★ In Memoriam ★

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Beaux’s world had been shaken up. It wasn’t the first time he’d been given a dose of chaos, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Over the years, the young man had become accustomed to change. Things had been upended abruptly more than once, so he was forced to deal with it head on. The other options were to suffer or perish, neither of which were ideal.

While these experiences had led the angelic man to become adaptive, he was still human. Mostly. Being able to deal with tough change didn’t negate the mental and emotional turmoil caused by it. After all, he was a very sensitive person. Emotions affected him very deeply, sometimes even on a physical level.

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The chaos had started with a phone call. In his office at the Rune Knight headquarters in Era, Beaux had been filing some reports like any normal day. He hummed quietly to himself, the only sound in the room besides the rustling of paper. The gentle bell sounds he had set as the ring tone had surprised him. Beaux didn’t use his iLac very much, mostly because he wasn’t a very tech savvy person. Texting Iris, LacBook, and staying in touch with a few long-distance friends was the majority of what he used it for. Calls weren’t out of the question, but they were rare enough that Beaux’s curiosity was piqued.

The iLac listed the number as an unknown one, and it wasn’t recognizable off the top of his head either. Not wanting to be rude and let it ring for too long, Beaux picked up his iLac and swiped to answer.

“Hello?” he asked chipperly, continuing to sift through papers with his free hand. A moment of silence came from the line. A light but demanding female voice spoke up.

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“Is Beaux Phacelia present? I must speak to him.” The woman sounded familiar, disturbingly so. The Ishgar words were coated with a thick Minstrelois accent, one that a Fiorean citizen might struggle to understand without listening closely.

“...This is he. Tu parles Minstrelois? Qui demande?” Beaux asked back. A nervous pit had begun to form in his gut. Every time someone spoke in his native language, he couldn’t help but be reminded of home.

“Beaux! Je ne peux pas croire que c'est toi!” she exclaimed, switching fully to Minstrelois. There was a note of relief in her voice, as if speaking in Ishgar was painful.

“Who is this?” Beaux asked again, speaking in Minstrelois too. The language felt heavy on his tongue. It had been a long time since he’d spoken completely this way. Not many people in Fiore that he’d met spoke the same language, so he was out of practice.

“This is your cousin Daphne, silly! Don’t you recognize me?” She sounded hurt. The papers fell from Beaux’s hand, fluttering to the floor. His heart dropped to his stomach.

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“D-Daphne?” Beaux’s father and Daphne’s mother were siblings and had always been fairly close. In their childhood, the two families had spent a lot of time together. Like with many family gatherings, Beaux became the one picked on and the scapegoat when the kids got in trouble.

“Yes, it’s me.” A hint of irritation had seeped into her voice, making Beaux wince. It was a good thing she couldn’t see him right now, or she would likely take that as a sign of weakness and pounce like a predator, just like in their youth. “It took me an arm and a leg to find you. Papa believed you were dead all this time, but Amoretta and I just couldn’t accept it. You have a way of getting out of bad things, like a cockroach.” There it was, the familiar subtle insults.

“I’m alive, yes,” Beaux assured her, taking a seat heavily at his desk. His head was spinning at the suddenness of this all. How did she find his number? Surely all of his family thought he was long dead. That was the excuse he had told himself over and over so that he wouldn’t feel guilty and seek contact with them again. There was still so much pain attached to Napedia, so many awful memories stirred up by this stark reminder.

“It’s nice to hear from you, cousin.”

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