[b][i]Ken[/i][/b]

Ken nodded, then departed the place - Somehow, the air itself weighed oppressively heavy now. What he knew now was that he had to get away, to escape the tensions between Reverio and Chinami which threatened to become a ball and chain around his ankles which would weigh him down and eventually destroy his psyche. He needed to get back home... And then try and find [i]other[/i] friends; less dangerous ones. Was it cowardly, or was it the right thing to do? 

As Ken got inside his parents' car and drove back home, he could not see any easy solution to that question. All he knew was that it was not good for him to be crushed by the inevitable conflict between Reverio and Chinami, stuck playing peacemaker forever without any success or reward.

He needed to find other friends, he needed to find people who would bolster his psyche instead of risking ruining it - Then, he could come back for Reverio and Chinami if he still felt obliged to help them, felt that there was still a ghost of a bond from the baptism of fire which should have forged them to one but wound up cracking them apart like brittle steel. As the car drove off, back home, Ken felt a coldness in his stomach and tears in his eyes at being a coward who chose his psychological health over his friends. But then again, would falling to madness and despair help said friends in the long run?

If anything, Ken knew that once classes resumed, he'd have to find friends among the Saint Laurel's students (who weren't Reverio) and the other Vigilantes; his long-term health and yes, growth depended on it. Then, once he'd grown enough, he'd come back to Reverio and Chinami, as he had said before.

Assuming their tensions had not escalated. Assuming that this bitterness and [i]rot[/i] which had crept into their fragile connections was not going to destroy everything they had or was not already in the process of destroying the three of them like acid. As the car drove on, his father keeping a watchful eye for assassins while his mother kept a hand on her holstered pistol, Ken realized that in his own way, he was as angsty as Reverio. His friend. The bitter, hurt, cynical, and jaded man, forced to grow beyond his time.

And as Ken's eyes grew wet, wet with tears that obscured the sight of the streets through the windows, he realized that he can only weep for him, for Chinami, and their stillborn bond. As the tears tuned to sobs, as he vaguely heard his father asking why he was crying, all the boy could think of was how he was powerless to stop the tragedies which would come for them all. Even if he had the power of the Gods themselves, Ken did not have the strength of will and the clear mind needed to prevent the pain he knew would come, the kind of pain which would corrode and sever instead of binding people together while clearing fertile soil for growth.

His psyche and soul were just not strong enough to handle the strain, he felt as they finally reached home, still crying, still sobbing at the injustice of it all, an injustice he felt was of their own making. But Ken, Ken Illustrious Ikari, retained enough strength to walk back into their apartment room, an apartment room which now reminded him of Reverio's own, only with more light and love.

The boy had decided not to reveal Reverio's secrets. Nor what he knew of Chinami's. But what he can tell his parents as he sat on the sofa was that the two people he was with had suffered much and had been left... Acidic by it, each in their own unique way. What he can tell his parents was that he was powerless to stop them from hurting, as he lacked a particular 'strength of heart' needed to do so.

"What you have," Ken's father, Shinsei Ikari, said as he touched his son's shoulder, "is compassion. Do not undervalue it; it might let you rise up to something greater than you are right now..."

[@Dezuel][@Lewascan2]