[F10 - PP] Come What May

[Noctua 0]

The walk seemed to be a long one, a quiet one. She was still remembering what had been said during their first fight with each other, the one that had sent her to the fourth floor without even being prepared for it.

Quote

 

"I thought that you were someone I could trust Koga...please don't make me regret telling you anything. Don't make me regret staying with you after our first quest..."

"Trust, Noct? Quite frankly, I don't know who to trust...Maybe one day I'll know the truth. And maybe I'm wrong, 'cause God knows I hope I am. If I'm not...well, I hope it was worth it to you."

 

She had already broken his trust once before, and now, now she's done that again. Was there ever any kind of rebuilding any kind of relationship from that? She didn't know, she didn't even know if Koga was going to want to talk to her ever again after all of this. She just had those two lines from a memory going through her head.

Plus, there was the fact that he nearly killed an npc out of... she didn't even know. Was this the Masato that she had fallen in love with? Put her life on the line to save not only him, but his brat of a sister? Was this the person whom she had spent so long leveling up beside and learning about? It didn't feel like it, and right now, it didn't look like it. She took a moment to steal a sideways glance, and she could just tell that things weren't going to go over well.

Thinking just that, she walked into the tavern and found them a seat, her back going against the wall. Talk about her own trust issues showing up again. She looked at the bartender who walked over, "You're regular Noct?" She simply nodded as she started to pick at her nails again while the bartender got Koga's order before leaving the table. That nervous habit was going to get her into a lot of trouble. But, there was something that had normally calmed her down, and she lightly held onto the silver wolf necklace that was around her neck.

She had made it when she and Koga started dating, but there was something new in it, she had managed to find a way to etch his name on the back of the wolf, with a single line on it 'Je t'aime', I love you in French. It was her way to keep him close, even though she had run so far away. She thought on all of this, and she couldn't stop the first tear that rolled down her cheek. "I'm sorry... I... I just... I..."

She stopped for a moment, and couldn't even look at the bartender when her and Koga's drinks were brought over. "Noctua, is everything alright?" "Yeah… thanks, Jonna." The bartender gave Koga a look before she nodded and left them be. "Th-this might be... easier if you ask... y'know, questions." With how nervous and distraught she was, she would be surprised if Koga was even able to understand her through her French accent, it seemed to be thicker than normal at this point. Possibly because she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

@Koga

Spoiler

Noctua
Level: 27
Health: 540
Energy: 54
DMG: 10 // MIT: 18 // ACC: 3 // BRN: 24 // BLT: 24 // REGN: 5

Skills
» Rapier - Rank 5

• » Rapier Finesse - Rank 3

Extra Skills
» Fighter - Rank 2
» Survival
» First Aid - Rank 1

Inventory
» Jack's Graceful Repose [T2 Demonic Rapier [Burn // Blight // Cursed // Burn]]
» Virtuous Ascendance [T1 Perfect Light Armor [Mitigation // Mitigation // Regen]]
» Silver Wolf Necklace [T1 Perfect Necklace [Accuracy // Accuracy // Accuracy]]

 

[Koga 0]

Spoiler

Koga
Level: 39
Health: 780
Energy: 78
DMG: 15 // EVA: 2  // MIT: 18 // ACC: 4
BRN: 24 // BLT: 24 // FALN: 4 // REGN: 10

Skills
>> Katana V
     // Ferocity
     // Precision
>> Light Armor VI

Extra Skills
>> Familiar Master: Fighter III
>> Survival

Inventory
>> T2 Demonic Katana <<Tsuki no Hikari>> [Burn // Blight // Cursed // Fallen]
>> T1 Perfect Necklace <<White Owl Necklace>> [Accuracy // Accuracy // Accuracy]
>> T2 Perfect Light Armor <<Shadow Chance Coat>> [Evasion // Evasion // Regen]

Battle-Ready Inventory
---

Buffs
>> <<Well Rested>> -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat.
>> <<Squeaky Clean>> The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down).
>> <<Relaxed>> Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

Koga was leaning into his hands, his elbows propped onto the table, trying to comprehend how not only Noct, but also Tala was alive. How? Their names were greyed out in his friend list. What sick fucking joke had Cardinal been playing on him. Was it just a glitch? Was there a system for not having seen someone for a certain amount of time? What the hell?

