downvoted | (no subject)

I won't just--let you disappear!

I'm not just letting myself, either. I'm going to be me as long as I can be me, and I'll destroy my body before I let him have it. Either way, this was only your first try. You can just do better next time.

There won't be a next time! Don't ever talk of killing yourself--even if I remade the world and you in it a thousand times you wouldn't be this person in front of me right now. You're the brother I want to have with me, you're the Ariel I love, you're the person I need right here with me.

[Geez... When Tristan gets like that, he can't sustain being mad at him at all. There's so much he has to be angry about, and so much he doesn't know how he'll get past, but... But Tristan is still his beloved big brother, and seeing him so openly upset hurts.

So for the first time in weeks Ariel puts on a (sad, tired) smile, and reaches up to pinch his cheek.]

I'm sorry I'm not that strong, Tristan. But if you don't want to reset, that's okay. I do like this world. And you'll have Jupiter.

Actually, it would mean a lot to me if you'd keep this place and take care of him, even if I go away.

[He grabs Ariel's hand, holds it tightly in his. He refuses. Refuses refuses refuses to accept that this Ariel will disappear. He won't allow it.]

You aren't going anywhere. I won't let you go that easily. Don't you dare think that's an option.

What can you do?

[He squeezes back, pauses -- but it's that kind of pause, and then his smile is all wrong.]

You can beat me now, but it's not you who's fighting.

[He keeps hold of Ariel's hand, if anything holds tighter, frowning darkly but refusing to pull away.]

Your world is over. You should just stay a memory.

You know I won't. You failed to get rid of me, and now you're going to regret it.

And how do you think you'll make me? You have no power over me anymore Ariel. You're but a memory fragment plaguing my brother.

If I'm only a memory, how am I talking to you? There are only two answers. Either I still exist with a will of my own, or your little toy's so broken now that he's split himself in two just to cope with that "memory". Either way, I'm going to devour every last bit of him, but not until he's gotten his hands nice and dirty.

I don't particularly feel like indulging your threats with any fear. You won't harm him, and I won't allow you to harm anyone else. I will erase you, as a memory, as a person, the Ariel you're tormenting is a stronger person than you'll ever be again. You're dead, you should learn to stay that way, little brother.

[He just laughs, light and pleasant and terribly mocking.]

Will you really? You'll tear him apart if you try. You know that. Even you can't do that kind of precise surgery on the human mind. But sure, ruin him to get rid of me. If you leave even a single grain I'll come back and he'll be even weaker than he is now. And trust me, he's already pathetic in comparison to me.

No, I won't need to do that. He'll beat you without my interference. You can tell him and yourself that he's nothing compared to you all you want but the problem is he's you, he's you with all your stubbornness and will and intelligence but without what made you sick. The only way you exist now is because he is you, you must know that.

Your only chance of winning is to convince him he's less than you, but I won't be allowing you to do that.

I already have. He's already convinced of his inevitable defeat. That's your fault, of course. You raised him to be soft. Without noticing, you crippled his confidence. He's just a frightened child that thinks of himself as a fake and an object. He doesn't stand a chance.

Then I'll change his mind. You aren't the only stubborn person in this family. And if I can't get through, Jupiter will.

Not if I kill him he won't.

You'll never get that chance again, I promise you that.

I suppose you'd best keep them apart, then. It'd only take a few seconds of me being in control to destroy him.

I have no intention of keeping them apart. If anything, I think I'll ensure they spend more time together. Do you really think he'd allow you control enough to harm Jupiter? I trust him more than that. Perhaps I need to prove I trust him for him to have the strength to relegate you to the memory you belong as.

There's no end where I go away, Tristan. The biggest victory you can get at this point is forcing that boy to live with me inside of him forever. But, you know, even if I never win entirely, it won't be so bad. I'll always have one person to entertain me. Maybe I'll start having him take your place in his dreams. You did give me the experience of pain to draw from, that time.

When he has the confidence to recognize himself do you think you'll even be strong enough to bother him in nightmares? That's a weak victory at best.

Death couldn't stop me. The will of a weaker copy won't either. He'll never become strong when I'm working from the inside.

[He is scared, that Ariel will destroy the Ariel of this world. But he refuses to acknowledge it, because he knows too intimately how Ariel's mind games work, and if he treats it as trivial it gives this world's Ariel the knowledge that he's believed in. He doesn't think they're separate, he knows the other Ariel's aware, that his reactions to his old Ariel will affect the new one. Tristan's been Ariel's victim enough of his life to know what he's seeing.]

You sound desperate. Honestly, I'd like to talk to my real brother, if you're done posturing.

And you look like you're trying very hard.

[He reaches up with his other hand, trying to cup Tristan's face and pull him down for a kiss. But really it's just looking for a flinch -- any reaction at all, positive or negative, means something.]

[He lifts a hand to take Ariel's, not letting himself be pulled. Of course he wants to kiss Ariel, hell, he even wants to kiss this version of him. Destroying him and remaking the world didn't actually fix his problems, didn't make him love or hate Ariel less.]

[But he's done with bending to Ariel's will and whims, that much he's sure of.]

Enough.