The portal deposits him in midair, forcing him to roll as he hits the ground hard. With a grunt, he quickly stands up, dusting himself off as he looks around the realm. "Right. Now, where's that…" he trails off, eyes widening in horror as he realizes where he is.
"Oh, no…"
It's their paradise. Her gift to them, the same one that he spat on so cruelly and killed her lover in. It's heaven. He swallows his own spit as he slowly trudges along the glitching path. He has no choice but to press on, until he can find the human in peril and get them out of this place, out of her little paradise for all the people she caught.
He's not stupid. He knows from the archives exactly what she does to people who stumble upon her influence. He knows there's probably no hope for them, but to not even try to save them… what would that make him?
an even bigger failure than he already is.
He pauses, stopping in his tracks as he feels that familiar presence that he thought he'd never feel again. Not since that day. Swallowing dryly, the Red Knight slowly turns and looks up at the sky, to meet the eyes of this world's god.
She stares at him, her expression blank and betraying nothing as she floats above him. The skybox behind her seems to warp and glitch at her mere presence as she tilts her head at him. "claudius," she coldly intones, her regal voice echoing throughout the landscape of their broken paradise as he feels the artificial air around him grow thick and oppressive. "i had hoped to never see you again."
The armored giant of a man almost shrinks beneath her glare as he grinds his teeth behind his helmet. "Gaius," he quietly says. "I wouldn't have answered the call if I'd known that it would've led me here." Despite the tattered remains of his godly instincts screaming danger at him, he keeps his sword pointed to the ground, unwilling to raise his blade against the sister he'd inadvertently killed so long ago.
The marble statue clenches her fists so hard that it audibly cracks her palms. "oh?" she mocks. "you don't want to visit your dear sister, not even to say sorry for everything you caused me? for everything you did to my husband, for leaving my son without his father nor his mother?" She huffs, almost seeming sad despite her previous scathing statement. "i'm hurt." Her voice is quiet, almost meek. It almost sounds like the Gudang of old again.
Before he can ponder the implications of her sudden shift in mood, she swoops down like a furious bird of prey and slams into him with her arms outstretched, slamming him into a nearby digital tree as she holds him in place with an unnatural strength. He can hear the iron burning through her marble skin, and yet, she doesn't let go. Instead, her grip tightens around his arms, holding him in place as she glares into the slit of his helmet. "you're a coward, claudius." The armor starts to buckle underneath her vice grip. "you left me to rot. you let my son go on his path of self-destruction. you couldn't even stay and watch the consequences of your actions unfold."
He wants to respond. Wants to argue back. But he can't. She's right, he thinks, despair filling his heart. I'm a horrible person. I deserve this.
"and to do what?" she hisses. "to play hero? to save some mortals who'll eventually die anyways in the fraction of the time that it takes us to get over a fever? you imbecile. you left your family for the same humans that hate us, that take our gifts to them for granted, and slaughter their own species out of their rampant fears and lust for power." Tears prick at her eyes, and she furiously blinks them away as she digs her nails into the now-exposed skin of his arms, the protective armor having long since fallen to the ground or crushed into useless scrap at her hands. "look at you. even now, you still try to hold onto some sort of moral superiority. even now, you're not fighting back. you-!" Her voice breaks, and right as he feels like his bones are about to break next, she lets go, letting him fall to the ground as she abruptly flies back into the sky.
He gathers his strength, feeling his muscles knit themselves back together and his armor plating slowly twist itself back into shape as it flies back onto his arms. Above him, he can feel Gaius' stare, along with her rapid breathing as he grasps onto his sword for strength. He stands up, slowly meeting her eyes as he leans onto his sword, stabbed into the ground, for support.
Gaius' expression is a storm full of grief, rage and disappointment, all trying to overpower each other as she trembles in the air. Then, she gnashes her teeth and gestures with her arm. First, her arms start to crack, the marble falling away to reveal soft, human skin beneath. The Red Knight's eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets as she stares at him coldly. "you came here to rescue hir, didn't you? it was hir call for help that led you here. The rest of her stony exterior has almost completely fallen away, revealing a horrifyingly human body wearing human clothes beneath it.
