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One thing Isaac prided himself in was his ability to act calm. It was a crucial part of being handy-dandy in all things—no one would trust someone who looked like they were seconds away from a nervous meltdown. Even if that was how he felt sometimes, he couldn’t show it.
He never expected to have to use that skill on the moon, though. And certainly not to this extent.
The first thing he wanted to do after seeing Cassius was scream, but he could hardly do that here. While those moon warriors—Omega-3, he’d learned they were called—were apparently under orders not to harm him, he wasn’t sure how long that would last.
Instead, he bit his tongue, refusing to look away. Central Axis recycled waste—how he hated even thinking of a living being as “waste”—so that they were keeping Cassius’s body suspended in this pod must mean he was alive. Somehow. Even with his head cut open—!
Isaac fell to his knees, covering his mouth with both hands. He could taste blood now, an unpleasant metallic tang that made him want to gag. No, no, no, he could not waste time panicking here; he had to make a plan. It was his own lack of foresight that landed him in this mess, and worse, dragged an innocent Cassius in with him. With the end of his life’s mission finally in reach, he’d selfishly blinded himself to everything else.
Have I fulfilled my family's wishes only to allow this act of cruelty?
Two sleepless nights later, Isaac had his plan. The workings of one, that was. This was an obvious fact, but as a mostly ordinary Human, he could hardly fight his way out. His best bet was to gain the approval of Central Axis, which he could use to…? Even if he managed to get Cassius’s brain back in his body, how was he supposed to get Cassius off the moon...
“Did you sleep at all?” Raybury asked, startling him out of his daze.
“At some point.” If that point was last week, that didn’t need to be said.
“Convincing as ever, buddy.”
“Look, you’re the only one I can talk to here. Don’t give me that.”
Perhaps out of pity, Raybury didn’t offer another comeback.
Isaac sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Where are they now?”
“I couldn’t find Juana, but Ellis has just finished his daily meal, and Dex is on one of the upper floors.”
Calling the way moondwellers derived nutrition a meal was charitable, to put it lightly. “No Juana, huh.” She seemed like the simplest one to win over, so that was unfortunate. “Between Dex and Ellis, who should I try…” Isaac closed his eyes, thinking.
“I’d recommend Dex, intimidating as he appears. The other one… even I don’t fully grasp the extent of his abilities.”
“Same here.” Omega-3’s abilities weren’t classified, but the concept of seeing time still boggled the mind. That wasn’t even getting into Ellis’s general demeanor, which could be summed up in one word: terrifying. “Well, here goes nothing.” Isaac stretched, wincing as his joints creaked. Surely he wasn’t old enough for that yet. “How do I look?”
“Charming. I’m sure the grease on your shirt will have Dex swooning at your feet.”
At least Raybury’s sarcasm never changed, whether he be on moon or Sky Realm. “Thanks, buddy.”
When Isaac found him, Dex had just shut down a terminal. “Busy?”
“Central Axis is still deciding on how to undertake the research into Agent Cassius.”
“O-oh, are they?” Curse his stutter. He really didn’t expect Cassius’s name to pop up now, though.
“Their goal is to uncover the cause of Agent Cassius’s behavioral abnormalities. However, the most efficient method of doing so has yet to be determined.”
Wait, could this be his chance? “What about me?”
Something shifted in Dex’s expression, nearly imperceptible. Could that be called interest? “Continue.”
Isaac took a deep, quick breath, then spoke, voice carefully level. “I’m the most familiar with skydweller behavior here, considering my roots. And as an engineer, data analysis is one of my specialities.”
“I am aware. We have watched your actions on Fossil.”
Like that wasn’t creepy… “Right, let me get to the point.” Isaac swallowed, unable to get the bitter taste off his tongue. What he was about to suggest was a direct violation of the deepest of Cassius’s boundaries. But what else would they be interested in?
“I...can look through Cassius’s memory data myself.”
With that, he sealed their fates.
Days-weeks-months later, Isaac learned one, peculiar thing.
Juana wasn’t cruel.
Moondwellers weren’t capable of cruelty, really. She never took so much flesh it would prevent him from working, and she stopped as soon as he asked her to.
“I wonder…” Juana closed her eyes in satisfaction, bloody lips curling into a serene smile. “Why is nothing else as delicious as you?”
