Who That Was [Lukas/Cyrus]

THE CITY OF LIGHT
Tap tap tap tap tap tap.

The bump of a knee, up and down, heel dancing against hardwood. Bridged fingers beneath long strands of silver, teeth tight in a hidden grimace.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap.

The impatience was undue, really. Not that it would stop Lukas, despite what had once been a waiting list stretching weeks - if not months - had shrunk to hours. Something about it left a bad taste in his mouth, another tick to a list of perceived slights. That he was viewed as a criminal still pissed him off to no end, the newly bound sanrei on his left arm pinching tightly into his skin. Ten seconds of freedom, he could still feel it. The frustration that followed, hanging even know across his mind.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap.

"How much longer?" he muttered through clenched teeth.

"How much longer?" Lukas repeated, louder this time. The secretary he was sitting across raised an eye, as the door aside them opened. Giving back a dirty look, the silver haired man stood, stepping past the man that exited. Jackass.

Light poured in as he stepped forward. A raised hand as eyes squint in annoyance, the sun staring back closely. An iridescent halo surrounding the man seated in the center, white radiating off the glow. The black of Lukas' uniform felt alone, stark against the room. Alone. Different.

Not a pleasant feeling, to be so differed of awe.

"Cyrus." he greeted the Vandenreich leader, standing across from his desk with a slight bow. "I appreciate you meeting with me." Lukas would stand still for a moment, before gesturing with his wrapped arm;

"May I take a seat?"

Cyrus supposed he ought to be tremendously glad that he had grown past his self-pity, else everything happening now would surely have seemed like nothing short of an impossible nightmare to deal with. This situation was one well outside what he could reasonably have prepared for, and it wasn't something he could simply delegate to others.

He had no choice but to be the leader he had once been, the man who had built the Vandenreich into what it was in the first place.

"Naturally, Mr. Atherisch. It would be foolish of me not to see you after your part in the city's defense. Even if a debriefing were not necessary, offering my thanks is equally important."

The office certainly imparted a sense of authority to Cyrus' presence that had once simply come naturally to his existence. It would return in time, that much he knew. but for now, his rank was still sufficient. He gestured to one of the two chairs opposite him, letting Lukas speak whatever was on his mind.

THE CITY OF LIGHT
"Thanks, huh?" the man half muttered as he pulled the chair to his left back, sitting down with a faint hiss of air between his teeth. He reflexively moved to touch his bruise, the tenderness still ringing with faint pain.

The man had more than a few questions dancing on the edge of his tongue. How much leverage attacking the monster gathered him still felt ethereal - the fact that he was in this room didn't even feel right, how much would he be willing to bet on it? Ask for the restraints to be removed? It's not like they had succeeded in driving him away.

Left on his own. his decision clicked into place.

"That's the thing," Lukas began, as he drew himself to height, "Were we? Don't get me wrong, a disgusting thing like that showing up in the city, needs to be removed, but..." his tongue traced the inside of his mouth as words tumbled together, a momentary pause.

"But, I watched the footage. Or whatever footage there is." He shrugged, "The thing, person, I guess, some jackass named Ichigo, right? Left on his own. We didn't stop him, hell, come CLOSE to stopping him."

A defeated look resided in Lukas' eyes as he sat across from Cyrus, his shoulders slumping as the words left his mouth. His hand gripped the chair's arm, clearing his throat as he matched the man's gaze.

"So what do we do about a monster that we can't beat, and don't know what stopped him?"

"That is the question."

Cyrus wasn't going to lie to one of the men who had directly faced Ichigo Kurosaki. It was a matter of respect, certainly, but it wasn't as if it was even possible to lie about it if he wanted to. Lukas knew all too well how unlikely it was that such an opponent could be stopped by the current Vandenreich.

"As it stands right now, you know better than most that the Vandenreich has no means of facing that Arrancar directly. The Vandenreich has no choice but to grow, more quickly than we already have. The Gotei United was already a looming threat before this, and now we have a menace far more immediate. I expect results from every able-bodied combatant in the organization."

The deep, imposing baritone of Cyrus' voice echoed through the office as he spoke, and his eyes measured the man before him carefully.

"Train. For now, that is all I can tell you. As Grandmaster, I will seek out other means of securing the city, and assisting our forces. But we are not the Gotei, or even Vastime. We do not have the luxury of finely-tuned infrastructure and resources with which to supply our people. The Vandenreich is an organization born of conflict and struggle, and there is only so much we can bring to bear."

THE CITY OF LIGHT
Lukas allowed silence to respond for him as he stared at Cyrus, something of an idea swirling in the back of his head. An idea born of unpleasant memories, something he was unsure of revisiting. If it so came to it, he might even propose it, but his pride stood in the way.

Or was it fear?

Either way, he didn't take much from Cyrus' response. A nod, before he began to speak.

