[FIN] Don't Say Goodbye

[Blood_Goddess]

This took her by surprise, blinking as she lifted her head up suddenly to stare at him, then at Sera as they denied any of her apologies. She seemed to be honestly taken by surprise, and looked a little sheepish at them both jumping on her words somewhat forcefully. Of course this had to be he fault... why... It was her sister... why else would this be happening now if he wasn't upset about what happened?

A little baffled she just stood there, and continued to stare in stunned silence as Luke continued to speak, watching his gestures and the shifting is his expression.
Again she looked surprised, though it was with a cautious confusion that she watched him with, even after Sera had retorted to him.

"No," she spoke quietly after Sera with baffled resolution "Luke that's not who you are at all.. Not even a little."  

[Suudonym]

"I'm saying I don't care!" he shouted. "I never cared! I only stayed here because it was convenient, and now it's not convenient anymore so I'm going back!"

Rosie's contribution was returned with a quieter disposition, an agonizing remorse that tore into his voice, "Yes it is. I was lying. I was always lying. I'm just a selfish coward."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"All that's bullshit," Sera said, her glare persisting. "I don't believe you at all. Why the hell are you doing this?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

When Luke yelled Rosie's eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed pink, though she kept her mouth shut tightly.
Hearing this stung, hearing that he had been flying to them, and that he didn't really care, and that he wanted to leave forever was so, so hard. But she thought back, even just a little and she knew it couldn't be true. Sera had asked the right questions, why was he doing this.

"No." Rosie repeated. Taking a step forward. "No, you're not, the only time you've ever lied to us is right now." Rosie frowned, drawing in a sharp breath and stepping forward again "A selfish person doesn't run all the way from Camphoreon to Sagestone when he heard his friends were in trouble. A coward doesn't try and face a life threatening condition alone. He doesn't spend time and energy learning how to protect people, or take a bullet, go out of his way for his friends and open up to them." Rosie lowered her hands "Someone who doesn't care doesn't loose sleep! Or stands up to a Rocket, or gives even CLOSE to the kind of effort you have given into everything you do!"
"Liar, coward, selfish" She couldn't take another step forward without invading his personal space, "No, Luke." She repeated "That is not who you are." She was not yelling, by any stretch of the imagination, but she wasn't playing around with this either.  

[Suudonym]

Startled and mildly confused, and he could think to do nothing but listen until Rosie was nearly upon him. He retreated a small step, locking eyes of desperation upon the ground with a harsh frown. "What do I have to say to make you hate me?" he pleaded. "Tell me to leave. Tell me you never want to see me again."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While Sera was used to having tirades, Rosie appeared to have this covered and so she stood to the side while the blonde spoke to their friend. At his words, she frowned again. "There isn't anything you can say or do," Seraphine said as she took a step closer, but not as close as Rosie, "and if we did say we hated you, we'd be lying like you are right now. And I'm not really partial to lying, so," she shrugged. Unless it got her out of trouble.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie's face fell a little, not just as his words, but at the look on his face, she bit her lip, glancing down as Sera spoke, the words were very true for both of them.
"Stay." She added in a much quiet, pleading voice. "Please stay." She held her hand out, but stopped short of touching him in case he didn't want to. "Don't leave us..." She couldn't handle the thought of not seeing him again...  

[Suudonym]

He wilted at Seraphine's firm rejection, bowing his head forward and raising his palm to his forehead. "Don't say that." His voice was weak now, his anger and bitter lies expended. "I don't want to go. If you say that, I really will stay, and someone will get hurt again…"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

With the tense atmosphere mostly diffused, Sera's anger similarly dissipated into (sort of) quiet observation. So that was it. "Luke, s**t happens all the time, and s**t would continue to happen whether you're here or not. And don't try to say it's all your fault, either," because that's what it had sounded like when he said someone will get hurt if he stayed, "cuz it's not. And don't even try to tell me otherwise," she said in accusing tones, even going so far as to point at him (sort of) menacingly. "We want you to stay. If more s**t happens, which it's probably gonna, we'd much rather you be here to deal with it with us instead of dealing with it without you."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie nodded in agreement to what Sera was saying, though it was with a heavy heart to accept that things might not get easier, and despite what happened this wasn't a fight they could just give up on... Maybe there was more pain for them, but...
"You made a promise." Rosie spoke after a few moments. "Do you remember...?"
Tilting her head, her brow knit in concern.  