“F-food isn’t my area of expertise, sorry—I can’t answer that.” Isaac just had to keep calm until Raybury returned with bandages. Logically, the quantity of blood he’d lost wouldn’t be a major hindrance, but realistically he just wanted to run and hide.
But if this could earn Juana’s favor—if this was what it took to save Cassius—he could handle it, and far more.
“Oh, that’s alright. Thanks for the meal!”
“You’re…welcome…”
“So tasty…You’re the best.”
“No problem.” He hadn’t even realized Juana had stepped away, though now that he was aware, the wound hurt. Isaac winced—that was certainly a delayed reaction.
“See you around~”
This was starting to feel like deja-vu. “See you.”
“Mm...that’s enough for now.”
“Huh, already?” In a strange, abstract sense, he registered the state of his own body—his arm would have to be wrapped up again, but he couldn’t actually remember Juana biting him.
“Aw, you’re so sweet. But I can’t indulge too much—I’ll be back later, okay?”
“Isaac. I brought bandages.” The familiar form of Raybury appeared in his view.
“Thanks, buddy,” he replied by instinct, but made no move to take them from him. This particular bite wound was wider than usual, and blood was still dripping down his arm onto the floor. If he didn’t wrap it up soon, it would collect enough to flow, staining his shoes. That would require soap and water to wash out—an utterly inefficient use of resources.
“Did you hear what I said? Patch yourself up before it gets worse.”
“Sure, yeah. Just...” He trailed off, only the steady dripping sound breaking the silence. Red was such an unusual color here on the moon, whose people seemed to exist only in monochrome and blue.
“What if...I left it like this?”
“Your arm would lose function, and Central Axis would almost certainly reassign your current tasks to someone else.”
And Cassius would be disposed of.
That was the way Central Axis worked, in all its ruthless efficiency.
Isaac took a deep breath, swallowing some illogical scream. “Right. Thanks for the reminder, buddy.”
“...Just hold out your arm.”
Raybury really was the only reason Isaac had made it this far. Whenever he got lost in Cassius’s memories, Raybury would eventually find him staring blankly at an unchanging screen, and physically push him out of them.
“Wake up. You’ve got a guest.”
Isaac rubbed his shoulder, where Raybury had driven his small metal body into, then turned around. “Ellis? What...what can I do for you?” Of Omega-3, he was his least frequent visitor, unable to stand the noise Grace’s scalpel generated.
Ellis didn’t say anything, but strode to his side, looking up at the screens. It showed an image of the ocean, and palms cupping seawater. Isaac knew what would happen next—for some inexplicable reason, he would drink from it, then proclaim it to be impotable. But why…?
—The “he” being Cassius, of course. Constantly watching these memories was messing with his sense of self, among other things. Isaac shook his head to dispel that train of thought, then launched into an explanation of his work. If Ellis was just going to be unsettlingly silent, he could at least fill the air with something. “Right now, I’m working on organizing the data into clusters grouped by location. Actually, I’m nearly finished, but this leads to another—”
“I can’t see it.”
“It?”
“The reason for the abnormalities in the returnee’s behavior.” Ellis turned to look at him directly, and he couldn’t suppress a shiver. “If I can’t see it...does it actually exist?”
Having the very nature of his project wasn’t something he’d prepared for, since he was working with Central Axis’s goals. What could he say here, what would get Ellis away from him…!
Isaac picked up on the faint echo of approaching footsteps, and spun around, grasping for any opening. “Juana, back for m—?”
Dex Krak stood in front of him. “Ah…sorry, I didn’t think you had such light footsteps.”
Dex paid his slip-up no mind. “Your research direction has been approved. Copies of Agent Cassius will be available at your request.”
“Copies,” Ellis repeated. “Copies of the returnee...I can see it now.”
“O-oh?” Even if Ellis no longer seemed interested in him, his mere presence was unsettling. “That’s great news. Thanks, Dex.”
“I do not understand your gratitude. I simply delivered a message.”
“Well, I can’t go to Central Axis myself, so it’s still helpful.”
“Hm.” Dex turned to leave, and Ellis, now seemingly satisfied with what he’d seen, followed him.
Once they were out of sight, Isaac collapsed into a chair. “Can’t that guy just leave me alone…What does he even want from me?” If it wasn’t for how strictly everyone followed orders here, he was sure Ellis would have killed him in cold blood ten times over by now.
