[Stahn's really not giving Leon any time to react to these punches he's throwing.
There's for a moment pure relief that Rutee and the others are safe. It's a strange euphoric feeling that he wasn't expecting (but maybe he's just lightheaded from all of his emotional outbursts so far), and he's not sure what to make of it or how to feel. He was...worried, wasn't he?
... And then Stahn's words make him cold all over again.
He can't say it comes as a shock, though. Ilene, Baruk, Rembrandt...they'd been working with Hugo all along, of course. They'd tried so hard to protect him, though, even so. They had tried, in their own way. It hadn't been enough, of course, because in the end they listened to Hugo, and Leon... Leon had had no choice. But they'd been there all his life even so. When he had been a child, Rembrandt had been there. When he'd first become a captain, Ilene had been there to cheer him on.
Baruk had always teased him, for so many things.
He breathes out a shuddering breath, posture still bowed. And it's barely a whisper, when he does speak, because it was inevitable. Of course, this was how it had to go. They would never have stopped. They never would have let Stahn and the others convince them. To carry on, Stahn and the others would have had to...]
... I see. Of course, that's... of course.
[Dully, quietly. He's supposed to be dead, isn't he?
no subject
There's for a moment pure relief that Rutee and the others are safe. It's a strange euphoric feeling that he wasn't expecting (but maybe he's just lightheaded from all of his emotional outbursts so far), and he's not sure what to make of it or how to feel. He was...worried, wasn't he?
... And then Stahn's words make him cold all over again.
He can't say it comes as a shock, though. Ilene, Baruk, Rembrandt...they'd been working with Hugo all along, of course. They'd tried so hard to protect him, though, even so. They had tried, in their own way. It hadn't been enough, of course, because in the end they listened to Hugo, and Leon... Leon had had no choice. But they'd been there all his life even so. When he had been a child, Rembrandt had been there. When he'd first become a captain, Ilene had been there to cheer him on.
Baruk had always teased him, for so many things.
He breathes out a shuddering breath, posture still bowed. And it's barely a whisper, when he does speak, because it was inevitable. Of course, this was how it had to go. They would never have stopped. They never would have let Stahn and the others convince them. To carry on, Stahn and the others would have had to...]
... I see. Of course, that's... of course.
[Dully, quietly. He's supposed to be dead, isn't he?
So why does all of this still hurt?]