Author's Notes: Considering how easy is to write about the man, I have no idea why my mind decided to dive into his mind... I just hope I didn't butchered the character to badly.
Tears of the Damned
Jade wished he could unleash his anger and murder all of the people responsible for the fury he felt. Humanity was a monster that only cared about it own self, never minding the pain it brought to others. The sole thought of it made the man nearly snap, his fury fulfilling his desire to gather fonons and lit the world in fire. But that would destroy all what the boy crying in his arms had sacrificed so much for, all what he had died for. His pain would be meaningless and the colonel, a monster like no other, could not bring himself to destroy the world that condemned it's willing innocence as ones condemns a beast to slaughter.
The younger ones had been happy, content in the fact that the boy had returned to them after missing for a year. His family quick to welcome him back to the fold. They were all to content in believing in the miracle, the fear of the dream ending stopping them from asking, of proving to deep. But the colonel fear, and he wonder when had he began to feel such an emotion, was what drove him to ask, to prove in the still bleeding injury. Nothing that was given was perfect, was free.
He had known intellectually that Asch the Bloody had been hardly innocent, a name like that didn't come any freer than his own one, but had failed to consider the repercussions in the boy's replica. A replica who shuddered at hurting others to defend himself much least kill. The boy's nightmares had been hard enough when he had only his own sins to bear. Asch had ended many lives in and out of the order, his name bringing almost as much fear as the necromancer's.
In the end it had drove Luke to accept Jade's offer to came to Gran Chokmah to stay with him. His parents had been disappointed, wishing to be with the son that had returned to them, but ultimately gave their blessing, knowing that the boy needed to find his place in the world again. Natalia was less understanding, wanting to be with the man she was betrothed to, maybe even unconsciously still seeking the original in him. It was her presence, constantly seeking but never finding, and the increasing pushes to marry her had been what finally drove the duke's son away from the city of light, seeking safe heaven at the other side of the world.
Tear hadn't understand either, but had supported him. It was the melodist who undertook the task of keeping the kimlascan princess cheerful after the red head departure and who accompanied the boy's mother in his absence. Anise had understood better, knowing that sometimes, things only healed with time and distance. The girl visited as often as she could with her duties at the order, but made sure to give the other the space he sorely needed.
The usually stoic man patted the younger male's back uncomfortable, his new found emotions still to confusing for his rational mind. But he couldn't leave the other alone, he had already left him behind once, and the act still hunted him. It hadn't only been the duke's son foolishness that brought the fall of Akzeriuth, but they all had been content to push the fault in his shoulders so as to be free of their own guilt. Their actions had broke something in the replica and it had took his death for Jade to finally realize it.
The boy was unable to believe in his own council, his own heart but was terribly afraid to follow others'. He had been used and discarded, dismissed and abandoned in favor of his original by both the Master he idolatried and the people he had grown close to. The ones he had know all his life had preferred to be with his original and the one who brought him out of the mansion despised him for being a naive fool. But all they had done was punish a child who had followed his father's orders, no matter how macabre, and took the blame for them. A child who had, in the end, been forced to kill the only real parent he had ever known.
It was Peony who understood Luke best and he had been the one to suggest to Jade that he brought the other to his city to give him time to heal. The man had seen the maliciousness of others and felt it in his own skin. As a ruler and as a person, life had never been kind to Peony, but the man would endure it all, if only because he loved the land that had been entrusted to him. Jade didn't envy the pair selfness and had bowed, if only to himself, to make sure their kindness didn't get them killed.
The colonel didn't want to acknowledge the fact he now why he had undertook a task that would be more in charade with Count Gardios. He was half afraid of what the consequences would be. Jade Curtiss was hardly a man who stared at his own faults in the face, even if he realized and acknowledged them. A monster like him needed to be keep stable, as the Emperor would say, and pass mistakes did nothing for his peace of mind. It was not to say, however, that Guy didn't suspect something from the sudden bond between the noble and the soldier, the blond had practicably raised the boy after all, but it was that close bond that prevented Luke from showing all the pain he was feeling. The love he felt towards the other made him want to spare him the grief, so the nobleman accepted it silently and guarded him, waiting for the day he came to him.
Until that time came, until the boy in his arms didn't need him anymore, Jade would stay and held him as he cried for all the ones he had killed and the ones he hadn't, his grief as bottomless as the world's.
Author's Notes: I have read different takes on the 'It's Luke!' 'It's Asch!' problem but have never seen anyone tackle the mental impact of having Luke with Asch memories. Because, for which ever reason, Asch was a murder and Luke is as soft as they came.