A/N: This one was really sad for me to write... Set just after the Unbirthday Retrace, and mostly a theme of painful dramatic irony (for those who don't know the poetic definition, that's when the audience knows about something that the characters don't; usually something bad, or tragic). So... Yeah. Hope you enjoy. As much as a fan can enjoy a painful truth about their fandom. DX
WARNING: This chapter may contain mild spoilers for as far back as Retrace 47.
~Penelope
Theme: Making History
So he'd made a pact with the Vessalius kid.
So what?
It was about time someone went on the offensive. The kid was stupid for not saying something earlier. Why'd he have to waste all that time before the tea party blabbering about Edgar and self-sacrifice and all that stuff? When they could've been working toward mending things between the families; 'cause that was best for everyone. No more of this useless feud…
Elliot sighed, leaning his head back against the bench, staring at the ceiling as the carriage rumbled along. Watching the curtains sway.
Who was he fooling? He'd been an idiot. For all he hated people judging him before they got to know him, he'd gone and done the same thing. For years. Blindly, out of pure respect for his father, hating a family who had personally done nothing to him. And then Oz came along, learned he was a Nightray, and didn't give a care.
Puh, Elliot scoffed. What kind of a hypocrite was he? Going on and on about disliking people who treated him well because of his rank, flattered him because of his wealth. Preferring people treat him as him, and no one else. As Elliot – not Nightray, not scion, not noble. To ignore his family's dark reputation, and invite him into the light of their own accord.
Oz had done just that, and Elliot had treated him like trash. Just because of a stupid surname… How much more stupid could you get?
"Elliot?"
He opened his eyes, realizing he was grimacing, and glanced across the carriage at his valet. Leo blinked at him like an owl from behind his round glasses.
"Are you all right?"
Elliot snickered, shaking his head and staring down at his polished shoes. Polished to perfection… He really did hate being a noble sometimes. So focused on outward appearance that you forget that you're more than frills and lace and satin and sharply pressed seams. You forget you're flesh and blood, a living, breathing creature with a soul and a beating heart teeming with emotion… When you're a noble, you're none of that.
He shook his head again. "No… No, Leo, I'm not."
Leo actually looked surprise. No wonder; Elliot didn't admit to weakness often and the few times he did, never so blatantly, honestly. Another side effect of being a noble; as if it were a disease, something in the blood, something that took hold of you and tainted you from the inside out, filled your veins and turned your blood black with cold callouseness and suffocated you, killed you before you even knew it was there…
"I'm an idiot, aren't I?" Elliot muttered, leaning his head back again to stare at the ceiling.
"Yes." No hesitation. Leo's blunt answer brought a smirk to his face.
"You have no sympathy, do you?"
Leo shook his head, setting his book beside him on the bench. "Not for you, I don't."
A laugh escaped him, and with another sigh, Elliot closed his eyes. "You think there's a chance?"
"For what?"
"Changing things. Making things better. Between our families."
Leo was quiet a long while before he finally answered. "Harder challenges have been faced. I know that for sure… Yes, I think there's a chance. There's always a chance. Particularly when stubborn people like you and Oz are involved. You'll make it work, come Hell or high water. One way or another, you'll get your way, and the Nightrays and the Vessalius' will finally reconcile."
"I'm a hypocrite."
Leo kicked him in the shin and Elliot bolted upright, jerking his knee up to clasp his hands around his now aching leg with a twisted grimace. He glared at his servant only to find the noire looking quite serious.
"Don't you start, too. Oz already has emo issues."
"Yup – no sympathy," Elliot gritted out through clenched teeth, rubbing his sore shin before setting his foot back on the floor and sliding to the far end of the bench, out of the reach of Leo's foot. "I'm not being emo; hello? I'm admitting I was wrong! Be grateful!"
Leo arched a brow, and pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I knew you were."
"Sure you did…" Elliot folded his arms and hunched into the corner. Trust Leo to ruin a moment. Whatever that moment was. A moment of humanity? Humility? Regret? Revelation? Whatever it was, it'd had Elliot feeling pretty good, and then Leo'd gone and spoiled it. When he finally glanced at the orphan again, he saw a half-smile had quirked Leo's face.
"Seriously, Elliot… This is big. I mean, this is more than forgetting the past, bridging a gap forged by generations of distrust and pride… This is history. Whatever happens now will be remembered for countless years to come. The choices that you and Oz Vessalius make will effect posterity indefinitely – your children and grandchildren and all the Nightrays to come after, as well as the Vessalius', and probably in effect, all the other dukedoms! This, Elliot – you are making history. Don't treat it lightly, and don't spoil it by beating yourself up!"
Elliot scowled. "I wasn't beating myself up! It actually felt pretty good! Felt like I got something off my chest."
Again, Leo cocked a brow and tilted his head with a smug aura. "Really? You, of all people, felt good vocalizing that you were wrong and Oz Vessalius, of all people, was right? Because I've seen it happen before, however rare it might've been, and believe me – it never made you feel good. Made you crabby and… annoying. More so than usual, I mean."
Leo. Elliot clenched his jaw, and huddled further into his corner, glaring at, well… anything, really. Yeah, no sympathy. None whatsoever.
Still. Leo would be Leo. And that was a part of history that would certainly never change.
A/N: Like I said. Painful. So much that I'm sure they expected out of life that neither of them got... The Nightray family won't have blood posterity. And Leo... isn't Leo anymore. :(
