Video.

[king]

I've been wondering, Scorched.

[ Arthur has been training since before the sun rose: it's visible in the flush across the bridge of his nose, the way his blond bangs are sticking dark to his temples, the slouch of his usually straight-backed posture. But he needs a break, a distraction from his own mind, from the questions that have been plaguing it without concrete answer. ]

Say that the Door started — temporarily — working the way that all doors should, and we could all trip merrily back to our own worlds.

[ A breath, considering whether he's really going to ask. Despite his slightly laconic tone, he knows how depressing some of the answers he'll get will be. But he still wants to know: ]

Would you stay here in Anatole?

Or would you go home?

Comments

[Private // Voice]

[king]

Really?

[ Somehow he wasn't expecting that. ]

Won't you be injured, if you return?

[Private // Voice]

[strategizing]

Yes, I expect I will be. [Actually, Lelouch will be dead, but there are times when he still wants that. It was what he chose then, what he felt he deserved. He can never go back, not really. But he achieved his goal there and sacrificed everything in the process. What else is there? What is the purpose of his life in Anatole? After everything that happened recently, finishing what he started seems preferable.]

[He knows that Suzaku desperately wants to go back, and would go without question if the Door would allow it.]

What would you do?

[Private // Voice]

[king]

I'd go.

[ If there's one thing Arthur's learned from the conversations he's had so far, it's that. ]

I have a duty to my people. If I didn't take the opportunity to go back to them, I'm not sure how I would live with myself.

[ A brief pause, and he adds another admission. ]

But I'd rather that opportunity take its time arising.

[Private // Voice]

[strategizing]

I understand.

[Lelouch pauses for a moment as well.]

Considering how long you have been here, there is a lot you would be leaving behind. I do not think anyone would blame you for not wanting to rush to do so. You could have a whole lifetime here and another in your own world, really.

Not that I expect the Door will ever be so accommodating as to give us a choice.

[Private // Voice]

[king]

You never know. There've been scorched here going back centuries. We always thought most of them were murdered, but perhaps some found a way home. It's not as though we don't have the longevity to have a good look.

[Private // Voice]

[strategizing]

Perhaps... but they might have had as little choice in it as either of us did.

It is possible, but I do not feel optimistic about it being likely anytime soon.