He'd spent so much time grieving, being angry, taking it all out on the world that he was trapped within. He'd wanted to tear it all down if only to destroy the man who had taken away the only good things in his life. And it had all been a lie.

The man hardly even noticed the bartender when she brought their drinks. It wasn't until Noctua spoke that Koga gave any sign that he was still alive. He shifted ever so slightly, looking up, his red-brown eyes peeking out from behind his raven-colored hair.

"Where-" The man's voice caught in his throat. It was dry. That wasn't why he couldn't speak, but the man reached out and took the mug of pseudo-alcohol and took a sip, before setting it back down.

"Where did you go Noct? Why didn't you show up?" He had no tears to shed, but he could feel the hole in his chest opening up again. There were only a few reasons Koga could imagine for her leaving him without a word the way she did, and each and everyone of them tore him apart from them inside out.

@Noctua

[Noctua 0]

He hadn't said anything, didn't even seem to notice that the bartender knew her. He was just... quiet. That didn't seem like a very good thing to her, and it honestly scared her. She didn't want this rift to be between them, but she had a feeling that it was there, and only growing larger with the amount it was taking her to come up with a response to his question. Why hadn't she shown up to the wedding that she had planned for them? Simple, her mind got to her.

She did the only thing that she could think of, she, verbatim, stated the two sentences that had been in her mind for so long to him:

"I thought that you were someone I could trust Koga...please don't make me regret telling you anything. Don't make me regret staying with you after our first quest... Trust, Noct? Quite frankly, I don't know who to trust...Maybe one day I'll know the truth. And maybe I'm wrong, 'cause God knows I hope I am. If I'm not...well, I hope it was worth it to you."

She seemed to speak in perfect clarity, without any kind of stutter, but perhaps that was just because those two lines that they had said to each other, was just beating at her mind all day every day. How was she to get past that, she had learned that day that he didn't trust her, and she never got to fully know if he did trust her or not afterwards. They kind of just... never talked about it really. They apologized, that was it, then he proposed to her.

"We... never truly talked about anything that was said between us, and the closer that the wedding got, the more that kept going through my head. I just... I didn't know what else to do. Talking to you... felt like it does right now, like I'm being an idiot, but my mind, just wouldn't... let it go..." She tore her gaze from him, not wanting to see the anger that was bound to flash in his eyes. To see the hurt that she might have just caused.

She wiped away a tear before she put her hands on the table, her fingernails being picked at once more. She felt like her world was about to fall apart again, and this time, it was her fault. Funny how things work like that.

@Koga

[Koga 0]

It wasn't anger that Koga felt. As Noct spoke, Koga's  eyes slowly grew wide, and he looked up up at Noctua.

"W-what?"

That conversation, it rocketed to the forefront of Koga's mind. She remembered it, word for word, whereas Koga had almost forgotten it. He remembered it had occurred, he remembered all the anger he felt, all that pain.

It made this conversation so many times worse.

"Then why didn't we just talk about it?" His voice came out sharp, but quiet. "Why didn't you ever say anything, we- we could have just sat down, and- and," Koga's mind was running at a thousand miles a minute.

"I thought you were dead." He repeated what had been fact for him for the past year. "I thought you died, and that I'd never see you again. That this world took away the only things I loved." But this was so much worse.

"You couldn't even message me? Tell me you were alive? I would've come looking for you. We could have fixed things, done something, anything."

@Noctua

[Noctua 0]

She physically flinched hearing the sharp tone that he used. She had been expecting this, and, it hurt just as much as she thought that it was. She sighed, closed her eyes, and just sat there. She let him ask his questions, and she waited. She waited to be able to tell him her answers, if she actually had any. She knew the answer that she wanted to give him, but she wasn't sure he'd accept that. Especially when it came to why she never messaged him.

"I... I couldn't face myself... You can ask Jonna, all the mirrors were removed from the inn room in renting here. She puts them back up, but I take them right back down. I just... I knew that I hurt you. That I destroyed what we had. Because of that... I just... I didn't want to make things worse. I... I thought that by staying away... you'd get past me, but I should have known that that wasn't going to hurt."

Her gaze was on her hands again as she said her piece. She knew that she could say more, but she didn't know if she wanted to or deserved to for that matter. She did know one thing though, he deserved more, he deserved better. "I'm sorry Koga, honestly and truly, I am. I..," she paused and shook her head, "No, you deserve better than me. If you wish to leave, I won't chase after you. I won't bother you if you wish for me to be nowhere near you. I... I'll even unfriend you... if you wish for that...."

