Codex Entry: Leaving Argyria

tba desc and how to get relevant characters Ezra August

## Entry contents

"Leaving Argyria"

> August walks full-pelt towards the door and shoves it open with a firm palm, grateful for the fresh air that hits their face, fills their lungs. Their cheeks are hot, heart thrumming frantically in their chest, and they need to quell this burning, building rage before it consumes them.
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> Anger, pain, jealousy; all swirling around like a vortex in their mind as a quiet and utterly too-polite voice rings out behind them.
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> "Gus, I'm sorry! I didn't.. I didn-"
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> "Didn't what?" They spit, caught off-guard by wide, earnest green eyes as they turn.
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> *Always so bloody earnest.*
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> Ezra looks up at them, and August notices that he's getting taller by the day, slowly becoming the person August always pretended they could be.
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> They straighten their shirt, nostrils flaring as they compose themselves. "You don't even try, do you?"
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> Ezra doesn't respond, doesn't understand, but he follows them dutifully as they head for the garden, sitting quietly on the bench beside them, that stupid leather-bound notebook that he's never seen without clutched tightly in his fingers.
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> They sit in silence, and every now and again August will feel those eyes looking up at him, and they wonder what they'll find if they meet his gaze, what the young apprentice feels.
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> Admiration? Awe? It used to be both, but August has made damn sure that he changes his mind, those feelings faltering, fading, if not completely faded.
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> Now it's probably pity. Yes, *pity* seems about right.
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> They think back to the times when they'd walk him to school, always teetering on the edge of annoyance when Ezra wouldn't shut up about the latest incantation he'd mastered, or the complicated potion he'd brewed, but the fear of the boy overtaking them was never there. He was just a child, of course, always more than a few safe steps behind August and their talents. So what changed?
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> *He's better than you. He's younger, and he doesn't even try.*
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> "You're brilliant, Ezra, and I'm..."
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> Ezra rests a warm hand upon August's arm, tries his hardest to catch his gaze, dipping his chin. "You are too, Gus. I've always looked up to you, learned from you." He drops his gaze "I don't know what I've done wrong."
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> August scoffs, rolls their eyes, pulling their arm free of his touch a little rougher than is necessary. “I’m leaving. I'm done here, I can't listen to one more person say how disappointed they are in me.”
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> They stand, and Ezra stands with them, waits by their side expectantly, like the lost little puppy he always has been, always will be, too bloody nice for his own good.
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> "Gus, please don't leave. I still have so much to learn from you. Where will you go?" They roll their eyes at that, knowing that they have nothing more to offer this young witch.
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> *I'm going to join the Enforcers. I'm going to be better, to make myself worth something. To matter.*
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> "I don't know, I'll find some other boring little town to settle in, I suppose," they sigh, staring anywhere else but at Ezra, feeling a pang of guilt, knowing those emerald eyes will be rimmed with tears, edged with sadness. "Just not here."
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> They finally turn to face the young witch, wondering how things might have been were they not so selfish, so utterly transfixed with being better, faster, stronger. "I wish you well, Ezra."
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> Before Ezra can open his mouth to respond, August is gone, a mere silhouette amongst white rose bushes, shoulders fixed, head held high, but inside they're screaming.
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> *Goodbye, old friend.*
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