"Do what, my darling Martyr?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at William. In this lifetime, Kaz had had so much time to learn patience and control. So much control, all the time, and even then it was hard to keep the madness below the surface. His mind had been shattered and now it was so hard to keep it together, some days. Even now, it was bubbling and burning, wanting an outlet.
"Treat me like nothing, make me feel like nothing, cause me suffering and-" Will breaks his voice off before he can say anything truly damaging. He balls his fists at his side. What would his mother say at his tone? What would his father teach him after an outburst? They wouldn't yell, no never. Not like Will's doing now. What is he doing to tarnish their example? Will swallows around a ball in his throat. God, he misses his parents. "I'm sorry," he says quietly, hands going up to pull at his hair, pulling it from its ribbon. "I'm tired. It's- it's all so overwhelming." Will's voice cracks at the end. Oh, how he wants to disappear.
Kaz swallowed faintly, watching Will. "Do you want to just take a nap?" he asked, unable to come up with a response for Will's other words. "Would that help you?" for once, his words did not hold the derision that was so common for him to use, and he was just gentle and calm and soft spoken.
"No," Will's quick to respond. "No, no, I'm fine." He doesn't need to take nap. He's perfectly capable of handling his emotions like an adult. "I just… I think I slept odd last night. And this is a lot." The last sentence is uttered as a humorless laugh. "It's all a lot." His hands don't move from his hair. The ribbon falls listlessly to the ground.
"It always is." Kaz replied, eyes flicking away. "At least you are an adult in this lifetime. Remembering everything as a child is worse." his memories had begun to come back when he was very young, at first only as horrible nightmares, and then eventually solidifying themselves as true memories. Memories that had terrified him. "You will adjust."
"I will adjust," Will confirms softly. Hopefully, his brain supplies. "I don't think I ever remember past lives before I run into you," he says quietly. "And still, none of the details are solid." He softly clears his throat. "It's all… smoke. I'm able to see through the smoke, not clearly, but enough to know that there's something within in. The memories. The past." Flashes to his nightly terrors as a child surface in his mind. "No memory really compares to the nightmares, though." A chill wafts through the corridor.
"I remember before meeting you, most of the time." he always knew. That was the worst part of living like this. He always knew. Will got time to live and grow and just be, and the Snake? He was never given the chance to have any semblance of something good. Small wonder he always grew up to be twisted and cruel. His red eyes flickered at the mention of the nightmares. "Yes. The nightmares are…the worst."
Will hums softly, keeping his eyes either trained on the ground or roaming the walls. He doubts he can look at Kaz, a moment like this too strangely unifying to be broken by eye contact. On the stone walls and tile flooring, Will finds patterns in the grating. He chalks up the snake-esque patterns to his tired mind. "What did you dream of?"
Kaz hesitated for a long moment, then shook his head. "It…does not matter now." he replied, unable to bring himself to admit his dreams– his nightmares –to Will. He couldn't share it. Not now. Not ever, maybe. It revealed too much weakness and he could not do that.
Will nods, keeping his eyes averted from Kaz. They just met (well, not really) so Will can't expect the Snake to tell him everything… right? "Understandable," Will says, his voice quiet and unechoing in the empty chamber. It feels barely a whisper. His mind momentarily drifts before he clears his throat, bringing himself back to the present. "You said the library, next?" He points down the hall, unsure if it's the direction they came from or not.
He cleared his throat faintly. "Yes. We'll head to the library, then the gardens." he started walking again, collecting himself as he walked. Conversations were always difficult, when they veered onto topics like they had. He didn't want to talk about memories or nightmares, didn't want to discuss the past.
The silence settles over them once more like a blanket. A rather uncomfortable and slightly musty blanket, that is. Will's always been a fan of silence… but not like this. Hell, it nearly feels suffocating… There's a small distance between the two of them - the space barely twelve inches but still there, nonetheless. Perhaps that's for the best. Will's eyes follow a tile pattern on the wall to his right, not daring to glance at the man to his left.
He cleared his throat faintly, but continued walking beside Will, leading him through hallways and down some stairs, until they reached a set of doors. These doors were formed of silver and glass, and you could see through them into the gardens. The glass was slightly mottled, but that seemed to be on purpose; a design feature to heighten its beauty.
Unfortunately, instead of mapping out the twists and turns and switchbacks of the enormous hallways, Will finds himself zoning out. It's not that he necessarily trusts Kaz, (oh, god, could you imagine that?) but it's more so the fact that Will is exhausted; making mental maps isn't doing anything to keep him awake. He pauses when they arrive at the doors. Through the mottled glass windows, Will can decipher rolling beds of wildflowers and roses, reeds lining the soft riverbanks, and - Will feels his breath hitch - hanging willow trees. He spares a glance to Kaz at his side, waiting for any sort of indication to enter the Snake's gardens.
