Things sometimes happen in parks at night. Runealy has picked up on this tendency, and is now focusing many of her patrols in the area around King Penguin Park... specifically the area where one of its playgrounds got obliterated. The area where she did something very stupid and risked dying from it. She can't know for sure if she would have recovered on her own, or if even Lena's basic intervention had been enough to tip the scales in favor of the alien princess surviving her mistake.
Yet she is here wandering the area, eyes open and alert as she looks around for... anyone. She's hoping that someone else will have returned to the 'scene of the crime.' As to what will happen from there? That depends on who, if anyone, she finds. Sometimes these searches do prove fruitless, after all. Her wand is in-hand, ready for trouble nonetheless.
It's not really that she'd be expecting to find anything at the park after so long. The appearance of a Lost Logia isn't really something you expect. It just sort of happens and you react to it. But still, Lena's decided to make her way to the park, if for no other reason than to clear her head after the ordeal with the gala. She's still got things to sift through about the WPS building, but even Ascalon thinks she shouldn't work too hard too fast. A break, he'd suggested, and so a break is what she's taking.
Strolling through with not really any place in mind to go, the girl's just sort of staring off into space. She'd have her arms behind her back, but one of them is currently done up in a full brace to keep it immobile, therefore she's stuck with just letting them hang dully at her sides. Ascalon, since his usual place on her right arm is taken, is securely on her left. A long sigh, but otherwise she does nothing to break the silence of the night.
"Hm?" Runealy talks to herself quietly, noticing a figure in the distance. From this distance, she can't tell who it is. This bears investigation, and she walks over toward it. Then... red hair, and a few things about Ascalon's design seem familiar too. She's not certain, but Rune thinks aloud: "That might be her." And so she stows her wand behind-back, letting it stick to the side of her dress' bow, and jogs over to try to catch up to Lena. It's an open approach, but she's not saying anything just yet since she'd have to shout to be heard. If Lena doesn't move to flee however, the alien princess will keep approaching until close enough to be spoken to and then slow to a walk.
She's definitely not going to flee, partly because at first she doesn't even see anyone approaching her, and when she finally does notice--the sound of hurried footsteps, then the actual sight of someone running toward her--her first thought isn't so much flee as it is stare. Still, anyone with even a modicum of combat experience knows that she's probably not at all relaxed. The very subtle hint of a muscle twitching in an arm, or how eyes move across the whole area without focusing solely on the person approaching. Small signs like this to let someone know that she's not going to run, but she's ready for conflict. With a broken arm, but hey, you play the hand you've been dealt, right?
but this is someone she knows! And once it sinks in that she does know them, her good arm moves up and she offers a wave, visibly relaxing some. She's definitely not going to completely let her guard down, but it's nice thinking you don't have to constantly be on watch.
It's possible Runealy picks up on that shift in posture, and being stared at is also enough to convince her to slow down. And once close enough to speak, she sounds surprised. "Waving to me? I can't tell... do you recognize me, or not? I think we've met before, but I can't be sure."
Hand drops and she chuckles a bit while closing the rest of the gap between them. She's not going to forget a face after such a short time, though it was a bit hard to place at first. Lena shrugs and nods. "We have. At least this time you're not on the ground gasping for air," she says while holding her good hand out. "Lena." She's not sure if she gave her name back then or not, but just to be sure!
That's a very blunt way to confirm it, one that flickers Rune's expression darker for a few moments as she recalls that incident. "Y... yeah. Ah... sorry, this is going to sound really ungrateful, but for now my 'name' is..."
She looks at the hand, and opts not to take it. "You can think of me as a bandit. You probably shouldn't be shaking my hand or showing any other respect. That said, Lena," she repeats the name with some insistence, committing it to memory, "You're one of the people I've been looking for."
She's more than a little confused by this, but withdraws her hand all the same. "If you insist, but you've done nothing to make me want to not treat you with respect, and I would have your name if at all possible," the language, though she's not all that great with Japanese, is very formal. She nods slowly and begins moving over to a nearby bench to have a seat since this sounds like it's going to take a while to discuss. "Alright, well... you've found me, so what can I do for you?" Though she's not sure there's much she can do, given that she's got so much already on her own plate to do.
