It is then that Wisely sees him.

He doesn't quite know how. It is pitch black inside this place, so dark that Wisely can feel his abilities stifling along with his sight. Yet somehow, he is solid, a small white light in the darkness of years long gone.

But as he walks up to Wisely, all smiles and calm, calculating eyes, Wisely can only feel nothing.

"It's about time you showed up," he says calmly, legs crossed as he floats in the dark. "I was starting to wonder if the Duke was getting sloppy."

He smiles, hands tucked neatly in his pockets. "And I was wondering if I was ever going to see you again, brother."

A humorless smile dances across Wisely's face as he stands on the dark, hands hanging loosely at his sides. His forehead is humming, humming bright and strong as it remembers. Remembers the blood and the pain and the song, his song filled with lies and a single voice through the white. "I wasn't looking forward to this," he says coldly, hiding the pain underneath his smile.

Somewhere, he hears a boy crying.

"You're so cold," he chuckles, and in two strides he is in front of him, hands brushing the side of Wisely's face. And he can't move. He can't move away, can't jerk away as the hands clench his skin. "It's been such a while, Wisely. Why don't we just be friends?"

Wisely wrinkles his nose in irritation, finally twisting his head out of his grip and giving him a blank look filled to the brim with white and nothingness. "You killed me."

Nothing. The smile stays on, the eyes still twinkling with that dark cheer. "Would you rather I have tortured you first? I was merciful, brother. There was so much more I could have done." The hands linger in the air, as though holding an imaginary face before dropping back down into the white, crinkled pockets. "I hope you know that, brother," he says, calm as ever.

"Fuck you."

The words tangle in the air, staining their breaths a dark, hateful red in the black. He cocks his head to the side, smile stained at the corners. "I would if I could."

Wisely's composure drops as he stares at him in surprise. "What—"

And he laughs, navy-blue bells tinkling inside the dark. "It was just a joke, brother," he says with a look in his eyes that betrays his words. "Just a joke between family."

Wisely narrows his eyes. A thickening in the air and it is harder to breathe. "You're not family anymore, Nea."

The little boy crying is louder now. Heavier.

And Nea's smile finally flickers out, replaced by a frown as terrible and sad as the sea. For a long while, there is silence as the air begins to suffocate and Wisely's eyes scream with the white in his head. The crying has reached a peak point, filled to the brim with sorrow until the brim of his heart overflows and drips down onto the stone floor.

"I have to go soon," he says quietly, so unlike himself that Wisely can't help but stare. "Mana's found someone for me."

"Preying on the weak now?" Wisely retorts, smiling not at all nicely as Nea begins to fade away. "Now, I thought you were better than that."

And as Wisely stares at him, Nea with his hands tucked in his pockets and dark eyes with their terrible charm, there is a whisper in the darkness.

"I love you, brother."

Then he is gone, left with Wisely staring into nothing and the screaming of silence in his ears.

The crying has stopped.

Ah, Noahs. How you entertain me so.