Recalibration
Angeal really hadn't been expecting to wake up again, so finding himself strapped down on a steel table was a most unpleasant surprise. He had after all just pushed Zack into killing him in Modeoheim; the former General had felt his heart stop.
"Phoenix down is such a wonderful thing is it not?"
Angeal tensed, eyes flickering as he tried to take in his surroundings. A golden-eyed Vincent walked deliberately into his field of vision and glared at him.
"You," his sister informed him deliberately, voice a harsh monotone, "are a moron."
"I..." Angeal realised that he hadn't even considered how his big sister would take his death. Now strapped to a table that was for too much like the ones in the Science Department and forced to confront his irate sibling, he recognised how serious an oversight it had been not to factor her into his plans. "Vincent-"
"The little paradox is currently unavailable," the red-cloaked Turk said coolly, voice harsh in the quiet room, "due to severe anger management problems. Nominally her feeling it would be appropriate to tear you limb from limb and feed you to Hellmasker for pulling such a stupid stunt." The voice cracked and split into a duet on the word 'appropriate', confirming that it was indeed Chaos addressing him, which had not been clear at the beginning of the conversation.
Angeal's throat went dry. He'd only seen Hellmasker once and even then only in passing, during a mission when they'd needed information which could only be extracted from a Turk in deep cover. Vincent had been unusually impatient and rather irritable and had responded to the target's stubborn obstinacy by kicking Angeal and his unit out of the interrogation room and awakening the horror. What the chainsaw-wielding Limit Break had done to the unfortunate Turk had shattered the blue-suit's mind to the point that, one they had the required information, Angeal had decapitated the man as a mercy. For Vincent to be that angry with him...
"I'm sorry."
"You had better be," Chaos hissed. "I am this close to stepping aside and letting her go through with it. You do not deserve to live; I will not ask what you were thinking as it is clear you were not thinking at all."
The Dark General cringed. Getting lambasted by the Herald of OMEGA whilst physically incapable of defending oneself was the most terrifyingly surreal experience of his life. His skin felt like it wanted to crawl off his body and wriggle away, far away. Chaos had no personal limits save those he respected for his avatar's sake, so with Vincent angry enough to ignore or defy her perceived limits there was a very real danger that Chaos could get away with doing something supposedly impossible and very permanent to him.
"So, why try to kill yourself?" the quasi-summon snapped.
Angeal blinked. Not what he had been expecting, though the fact that Chaos was maintaining Vincent's physical form was slightly reassuring. Less chance of insanely painful Spells being used on him. The restraint however was anomalous; Chaos was not restrained. Ever. He was the king of overkill, the prince of excess.
"Your continued health and safety is dependent on the quality of your answer, little ronin," the Herald of OMEGA said warningly, sabaton-topped boot tapping an impatient rhythm on the concrete floor. "Speak or be forever silenced."
Angeal swallowed hard. "My mother killed herself out of shame for her involvement in Project G, to atone. I-"
"Your mother was weak," Chaos interrupted harshly. "Too cowardly to apologise for her mistakes and spend what remained of her life making amends to those whose lives she had ruined, too proud to admit that none of her achievements had any true worth and too arrogant to acknowledge that her actions were completely without honour. Yes, I know what honour is, little ronin, though I rarely exercise it. She condemned her own flesh and blood to death before he was even born with her unnatural experiments yet never once confessed her sins or even admitted that she had made an error in judgement. Suicide is the last resort of cowards who refuse to stray beyond their perceived limits and those too arrogant to recognise their own mistakes." The quasi-summon paused, opaque golden eyes never moving from Angeal's cringing form. "Where is your courage? Are you truly so lacking in humility that death is preferable to admitting your own errors?"
Angeal felt a wave of guilt swamp him. Chaos was right; to attempt suicide had been cowardly. He was a monster.
"And now you wallow in guilt and self-pity like a pig in muck," Chaos drawled scornfully. "I refuse to believe that such a pathetic specimen was promoted to first-class on his own merits."