Oh, that did it, that caused the tears to roll more, but she hid that fact. How? Her hair fell in front of her face as if her hair was a curtain. She didn't want him to feel pressured to stay in her life after this because she cried. Quietly, she wiped the tears away, and she steeled her face and her heart. If it was going to break again, it wasn't going to be in front of him.

@Koga

[Koga 0]

All the words that Noctua said hit Koga like a typhoon. He buried his face in his hands as he tried to put together a string of words to form a coherent sentence, formulate his thoughts. He couldn't. The man, possibly more broken than he had ever been, simply sat there, with face in his hands, uttering nothing but silence.

Koga then stood. He didn't bother looking at Noctua. He stood, paused a moment as if he was going to say something. Never speak to me again? You broke me? He said nothing, only turned away and walked outside.

The cool air met Koga, and the blue glow of the floor itself illuminated his form as leaned against the wall of the tavern. How had his life become so confusing? So broken? All the pieces that made him who he was, his love of his family, his desire to protect them, hold them close, had been scattered across the floor.

Koga turned and punched the tavern wall as hard as he could.

The purple hexagon declaring the wall to be an Immortal Object appeared briefly before disappearing into non-existence once more. What was left to say to that woman?

Koga had walked out of the tavern a broken man, but what re-entered couldn't even be called that. Perhaps a shadow, but not a man. Koga found Noctua, cursing in her native tongue. He didn't understand the words that she was saying, and to be honest, he didn't really care. The swordsman reclaimed his seat with an uncharacteristic calm, and laced his fingers together laying them down on the table.

"You're a coward."

Although his voice was filled with anger, maybe even hate, his face held no emotion, save for his eyes which burned with something like contempt. "You were afraid. And you ran." He could feel his chest welling up with a surge of emotion. Emotions he hated and wished he never felt in the first place, let alone towards the woman he once loved. That he still loved, despite all the pain he felt. "You ran when you should have come to me."

The man paused and looked at his hands for a moment. "Do you remember?" he asked. "It was a bit after we first met. You agreed to open a shop with me. We went out to gather materials, and I almost died to some fucking wolves. You made me a promise after that. Do you remember that promise Noct?" Koga remembered it perfect. "You promised you'd never leave me."

Koga looked up again, looked right into Noct's eyes, for the first time since she'd found him being ambushed by the Undead.

"You left me."

@Noctua

[Noctua 0]

He said nothing, just stood up and walked out. She really, really wanted to chase after him, but she told him that she wouldn't. She was going to keep her word, no matter how much it hurt her. She watched him go, a sight that seemed to hurt more than the silence that he gave her. She didn't bother to slowly lower her head onto the table, instead, it just fell. The purple hexagon showed up, and her forehead now hurt, but she didn't care.

She just started to curse herself out under her breath in French. It was the easiest way to make sure that no one would try to tell her that she was wrong with what she was saying. She knew that he was right. She knew that she just let the only good thing in her life, walk right out of it. She didn't look up when she heard the door open, signaling that someone came back into the tavern. At least, not until she heard those three words.

She looked up, and just stared at him. She couldn't even deny that, she had been scared, she ran. She told him that she could do this though. She warned him, and he wants to blame her! But when he mentioned the promise, her demeanor changed. She just stared at him, the hurt still there, the tears stopping though. She left him? She left him?!

"I left you! You're the one who left me first. The one who believed a complete stranger over me. The one who believed Tala over me! The very Tala who had been trying to break us up from the start. That promise was broken that day Koga. That. Very. Day."

She locked eyes with him, hers no longer showing the want or need to cry, but hurt, pain, and anger. "Yes, I'm a damn coward, but you've known that from the start. I've told you that I'm a person who can just vanish if things become too much. You were warned. Yes, I made that promise, but you promised it to me too, and you broke it first."

She stopped talking, and just... took in a deep breath, her eyes closing once more as she slowly let the breath go, collecting herself. Once her eyes opened, the first thing that she did was wipe away the tears that were on her face. They were useless and not needed at this point. The heartache that she had been feeling, it was there, but not for a normal heart anymore, it was broken now, shattered.

