there are killers among kings

Poppy

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Florentin's expression hardened.

"What I had to," he said sharply, eyes devoid of emotion. Everything devoid of emotion. It was surreal, watching himself from behind his eyes. It seemed as if the bright, shining star he saw in the mirror was contorted into a monster. He didn't feel anything, and that scared him the most.

Florentin stood between the door and the study table. Solaris was over a foot higher than him, but he couldn't help but see himself as bigger.

"Professor Augustine, do you think it's fair that all human life are considered valuable, when among the tens of billions of people in this earth, the number of them that could be counted as great are in the mere thousands? For what purpose are they allowed to exist? They only take up space and resources, space and resources that could be given to more important people..." He met his eyes. "I know my sins against you are severe, but it's with your life that would help end Death. You've never contributed anything to anyone before. This is your chance! I'm giving you this opportunity."

It wasn't until he finished that he realized he was trembling. Insecurity and guilt flooded his head. He was too young, it said. He couldn't pull it off, it said. He was a killer and he'd kill again, it said. He pushed them back violently and with no remorse.

"It's... I... I..." His speech garbled, heart pounding in his chest.

Solaris didn't deserve — to know his reasons.
 

Emy

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Solaris Vergilus Augustine

My God, he's insane! Not in the crazily insane way either, because as much as Solaris really didn't want to acknowledge it, this was all... logical. That was the worst part about these sorts of people. They couldn't be reasoned with. Absolutely not. Doing so was a total waste of time. What he had to do was get out of the room, but-

Florentin was already there, in his way. Of course he would be, the boy had planned it all out. Solaris was only good at doing one thing -fulfilling his teaching contract- and Florentin had just gone ahead and taken advantage of that. If he were any other person, Solaris might have been angered by that kind of foresight but a sudden clenching sensation in his head was inspiring a good deal of vertigo. It let up just a little later.

What powers did Florentin even have? Solaris's mind scrambled for an answer as he tried to say something that wasn't cliched, something like You won't get away with this or-

"Y-you can stop this now, you know," he said nervously. C'mon, kid, you're young. Don't waste your life. But really, Solaris was mainly thinking of himself and the words that he wanted to say just wouldn't come out. "J-just, just stop w-whatever you did and it can all end. T-there's more to the world than just what you've said."
 

Poppy

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Florentin shook his head.

Solaris was terrified of dying. He had every right to be. It was just, there was a part of him that hoped this would turn out differently, that he would see the importance of his grand plan. A few deaths to end Death. Was that not a goal worth fighting for? Shouldn't people that contributed nothing all their lives be enthused to contribute to this?

It didn't matter. It didn't matter. He was going to die soon anyway, and he would be contributing, whether he liked it or not. He shouldn't have expected anything more from a mind as feeble as this one.

Florentin's aura spread in the room like a miasma, all-encompassing but deliberate. He covered his mouth to cough as his lungs were filled by the stark smell of death.

"There is more to the world. The world is so beautiful and so bright. I just want that brightness to last," he said softly, oddly idealistic in a situation as brutal as this one. Florentin was an idealist at his core, but he was a smart, practical one. He knew what idealism cost. It didn't make him right. He knew that. He just wanted to be the man to pay that price so other people wouldn't have to.

"I won't forget your contributions."
 

Emy

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Solaris Vergilius Augustine

Had he ever thought of Florentin as just a boy? Solaris watched him with confused eyes, still not fully comprehending. Evil, differently moral -the details that separated the two had to have been significant but what was the point when both ultimately led onto the same paths? On some level, maybe he was aware that he was a dead man. The concept struck him deeply with fear but not of dying. Dying was merely going home but there were still things that he had wanted to do, distant plans which reached out into the horizon of what if and someday, some way...

If it all ended now, then very simply, nothing had been of use.

"My contributions," he actually barked out with a laugh, even if it made him feel so very ill. The room spun a little and when he blinked, Solaris suddenly found himself on his knees, staring up. He wanted to be angry, he wanted to be desperately angry of having the things that he felt were safe be throw into his face and poisoned. "They're not yours to take! You should know that."

But an odd feeling was coming over him, and it was not the magic that was in the air. His heart felt like it was going to burst but perhaps that was merely the panicked revelation that no, maybe it was Florentin who hadn't understood at all. Solaris stared at him as if he were a strange, strange creature.

"Y-you, you really are just a kid, aren't you?" Solaris felt like Florentin really didn't understand. He was being selfish and he was on a power trip and he was in love with an idealistic dream that didn't exist. "No, no, no, you idiot," he moaned, because God, it wasn't like he was getting out of this room anyways. "The world isn't a bright, beautiful place. It's just the world. B-bad things happen. Good things happen. If you're going to love it, you had better love it all indiscriminately, not just the ideas."

Bad things happen, bad things happen, bad things happen. This was just another of those bad things, wasn't it? It hurts... He didn't want to fight. He almost didn't even want to leave. He just wanted everything to shut up and go away.
 

Poppy

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"The world isn't a bright, beautiful place. It's just the world. B-bad things happen. Good things happen. If you're going to love it, you had better love it all indiscriminately, not just the ideas."

What was there to love in misery and death?

Everything used to be so perfect in the chateau gardens, with Mama, Papa, Aunt Cosette and Sasha. He used to spend afternoons where his biggest concern was waiting for Sasha to finish with housework so he could steal him for the rest of the day, playing knights and princes and chasing butterflies. He wanted those parts, those bright, precious parts, and those alone. It was nothing less than he deserved.

If going back to that meant he needed to submerge himself with this violence first, then so be it.

Solaris was soon going to get his wish. In a few moments, the poison and the miasma finally put an end to his nerves, and he dropped on the floor with a heavy plop.

The room was ever so quiet. The books on the table, the food and the tea, they meant nothing now. Smelling and seeing them in his periphery made him feel sick.

Florentin sat on the floor next to Solaris' body to double check his state. His skin was pale, his limbs were turning rigid, and he was, without a doubt, dead. He felt elated. Accomplished. His plan to acquire a fresh body went down without a hitch. There were no witnesses or complications to his operations. It was a resounding success.

In another vein, Florentin felt disgusted. This wasn't the first. It was the second, or third, if he counted Aunt Cosette, so why did his hands still tremble? He wanted to scream, and cry, and he did do the second one. Being caught between extreme joy and a profound sadness was an awful, awful experience, and crying his eyes out until they were red and puffy helped numb both. Numb, numb was a preferable alternative from both of the earlier options.

He wiped his eyes out with his handkerchief and dialed the only person he trusted's number.
 
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