“Entertainment? If you don’t make it as an engineer, I’m sure you could start a career in theater.”
He snorted, looking up at Raybury. “Where were you, anyway? Couldn’t have helped?”
“That was a conversation. You handled it fine yourself.”
If that was just a conversation, Isaac was never speaking to anyone again.
From inside his hazard suit, Isaac couldn’t wipe his face, but at least no one could see it, either. He’d kept it together this far, but losing Raybury…
In his disjointed dreams, he saw him—not as a little robot, but as a dignified man, the same one from his Ellis-induced hallucinations. He’d never thought about it before, but Raybury was the closest thing to family he had. A robot he’d built himself, and only recently, too. Isaac had spent his life avoiding other people, and he thought he’d gotten used to it, but he suddenly felt unimaginably lonely.
But as he woke to Gwynne and Cassius speaking through the transmitter, he realized: there were still some people left he had to protect. Isaac couldn’t rest yet.
With a belly full of sausages and fries, Isaac’s sleep was surprisingly peaceful. On the moon, he had been plagued by nightmares, until Central Axis ordered him to take a certain drug that stopped them completely. He hadn’t questioned how exactly that had worked, but thinking about it, this was his first normal sleep in a while. Even safe in the hospital bed, something had felt off.
It left him feeling strangely optimistic. Honestly, he didn’t know how he’d adapt to regular skydweller life again, but that had to be a good start.
The next step to that would be to get breakfast. Gwynne had stayed with her parents, but he’d returned to the base. It was half not wanting to impose on his friends more than he already had, and half still feeling awkward around his sister. Even the words “his sister” felt out-of-place in his thoughts. Of course, it wasn’t her fault or anything, but...circumstances were what they were.
He passed Cassius on the way there, and stopped himself to wave to him. “Morning, cousin.” Isaac would usually avoid small talk when he could, but yesterday’s talk with Gwynne had him thinking he should make an effort towards the opposite—
“Strawberry jam.”
“Uh, is that for—“
“Yukata.”
Isaac froze. “You...”
This wasn’t Cassius.
“Alcohol.”
Was what he’d accidentally drank, before Vaseraga had found him. Strawberry jam, what Beatrix had given him when he had first landed. Yukata, what Zeta—
Those were Cassius’s precious memories. The same precious memories Isaac had violated, mangling and erasing without a care.
The copy was barely looking at him, but Isaac backed away. His vision was blurring, suddenly, the hallway in front of him melding with the featureless white walls of the moon, where he’d looked upon rows and rows of copies of Cassius’s brain, ready to be inserted into empty shells of bodies.
He couldn’t even remember which one this was. Was it the copy he’d left with only memories of the sea, or the copy he’d removed every instance of the Captain from? Perhaps it was the one he’d erased the last year from entirely, or the one he’d tested by chopping each hour in half—
Why were there so many. Why did he make so many. Isaac dug his nails into his arm, but even that wasn’t enough to pull him back to reality this time. He could only see Cassius—not Cassius, only the fakes in his shape, that could never come close to the real thing, could never be a substitute, but they were alive and real and he’d still sent them to their deaths without hesitation—
And he should never be forgiven.
Waking up like this was more familiar. A strange haze covered his thoughts, and his body felt too heavy to move. For a brief second, Isaac wondered if their entire rescue had been an extended hallucination, perhaps induced by Ellis when the noise had bothered him too much.
“...Uh, you’re up now...?” a voice asked, hesitant. Zeta leaned over him, looking into his bleary eyes. What had she said then...that he wasn’t the type of person who treated people like objects.
He couldn’t say anything then, too focused on keeping up his charade, but he’d wanted, so desperately, to beg her to put her misplaced confidence somewhere else.
“Here, water.” She helped him sit up, and put a glass to his lips. With not much of a choice, Isaac took slow sips.
There was a bandage on his arm. He looked at it, then to the nails of his other hand, caked in dried blood.
“Sorry, that was my bad.” Zeta winced. “With rebuilding and everything, we kinda forgot about dealing with that...”
“My bad?” Isaac repeated, hysterical. “How-how is that even—?” He shook his head roughly. “I’m the one who created that! All of them!”
“Isaac—"
“And it’s not just that. You know, I was the one who proposed the project in the first place? The copies—" Back then, he could only get approval through Dex. The moon warrior had actually commended him for his idea. “They weren’t even supposed to be made! It was all me, and all—"
“I have returned with medicine.”