"I've done plenty, you just don't seem to know about it yet. I... I really can't give my name out right now. 'Princess' will have to do." Runealy follows Lena over, gaze low. "You've already done so much for me. No... what you can do now is for history's sake. When my work is finished, people are going to hear about everything that happened."
She forces herself to face Lena, despite obvious hesitation and some shame mixed in. "You're part of that history now, so I want to know about you. Who you are, what you do, what you care about. Who knows... maybe I can repay you by helping with something that matters to you, before you see the other side of who I am. Or even after you see it."
She nods, letting it sink in. Though whatever horrible things this girl seems to think she's done, they can't be that bad if she's not heard about them from anyone yet. Though she has been out of the magical game for a while. That might have something to do with it too. Still, she's very quick to answer that request, hardly giving any time Runealy to finish. Maybe she is a princess and maybe she isn't, maybe she will have some say in how history remembers things and maybe she won't, but regardless, Lena has no reason not to be honest. "History doesn't need to remember a failure like me," she says it so casually, so evenly. There's a hint of sorrow to the tone of her voice, but it's hard to detect and her expression doesn't show any of it. She's practiced well to hide her emotions from people. "I'm simply a knight of Belka that's failed to protect anything; that can only destroy what I touch."
Curious responses all around. Rune raises an eye as Lena dismisses herself as a failure. "Belka? A knight... I have no idea who, what, or where Belka is, but I know something about knights. Dutiful protectors. You're saying you didn't protect, but... your words make it sound like that's still on your mind."
She takes a deep breath, having a fairly good guess that prying in to this topic will be uncomfortable. Yet Runealy decides to press the topic, intrigued. "I'm not here to judge or talk down on you, I truly want to know, what went wrong? It sounds like you've already torn yourself down more than I ever could."
Uncomfortable is perhaps a mild way of putting it. Eyes narrow, looking up just slightly at her. As if to ask if she really wanted to press this particular button. But Lena doesn't actually do much of anything beyond that, and instead looks to the ground with such a stare, as if boring a hole right through the world. Her good hand balls into a fist and finally Ascalon makes a sound, a high-pitched ping as the gem on her bracelet lights up. <Sie muessen nicht zu beantworten.>
And any completely clear answer is not something Runealy apparently is going to get. Instead Lena shrugs and looks up at her with... a somewhat helpless smile on her face. Broken might be a word for it. She chuckles and shakes her head, looking down again. "For certain reasons... I killed someone very important to me, and ruined the lives of a lot of innocent people."
Runealy shrinks back in her seating upon the bench, definitely noticing the look she just got for asking that question. Is this about to become a fight? She's not sure, and clumsily offers, "I'm sorry, I... didn't understand what your cell phone said just now?"
Yet she seems to get some kind of non-violent response. One that makes a lot of sense. One certainly would call themselves a failure if they had that on their conscience, and the alien princess pales. "I... ...no, I'm not going to ask you anything else about that, it's not my place. But after something like that, and now calling yourself a failed knight... what do you do now?"
She sighs and leans back, good arm moving to rest over the back of the bench while she stares up at the sky. This... definitely isn't the sort of mood she wanted to be in, but well... she's here now! Memories run through her mind, none of them pleasant, but she says nothing. She doesn't even really show that she's thinking about terrible things. What do you do? It isn't as though she really knows the answer herself. She's been spending the better part of four years trying to figure that out. So far all she's managed is, "just live." Lena frowns, hating that answer, but what else is there? "It's not like anything I do will make the sins go away. I'll just live and try to do my duty."
Rune's gaze lowers once more, eyes heavy as she considers these responses. Her own thoughts aren't an exact match for Lena's, but she has a pretty good guess as to what those feelings might be and what sort of answer that was. "No... it won't. That's one of those things that you can never take back. But you're here, living and talking. And the things you're saying don't sound like someone so worthless that it would be better if history just forgot about you. I can't tell you everything just yet, but..."
She weighs her thoughts, deciding whether it's worth risking this. In the end, sympathy wins out. "What if I told you that you've done something that, in the short term, is going to hurt more people... but in the long run is going to help them tremendously?"
