Bends and someone had suggested they run off with one of his sisters for illicit sex he'd have been fighting still and not stopping until he couldn't go on any more. Even if it was his best friend.

It was a double standard of course, based on different situations. This was a noble place though, a royal one, so it was up to Tor to try and bend to their rules, not the other way around. He knew that, and normally did a decent job of it. He thought so at least. Maybe he just wasn't blending in as well as he'd imagined?

He'd had sex with all the women in Alphonse's immediate family at some point and his buddy had done no more than tease him gently over it. He didn't even do it seriously. Even the King had just smiled about it and they were his wife and daughters. By Tor's way of thinking the man had a right to have him killed... or do it himself. Even if he wasn't the ruler of the whole land.

He sighed and made a half bow to everyone, starting with Abby. After all, she was the one from a place where violence virtually didn't exist. Him hitting someone, even if it wasn't meant to really harm anyone, had obviously shaken her. Her eyes showed fear, a white rim around the ice blue in the center under the brilliant bird red hair. It was incredibly apparent that he'd miss-stepped with her. Of course, in the room he was in the only one that got what was truly happening was his own sister. She'd be within her rights to call him on it, maybe even ordering him out of the Capital all together for embarrassing the family. It wasn't a minor thing, attacking someone like that. Oddly enough, by the rules they'd grown up with Tor was the one in the right, except that Alphonse was a royal. That would have changed things normally, even a year before, but now Terlee just...

Laughed.

Her hand came out and touched his shoulder gently, which was meant to be calming he knew, then explained to the others before Tor could form a real apology.

"I understand the feeling Tor. I nearly hit him too and I'm planning to send a note later asking if he'd be free for such "discussions", it isn't easy to straddle two worlds like this. I'm sure Abby gets it, though with less lashing out, no doubt." Her words started warm and ended dry and slightly country sounding. It was just a hint of an accent though, not slipping into home-speak totally. If she'd done that Tor would be the only one in the room to understand her.

He nodded and puffed his cheeks up.

"Sorry Alphonse. I forgot myself. Won't happen again. Until, you know, the next time. I'll try to do better though." It wasn't a good apology, but there were no debts between friends, right?

The Prince laughed gently.

"I stand rebuked anyway and will strive to be more discreet in the future." There was a bow that came back, but it was just a bob, one that could have been taken as being self-important, but wasn't. Tor couldn't do a lot of bending at the moment, so by keeping the move subdued his friend made it so that he didn't have to try and get his own head at a lower angle that just couldn't be easily managed.

Abby gathered some tools from a low table and turned back towards him.

"I... Let us take tissue samples. The testing itself will take several days to finish, that can't... It cannot be helped. Is that alright?" The words were in Afrak, and sounded like she expected to be beaten at any moment. It wasn't really fair, but Tor got that Abby really couldn't help it. She had no coping skills for such things at all, except medical ones.

"I can come back and get them in a week or two, if that's good for you? We can chat using the communications device when it's done. The only reason for the boat ride over to Austra is to give the appearance of comfort and luxury to the people there for their agents. It isn't enough to not abuse the guests in our care, we need, as a land, to show that we respect them as a people. We had their leader and his heir killed. I had them killed. Even if it was needed, and the best way to end the war... that has to be atoned for. Otherwise everyone will keep thinking it's OK to just kill off the leaders every time an argument takes place between lands." It made a lot of sense to Tor, but it wasn't the tradition. Normally you didn't kill the leaders at all, you just killed their people until they gave up.

Terlee went wide eyed then and stared at him.

"What do you mean you did it? You were here. Thousands of people saw you. Was it some kind of magic? The duel with that evil Baron..." It was her turn to be baffled now.

Tor rolled his eyes.

"I was here. It... It was my plan. In part at least. There's no escaping that part of things at all for me. I got the information, made the plan and gave it to people that I knew might well implement it. It had to be done, and I'm not sorry about it, but..." Tor suddenly felt exhausted as laughter entered his ears from the ghosts in his head. Even Box chuckled this time.

And spoke gently as two of the voices faded.

"There you go. Taking responsibility will shut those two down fast. Same with the rest of us. Think about it Tor, you know that for you, killing is wrong. If you want to be free of us mentally, you have to admit to yourself that it was needed. That won't make you feel better about it, not really, and it shouldn't in the long run, but that's what has to happen to get a good night's sleep. It won't fix it all. That's clear. There are things and things in your deepest mind here that you have to deal with Tor, things you haven't been, matters you've been denying and hiding from yourself. At least two things that are going to be central to your continued existence. You need to look into that soon, or everything isn't just going to fall apart, you're going to die and a lot of other people will be going with you." He laughed again inside Tor's mind as the others stood quietly, just looking at him strangely.

Baron Rochester growled.

"I didn't deserve to die! I have a right to use anyone under my power as I will. Connor was my own son and that means-" What it meant Tor decided not to care about. Instead he took Box's advice and examined why he felt bad about the Baron being dead at all.

It wasn't what he'd thought, not when he really looked at the issue. It was wrong to kill and more than any other person involved, the Baron had been killed out of anger. Tor was, on a very real level, afraid of feeling angry. It kind of shocked him, but it made sense. Anger had never caused him to do anything good, had it? Just lash out and act like a little brat.

 Oh, he'd tried to fix it when it happened, control it and make sure his actions weren't too bad, but that was the problem there. It was a deep thing, but he hadn't just coldly killed the man, he'd done it out of rage. To protect others, sure, but that wasn't all of it. Not even close. The responsibility was all his and had to be. No matter what other people said, Tor had murdered Baron Rochester because he hated the man.

