henri's august cdc tracker

[madster]

1. loyalty
word count : 530 words

Spoiler:

loyalty. it was a word henri was familiar with. loyalty was important to him, although not in the traditional sense. he was not loyal to atbash, or snowbound, or any clan. he was loyal to the church and was only in snowbound to spread his gospel, after all. the church had raised him, fed him, and took care of him. he was loyal to his father, andras leonidas, the founder of the church. andras was dead now, and henri knew he'd one day meet the same fate as his own dad, for andras was loyal to belial. belial was henri's savior, the real king of hell and the prince of revolution. he symbolized freedom and loyalty to a cause that henri could understand.

loyalty meant more to henri than a simple devotion to a group of cats living in the middle of nowhere. a lot of clan members weren't willing to die for the clan, but henri was willing to lay down his life for belial or the church. in fact, he was expected to- one day, he'd get a message from belial that told him to kill himself, and henri would willingly plunge that dagger into his chest that second. he was too loyal, almost- he was loyal to somebody who didn't exist on this corporeal plane. nobody had ever met belial- he was just a figurehead, perhaps, but henri was sure he could hear him in his head. belial spoke to him, in a strange and confusing cipher, but henri could translate it. he was destined to be belial's great prophet, to be the new savior of the warring clans.

however, belial was not the only man he was loyal to. recently, henri found a new devotion- the officer in the typhoon, caesar cipher. he had no idea what he looked like but had fallen in love with him based on actions alone. he had never felt that way before and he was slightly ashamed of it, even, to be feeling this way for another male. caesar made him feel things he never felt before and henri found more passion in writing letters to him than he ever found doing work for the church. was he falling behind in his religion? was caesar his new god? he wasn't sure and he didn't like thinking about it. if prompted, henri would gladly kill atbash for caesar, so perhaps he worshiped him too. caesar painted himself as an aggressive, rude individual who cared for nothing but violence, but through their letters, henri could see the real caesar. caesar could be sweet and sensitive if he wanted to, and he felt caesar cared about him. perhaps not to the extent that henri cared about him, but he wanted caesar to feel the same way. he over-analyzed every word, every paragraph caesar wrote to him, hoping for some sort of sign that caesar loved him too. he was loyal to caesar, surely, but he wasn't exactly loyal to the typhoon. he cared little about clans themselves.

he was loyal to his religion, and to belial and his father... but more importantly, loyal to what he truly believed in, and that was caesar.