[Suudonym]

He shook his head, maintaining his downward gaze. "I can't accept that it's not my fault. I could draw a flow chart of everything I've said or done that's led up to this, or that's led to someone somehow getting hurt." The promise Rosie spoke of was indeed one that he remembered, and one that shamed him. "That promise was broken before I even made it," he said, "right along with every other lie I ever told about protecting anyone or helping anyone or assuring anyone." He paused to retreat another step. "I don't know what happens from here, but I at least know that I can't make things any worse if I'm not in Kodo…"  

[Blood_Goddess]

"I needed that..." Rosie's face fell. "I needed it, I believed it, For everything that I try to keep up in others to help, to hope, then to have someone else tell me that there are things to look forward to... that no matter how hard things are or how much darkness we have to experience in the world that there will always be something better, becasue there will always be those good people in our lives." A great deal of sadness rushed over her at his words, at his loss of faith in something he had given her, that had meant so much. She took in a silent shaky breath.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Why you keep insisting that you hurt people, or that you've never protected anyone. Luke I don't know what to say to that, If you want to make a flow chart, then fine, I'll come back with a list of people that you've helped by the things you've said, and done."
She seemed to stumble around her words, obviously upset and trying to make things clear.
"We're in a war! We're trying to stand up to a great number of people who have shown that they have no regard for anyone, people who will willingly hurt others without remorse, or without regret. People who won't stop and reflect on what they've done and stand here, trying to convince people to forget about them and leave! because of remorse" She threw a hand back, gesturing toward the city.
"You are a GOOD person, Someone who feels the impact of decisions, someone who is forced to struggle with right and wrong when bad people force situations that we should never have to deal with. but we HAVE to, becasue we care, becasue you care."

She paused for a moment, letting herself catch her breath, her face flushed, tired, but set Luke with a very troubled, and serious expression, despite the tears she blinked out of her eyes. "All we have is the few good people who want to make a difference. If you want to leave, if you really want to leave then none of us can blame you. But if you do then we're going to suffer, because there are not many good people like you, and I can't think of a worse tragedy then watching you lose your hope in something better."  

[Suudonym]

"I don't want to leave," he repeated, strength absent from the words. "I love this city, I love Kodo, and I love all the memories I have here." He raised his head, an awful remorse in his features. "I don't know how to protect it. I fail every time I try. The best I can do is try to throw around some nice words to help people feel better after I probably indirectly made them feel bad in the first place." His gaze averted once more. "…It's disgraceful."

An announcement calling for passengers to board sounded across the pier. Luke tensed severely but did not yet move.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie shook her head, hearing the call for the boat as well,
she lower her head closing her eyes,
"I don't know how to either..."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As Rosie spoke, Sera stayed quiet; the blonde was much better at this sort of thing, in her opinion, but it was becoming clearer that maybe that wasn't helping as much as she thought it was. Nothing was fixed yet, the situation wasn't better, and to top it all off, the boat was leaving soon. At least Luke hadn't up and tried to leave for it yet, though, so that was at least one point in their favor. "If you don't want to leave, then you already have your answer right there -- don't leave," the brunette said. "But there's one thing you're forgetting - both of you are forgetting - and that is that we're each just one person, and none of us can single-handedly save the entire island. That sort of thinking is just dumb and ridiculous. The only way to handle this shitty situation," she didn't want to call it a war like Rosie had, "is in a group. And we're not a group if any of us leave. If you leave, then you're only hurting it further because that's one less person actively fighting to keep it safe," she pointed out.