Tale as Old As Time [Finished]

[yamikuronue]

Siegfried lowers his gaze to his lap. "I do not blame him. You should know that. He was... hell," he says, surprising even himself with the vehemence of his whispered swear. "He was fifteen. Just a fifteen year old kid, arrogant and stupid."

[accalia]

"they do tend to be that way at that age, but then this isn't about blame. there's no blame to be had here, it's far too late for that. what is important is moving forward, to grow stronger for what has happened."

Echo places one of the glasses in front of Siegfried and picks up the other for himself.

[yamikuronue]

Siegfried takes the glass, sipping from it delicately.

"Yes... And to that end I am at a loss. If only his uncle were here..."

[accalia]

"this one did not hear much of that. Why is his uncle unavailable?"

as soon as Siegfried takes the glass echo sips from it appreciatively.

[yamikuronue]

"He confessed to breeding fighting dogs and went to jail on a fifteen-year sentence. Clearly, he was trying to protect Lance, in hindsight." Siegfried takes another sip, looking thoughtful.

[accalia]

"hmm.... one wonders how much of this he knew.... but that is for a later time. Will the master be okay this night or will we need to keep an eye on him?"

Echo refills both glasses and then returns the bottle to a hidden compartment in the guitar case.

[yamikuronue]

Siegfried lets out a bitter laugh. "If he's not, then he certainly won't let me in to help. We'd best leave him be."

[accalia]

"you're probably right. we've done enough poking into his life for one night."

Echo finishes his brandy and places the glass on the table with a "thunk"

[yamikuronue]

Siegfried sighs, staring morosely into his glass. "Do you have any questions for me?"

[accalia]

"not tonight no. You are a good man and this one trusts you. This one thinks you have questions for this one. One has suspected for some time that you can see a little into ones mind... Ask your question and this one will answer, you are owed that much."

[yamikuronue]

Siegfried grimaces slightly. "I've been that obvious, have I? I try to keep out of others' minds. It seems intrusive. But I pick up a little here and there..." He shrugs. "It's terribly prying, but what did you lie about earlier? I caught a glimmer of a thought that you were not being entirely truthful, but I've no idea on what matter."

[accalia]

"you did notice that. this one wondered if you did. Yes, this one was not completely truthful......"

Echo pauses for a moment and when he next speaks his voice has dropped a register to a deep bass. Additionally his eyes have changed from their usual ice blue to be jet black from edge to edge with no hint of white

"It was not the first battlefield i had served on, indeed there had been thousands before this one. I was assigned to a sniper team as medic, my primary partner was Sylphia... She was the fiftieth incarnation i had found."

"We were three weeks out from the squad, in deep enemy territory. She had taken a fall and broken a leg the day before so my bone had not set yet. She saw an enemy sniper and took the shot... but by then so had he. Her shot hit him in the head, his in her chest.... I couldn't get there fast enough.... she died in my arms. it was the forty ninth time I had failed to save her. The fiftieth time my actions had killed her... That was fifty years ago..."

Echo pauses for a moment and his eyes cleared to their normal color, his mind had been a solid granite wall, impenetrable, while he talked, it now cleared and his normal mind returned. When he spoke next his voice had returned to his normal baritone register.

"This one... owwww.... sorry. This one was asked why this one was not completely truthful before..."

As he speaks Echo's hands go to his temples in the classic posture of one with a very bad headache.

[yamikuronue]

Siegfried hesitates, then reaches out to gently brush his fingers through Echo's hair in what he means to be a soothing gesture. "I'm sorry for your loss," he says, softly.

[accalia]

Echo looks up puzzled.

"yes this one has lost much over time, but why did you say that? This one has not yet answered your question."

[yamikuronue]

Siegfried pauses. "But you did. Or perhaps my powers went into overdrive and plucked the answer from your mind, in which case, my deepest apologies."