"I was a damn-fine SOLDIER!" Angeal protested hotly, goaded out of his misery by that blatant slander of his person.
"You certainly do not act like one," Chaos said cruelly. "I've seen jellyfish with more spine than you are currently demonstrating."
In that moment there was nothing Angeal wanted more than to punch Chaos in the face. With a Mako-fuelled adrenaline rush he ripped free of his bonds and lunged at the smug being. The quasi-summon slid indolently out of reach.
"Much better. Now apologise properly."
"Apologise! You want me to-" Angeal fumed semi-incoherently.
"To your sister," the Herald of OMEGA expanded. "Your actions opened old wounds in her soul: her Turk mentor when she first entered the company pressured her into killing him after he was discovered passing information to other companies. She vowed that she would never, ever force another to kill her. For you, her own brother, to do so, well you can imagine, little ronin, how she feels about you right now."
The Dark General stilled. No wonder Vincent was so incensed: he'd done to Zack what some stone-cold Turk had done to her. Did that make him a cold bastard, to do such a thing to his protégé?
"I'm really, really sorry and I won't do it ever again, I swear," he whispered, ashamed. "How is Zack?"
"Off-duty with a pending psych exam," Chaos said shortly. "Rosso is looking after him. And cursing your name, just so you know. Do not expect her to be even remotely civil in the near future."
"Can I-"
"No, you may not see him or call him," the quasi-summon snarled. "Use the brain I know you have somewhere inside that thick skull, little ronin. If you write a formal apology to each of those affected I will see to it that they are delivered, but no more than that. Even for that small service you will owe me much."
Angeal slumped, feeling unpleasantly off-balance without the Buster Sword slung across his back. "Very well. Then what?"
Chaos raised an eyebrow; his face was almost ash-grey by this point, having slowly changed from Vincent's ghoulish paleness as the conversation progressed. "Genesis informed me that once I have finished with you he desires an opportunity to express his own displeasure, little ronin, so that is one letter of apology you will not need to write. As for my sweet paradox, I have no idea how you should go about regaining her trust or if it is even possible. I suggest you ask to be dispatched to one of the secondary bases to monitor local forces and keep your head down until she can bear looking at you again. That however is just my opinion. Do what you will, little ronin."
Angeal nodded, not bothering to ask about his new nickname; he knew exactly what a ronin was already. Unlike his namesake however it was very clear that suicide was not an option and he would not put it past Chaos to drag him out of the Lifestream and beat him bloody if he actually managed to pull it off. No, he would have to wander across the Planet and man an isolated outpost until his leader could bear to have him around again.
"Is Vincent really that upset?" he asked quietly.
"Yes," Chaos said flatly. "Congratulations little ronin: I have seen her go mad with fury or pain before, but never with grief. Try to avoid repeating the experiment; she does not need her mind any more fractured than it already is." The gold-eyed quasi-summon walked over to the door on the far side of the room. "Don't go anywhere: the little mage will be here presently to rant and throw things at you."
With that the Herald of OMEGA walked out, leaving Angeal to slump against the edge of the steel table and wait for his best friend and cousin to come and beat him up for being such a blithering idiot. The Dark General was more worried about what Genesis would say: The Crimson General had a vicious tongue even on a good day so now, when the man was furiously unhappy with him, it was likely to be mercilessly excoriating.
He did hope that Vincent would be okay. His sister was the most important person in his life now and that she felt so completely betrayed by his actions was a bitter blow, if not entirely unexpected. He might have totally forsaken honour by his selfish actions but that didn't mean he wasn't going to do everything in his power to make it up to her.
Chaos uses Snark Power to knock some sense into Angeal and we get a little more of Vincent's background. We also get to see Angeal's new nickname. Not so shiny and honourable any more are we?
Angeal will be dropping off the map now. He will eventually return, but not for ages and ages.