That voice.
Isaac couldn’t bear to look, but he couldn’t stop himself, either. Cassius stood in the doorway, holding a small bag.
He stepped closer, and Isaac pressed his back against the headboard. Maybe Cassius was here to take his rightful revenge, and he really couldn’t argue against that. He deserved it, didn’t he?
“Cassius, wait.” Zeta stepped in his way, but Cassius pushed her aside. This was it, wasn’t it. No matter how much Isaac had tried to follow his family creed, he’d committed an unforgivable sin.
When Cassius reached his side, he climbed onto the bed, then pinned both of Isaac’s arms behind him. “If you keep irritating your wound, it will not heal.”
...What?
“I recommend...” Cassius furrowed his brow. “Hm. Based on your elevated breathing, you appear to be entering a state of panic. Try to calm your breathing.”
“Oi, genius, you’re the one causing it.” Zeta pulled him away. She looked back to Isaac, concern clear in her eyes.
“I-I can, calm down,” Isaac gasped out. He jammed his palm against his own throat, hissing out a strangled breath through his teeth. The pressure was enough to stop his thoughts from running haywire, just for a second. “Sorry.”
“Should I leave?” Cassius asked.
“No! No, not for me, don’t even—aah!” Isaac shut his eyes, covering his face with his hands. Having Cassius try to be considerate for him felt like some twisted joke.
“Shit. Cassius, did you bring extra bandages?”
“I did. Let me apply them.”
“...Be careful.”
“Isaac. I am going to give you first aid. Please prepare yourself.” With that warning, Cassius pried his arms apart. Only then did Isaac realize he’d been digging his nails into his skin without realizing—more blood had already seeped through the bandages.
Cassius made quick work of unwrapping them, exposing his forearm. Isaac was hardly bothered by the pain, but seeing the mess he’d made of it made him flinch. He couldn’t quite remember what had happened between him first seeing the copy and waking up here, but he must have tried to calm himself in his usual way, and utterly failed.
“We don’t need to take him to a doctor, do we?” Zeta checked.
Cassius examined the injury closer. “I do not believe that is necessary.”
The disinfectant stung when it was applied, but even that barely registered. It was nothing compared to Juana’s bite, after all. “Cou—Cassius,” Isaac said, swallowing. Perhaps he shouldn’t refer to him so familiarly. “You don’t have to...”
“I want to.” With the wound cleaned, Cassius wrapped it up, even thicker than it had been before. It hardly needed that much...was he trying to make it so Isaac couldn’t scratch through them again? God, he felt like a child. “Your actions have no basis in logic.” He frowned. “But even illogical actions have a reason. Are you in pain?”
“Not really, I’ve had worse.”
“I do not mean physically.”
“Oh.” Isaac went silent. What was he supposed to say here...
“Cassius, I’m not sure that’s the kind of question people can just answer.” Zeta looked between the two, like she was deciding whether she had to intervene or not—whatever she saw apparently leaned to not.
“I see.” Cassius sat on the side of the bed, causing it to sink down. “Then I will attempt to ascertain the reason myself.” He took his other hand, cleaning the fresh blood from his fingertips. It was mildly concerning that Isaac hadn’t even noticed he’d done that again, but...the gentle way Cassius was treating him, somehow strangely intimate and incredibly uncomfortable at the same time, distracted him. There was some kind of irony in how this compared to the way Isaac had treated him, callously electrocuting him in his haphazard attempt of forcing his flags back into place. Cassius seemed fine now, but Isaac would always be worried that he’d damaged something irreversibly. “You are distressed after your time on the moon.”
“I, sure?” Isaac offered helplessly. This situation was absurd.
“Even though you had no choice, you feel guilt over the experiments you conducted.”
“...There’s always a choice.”
“Correct.” Isaac’s heart sank. “You had a choice between the both of us being recycled, and following through with the experiments. And you chose the better path.”
That couldn’t be his only options, he wanted to say, but Cassius’s gaze left no room for disagreement. Instead, Isaac just hung his head, feeling suddenly nauseous.
“You, uh...rest up, okay...?” Zeta said, her awkwardness palpable. “I’m guessing you didn’t have anything to eat yet, so I’ll bring you lunch.”
