dinohouse | open to any Go-Busters players from any universe incl Mushverse, ogods what am I doing

"You have been listening too much to Hiromu, commander." I can't quite keep the sing-song tone of mockery out of my voice, and I notice from the corner of my eye my brother raising one eyebrow at me. I wonder if he can't believe my flippancy, or whether he's merely amused by it.

"I am not nearly as human as he would have you believe. No more human than your Beet Buster, to be sure."

The commander and I turn identical expressions of outrage on him at that. I grimace, trying to change mine.

"You're both human," Kuroki grinds out. "Tell me."

I smirk at their annoyance. Outrage, really, and while it wasn't my intent, it is certainly not unwelcome. I'd rather they be outraged by me than consistently trying to trust me.

"Tell you what, Kuroki? That I'm still the precocious eleven-year-old that used to patter around your feet while you worked? Perhaps Beet Buster is different, I'll allow you that. But I am the product of what Majesté has made of me. Do not doubt my loyalty to it."

I don't let him see just how much that pisses me off. Hurts me.

Whatever.

I wonder, if I'd been there that night, if any of it would've been different. If we could've kept Emeric from Messiah's clutches. "I don't," I grind out, though I see Hiromu flinch infinitesimally. "But you're also human. Somewhere in there, you're also human."

I can tell. Even though he's hiding it from me, from his own subordinates, I can tell that there's pain there, and I think I know why.

"Oh, non non non, I don't believe that. I don't believe I have been human for a long time, Kuroki."

"Enter..." My brother growls. He has a hand on Hiromu's arm. I roll my eyes at that.

"No, I'm quite sure the humanity was crushed out of me many years ago."

I'm about ready to dart forward, put myself in between the two of them, but Etienne's hand on my arm stops me for now.

"Bullshit," the commander says. "Utter bullshit. I don't care what was done to you. You're still human."

...he'd better mean that he doesn't care about what was done to Emi in this context because if he means he doesn't care at all, hell with Ryuu-san, I'll punch him.

I turn my eyes on Hiromu and my brother at those words. I'm sure Hiromu would sell his own arm if it would convince me to abandon Messiah and run to them with open arms like a wounded lamb.

"Tch." I look up at Kuroki again, catching my brother tensing as though he knows what I'm about to say. "You are incorrect. I have ceased to be human, I guarantee you that. How much of this was Messiah's doing and how much happened by choice, well. The lines are murky."

I grimace as if hit in the gut, but I'm all right. I'm fine. It's not a surprise. I'll deal with it-

I force my hand to unclench from around Eti's wrist.

"Doesn't mean you can't come back to us," I say firmly.

Part of me is angry to hear my brother, or at least someone who looks like him, speaking in that way. Being so flippant, being so rude when we're just trying to help him...

But it dawns on me slowly and I reach for Hiromu as he tries to pull away. My eyes are fixed on my brother, or what's left of him.

"Maybe he doesn't want to." I say with every bit as much intent as Hiromu has. "It's his own fault, if he'd rather be destroyed."

I try not to notice the slightest glimmer of what looks like approval in my brother's eyes.

Eti's reaching for me. I don't fight it for now, I'm grateful for his touch, but I'm so tense I'm practically vibrating.

"He's trying to make us give up on him?" I glare at Eti, though I'm not mad at him, then I turn the same glare to Emi. "That's not his damn choice."

I glance between the two of them curiously, noting the power play there, and resolving that I might have to get involved so to speak if Hiromu ever looks at my brother that way again.

"Oh, but it is, Red Buster." I'm only using his stupid call sign because I know it gets under his skin. Maybe I'm more human than I let myself get credit for. But not likely. "It is my choice, just as it was then, just as it will ever be. I don't want to be here, you know that."

I scoff at that. "You were eleven, Emeric. And I've been forced to sit through enough psychology lectures about warfare to know you weren't responsible for your actions then or now, no matter how much you may think you are."

I take a step towards him, in spite of the fact that he can easily flatten me with or without his connection to Messiah. "Help us help you," I grind out.

I heave a heavy mock sigh and shake my head.

"What makes you think all of your bits and pieces of psychology mean anything to me?"

"That's enough, Enter."

My eyes turn to my brother, a snarky response poised on the tip of my tongue.

He called me Enter, again. Perhaps he's giving up after all.

"I do not require help, Kuroki." I say finally.

Hiromu's so tense he's practically vibrating.

I sigh. "I can't force you to accept it. But if you have any feeling for everyone here, for your brother," I make that word especially harsh, because hell if I won't do anything I have to do to save him, to save the rest of us, "then think about it the other way. What can you do for us?"