He had changed, while she stayed true to herself. Guess what they say about video games and the internet is true, no one is who they say they are. When she finally looked at him from fixing herself, she almost looked like a different person. There was no emotion on her face anymore, she locked that away. A nice little defense that she had learned over the years of moving for her father's job.

"I'm sorry I left, believe it or not, whatever you wish. Yes, I loved you then, and I still do now. But I am not going to sit here and pretend that I need to take the anger. The names. You want to know why I didn't go to you to talk about this, go look in a mirror, you'll find out real fast." She didn't say anything else, she just held his gaze with her own empty one. Even her words were empty of emotions, and of the accent that he loved to hear so much.

If he wanted to be able to not have her hide her true self from him anymore, he needed to prove that he was going to actually want to sit down and talk to her. But right now, with how he was acting, she didn't think that that was going to happen. She looked at the tea that was in her cup and pushed it aside before waving Jonna down and ordering some of their wine. If she was going to do this, she was going to need an alcoholic placebo effect.

@Koga

[Koga 0]

Koga had said his piece. She'd sat and listened. Now it was his turn. Difficult, though it was, he still listened. Difficult, because in a way she wasn't wrong. He had indeed allowed Tala to drive a wedge between them. He'd let her do that, even though he should have known better. It wasn't as if it was the first Tala had sabotaged one of his relationships before, but he'd let her do it again anyways.

But that didn't mean it made anything right.

"So, what, because I trusted my fucking sister, that gives you an excuse to pull this shit?" Koga retorted forcefully, struggling to keep his voice from rising. "You think that just because I knew you might run, it still makes it right? What kind of bullshit is that!" He was failing at not yelling at this point, and a few heads turned to look in their direction. The server returned and placed the bottle of wine down, in front of Noct, and left. But not before shooting Koga a glare.

The man stayed silent for a moment or two, letting the woman walk away, and for the chatter to resume in the bar. This time Koga spoke with a lower voice, "That makes it okay to leave me standing at the altar, to let me wonder where the fuck you went, what happened to you, agonize for months over something that never happened, instead of just fucking telling me literally anything?" 

Koga took a long swig of his ale. It tasted like diluted piss, but without the much needed effect of clouding his brain and dulling his senses, his emotions. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, "I still don't get it. Why couldn't you just fucking pull me to the side. Call off the wedding. Tell me we needed to slow down, talk things out, like adults. Literally anything would've been better than this. I could've handled anything else, anything other than this."

It was unbelievable to him. Unbelievable that after everything they'd gone through. All the pain, the struggle, the fighting tooth and nail not just to survive in Aincrad, but to understand each other well enough that they could bridge the gap that Tala had tried so hard to create. That she had created. But in the end, all they'd down was thrown a log across it that was displaced by the merest gust of wind, and sent plummeting down into the abyss.

In the end, Tala had been right. In the end, Noctua really had hurt him. Worse than anyone had before.

"And don't give me that bullshit about still loving me. About having ever loved me. I'm not buying that shit anymore. If you'd had even an ounce of love for me you would've found a way to make it work. To make us work."  Koga reached out and took another long draw of the ale, finishing it. He didn't bother asking for another though. He had a feeling the server would poison it or something. "What was the plan anyways? Run away, never speak to me again? Hope we didn't just run into each other? Hate to break it to you, but you're SOL there."

@Noctua

[Noctua 0]

"I never said that it makes it right. Not once did I say that." The comparison between them right now, he was yelling, and she was oddly calm. It had to be quite the show to those who were in there as well. "I don't expect you not to trust your sister, I never said that either, even the day when we sort of talked things over. It was you who had said that you shouldn't have trusted her." She paused for a moment, almost as if she was able to recall a conversation so well, before she spoke once more, copying their words exactly.

"It's okay, you know your sister better than me. I…I don't blame you. I'm sorry though, I said some horrible things.... No, I deserved them, and you're right. I know my sister better, which is exactly why I should've believed you in the first place. She's still you're sister."

It was scary on how well she could remember things, the curse of having an eidetic memory. But,  it was the fact that he didn't believe her at all when she said that she loved him. She didn't know if he was just saying that to save himself or if it were true this time. She was only gone for what, a month or two? How in the world could he think she was dead? That was something that wasn't making any kind of sense to her.