Isaac shook his head. “Don’t think I can stomach anything right now.”
“Figured. I’ll see what I can do.” With that, she left, leaving the two alone.
He expected Cassius to say something more, but he just took a book out from the nearby desk and started reading, still sitting by his side.
“You don’t have to stay here. I’ll, I’ll be fine.”
“I want to,” Cassius replied, again, turning a page without looking in his direction. “Also, this is my own room.”
“Ahaha...right...” Isaac hadn’t bothered to pay attention to his surroundings, but now that he did, he noticed Cassius’s spear in one corner, and a spare set of his clothes in another. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“I brought you here myself. Therefore, your presence could not be causing any ‘trouble’ for me.”
“If you say so...” Even Cassius was better at holding a conversation than him... that was kind of sad.
They sat in silence for a while, the only sound Cassius turning pages. Isaac closed his eyes for a bit; he wasn’t tired enough to sleep, but resting without thinking really was nice. He wasn’t sure he should be resting without a care, considering what he’d done, but he didn't have much choice here.
“I have been taking many illogical actions since I returned.”
“Mhm,” Isaac mumbled, not entirely listening.
“I can act according to my wants, even if they serve no purpose. It is...a liberating feeling,” Cassius continued. “However, my understanding of skydweller emotions is still limited.”
“You think?” That caught his attention. “Not like I’m an expert on this, but you seem to have the same kinds of emotions as any other person here.” There was also Yatima, so overjoyed to return home, and hadn’t Dex even worried over him once? “Maybe there’s no real difference between the emotional capacity of skydwellers and moondwellers, and it’s all due to the environment they live in.”
“A fascinating theory.”
“I’m just saying things, really...” Isaac had forgotten himself for a moment, but now he felt embarrassed.
“It is of sound logic. Many of the issues Central Axis had with their previous scout teams may have been caused by this difference in environment.”
“That’s the one way. Now, from here to there.” Isaac looked up, and watched the moon swim in his vision, its afterimage imprinted onto the solid ceiling even in broad daylight. “Maybe I’ve still got a bit of moon left in me.”
“Logic is still useful, as much as certain people here refuse to obey it.”
That...was a joke, wasn’t it? Isaac cracked an awkward smile in response.
Zeta returned a few minutes later, a half-full bowl of soup in tow. “Gotta run an errand, but you better drink up. Eat up? Okay, I’m not thinking about this now—bye!”
“I will see to it,” Cassius said, like Isaac wasn’t even there.
“I’m not sick?”
“I was not aware Humans only required sustenance when sick.”
“Point taken...” Isaac looked down at the dish. He was sure it was delicious, but the chunks of chicken floating in the broth just reminded him of what Central Axis had kept preserved in its fluid tanks. Surreptitiously, he looked in Cassius’s direction—he was still there, of course, and all in one piece. Like it had all just been some bizarre nightmare.
...Yeah, there was no way he could do this now. He was not taking the risk of throwing up in Cassius’s room of all things.
Cassius picked up the bowl, and Isaac fully expected him to take some for himself, considering how much he loved eating, but he instead took a spoonful and brought it up to Isaac’s mouth.
Isaac jumped, scrambling off the bed. Oh, he should not have braced himself on his arm, ow—
“Careful.”
“Okay, sure—no, what was that? Cousin, you can’t just—" He acted so much like any other person it was sometimes hard to remember he’d only had a year and some to learn skydweller customs. Not that he was any different from them in the end, and not that...not that Isaac hadn’t been the one to...
A flick on his forehead snapped him out of his spiral, and he blinked, bewildered. Thankfully, Cassius had put the bowl down, but why was he so close now?
“If you continue as you are currently, you will only return to your earlier state of panic. It would be preferable for that not to occur.”
“Ouch, is it that obvious?” Isaac winced. “I’m...fine. Just got some stuff on my mind.” There was no use dwelling on it, as wrong as it felt to ignore it. One of the most important lessons he’d learned from his parents was that when helping others, they were the priority—his own feelings came after. So if Cassius didn’t want to see him in that state, he couldn’t allow himself to fall into it again in front of him. It was simple as that.
“Your soup is decreasing in temperature.”
So it was. Isaac glanced at it, and felt his stomach churn. “I seriously can’t eat that now...I mean, I’m sure it’s good, but. Can’t.” Hopefully he’d understand.
