"I killed Supreme Guardian Cocolia, and I cannot bear keeping that nugget of truth trapped inside my mind any longer. She didn't save Belobog, she, in fact, was nearly responsible for its destruction. The Stellaron warped her mind and turned her against us, and we fought her fiercely to end the misery that the Stellaron had caused. She was not the hero, and every action she has done up until now has only caused suffering for the people of Belobog. I've been told that people cannot handle the truth, but I cannot handle keeping this lie either, do whatever the hell you want with this information. I couldn't care less."
I turned off the recording and sighed, scratching my head. I peeked outside of my room to see if anyone was listening in before looking back at my phone and playing back the recording. The temptation was strong to just post it and not think about the consequences until they caught up to me but... I wasn't sure if I could handle discrediting Bronya like that. I didn't agree with what she did but we were still friends, and this would tear her Guardianship apart. Still, I felt that no matter what, the truth needed to be told, I just needed time to get myself ready. With that, I lazily tossed my phone aside and jumped into bed. I'll think some more about what to do with it when I woke up.
Time passed, and I eventually woke up, getting up from my bed and stretching a little. I sleepily started looking for my phone to finally handle the matter of that video log.
"Caelus, did you check your phone!?" March 7th exclaimed as she slammed the door open.
"W-Why?" I asked as I was feeling around my bed, finding my phone under the sheets and turning it on. My blood ran cold as I received multiple messages from everyone on Belobog from texts, to mentions, to posts tagging me. What the hell was going on?
"Here, look!" March said as she showed me her screen and a chill ran up my spine as I saw that very same video log I recorded playing on social media receiving millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes, comments, and reposts. The post in question was by an anonymous user, with the caption "The plot thickens on Jarilo-VI"
"What the hell is that video doing online? I didn't even-" I rushed to check my phone and my account. I posted nothing like it online. So how did-
"So you MADE it!? Caelus what were you-"
"I made it, yes! Can we move past that!?" I yelled back, my outburst March recoil. "Now I want to know who the fuck posted it?"
"Caelus." Someone behind me called.
I turned to see the worried expressions of Welt and Himeko gazing into me from outside my room. I sighed in resignation and followed them to the dining room, where everyone was waiting. All eyes were on me as I kept myself guarded with a scowl, waiting for an incoming lecture.
"Now, Caelus, it's not that I disagree with what you did but I feel like this method was incredibly reckless."
"But I didn't post it!" I retorted. "I promise you, I was taking more time to deliberate it. You can check, I was asleep the whole time this was happening."
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"He's not wrong, Mr. Yang." Dan Heng chimed in. "He wasn't online the whole time this occurred, it couldn't have been him who circulated it."
"But that still does leave the question of why you made the video," Himeko added.
"Why else? I have my own convictions, you have yours. I didn't like it one bit when Bronya said we needed to hide the truth from the people, and I had to let it out somehow. I don't like lies, plain and simple, and this was just a big fucking one."
"But Caelus, she said it was for the sake of stability, the people of Belobog needed a hope to cling onto!" March retorted though she was just clearly parroting the nonsense that Bronya was letting loose.
"So all that stuff about "we can persevere without help from the Stellaron" was bullshit then?" I countered.
"I mean..." March scratched her head.
"I see where you're coming from, but Bronya wanted to preserve a good memory of the Supreme Guardian, having revealed that might have reduced the people's trust in the government."
"So humanity can fight off an interstellar threat without the Stellaron but not handle the brass tacks about its 'beloved' Supreme Guardian? Bullshit." I said bluntly. "The people of Belobog aren't fucking children. What Cocolia was doing to them before we even arrived was plain as day. What about those people in the underground, what about those soldiers who died fighting the Fragmentum, what about people like Serval disowned and disgraced by Cocolia over disagreements, do we just forget about what they went through to 'preserve' the memory of this absolute bitch and pretend like it was all for a noble cause when the Stellaron was playing her like a fiddle from the fucking start?"
And just like that, no one had a coherent response. I kicked back and placed my feet on the table.
"See, none of you can justify what happened here. I'm sorry this happened but I'm not fucking apologizing for what I've said."
"Well said, Trailblazer," A digital voice called out as a hologram of Silver Wolf materialized in front of me.
My eyes squinted as I put two and two together. "You, you're the one who put it online."
"Oh, I expected you to be a little more grateful than that, helping you get the truth and all..." Silver Wolf mock pouted at me.
I slammed my fist onto the table, glaring at her. "You and your fucking... Why!?"
"Oh please, don't act like you're the helpless victim here. You know deep down that you wanted me to post that everywhere."
I clenched my teeth but didn't say anything.
"Face it, you didn't record that video for no reason at all, you wanted it to get out sooner or later. So might as well rip off the band-aid instead of waffling about on the decision," Silver Wolf shrugged.
"But what's your stake in this?" Dan Heng sharply asked, with Silver Wolf laughing.
"Me? I just like chaos and I'm looking forward to seeing how your noble Trailblazer responds. I'm sure he won't disappoint." Silver Wolf smiled at me before dematerializing, as I sat back down and slumped into my chair.
"So... What should we do?' March asked uneasily.
I checked my phone to see my messages still popping, sighing. "I confront the consequences of my actions."
I look toward Pom-Pom, who had mostly been sullen for the entire conversation. "Could you take me to Jarilo-VI?"
He nodded as we all moved to the parlor car to get ready to trailblaze. The atmosphere was thick and tense, and I could tell no one was really eager to speak with me. Whatever. I was just going to get this over with. March sat beside me, though I just stayed and sulked.
"...You okay, Caelus?"
"What do you think?" I asked her dryly.
"You want to talk about it?" She asked.
"What is there to talk about, we've all said our piece, and apparently you all believe I'm in the wrong, so whatever."
"It's not that we don't agree but... are you really sure about this? This could cause a lot of trouble for everyone, a lot of people might get mad..."
"And I'll take full responsibility for it. Whatever comes, but I'm not going back now." I said as I twiddled my thumbs, waiting with anxiety as the countdown toward the consequences of my actions began.