[Day by day, Ruby City falls apart a little more. Fugo has been watching the cracks spread with a mute, horrified fascination. It reminds him too much of Angelica's dream and the way it shattered. Holding onto Giorno isn't just a comfort: it's Fugo's way of staying grounded in an increasingly frightening and unreal situation.
But he trusts Giorno; believes him when he says that they should wait. Fugo knows that Giorno would not willfully put him-- or Lucy, or Naegi, or even Togami-- in a dangerous position without reason.]
[It was right to wait. Because there, stepping out of a tear--]
Buccellati? [His mouth is dry. His fingers tighten around Giorno's, too startled by what he's looking at for anything else to get through.] Is... that you?
[Is this real? The line between dreams and reality has become especially blurry this past week. But, he-- desperately wants to believe that what he's looking at is real.]
[Despite spending a not so insignificant amount of his life moving in and out of spaces, some of which only existed upon his creation, Bruno still finds himself disoriented upon setting foot in this world. Where he was before... He remembers everything about home and sacrificing himself for Giorno to finish what they started. He remembers a city where he spent two years he didn't really have. And then...]
[He doesn't have a strong recollection of it. It isn't nothingness, but it's not really something either. It's only a notion slipped between the clarity of his other memories and the present moment. The present moment which seems more a nightmare version of his memories than an actual present moment, but he can feel the summer heat in each breath he draws. It's that heat that tells him time's passed since he last remembers this place.]
[His head turns the moment he hears his name. Bruno is equally relieved and not at all to see the two of them because it's not safe for any of them to still be here. That much is more than a little obvious.]
[It's not appropriate, he knows. But he can't help it. He's so happy. Bruno's here. Bruno is really here. So he laughs, tear-filled and delighted and wild, his fingers still crushing Fugo's too hard.]
It's falling apart. Everything's falling--in on itself. But a door opened, to--to home.
We're going home. We--we were waiting for you, before we left.
[That's what it was. That instinct. He sucks in a sharp breath and shoots Bruno a watery smile.]
[His hand hurts; Giorno's holding on so tightly that his fingers are digging into the backs of his knuckles. That's what clues him in that who he's looking at is physically here and what he's experiencing is actually happening.
Bruno's here. He's really here and Giorno is laughing-- crying-- both-- at the sheer joy of seeing him again. He was gone and now he's back, at the last possible moment, because what he and Giorno were discussing just a moment ago was that it would be too dangerous to linger on in the splintered fragments of Ruby City for another night. It's not just about them; it's about Lucy, and Togami, and Naegi. And now--]
It won't last much longer. [His own voice is small, almost hoarse with the complex emotions clawing their way through his chest.] But we can still make it.
[His first instinct is honestly to remark upon their very risky decision to wait for him. It's not because of the near-nihilistic way he used to think of himself, but the reality was there was no 100% guarantee he would appear in this city again let alone before their window for going home would be sealed forever. It was foolish and risky, and both of them should know better when the were others depending on them.]
[But before he can get any further with the impulse (working through to its natural conclusion that these boys doing foolish and risky things for others is part of the modest legacy he left behind), Giorno says home.]
[Home.]
[Bruno's heart leaps into his throat at the memory of a confession shared in the dead of night. It was only spoken that one time, but felt at a near constant as an impossibility that had to be accepted for the cold reality it always was. But Giorno and then Fugo ask him to come home and it's like the very world's been swept out from underneath his feet.]
Home . . .
[He breathes the word like it's familiar and foreign all at once. Hope is a tentative, fragile thing with a thousand reasons for and against it. Bruno shakes his head a little, at a complete and utter loss for words.]
[One of his hands is so tightly caught up with Fugo's that even his own bones are starting to hurt. It's only when he reaches out his other hand that he unconsciously allows the pressure to release. He wants to touch Bruno and make sure he's real, warm, living; he wants to take hold of him and make sure he goes through that door.]
[But it's Bruno's choice. He refuses to let go of that lesson: that it's wrong to take away people's choice, no matter how good his intentions might be.]
There's a place for you. There's always a place for you with us. Please come with us to Napoli again. She's got to miss you after all this time.
[He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what to say that-- would be fair to Bruno, that wouldn't be selfish of him to admit or ask.]
Please. Don't stay here. Don't go back to where you were. Even if-- [He can't even finish that sentence: "Even if you don't come with us, find a world you want to live in." Fugo bites his lip.] ... we missed you.
[All of them have-- the two of them here and then Mista and Trish, waiting for them to come home in Napoli.
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But he trusts Giorno; believes him when he says that they should wait. Fugo knows that Giorno would not willfully put him-- or Lucy, or Naegi, or even Togami-- in a dangerous position without reason.]
[It was right to wait. Because there, stepping out of a tear--]
Buccellati? [His mouth is dry. His fingers tighten around Giorno's, too startled by what he's looking at for anything else to get through.] Is... that you?
[Is this real? The line between dreams and reality has become especially blurry this past week. But, he-- desperately wants to believe that what he's looking at is real.]
no subject
[He doesn't have a strong recollection of it. It isn't nothingness, but it's not really something either. It's only a notion slipped between the clarity of his other memories and the present moment. The present moment which seems more a nightmare version of his memories than an actual present moment, but he can feel the summer heat in each breath he draws. It's that heat that tells him time's passed since he last remembers this place.]
[His head turns the moment he hears his name. Bruno is equally relieved and not at all to see the two of them because it's not safe for any of them to still be here. That much is more than a little obvious.]
What's happening to this place?
no subject
[It's not appropriate, he knows. But he can't help it. He's so happy. Bruno's here. Bruno is really here. So he laughs, tear-filled and delighted and wild, his fingers still crushing Fugo's too hard.]
It's falling apart. Everything's falling--in on itself. But a door opened, to--to home.
We're going home. We--we were waiting for you, before we left.
[That's what it was. That instinct. He sucks in a sharp breath and shoots Bruno a watery smile.]
Come home with us?
no subject
Bruno's here. He's really here and Giorno is laughing-- crying-- both-- at the sheer joy of seeing him again. He was gone and now he's back, at the last possible moment, because what he and Giorno were discussing just a moment ago was that it would be too dangerous to linger on in the splintered fragments of Ruby City for another night. It's not just about them; it's about Lucy, and Togami, and Naegi. And now--]
It won't last much longer. [His own voice is small, almost hoarse with the complex emotions clawing their way through his chest.] But we can still make it.
no subject
[But before he can get any further with the impulse (working through to its natural conclusion that these boys doing foolish and risky things for others is part of the modest legacy he left behind), Giorno says home.]
[Home.]
[Bruno's heart leaps into his throat at the memory of a confession shared in the dead of night. It was only spoken that one time, but felt at a near constant as an impossibility that had to be accepted for the cold reality it always was. But Giorno and then Fugo ask him to come home and it's like the very world's been swept out from underneath his feet.]
Home . . .
[He breathes the word like it's familiar and foreign all at once. Hope is a tentative, fragile thing with a thousand reasons for and against it. Bruno shakes his head a little, at a complete and utter loss for words.]
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[But it's Bruno's choice. He refuses to let go of that lesson: that it's wrong to take away people's choice, no matter how good his intentions might be.]
There's a place for you. There's always a place for you with us. Please come with us to Napoli again. She's got to miss you after all this time.
no subject
Please. Don't stay here. Don't go back to where you were. Even if-- [He can't even finish that sentence: "Even if you don't come with us, find a world you want to live in." Fugo bites his lip.] ... we missed you.
[All of them have-- the two of them here and then Mista and Trish, waiting for them to come home in Napoli.