[ The chess pieces on the ground catch the light from the fluorescents in interesting angles, and that is where Durandal's gaze is drawn now. The board has been wiped clean, literally and figuratively. He's asking Rau to start over in death, so logically it should follow that he needs to offer the same readiness.

(He's not entirely certain he can. There's a significant part of him that, once questioned, wants to collect his pawns from the floor and return to the game. He hasn't won yet. He hates leaving without winning.)

But when Rey unleashes his last comment, as casual as it is pointed, Durandal's lips quirk into a lopsided smile. ]

I won't apologize for that. I'm quite proud of him.

[ Acknowledging defeat is hard, except for where it is so very easy. Rey could have done anything to him and Gil would have never thought to be angry.

He turns his head back to Rau and exhales softly.

There are counter-arguments he could make to Rau's position. The world as is remains a world that allows for mistaken paths. Just because Rau and Rey may have an identical ideal function does not mean that the circumstances of their lives didn't push them away from it, but...

Maybe the fact that he loves both of them so dearly, with all their differences (because of all their differences), is the greater damnation of his ideals in the end. ]

He grew to believe in a future neither of us can see. Perhaps foolish, but I won't reprimand him for it.