"Fuck you." The voice in his head sounded farther away then as the Baron left as well. It was a relief, but tiring, like he'd just run a great distance and had just now noticed how hard it had been.

Box sighed in his ear and waited for a long while before going on.

"I'm... not a ghost Tor. None of us really are. I'm just a part of you trying to make sure you don't turn into a monster. Really I shouldn't even be here. Why do you feel bad about killing me? I deserved it you know. If you hadn't have acted they would have made Debbie do it. That would have scarred her for life and that evil bitch of a Baroness knew it too. That was her point, trying to punish Debbie for what I'd done. She didn't even know or she would have tried to stop me. How could she? It wasn't like I started the dinner conversation with a list of the girls I'd raped and killed that day, you know?"

Tor shrugged and wrinkled his brow, then spoke out loud. It got him some worried looks, but he didn't try to explain.

"I should have known though. I should have realized that something was wrong and stopped you sooner. Most of the girls that died here were my fault. If I'd just paid attention..."

The answer came silently, for his ears only.

"Then what? You want to blame yourself for my actions? For not noticing something that you'd never even imagined was possible before? You aren't exactly worldly you know Tor. Not yet. Give yourself enough room to learn. I took pains to not be found out and that you didn't search my mind for clues, well, that's normal isn't it? No one goes around looking in other people's heads for secrets like that. Now, forgive yourself for that. Before I go... Would you make sure to watch out for Debbie? I was an awful person, but she was my sister, I don't want her to suffer because of what I did. Not more than she has to."

"OK." It was a given anyway. Debbie was his friend.

Alphones reached over and patted Tor's shoulder gently, letting his hand linger. It was so huge it easily wrapped over, the huge fingers on his back.

"Alright there Tor? You seem to be talking to yourself. A bit off-putting to tell the truth." There was no smile with the words, even though the tone was friendly.

The voices were all gone then and, Tor noticed, the room didn't smell like rot anymore. Just strange medical things. Not pleasant, but still a thousand times better.

"Oh... just dealing with the ghosts in my head. I wasn't kidding about that earlier. Box was just asking me to look out for his sister. Like I wouldn't. Sorry for being weird. Really though, blame the Ancients for that. They, made me this way."

Everyone just stared more, not speaking as Abby went about taking bits of his hair and flesh, a sample of blood and a swab from the inside of his mouth. Then without even a pleasant word she waved them all out. It was abrupt for her, but Tor thought he understood. She was freaked, and had to be wondering if he was going to start killing people left and right. That or just hitting people more.

There was a strange thing happening too. Tor could still feel the rage simmering within him. It should have gone away when the last of the voices did, when the scent of death faded, but it didn't, it just stayed, eating at him like acid in his stomach. He didn't mention it, but felt it flash and ebb as the others spoke of normal enough things. He just floated along, keeping his mouth shut. It was something to figure out, wasn't it? He was at a low physical point though, so maybe it was just that? Beaten up and pained enough to cause him to have unwanted emotions?

What to do about it though? Meditation came to mind, so Tor focused, letting his mind sink to a deeper place instantly. It was one of the few things he could still do it seemed, concentrate like that. It helped. He went from feeling snippy and angry to mildly annoyed by the world as a whole. It wasn't where he wanted to be, but it was a start. Especially since he'd need a clear head about him later.

"Oh..." That reminded him and he nearly frowned at the other two with him.

"Dinner meeting at my house. Kind of an emergency. Nothing life threatening, but a matter that I think both of you might be needed for. Though there's a thing here Alphie, a state dinner." Tor smiled, having never called him that before. It sounded strange coming from his lips, but the Prince was used to it, that being his regular nick-name that everyone in his family called him anyway. It kind of lacked a certain dignity though, didn't it?

"I'll beg off. Unless there's something I'm needed for here? As heir it's kind of my duty to meet all the right people and so on. Did anyone mention what it was about?" He seemed vaguely curious as they walked, but not worried. Most meetings at the palace just weren't that interesting. Mainly large people arguing about things that a few minutes of calm discussion should have handled.

"Oh... just introducing the Ancient of Vagus to everyone, and saying goodbye to the others since their going off with me tomorrow. I was supposed to be there too, since they're kind of family, but I got your dad to let me out of it, since there's this other thing. Intrigue and all that."

The giant red headed man just shook his head.

"Too bad I'm going to miss it then. The Ancient of Vagus... That's... Red? If I met her I'd have almost the whole set. Just needing to meet white and blue, right?"

"No, there are a few more I think. Orange at least, and possibly some others. But you know Red."

"I do?" He sounded baffled and amused, like it was a joke or something.

Tor wanted to draw it out and make it more interesting, but couldn't summon the energy for games at the moment. Kind of a shame since this was a good one. Why should he be the only one to be clueless, right?

"Lyn Cooper. Turns out she came to learn building about a decade ago or so. Totally fooled me and everything. She claims that wasn't just to make me look bad, but I'm not certain I trust that yet. So, you know, you don't just know her, you've taken care of her while she was working and everything." That even meant leading her to the bathroom and so on, which was delicate and not talked about, but also meant the woman had no secret charms that his giant friend was unaware of. Tor was in the same boat. At least he'd never been attracted to her, that would have been really awkward, since she was kind of his sister or something. Great Aunt too.