"Koga, I only planned on being to myself for a month. That's how long I have been gone. I don't know how you could have thought that I was dead, it's only been a month." Just the fact that knowing that he was willing to write her off as dead so quickly, that hurt her a lot. "I came out today because I was going to do this quest, as a reminder that I have the courage to not be the coward that I naturally am. I didn't know that you'd be there too. That, for me, was a happy coincidence, but a horrible one at the same time seeing the predicament that you were in when I saw you."

She had to stop herself, she could feel that defense breaking, and all because she was trying to defend herself to someone who was acting like he didn't have feelings for her anymore. That hurt more when she thought about it. She looked at the wine that was brought to her, and sighed, not even thinking that now was a good time to drink it. Perhaps later, she'll just take it to her room and lock herself in again. Jonna has probably learned to keep her room as it was by now after all.

Hopefully.

"I would have loved to make us work, hell, I still want to make us work. But at this point, I'm just waiting for you to slap me or something and tell me to leave you alone. I'm waiting for you to tell me to jump off of the edge of Aincrad." She paused for a moment, because this next one, hurt her to even think about it, "I'm waiting for you to tell me that you hate me, like I hate myself." There was a difference in her voice with that sentence, but that could only be heard if Koga could pull himself from his anger long enough to hear it.

He would be able to hear just how much hatred was in her voice as she said that, she really did hate herself. She took off her necklace, the system recognizing her as unequipping it as she placed it face down on the table, sliding it toward him. "In case you still don't believe me." His name and I love you could be seen on the back of it.

@Koga

[Koga 0]

Koga could only look at Noctua with a dumbfounded expression. A month?! Was she kidding? There was no way that she really believed that it had only been a month, did she? Had she lost all sense of time, never seen the light of day even through he window? How was that even possible?

"Noct," Koga said, before pausing and closing his eyes, trying his hardest to not outright call her a complete idiot. "It's been a year. Have you not looked at your clock? That thing in the top right of your HUD?" Koga didn't even know how it was possible for to have not. "They've cleared an entire other floor. The Frontliners are prepping for another boss raid. There was another Halloween event. Norse gods and shit." Koga shook his head, "The gods aren't the point, there has literally been an entire other cycle of events and boss battles, do you really mean to tell me you didn't know?"

Fucking brilliant.

Koga sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to comprehend everything. A lovely new layer of the cake to slice through. Somehow, he believed her when she said she thought she'd only been gone for a month.

"Okay, even still...a month?" Koga grabbed his pint of piss-water, went to take a drink, but remembered it was empty and put the mug back down. "You just weren't gonna talk to me for a month? Why? I still cannot understand why you didn't even send me a message to let me know you're alive."

Koga's head dipped as he heard her say she thought he was going to slap her, tell her to jump off the edge of Iron Castle and die. "Do you really think that little of me?" he asked quietly. He didn't expect an answer. It wasn't until she placed the necklace down onto the table and slid it over to him that he looked up again. The man picked up the pendant and examined the inscription on the back. 'Je t'aime'. Suddenly the weight of the silver metal around his neck felt a lot heavier. He said nothing as he handed the pendant back to her.

@Noctua

[Noctua 0]

She just stared at him, the facade of being a stronger person right now, crumbling, shattered. Had it really been a year? What... what happened? How in the hell could it have been a year? She blinked a few times before she shook her head. "It hasn't been a year, has it?" At that moment, she played with her HUD, realizing that her date and time settings had been changed. That explained a lot. She hadn't even gotten notifications of events because she shut those off when she was planning the wedding. The events had gotten so annoying.

"I... I had shut off the event notifications because they kept interrupting my planning for the wedding. But my date and time... I… that was never up... It... it was shut off." But the talk of messaging, she looked at him. She raised an eyebrow, she just stared at him. "You, you don't remember do you?" In all the time that they had been together, she never once left him a message through the game system, only actual paper notes.

To accuse her of not sending a message, was hurtful. She shook her head, a very small smile on her face, but that disappeared just as fast. Did he still have those notes? "I don't know how to use the message system remember? I always left you notes. Even when I left, I left you a note, did you not read it?" She watched him, trying to judge his reaction, only to shake her head when he tried to give her back her necklace.

"No, I don't think so little of you, I just... I don't know anymore. But, you keep the necklace, I don't deserve it anymore, if I deserved it at all."