I recognize you.
The goddess sighs, closing her eyes as her face begins to fall apart as well. "claudius. you really are a fool." She opens them again, right as the cracks spreading across her head begin to reach her eyes as well. His sister smiles at him, deceptively and mockingly sweet as she says, "don't you recognize another self-sacrificing imbecile with a hero complex when you feel hir soul?
Before he can reply, the last of Gaius falls away. The human beneath stares at him with a dumbstruck expression on their- hir face. "Holy shit," he hears hir mumble. "The articles weren't lying. You're real." The human looks him up and down. "You look just as goofy, too."
"…Gaius?" he asks.
Ze gives him a shake of hir head, smiling softly. "No. River. I don't even know why I'm able to move around and talk again, unless…" He can feel hir eyes scan him as he tries to regain some semblance of dignity. "Oh. It's you. The brother she hates."
Upon seeing him wince a bit, ze adds, "I don't mean to insult you! I mean, I kinda overhear all her thoughts and memories being fused to her and all, so I couldn't exactly not know who you were. What are you doing here?"
He clears his throat. "I came here to save somebody."
Ze grits hir teeth, sucking air in through them. "Yyyeah, well, I'm… I'm the somebody you're trying to save. Everyone here is basically a lobotmized, nostalgia-drowned zombie. Shit, I'm sorry for leading you all the way here and forcing you to deal with her. I… you can't save me. I know you do your whole hero thing, and I get it, but… I did this willingly. To myself. To seal her away."
The Red Knight doesn't find it in him to reply as he stands there in shock. To think of the horrific things this poor human must've gone through to even reach his sister… His heart aches for hir.
"And so far, it's working." River scratches hir head. "I know you probably hate failing to save someone. I get it. I… I guess we're both dumb idiot wannabe heroes at the end of the day, right?" The human gives a nervous laugh as his eyes slowly drift back to hir. "…well. Anyways. I… You should probably go, before she takes back control and tries to beat you up like a ragdoll."
Stone starts to encase hir body, far faster than when it broke away earlier. With a somewhat alarmed expression, River uses hir last words to say something that almost fixes the hole in the Red Knight's heart.
"Claudius… thank you. For trying."
Gaius opens her eyes, staring at her brother with a serene and uncaring expression. "you heard the suicidal idiot," she disdainfully says. "i've said what i wanted to say to you. and ze's said what little needs to be said to you from hir, because i know you won't take my word for it alone. so, please, claudius. leave me to rot." Despite her harsh words, he can't help but notice the almost overwhelming ache and self-loathing present in her voice as she speaks to him.
A portal full of static opens up behind him, and he more so hears than sees it as she loudly exhales above him. "leave me to rot as you always have, you goddamn disgrace of a brother." Without warning, he flies backwards into the portal, and he feels himself slipping as he tries to keep his hold on the world as the paradise fades from view, along with everything else in the world.
As he feels his consciousness get snuffed out by the shock of being shot through space and time, he hears her final words. and they stab a hole through his heart, exactly like he deserves.
"i don't want to see you ever again."
And he goes out like a light, as he flies through the static tunnel and as it slowly goes from blank gray to light blue. And he keeps on falling backwards…
He doesn't even register that he may have gone a little too far, until he looks around and realizes that he's still falling. And that he can't sense any nearby levels to connect the tunnel's exit to. Panicking, he tries to find a level across the vast universe of the Backrooms. He sifts through his memories, trying to figure out how far into the depths he's fallen while he was lost in his own regret.
Damn it! He grits his teeth, tears pricking at his eyes. How could I have been so distracted? How could I have let her break me like that!?
He tries to beat back the pain and loss in his heart as he remembers the human that sacrificed hirself for the greater good. How could I have failed so badly in my duty that a mortal had to sacrifice hir entire life just to seal away my broken sister?
He's still falling. Clicking his tongue, he tries to see if he can control where the tunnel is taking him. He knows it's not his portal, but he and his sister are close enough relatives that he could probably control where her gateways lead.