This doesn't actually sound good. This actually sounds like something right out of a manga, like some villain trying to justify their plan to the hero. If only life were as simple as manga, right? But she listens, and she considers. Leaning forward, Lena pushes herself from the bench so she can stretch her legs. There's a thoughtful hmmm while she thinks about her answer. Looking out to where the Lost Logia had fallen, she thinks back to the unfortunate and quite unintended attempt on Miss White's life. Frowning, she wonders if the end justified that means. Probably not, but even so... "I'd say my reaction would depend if I thought the end justified the means. I'm hardly idealistic enough to think that something great can be achieved without some short term suffering." She looks over her shoulder at Runealy and offers a pleasant, though still somewhat pained smile. "After all, in the end we're all... victims of circumstance."
Rune's throat tightens as Lena speaks, responses not immediately coming. She's no longer tense with worry that Lena's about to start a fight with her for treading onto a sensitive topic, but what's being revealed is shaking the alien princess. It takes several seconds of her mouth opening wordlessly, reconsidering and gathering her nerve, before any real reply comes out.
"You know, I talked to someone about that. About how much evil is acceptable. The answer should be 'zero.' That we're sitting here discussing any amount above that is pretty awful, but... 'circumstance', as you say. So..."
A tiny nod, though Rune meets Lena's gaze with lidded eyes. "Yes. I can tell you that much, at least. I'm hurting people to take their energy and use it for something that absolutely will be worth it. It's not something I just woke up one day and decided to do, and I've tried to make sure there are healers and other help in place so people won't die from this. But... by saving me, you've facilitated that. I'm going to still keep hurting people, and... I swear it's for something worth even that. Something that might not 'erase what you did', but..."
She begins crying quietly while finishing: "You've helped someone I really care about, and history is going to remember you for this. I'll remember, too."
"Evil is never acceptable," she says with a voice that is firm. Fallen and failed though she might be, she is a knight and she has a code of conduct she follows. Though that code is impossible to perfectly follow, it is, as her father once told her, the ideal that matters most. "But the world is not simple good and evil, so no one can ever escape committing an evil act at some point. Though we may violate the letter of our code at times, we must never violate the spirit of it."
And to her explanation, Lena stares. She feels that she can understand where this girl is coming from, to some extent. But she also knows she isn't getting the whole picture. She sighs and, with great effort to avoid undue stree to her arm, gets to a knee and places her good hand on Runealy's shoulder. "I'm sorry that you have a sin like this to bear too. I'm not so cold that I won't forgive you this sin, but... forgiveness will never erase it." Fingers give her shoulder a squeeze and she offers a nod. "While I understand you have your reasons, these actions might make us enemies on the battlefield. I can't violate the spirit of my oaths, after all."
Quite without thinking, she pulls Runealy forward some and wraps her arm around her in a hug. It might not be the same, but she understands the pain weighing on this girl's heart. "I'm glad I could help."
"I know." Rune is quick to agree with Lena's assessment. "All I can say is I'm breaking the letter and spirit, in order to... preserve the spirit, from another way of looking at it. That probably sounds like a bunch of stupid justifications, but it's about as well as I can explain it right now. You're right, the world's not that generous."
Then... she blinks as Lena draws her in. There's a flicker of an urge to pull away and escape, but it quickly passes as Runealy just closes her eyes, head low as she leans into this. "You did help, and it's fine if you fight me. You should. You didn't say 'former knight.' You said 'knight', and you still talk about duty and code and good and evil. So you should get in my way! Do it. Knights are supposed to stand up to Witches and demons and conquerors and bandits and everyone else who wants to make people less safe. We're probably going to fight sooner or later. Just..."
Despite the embrace, despite the understanding Lena offers, Rune continues to cry. "...It's funny, at first when you said all these things I thought I'd be the one trying to reassure you, but maybe it's the other way around?! And I'm going to be repaying that by fighting you, it sounds like. Just... just... it's not personal. You're not going to deserve what happens if we fight, it's not fair and you won't 'have it coming' or anything like that. Once this is all over, I'm going to explain myself and you're going to see what you made possible. Because it's absolutely worth it, and you're going to deserve to see the results. They won't erase anything, but maybe it'll amount to giving you something beyond 'just living'!"