@Koga

Spoiler

Noctua gives Koga » Silver Wolf Necklace [T1 Perfect Necklace [Accuracy // Accuracy // Accuracy]]

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Noctua

[Koga 0]

Koga could only watch as Noct's mask finally cracked and she realized how long she had really disappeared from his life. She brought up a menu, presumably to check her display settings, and only then did she realize that she really had lost track of time. Had she not been sleeping then? Koga kept himself from asking for the moment.

The next statement she made baffled Koga...but at the same time, it didn't surprise him in the least. This was Noct's first game, if remembered what she had told him correctly. The man ran a hand through his hair and exhaled through his mouth forcefully. "Holy shit." What else could he say? Of course she hadn't messaged him. He couldn't recall a single time she had messaged him via the system, it had always been paper. On the counter of the shop, by his bedside. Not once had he gotten a notification from her. But, what was this note she was talking about?

"What note, Noct?" he asked as his hand fell back to rest on the table, "I never got one. Our inn room was empty, there was nothing in the shop, hell, all your stuff was gone. I don't think I would've missed somethin-" Then it hit him like a truck. There was only one explanation why Koga wouldn't have noticed a note Noct had written him. Because it was never there to begin with. "Fucking Christ, Tala..."

Koga leaned forward and rest his forehead in the palm of his hand, elbow propped up on the table. There was no way. There was absolutely no fucking way she would do this to him again. Koga looked down at the palm of his hand where he still held onto Noct's pendant, then up at Noct, then back at the pendant. Koga let his arm collapse, and his forehead hit the table with an audible thud. He lifted his head only to let it fall and hit the table again. "Do you know where my sister is?" Koga asked, his voice slightly muffled by the table.

@Noctua

Edited February 25, 2021 by Koga

[Noctua 0]

There it was, he finally remembered that this was her first game, and she didn't know shit about anything. That was at least a good sign, right? She really wanted to smile, but that wasn't happening still. She knew that even her smile wouldn't help at the moment either. She just sat there and let him talk though, and the moment that he asked what note, she knew instantly what had happened, and it hurt. Tala messed with them, again.

"Dear Masato,
I'm not leaving you, I promise and remember, I keep my promises. I'll be on the tenth floor, I just need a few weeks to think on things. I think we might be moving too fast, and that hurts to think about. I just want to give you a little time to be certain that you know that this is what you want. I'll be back before the month's end, I promise, unless you come looking for me.
Je t'aime, Christelle"

She repeated the message, as if she were reading it from the paper that she had written it on. Of course, she did whisper their names, just so that no one near them could hear them. But, as she said the note aloud, it could be heard that she was hurting even more, knowing that something so precious, hadn't been seen by the one that it was intended for.

She hated Tala now, but, she was still a passive enough person to not do anything. She didn't move to help Koga when his head hit the table, she didn't have that right anymore, right? That hurt just a little more. But, when asked where Tala was, she could only guess.

"I saw her this morning before I left for the quest. My guess is, if she isn't in town, then that's because she saw you and ran. I... I assumed that she was here to keep you updated on me. I... I thought that she was messaging you...." The cracking of her voice could be heard, and she instantly shut her mouth and just looked to the tavern's door.

@Koga

[Koga 0]

He was so tired...Koga kept his forehead pressed to the table as Noctua recited her note from memory. She still knew it word for word after all this time. Koga had almost forgotten how terrifying Noct's eidetic memory could be sometimes. For some reason though, the only thing he kept hearing in his head were two words. Words not of his native tongue.

"Je t'aime"

Over and over again, he kept hearing it ring in his ears, like a boundless echo. Why couldn't he stop hearing those words? More importantly, why couldn't Tala just let him have his goddamn happiness. His relationships weren't any of her fucking business.

As if on cue, a message notification popped up in Koga's HUD. He would've ignored it for the time being if he hadn't read the sender address. 'Yukiro'. The man read the message quickly, and almost immediately he felt anger course through him, fueling him.

Abruptly, Koga stood and marched out the door, without so much as a word or a glance towards Noct.

@Noctua

[Noctua 0]

He didn't say anything, he just sat there, if you could call that sitting, and listened. At least, until he checked his HUD, then he was up and out. She looked at Jonna and quickly paid the bartender for their drinks before she ran out the door and after him. She had thought that they were actually talking things over, and yes, she might have said that she wouldn't chase him, but he was too angry for her to ignore him right now.

