[ Cain sucks in a sharp breath; he has to stifle the reflexive denial, the instinct that knowing will only put Percival in more danger. What more danger could there be, when Percival's already died? Not knowing didn't do a damned thing to keep Percival safe, didn't keep Percival out of any trouble. Takasugi still found his way to Percival, and Percival was only left all the more helpless with being unawares.
Slowly, he lowers his hand back to his lap to let Percival resume his bandaging. It's as much an acceptance of Percival's care as tacit promise that he'll finally answer all the questions he's been dodging. Reveal all the things he thought he was protecting Percival by keeping from him. ]
Yes. He was. We were doing a job together, for the Gilded Cage. [ Another secret, Cain's involvement with the organization. Another crime he has to confess. ] We'd happened upon some merchants who were slaughtered for their wares. He might have killed them; at the time, I wasn't certain, but now...
[ Cain trails off for just a moment. Now, looking back, he realizes he was a fool to have doubted his own instinct, to have given Takasugi the leeway of a lack of proof. ]
He was callous, speaking of their deaths, and I lost my temper and struck him. And in return, he drew his weapon upon me, took that wound as fair payment, and then— helped me finish the job.
[ What had made Takasugi so frustrating, his bouts of help and his equal turns to cruel amusement. Cain had thought there was more to the man, more than the edge of his blade— Well. He's been proven wrong. ]
no subject
Slowly, he lowers his hand back to his lap to let Percival resume his bandaging. It's as much an acceptance of Percival's care as tacit promise that he'll finally answer all the questions he's been dodging. Reveal all the things he thought he was protecting Percival by keeping from him. ]
Yes. He was. We were doing a job together, for the Gilded Cage. [ Another secret, Cain's involvement with the organization. Another crime he has to confess. ] We'd happened upon some merchants who were slaughtered for their wares. He might have killed them; at the time, I wasn't certain, but now...
[ Cain trails off for just a moment. Now, looking back, he realizes he was a fool to have doubted his own instinct, to have given Takasugi the leeway of a lack of proof. ]
He was callous, speaking of their deaths, and I lost my temper and struck him. And in return, he drew his weapon upon me, took that wound as fair payment, and then— helped me finish the job.
[ What had made Takasugi so frustrating, his bouts of help and his equal turns to cruel amusement. Cain had thought there was more to the man, more than the edge of his blade— Well. He's been proven wrong. ]