My eyes scan across all three of them, settling for a moment on Hiromu, and then I turn away, crossing my arms.

Petulant, perhaps. But I am drastically out of my element, a prisoner in all but name, and frustrated too. I'm allowed to be petulant occasionally.

"I am already doing all I can to help my brother. I would extend the offer further, perhaps, if I thought there was any chance of it being even considered, much less accepted. We are on diametrically opposed sides of this issue, I imagine we always will be."

I glance over my shoulder at them, just a glance, before tearing my eyes away again. "I would think, if you are so dedicated to the eradication of Vaglass, perhaps you would do well to kill me now, while I'm at your sweet mercy."

"Don't think I'm not considering it," Kuroki snaps. I'm in between them without consciously remembering moving, whether or not I used my speed.

I stare at Emi, a hand hovering about an inch from his chest, my palm flat, as if I'm about to touch his heart. I don't do it. Not quite. I don't want to push him.

Kuroki quietens behind me, but the thing is, we're not on opposite sides. We just approach things differently, sometimes. I'm not fighting him. I'm just making an attempt with Emi.

"Tell me," I say to Emi, eyes intent on his. "How would you extend the offer further."

I think Hiromu is as surprised at his daring as I am. I look into his eyes briefly, but I find I can't hold his gaze.

My brother is still by the door. I glance towards him, just for a moment, and notice he's taken another step forward, angling himself between Kuroki and the pair of us. Odd. I can't tell who's protecting who anymore.

"You were very nearly family. All of you. We didn't have friends, you know. Extended family. It was just work, my parent's work, all the time."

I meet his eyes again, just for a moment. They're like fire, and I can't keep it up. "If I thought you would agree to ceasing your incessant attacks, if I thought for a moment that thirteen years of devoted duty would be enough to buy your lives, I would do it."

Eti's moved behind us, too. But I can't tell any more where the threat's coming from. Who's being protected. Who's in the most danger.

I don't want Kuroki taken apart. I don't want Emi frightened into helping.

I don't think either will happen, but it's difficult not to be aware of all these possibilities humming around us.

I keep my eyes on Emi's, but he drops his. I frown. "If we stop attacking Vaglass, you'll try to spare our lives?" Is that what he's saying?

"That's what I said," I pause for a moment, then manage to look up to his eyes again. It's hard, I just wish I knew why. "'iromu."

My brother makes a strangled sound in the doorway, and I tear my eyes away from Hiromu's to watch him take a step back, behind Kuroki again, to the wall, where he slumps as if stricken. I almost leap to his defense, though I haven't got a clue what could be hurting him in such a way, but I'm sure any moves I make now would be seen only as threatening.

"I'm fine," he mutters after a moment. "Just. Dieu soit maudit." He has a hand over his eyes. I imagine my words were hard for him to hear.

...that lilt in his voice.

I'm catapaulted back thirteen years ago, when he first said my name. I was completely, solemnly fascinated by how different it sounded. How he made it sound special, just between him and me.

I cast a look back at Eti, horrified by his reaction, but the commander's crouching next to him. I can talk to Eti later.

"We can't stop fighting," I tell Emi -- because he's Emi right now, definitely not Enter -- quietly, seriously.

He's so stupid. So trusting. I look up at him, and now I can meet his eyes. Because now I know it's irrelevant.

"Neither can I." I respond seriously.

My brother makes another, smaller strangled sound, but this time I don't look at him.

Something's broken in him, and I don't know if it was a good break or a bad break. He's looking at me just fine now.

Probably bad.

"We can't stop fighting you just because you promise to spare us," I say, feeling unutterably tired. "I know that's a concession, Emi. But we can't. We can't let innocents get hurt."

I shrug at his dire pronouncement, then look away again. Turn away, actually, turn my back on him and the whole ridiculous notion of family.

"Then I hardly doubt Messiah will ever be willing to spare your lives."

I do glance around when the door opens, and Etienne leaves the room. It makes me ache, but the truth hurts, I suppose.

...shit, what do I do now.

I don't want to leave Emi, but Eti's so upset.

"We need Messiah to stop. That simple, that hard. Just stop." I do reach out and touch him, briefly, my hand on his heart. "To let us all live as we should."

I turn again to Hiromu, expecting him to leave to my brother's aid, but he doesn't. Not immediately, anyway. He keeps his attention on me, even has the audacity to touch my chest, and I don't have the drive to shove him away, or even to knock his hand away.

"Messiah has my body, Hiromu." I tell him. No point in playing coy, or pulling punches. "It is the only thing keeping me alive. I can't disobey Messiah."

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