"Koga, what did I say? Or do? Or what? I don't know I just don't want you hating me..." She tried to keep up with him with how fast her was moving, and she was cursing the fact that she was out of practice in running in her heels. Funny how things like that happens. "Talk to me, please? I want to fix this to at least make us civil with one another."

@Koga

[Koga 0]

The sound of Noctua's please and footsteps followed behind Koga as he beelined towards the teleporter. He didn't hate her. At least, not anymore. That claim belonged solely to Tala now. Even still, he couldn't bring himself to say it. Instead, he forged on, never breaking his stride. "I know where Tala is," he said. Nothing more.

The Kasai siblings had business that needed to be settled, once and for all. This was, in part, all his fault, Koga thought to himself. How many times had she pulled shit like this in the past? Four, five times? And he'd let her get away with it. Sure, he'd chastised her, scolded her, been furious with her. But in the end, he let her do it every time. He knew that it would happen, and he never stopped her.

What he could never understand was why. Why did she do this to him. She always claimed it was to protect him, but that argument had worn thin over the years. After each instance having left him more broken than the last, he wondered if that was really all there was to it. He didn't know. He didn't care. All he knew was that it would end today.

@Noctua

[Noctua 0]

Alright, so he knew where his sister was. Cool, could he at least slowl down? "Koga, slow down at least, please? You're worrying me that you're going to do something stupid, and even if we aren't together, I don't want to see that happen." Okay, that really hurt to say, even though she was still wearing her engagement ring, she didn't want to think that they weren't together. But today, well, that proved that they were. But she still wasn't going to take the ring off unless she was asked to, or if she noticed that it was causing Koga immense pain.

She really hoped that it wouldn't though, and by this point, she gave up on the heels and stopped for a moment to take them off of her feet before chasing back after him. "What are you about to do?" There was an unspoken 'how can I help you change your mind' but she couldn't voice that anymore.

@Koga

[Koga 0]

Koga did not slow down. Nor did he respond to Noct's first bout of requests. She wasn't going to stop him. The man gruffly weaved his way in and out of small crowds of players and NPCs, his mind set on only one thing.

"I'm going to do what I should have a long time ago," he replied, voice filled with a fury that Noctua would've heard only once before. There was only one way for them to settle this after all. He'd exhausted all his other options.

After Tala had run away, off on her suicide mission, after Yukiro and Koga had nearly died for her sake, after she'd fought at Noct's side for their sakes, he'd thought something had finally gotten through to his sister. Well, now it appeared that only one thing could possibly do that. It pained Koga to even consider it. But she had made her bed. She'd have to lay in it.

@Noctua

[Noctua 0]

She sighed before grumbling lightly, moving to be in front of Koga, hopefully making him stop, so he didn't run right into her. "Koga! Stop ignoring me, please. You might not believe me, but I still care, and I don't want to see you go down this road. I saw that look in your eye with the old lady for the quest, you don't need to do anything stupid!" By this point, any passerby might have stared, because she was actually shouting at him by this point. She was just tired of her being the only one who seemed to care.

But, at the same time, she could tell that it still wasn't going to work, so she moved with a solemn sigh. "Just... don't get killed... please." With that, she just turned around and went back to her inn room, because she didn't want to watch him destroy himself. No, that would probably hurt more than anything else that she's seen him do, and she's watched him nearly die enough times, watching his actual death, wasn't on her to-do list.

@Koga

[Koga 0]

He stopped dead in his tracks, Noctua having stepped in front of him. He said nothing, his eyes only searching her face. For what, he didn't really know. For a moment though,  he words might've seemed to reach him. Some spark of recognition that she did, indeed, still care for him. But that moment left as quickly as it came. Even if she cared, even if this was all just one, huge mistake, it didn't change anything. It couldn't take away the grief he'd felt, that he'd agonized over.

And even if it could, he wasn't ready for that solace yet.

Knowing she couldn't dissuade him, Noctua stepped out of Koga's path, and the man made only a single remark as he passed her. "Don't worry about me." In a way, the Koga she'd known was already dead, and had been for quite some time.

The man called Koga stepped onto the teleporter, and the bright blue light swallowed him whole, leaving Noctua behind.

---

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Edited February 25, 2021 by Koga