From Where the Silence Echoes

-10- A Rhapsody for the Truthful

"Jean? How long have you been out here? And is that...?"

Polnareff's soul sunk as Avdol's gaze flickered from him to the siren and back again at the speed of light. The more he looked back and forth, the more disappointed his face became; and it was more disheartening than the siren's pout could ever be.

"I can explain, Momo, y'see-"

"No. I want to hear this from Jotaro."

A pang of hurt shot through Polnareff's heart at Avdol's immediate shut down, but he remained silent, not wanting to make the situation any worse.

"Now, Jotaro. What happened?" Avdol folded his arms warily. "And don't leave out a single detail."

"This jackass came down here, tried to backhandedly insult me, then told me my boyfriend is getting sicker. Is that true?" the siren glared at Polnareff. "Or am I gonna have to bite his foot off?"

Avdol's eye began to twitch, which was never a good sign for Polnareff.

"You're going to have to bite his foot off. And I'm giving you full jurisdiction to do so. I can't believe you'd do something like that, Jean, not to mention how you snuck out without telling anybody! I was worried sick about you!" Avdol grabbed his ear and tugged, yanking Polnareff down to a bow-legged stance. "You could have caused some serious trouble!

"Ow-! I had a good reason, Momo, just let me explain!" Polnareff batted at Avdol's vice grip on his ear feebly. "Let me go— This hurts—"

"Stirring the pot for any reason is never good. Jotaro's already been through enough worrying! He doesn't need to do any more!"

"Well, I wouldn't know that if you didn't tell me! All this time, you and Kakyoin have been hiding shit from me like high schoolers!" Polnareff folded his arms indignantly. "So yeah, I lied to Jotaro. Because I wanted in on the secrets. In on all the things being hidden from me. Is that so wrong?!"

"Um, yeah?" Jotaro sneered. "Just because you're insecure about people not telling you things doesn't give you the right to lie to those people about things that are important to them. That's selfish, you dumbass."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Jotaro." said Avdol with a sigh, letting go of his lover's ear. "I expected better from you, Polnareff. If you really wanted to be included that badly, all you had to do was say something."

Polnareff didn't bother to straighten his posture after Avdol released him. Even if he wanted to, the weight of his guilt wouldn't let him fancy that idea. As much as he hated to admit it, they were both right.

"I... I'm sorry." he sighed and hung his head defeatedly. "Really, I am. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble. Especially for you, Jotaro. I... I want to make things better. I want to help."

"Pull yourself together." Jotaro sung teasingly. "You look like a kicked puppy."

"W-What?! I'm trying to apologize and—"

"Look, the best way you can apologize to me is by telling the truth. The whole truth. Both of you, actually. I want to know what happened after you found Nori."

Polnareff glances at Avdol nervously, uncertain on what exactly to do. He didn't know the story like Avdol did; hell, he had only met the man in question a day ago. He felt like silence wasn't an option, but on the same token there was nothing else he could do. Even if there was, Polnareff knew he'd be at a loss for words.

Thankfully, Avdol spoke first.

"I found Kakyoin washed up on the shores of this beach, soggy and half alive. By the looks of things, he was just barely clinging to life by his fingertips, and it didn't sit right with me to leave him there to die, so I dragged him back to our little cottage." he said, sitting cross-legged on the sand. "The next week or so was spent making sure he didn't kick the proverbial bucket. Kakyoin was unconscious for a while, but he still had a pulse, so I kept hope as best as I could. When he finally woke up, he was very disillusioned and barely cognizant. He did mention you, but I'm sure it was by accident, because of the way his face scrunched up afterward. After that, though, it'd been a game of chance on how he'd be feeling. As of late he's had more good days than any others. I thought you'd like to know that."

Polnareff saw a flash of guilt flicker across the siren's face, just for a moment, and his mind jumped back to their previous conversation.

'No. You don't get it. Not at all. He's... he's suffering because of- well, Noriaki's suffering, and there's nothing I can do about it.' he had said. It didn't take much to deduce that he may have wanted to say that it was his fault. But why? What could he have possibly have done? The siren, despite the countless legends about his species' bloodthirst and ruthlessness, didn't seem like he'd hurt anybody. Especially not Kakyoin. Something wasn't adding up.

"And, well, the second verse plays as the thirst. I-I mean, first." Polnareff chimed in. "I've only met Kakyoin recently, but I have been trying to help him. As best I can, anyway. He's stubborn. But... if you don't mind, would you tell us your story? So that we can help.... Uh..."

"I think what Jean is getting at is that we want to help you two come back together." said Avdol, trying to help Polnareff get his floundering together. "We've become so tangled up in the story of you two, it would feel wrong to just back out without all the details."

"My story...?" Jotaro's ears drooped again. "I... there isn't really much to tell. Noriaki and I are lovers. We have been for... a year or so, now. A while back, he went on some sort of trip, and so I had to go back home for a while until he came back. My family... my family pressured me to sink a ship because they thought I was feeling 'off', and the ship I sunk had Noriaki on it. It's a miracle he made it out alive. All of this is my fault. I... I—"

The siren blinked back tears again, his voice wavering in a way that Polnareff didn't know was possible. It was a sad, sad sight; guilt clearly weighed down on his heart, so much so that his normal façade was breaking.

"I see..." Avdol murmured, his own eyes a little wet from the threat of tears. "I don't know about Polnareff, but... I noticed, how upset you would get when we talked about Kakyoin's condition."

"You did? I... Noriaki and I had been working on helping me be more open with my emotions, so..."

"I could tell, too." said Polnareff. "You'd always get this guilty pout. But, we're gonna help you, okay? Me especially. I owe you that much."

"Help me? With what...?"

"We're gonna help you reunite with Kakyoin! Duh!"