"I'm more than aware." the man would remark, gesturing towards his left arm. The brightness of the room had all but swallowed it, the reflective, velvet-like sanrei almost silver, but it was unmistakable. "This glove wasn't something of my own choosing, and it's produced nothing but conflict and struggle. I live to fight, but it's not a choice I made for myself." Anger almost lit behind his eyes in mention, quelled with slow blink, and a sigh.

"That arrancar walked off an attack I've used to take out people stronger than me, more talented. A lot more." The word stressed in his mouth, filled with concern. Lukas paused for a moment, a frown creasing worry. "So, if an attack like that doesn't even seem to slow him down, what the hell made him stop?"

"And how do we use that?"

Cyrus thought for a moment on the question being posed to him. Or, rather, he thought on what he ought to say. The situation in the City of Lights had been illuminating, to say the very least. He'd never once pried into he matter of Shirohime's identity, and had left her power to simply be a mystery of the world that he did not need answered.

Now, however, her identity had been made abundantly clear. She had utilized an ability certainly found in the historical record, and that had made the entire situation all the more obvious. But would she wish for that to be shared?

He had always worked with her toward a better world. That world was one he had wished for her to know herself. He supposed part of that would be to live as herself. But even if not, he knew that hiding the truth would make this infinitely more difficult than it needed to be.

"Orihime Inoue. A young woman perhaps more dangerous than Kurosaki himself. And, it would seem, the only thing in this city that he cared to have. The moment he had her, he left, after all."

That was hardly reassuring to him, however. She had been one of the greatest assets they had, to say nothing of the fact that Cyrus considered her a friend.

"I suspect that if we were to try and touch her, it would only end poorly for us. We no longer have what he came here for, and in theory, that would mean we will be out of his notice for now. But I do not intend to let him rampage about as he sees fit. So the question instead ought to be what he will do next. And unfortunately, Mr. Atherisch, even I do not know the answer to that particular question."

But he was searching. The lack of hesitation in his voice, the fact that he seemed so unilaterally certain even as he admitted a currently lack of intelligence, made that abundantly clear.

"If I had more to tell you on this matter, I certainly would. But the bleak reality of the situation is that this was a strike from the dark, by an opponent we did not know existed, and who took from us someone we did not fully know the truth of."

THE CITY OF LIGHT
Lukas' eyes widened somewhat, listening rather intently. The idea of another person of that power was... Uncomfortable, to imagine. Much less that they were working together. A resigned slump as his head lolled back, staring upwards into the arch of the windows.

Sunlight danced between clouds, an errant bird flitting with shadows from time to time. Silver eyes watched them, darting as they did, words finding their way from the man's mouth, deflated as they were. "So, not a weakness we can use." As dry a statement as any, Lukas did not expect any disagreement.

Ah, the birds - so free.

He sat there still, thoughts coming and going as they did, considering. A jolt upwards, his hair seeming to jump with the light as he sat straight again. Curiosity tinged his voice, although now he possessed some fear for his question. It was probably just a hole in his knowledge, after all. History that wasn't the Quincy's wasn't his.

"Is there a reason that information wasn't public? Especially if we don't know anything about this... Orihime?" he paused, mouth agape for a split second, "Shouldn't we be broadcasting it? See if anyone knew anything about her?"

Why are these relics from the past showing up anyways? another question, although this one silent; something he could guess Cyrus had no answer for.

"If I'd known who she was, I would have considered making it public. But even I didn't know who she was, and now it's far too late."

Lukas was correct, however, and Cyrus nodded as he looked through the numerous files on his desk. He'd already begun compiling all the information on both Orihime and Ichigo, and had started looking into those others from that era. There were quite a few, some missing, others unfortunately present in the world. Those unknowns would be dangerous.

"You are correct about now, however, and I have every intention of sharing this information publically. I will concede that we are making ourselves discomfortingly open to the world, but we cannot afford to abide by our name at present."

They could not afford to wall themselves off at present.

THE CITY OF LIGHT
Worry and fear shifted quickly to frustration and annoyance. The frown that had begun to crease hid behind Lukas' hand as it slid down the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I just..." his voice muffled from behind his palm, "...thought there'd be more concrete answers."

His gaze slipped down from Cyrus, staring at the floor as fingers bridged behind his neck, fistfuls of hair bunching as they squeezed. A deep breath, the walls of an ancient manor flashing in the back of his head. Hell on earth. Baby steps.

"Of course I agree with you." his voice directed downwards, as if he were speaking to no one in particular. "We need to do what we can to get stronger." Lukas' left hand tightened, hands dropping as he traced his knuckles with a finger.

"I might have an idea." his voice quiet, now. "But I don't think it's very good."

"I would like nothing more than to give you more concrete answers. However, I have no more to give."

Lukas' tone wasn't lost on Cyrus, but the last thing he could concern himself with was risk. They were already in grave danger, more than he would be willing to admit to anyone openly in the Vandenreich.

"Whether or not it is a good idea, I will still hear it. It is always worth speaking your thoughts, if only to see whether others think they have merit."