Chapter Text
"And don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
Claude smiles and shakes his head at the person standing before him. The person who's exactly the same height as him. Who's wearing that familiar red headband, dressed in that familiar camo-green uniform, phase gun holstered at his side. With both of his eyes, and both of his arms.
Himself. But different.
The way he used to be.
The other him raises a finger, as if just remembering something. "Oh, almost forgot." He reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out—
Claude recognizes it instantly. His Tournament of Arms badge.
"Here," his friendly doppleganger says, holding it out to Claude in his distinctly-gloved palm. "It might be handy. For you to prove things when you need to."
Claude furrows his brow and frowns. He doesn't reach out to take it.
The other him smiles patiently. "Take it. I've got no use for this where I'm going."
Claude shakes his head vehemently. There's absolutely no way he can take this from the other Claude. He knows, without a shadow of doubt in his heart, the other him needs it far more than he does. The other him is already giving up so much. This badge is all he'll have to remember Expel. To remember everyone. Most of all…
…to remember Dias.
He reaches out with his remaining left hand, closes the other him's fingers around the badge, pushes it back with conviction. The other Claude does nothing, simply lets his closed fist be pushed back towards him until it touches his chest. Then he looks down.
"…Thanks," he says quietly. "I appreciate it." He casually tucks the badge into his breast pocket. Then he looks back up. "Well, then. Guess this is goodbye."
His voice is light. Breezy. It upsets Claude, how light and breezy it is. It's so strange looking from the outside, seeing his own face the way he remembers it. Such a calm, placid, unresisting exterior, smiling mildly at everything for the benefit of everyone. That he's good with whatever happens. That everything's fine and things will work out, somehow.
And at the same time feeling the terrible heaviness in his gut, the unrelenting pain in his chest, that he knows is under the surface.
Claude pulls out his notebook, deftly removes the pen from the strap around it in a now smoothly single-handed motion. He lifts and bends one leg, bracing the open book against his hip and wedging it with his thigh. He scribbles messily, desperately, then hands the notebook to the other Claude.
The other him takes the notebook and reads the words, written in letters that only the two of them can understand here on Expel. His expression is completely neutral.
I know your heart is breaking
After a pause, the other Claude smiles. That damned "everything's fine" smile. "Thanks," he says. "I'll take your note with me, if that's okay. Don't want to leave it just lying around."
When Claude doesn't react, the other him gently folds and starts carefully tearing the page around the writing, slowly at first in case Claude wants to stop him. Claude does nothing, watching the other him rip a small rectangle out of the notebook, then fold it and tuck it into his breast pocket with the tournament badge.
As soon as the other him straightens, Claude lunges forward and hugs him tight with his one arm. "Sorry," he whispers. I'm so sorry. For taking everything you love from you.
He feels the other him freeze in surprise. Then a soft laugh, the echoing feeling of it against his chest. He feels a hand in his hair, ruffling it as if he were a little brother, another hand patting his back. "It's okay, it's okay. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Just… do everything I can't do. Live the life we dreamed of on Expel. Be happy and make it all worth it. That's what everyone we love would want. I'll do my best too."
Claude releases him, nodding, teary-eyed. What else could either of them do?
The other him turns to Dias. "I'm glad I got to see you before I left." He glances at Claude, then back at Dias. "…Please take good care of him, okay? He—loves you a lot."
"I know," says Dias. "I will. You—take care as well." Dias looks… sorry. As sorry as Claude has ever seen him.
The other Claude nods, and half-turns as if about to leave them. Then he stops and stands there, silent, his face void of expression.
Abruptly, he turns back, leans in towards Dias, brushes his lips against Dias' in very brief kiss, then immediately turns away again, his face hidden. Dias looks stunned. The other Claude hisses, sounding flustered: "Don't say anything. Don't say anything!" Then he breaks into a run for the plank of the ship about to leave port. They watch as he disappears into the distance.
Claude feels his own expression collapsing. He buries his face in his one hand, sobbing silently, crying out everything the other him can't, even as he feels Dias' arms wrap around him.