[Log | Closed] Sightless, but not Aimless

[blueeyedflyboy]

Who: Balfour and Amery Vallet
What: Balfour is back from the dead, but he paid a price: his sight. Now Amery, ever the good big brother, has to deal with the consequences.
When: 17 Jun
Where: Orlea
Warnings: Will Update

Balfour had absolutely no idea where he was. The houses weren't pillows, so that definitely ruled out Mallowhallow, but...anywhere else? No, unfortunately not. He stumbled down the sidewalk, touching the walls as he went, to a chorus of "Watch where you're going" and "Get out of the way!"

Ever the 'soldier', he moved on. He had to get back home, wherever that was.

The building he was following came to a stop, but he didn't. He kept walking, trying to move quickly across the gap, unsure and unaware of any danger in doing this. All he knew was that he wanted his wall back.

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[amery]

Amery hadn't been there, but he'd heard what happened. If it had been him there with Balfour, nothing would have ever happened to his brother. At least, that was what he told himself, over and over again, every time he started thinking about it too much. For a man who had learned exactly how to keep his thoughts and feelings concealed, he thought about it a lot more than one might have thought. It bothered him every day, all of the time, even now. Especially now.

To say that Balfour was the last person he expected to see when he looked up was an understatement-and then some. Seeing him blundering across the road without even looking was, well, unsettling, to say the least. Especially since Amery was still not quite used to the vehicles in Orlea that used said roads.

Was he seeing things? He'd heard of things like this happening to others, hallucinations from the stress of the war or from loss, but he'd never been through that before himself-thankfully.

When he'd found his voice again, he spoke loud enough for his brother to hear. "Balfour?"

[blueeyedflyboy]

Balfour stopped in the middle of the road when he heard his brother's voice, looking around randomly. Where had he heard that?

"Amery?" he called, backing into the oncoming lane, causing a car to blow its horn. He startled, backed away from the sudden, loud sound, and ended up falling on his ass. He scrambled up with no problem, but when he started running--was it this direction?--he was still in the road, stumbling and staggering, running toward where he had thought he'd heard Amery's voice.

[amery]

Balfour, no. You don't just start blundering around in the middle of the road like that. You were going to get yourself killed. Again. At least, if Amery wasn't there, and since it seemed that Balfour was unable to get himself safely out of this situation, Amery would have to do it for him.

"Balfour. Just stay still." His words were clipped, perhaps a little harsh, but only because he was concerned.

Without even caring about the risks for himself, he strode across the road to where Balfour was and took him by the arm, hand just above his elbow. Then he pulled him along towards whichever side of the road was closer, keeping Balfour right next to him.

[blueeyedflyboy]

Balfour stumbled to a stop, turning around several times when Amery told him to stay still. Where was he? Where was Amery? Needless to say, the cars weren't happy, and there was a lot of angry honking and "Get out of the road, moron!" to deal with.

He was glad when he felt the hand around his arm, reaching over for the shirt and gripping tightly as he staggered along behind him, tripping over the curb.

"Amery... Amery, where are we?" he asked, staring dead ahead at nothing. He sounded scared, terrified, and he clung tighter to his brother. "Amery, what's going on?"

[amery]

While Amery didn't care one bit if other people were unhappy that they were blocking the road. They could wait. All that mattered was that Balfour was safe. Except something wasn't right.

"We're in Orlea." He took a deep breath, softening his tone, trying to sound reassuring. "It's alright; you're safe."

Though he didn't know what was going on either, he was just as clueless as Balfour, perhaps even more so. "Why were you out in the middle of the road?"

[blueeyedflyboy]

Safe now. He was safe. He could feel and smell Amery right next to him, and that was comforting. He sank against his brother, frowning.

"I was trying to find someone, trying to go home. We're in Orlea?" Well, that was half the trouble. "Take me home? Please? Take me to your apartment."

He didn't look up or over toward him. Instead, he kept his face pressed against Amery's shoulder.

[amery]

"Of course." Standing around out in the street-especially after what had just happened-was never really an option. He would never like discussing important, private, matters in public. Though there was one thing he had to address as he began to lead Balfour down the road towards his apartment.

"You can't see, can you?"

[blueeyedflyboy]

Balfour was quiet, clinging close to his brother, whole body shaking nervously. When Amery asked that question, he shook his head carefully, the movement small, almost imperceptible. He moved his head against his brother's arm. It was a private manner, after all, and it wasn't worth others knowing.

Only how could they not, the way he was stumbling along, clinging to Amery as if he was the only thing keeping him alive?

"I'm sorry," he whispered, unsure what else to say about it. Somehow, he felt as if his situation was his own fault. He was the one who had died, after all.

[amery]

He didn't give a damn who saw or knew here. In Thremedon, he would have, but this place was just filled with a lot of people who didn't mean anything to him, and the well-being of his brother was far more important. They would be at his apartment soon enough, besides.

"It's not your fault. No one wishes to be blind." No one wanted to die, either. Nothing was Balfour's fault, and Amery didn't blame him for it. However, he did blame someone else. "Why didn't he do something?"

[blueeyedflyboy]

"It was sudden. Even I didn't know what was going to happen," he said softly. "Don't blame him, please? There's no way he would have known it was going to happen."

He sighed and rubbed at his face with his free hand, his other hand still clinging desperately to Amery's sleeve, afraid to be left alone like this. He couldn't see, and he was terrified because of it. He wasn't used to not being able to rely on his eyes.

"Can I stay here for a while? I don't want anyone to see me like this..."