Cassius squinted at the soup, like it would explain the source of Isaac’s nausea. Well, that wasn’t all too mysterious, but still.
“It would be wasteful to discard this.”
“Yes?” A few moments of silence passed. “Oh, hang on, you’re asking—yeah, you can have it.”
He didn’t even bother to check its taste before digging in, finishing up the soup with a decidedly ungraceful slurp. “Very nutritious. The taste is somewhat lacking, presumably to compensate.”
Taken aback by how fast he’d eaten, Isaac could only manage a startled laugh. “I knew you liked to eat, but that was fast!”
Cassius just shrugged. “I was hungry.”
A few thankfully uneventful days later, Zeta dragged Isaac out for drinks. “You’re free now?”
“Kind of? If it’s something important, but I’m also in the middle of—"
“Cool. It’s important.”
“W-what?”
Vaseraga was already waiting for them, sitting at a table. “Isaac,” he greeted with a cursory wave.
Only now did Zeta let go of his wrist. Jeez, the grip on her... “What’s going on?”
“Drinks, what else?”
“Zeta. I only told you to ask him.”
“Yeah, and I knew he’d just say no. It’s better this way, don’t you think?”
“...”
“No comeback now, huh.” Zeta turned back to him. “Sorry for that. But I’ve noticed your habit of avoiding people.”
“Can’t deny that...”
Vaseraga gestured to the seat across him, which Isaac took. He’d never had an issue with his own height, but compared to this giant Draph, he felt like a midget. He knew firsthand that Vaseraga was a kind person, but he also knew his terrifying combat prowess—it was just a bit intimidating.
Zeta took the seat to his side, turning to ask Isaac, “So! What drink you want?”
“Root beer?” It was the first thing that came to mind.
“Ah. You don’t drink?”
“Not often.”
“Noted.” Zeta nodded. “And you, big guy? I’ll just order for everyone.”
“Milk.”
“Hah? We’re not even on a mission?” She prodded his shoulder. “You just like it, doncha.”
“Think what you will.”
“Oh, don’t try to sound all cool now.” Rolling her eyes, she left, leaving the two alone.
“You’re doing much better now.”
It took a bit for Isaac to realize Vaseraga had spoken to him. That didn’t help him come up with a response, though.
“When we were sharing a hospital room,” he started. “You looked...weak. Sickly. Not that I was doing any better, but. It’s good to see you looking up.”
...
Damn it, he was definitely blushing now... “It’s just! Central Axis has like, no cafeteria budget. All the same processed crap, perfectly nutritious and completely soul sucking.” Isaac shuddered. “I ate enough to get by, but nothing more.”
“I see. It must have been difficult.”
“I just...did what I had to.”
“Hey, what’s with the gloomy looks?” Zeta set two glasses down in front of them. “Can’t leave you two alone for a second.”
Vaseraga just took the glass of milk, procured a straw from somewhere, and drank. Without taking his helmet off. How...?
“You can take these, too.” Zeta slid him a basket of fries, from which she took two.
“Uh, how should I repay—"
“Dude, it’s fries.”
“Ahaha...if you insist.” Awkwardly, he took one. They weren’t like the ones he'd get from Gwynne's parents' restaurant, of course, but you could never go wrong with fries.
Zeta continued talking about whatever came to her mind, with Vaseraga occasionally interjecting. Sometimes, that would spiral into an argument, but Isaac got the feeling they were doing it just for arguing’s sake. They really did make a good pair.
“Anyway!” Zeta poked Isaac’s shoulder. “You gotta break this—what’s the best use of milk? Cheese or ice cream?”
“Ice cream—?” Isaac replied, startled. “Er, I like root beer floats.”
“You do? I’ll get you one next time.” With that, she turned her attention back to Vaseraga. From what Isaac could pick up, apparently she’d won... something?
Next time...
Right... there could be a next time now. With his ancestors’ mission of returning to the moon fulfilled, he could do things like actually make plans to meet up with people—other than Grace—or go for drinks together like he was doing just now. He didn’t have to disappear the moment he felt like he was getting too attached to some place, or...
“Yo, Isaac! Another favor—” Zeta leaned forward to catch his attention, but paused suddenly. “Huh. You...look happy.”
“I do?” Isaac blinked. Now that he paid attention to it, his cheeks hurt.
“You were right, Zeta,” Vaseraga said.