She's not sure what else she can say, really. Her father was always better with words than her. Put her on the battlefield and let her do what she's trained to do, and leave the talking to other people. But he isn't here anymore, so she'll just have to learn how to speak with others like he did. But even if she doesn't speak, she has no problem with letting Runealy use her shoulder for as long as she would like. She probably needs it more than Lena does right now anyway. "I've had plenty of time to come to terms with my sins," she lies, but nobody needs to know what she thinks of her past when she's alone. And it wouldn't be right to throw her baggage on the pile while Runealy's dealing with her own. "So you don't need to reassure me. Rather, right now, this knight is more than happy to be the friend that offers someone her shoulder when they need it."
""Something tells me 'plenty of time' is probably the worst thing you could get for that sort of thing. Having time to actually think about it..." Rune shakes her head a few times, though it's a very slight gesture to avoid bumping her chin or jaw against Lena since they're so close right now.
"'This knight'... keep saying that, okay? I don't know if Belka teaches you the same things, but where I'm from, knights understand something important. That protection is only half of what they do. Providing happiness is part of it too, and it's only when you have both of those that someone is really safe. This is going to be pretty weird to hear out of nowhere, but I'd like it if you kept up both halves of what knights do since you're still taking the title of one." Her eyes blink open, trying to face Lena. "Would that be okay?"
She's... well, yeah, pretty confused by that sudden request. She backs up from the hug enough so that she can be looked at, and her expression is very quizzical. though eventually she can only shrug in response. "I don't know that I can. While Belkan knights are protectors of the innocent, we were always meant to be weapons of war. But I can try, if nothing else." She'll wait a while longer to make sure Runealy has gotten all of the tears out of her system and then very slowly work her way back up to standing. She does wince a little, letting out a very quiet grunt of discomfort as her arm moves in a way it shouldn't yet. But she's back up to her feet all the same. "You're alright then?" She asks, concern clear in her voice. "I think you're thinking too highly of me, honestly. But all the same, I'll try to meet your request, even if we'll eventually be on opposite sides of a battle."
"Weapons of war?" Runealy blinks several times, and now it's her turn to be confused. Confused enough that she's mostly done crying at this point. "It's funny, 'war' is kind of a vague idea to me. Guess I started one by coming here, though. I'll be okay until this 'war' is done, at least. Still, go ahead. Try it. Maybe I am thinking too much of you right now."
She rises from the bench, eyes staying firmly on Lena. "Maybe 'Lena the Knight' is only half complete. You've talked a lot about protection, but not at all about happiness... and you need both. Both of them must exist. Someone with happiness but no protection can have it taken away. Someone with protection but no happiness... well. This is going to be pretty personal of me to ask, but when you say you're just living'... can I guess that you're not very happy now?"
She's caught off-guard by the question and it almost looks like something actually hit her when it registers in her mind. She's quick to compose herself though. The smile that comes back to her is the same sad one she always has. "I haven't been happy for a long time," she finally admits, turning from Runealy. She walks a bit away, staring at the sky before calling back. "But... I think I'm starting to remember what that's like." Sad and painful images replaced with thoughts of new friends, of potential love, and of some rather amusing people she's met recently. For a brief moment, that smile looks a lot less sad and the laughter that comes with it seems a lot more uplifting. Though just as quick as it comes, it fades to what it once was. She turns and looks at Runealy. "Maybe not half complete but just... broken. But I finally think I might not be so broken I can't be fixed."
"..." Runealy's mouth opens a few times when she hears those admissions, not opting to try following Lena. But she has a little more to say. It takes a few tries, as she struggles with that hammering realization of talking tom someone who has outright described themself as having been unhappy for quite a while. "Well... at least try. Maybe that would be the other half of what 'fixes' you. Think about this... if a knight guards a room full of gold, what do they have, what are they surrounded by? If they guard a Witch or any other sort of monster, are they surrounded by that? And if you guard happiness, then maybe...?"
Her voice trails off with that implication.