Kaz opened the doors, standing still for a moment as a warm breeze washes over them. The sun shone down on the gardens, sending soft beams of light dancing over the flowers and the trees. Many are more recognizable to Will, but some are strange. Fae flowers, magic things that glitter and shine, shaped fantastically. "These are the gardens."
Will's eyes blow wide. The scenery- the flowers, the trees, the grasses and the small stream- it's all so- "It's beautiful," he says aloud, barely a whisper. He finds his stare on the willow tree. "A willow-" Unconsciously, Will leaves Kaz's side. The soft, hanging branches of the tree curl around his fingers as he reaches out. A small smile tugs at his lips. He allows his hold on his magic to loosen. Flowers turn their faces, the reeds lean, the grass flutters in an invisible breeze - all of it pointing towards Will. God, how long has it been since he's been around so many beautiful lifeforms? The willow curls further down his arm, even lightly wrapping around his torso - like an odd embrace.
Kaz watched Will quietly, his gaze soft as he studied the way the young man walked through the gardens, watching the way the flowers turned towards him. He didn't speak, just cleared his throat faintly and watched. The gardens were lovely, they really were. All the flowers were meticulously taken care of, kept carefully sculpted to look lovely and perfectly put together.
An unexpected laugh breaks through his lips as the willow continues to coil around his arm. To be frank, Will has never seen a weeping willow quite like this before. The leaves - while still maintaining their classic shape - seem to curl faintly at the end. They whisper in the breeze, their color edging on gold. He wraps his fingers in the vines, channelling his energy into controlling the branches and then- A full laugh echoes through the garden as the tree pulls Will up into the tall, warping branches. His feet touch down on the thick bark of a near-horizontal limb. His free hand bolts out to steady himself against the main trunk. "It's beautiful-" He whispers, staring through the hanging branches into the rest of the garden.
Kaz took a few steps down the garden path, keeping an eye on Will. There were no other Fae in sight; the gardens were empty save for the two of them and the soft breeze. Kaz's gaze remained on the human in the tree, his own fingers brushing lightly against the flower's petals. They did not react to his touch, simply rustled faintly as the breeze shifted them.
Will slowly makes his way down the branch, arms splayed out wide to keep his balance. He used to do this as a child, bolt from his house to the woods to the magnificent treetops - only to be lectured by his mother on the dangers of the forest afterwards. Over time, Will learned to be subtler with his uncanny abilities, learned to hide his gifts and curses behind a mask of normalcy. After all, his home village doesn't take well to magic wielders.
Once he gets to the end of the limb, Will uses a hanging branch above him for balance as he stares into the rest of the gardens. Colors and greenery, all of it meshing beaurifully like an oil pastel painting. He's never seen anything like it. Taking a slow breath, Will falls from the branch, letting the leaves and vines of the weeping willow carry him back down to safety.
Kaz tensed slightly when Will fell, then relaxed as the leaves and vines lowered him to the ground. He didn't say anything about that jolt of fear, though, simply exhaled and looked away from Will, gaze moving around the gardens. "You may come back here later, Will. There are other places to show you before we part ways for a while." not forever, which was likely to Will's disappointment.
Will's smile falters as he rejoins Kaz on the main path, soon enough falling away all together. His eyes naturally avert themselves, instead following the curves of the shrubbery or the draping of the vines instead of paying any mind to the Snake. I could live here. No need to see the rest of the palace. He wants to say, but instead bites his tongue. "Fine." He ends up muttering.
Kaz turned back towards the palace. The palace was a tall, lovely thing, reaching towards the sky with thin, pale towers. It really was a beautiful palace, though Will might see it as something more frightening than lovely. He opened those glassy doors, holding one open so that Will could go inside.
Sparing one last look at the gardens, Will reluctantly re-enters the palace. Near instantly, the flowers return to their regular placement, the odd sense of rejuvenated life draining from them as the wide glass doors close behind Will. "How many species were in there?" Will, against his better judgement, finds himself inquiring. "Are any of them…" He trails off trying to find the right word. "Magic?"
Kaz looked over at Will, considering the question and taking in a breath as he tried to figure out how best to answer. "None are…well, it depends on what you mean by magic. Many would not be recognizable, but they are perfectly normal plants in this world." he said slowly. "Do you mean if they have any special abilities?"