“What? Did I hear that right?” Zeta looked up at the Draph, incredulous. “Say it again!”
“No.”
“Why you...”
Isaac never did manage to sleep as peacefully as that one day, but his nightmares were manageable, at least. And when he went outside to pick up a package, Cassius was there, surrounded by white flower petals. Spring was in full bloom.
“I am about to get lunch.”
“Good weather to go out, yeah? Have fun.”
“I would like to request… I was hoping you would join me.”
“Me?” Stupidly, Isaac looked around him—no, there was no one else Cassius could be talking to.
“Yes.”
It would be easy to reject his offer; Cassius wasn’t nearly as pushy as Zeta was. “...Let me bring this in first.”
“I will be waiting.”
Cassius insisted on ordering for him, which Isaac, never the picky type, agreed to. The place he’d chosen had outdoor seating, so Isaac waited at a table in a corner, the same trees Cassius had been looking at previously providing that shade. It was just chilly enough that he wished he’d brought a jacket, but not so much that he was uncomfortable.
“Those are magnolia trees,” Cassius said, after he set their meals down. “They are surprisingly resilient, I have learned.” At Isaac’s questioning look, he explained, “Beatrix imparted her knowledge to me when I asked. These were commonplace in her place of birth, as well.”
"That so...I'd expect them to be more fragile." Isaac had never been a plant person, and the couple times he’d tried to keep a houseplant, they withered away in what seemed like seconds. Machines were his only ally in the end. “This is sushi, right?” He’d never seen it in person before.
“An imitation of it, yes. I first tried this dish at its place of origin, when I visited Auguste under the care of Zeta and Beatrix.”
Right, that was the whole debacle with the kappa. He remembered it well; it had contained some of Cassius’s happiest memories. Isaac had never been to Auguste himself, but just watching Cassius enjoy himself had filled him with a strange sense of secondhand longing.
“Due to its popularity, other islands have attempted to replicate it.” Cassius picked up a piece with his chopsticks, and ate it whole. “Acceptable. It preserves the nutrition found in the raw fish while retaining a cohesive flavor profile.”
After struggling with the chopsticks for a moment, Isaac tried some himself. “I don’t think I’ve ever had something like this before.”
“Is it not to your liking?”
“Nah, it’s nothing like that. I just need some time to get used to new stuff, really.”
“I see. Regardless, the sushi found on Tono Island is far superior—I plan to return there one day. Would you be willing to accompany me?”
“M-me? Shouldn’t you, uh, bring someone more...important? Zeta and Beatrix went with you last time, so—”
Cassius tilted his head. “You are important to me.”
The chopsticks fell to his plate with a clatter.
“It seems I have failed to express my intentions properly. Very well.” His eyes locked Isaac into place. “I did not invite you to lunch without reason.”
Isaac’s gaze flitted down to his dish for just a second—nope, there was no way any of it was Otherworlder meat. This was Cassius, not Grace, anyway—
“I wanted to convey my gratitude.”
“Gratitude? For what?”
“Everything.” Cassius turned his gaze upwards. “My memories after I regained consciousness are distorted by noise, but I still remember how miserable you appeared. To endure such an immense amount of stress for my sake...I am truly grateful.”
Isaac swallowed. “T-that’s really not…”
“Will you accept my gratitude?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Yes. That is why I am asking.” Cassius’s voice was clear and calm, and possibly the only thing stopping Isaac from panicking—even though the mere sight of him was enough for Isaac’s stomach to churn, involuntarily bringing his inhumane experiments to mind. “I do not understand your emotions, but your sense of guilt is apparent. I wish to alleviate some of it.”
This wasn’t forgiveness, but rather Cassius saying he didn’t even have to be forgiven. “You guys...are all way too nice...”
“I am only acting according to the most logical route.”
Isaac sniffed, wiping his eyes. “I...I accept?” If a sinkhole appeared under him at this moment and swallowed him whole, it’d be preferable to having to live through another moment of this embarrassment. “Cousin, you’ve g-gotta give a guy a warning before these kinds of things…” His voice was certainly shaking too badly to land a joke, but let it be said he certainly tried.
“My apologies,” Cassius said, lips curving into a soft smile. “Let me make it up to you.” He took another piece of his sushi with his chopsticks, and brought it towards Isaac’s face.
“And you have to stop doing that—!”