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iatethepomegranate · 3 years

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We are not alone in the dark with our demons, Chapter 17

In which Caleb buys a house in Rexxentrum with Beau and Yasha, becomes a professor, learns to be a person separate from the trauma that shaped his life for so long, and begins the arduous process of preventing what happened to him from happening to anyone else. It gets far more personal than even he could have anticipated.

Content warnings: Caleb's backstory (especially references to abuse and grooming), referenced deaths of family members, near-dissociation, near-panic attacks

Chapter summary: Caleb tries to make some positive decisions for himself and reaches out to Felix to teach him a spell (and help him cope).

Chapter notes: Chapter title is from Silhouette by Sleeping At Last

*****

Chapter 17: It must be so hard, in the mess you’re always cleaning up, to believe in the ghost of unbroken love.

Caleb and Essek dropped Caduceus at the Grove after breakfast the next morning. They would be picking him up again the day after next, along with the rest of the Nein, but any time he could spend with his family was to be treasured.

They then teleported into Beau and Yasha’s side of the house in Rexxentrum. Caleb had begun the process of putting a new teleportation circle in his laboratory, but it would take time, even with Essek’s help.

Yasha peered out from the kitchen. “Hello! You just missed Beau.” She looked at Caleb, who had slept poorly until he had given in and polymorphed himself into a cat, and swept both him and Essek into a tight hug. He liked this side of her, less concerned about making a social fuckup and just doing what felt right.

Essek awkwardly patted her back. “Hello, Yasha.”

She let them go. “Oh, Caleb! I’ll get the note. Give me a moment.” She ran upstairs, thundering around the upper floor.

Essek set a pouch of Xhorhassian spices and fried bugs from the region on the kitchen table; he had gotten lucky at the market yesterday. The peaceful conclusion of the war had freed up trade, allowing a better variety of goods to be found, especially in port cities such as Nicodranas. This also meant Essek had been able to stock up on a few hair and skincare products that were hard to find outside Rosohna. He had insisted on picking up a few products for Caleb as well. Caleb was still a little unused to being clean, let alone having a skincare routine.

Yasha pelted back downstairs and passed Caleb a little scrap of paper. “Here.”

“Danke.” Feeling the high quality of the paper between his fingers, Caleb suspected Nico had torn this piece from his own spellbook. Caleb made plans to leave some paper and ink lying around downstairs in case Nico came again while everyone was out. For now, he committed Nico’s handwriting to memory and stashed the note between the pages of his new journal. Then, he reached into his pocket and handed Yasha its twin. “For you. I thought… maybe it was time we collect happier memories.”

Yasha accepted the leather-bound journal, slightly smaller than her old one so she could keep it on her person with ease. His was identical. “Thank you, Caleb. This is a lovely gift.” She held the leather to her nose and inhaled deeply. She chuckled. “It smells like the ocean.”

“Ja, for now.” He hadn’t told the Nein what his old journal had held. But, if nothing else, the soft look on Yasha’s face confirmed she understood it was tied to his past, much like hers had been. He wasn’t sure he would ever tell the Nein, aside from Essek, what he had truly planned with the letters and the T-Dock. He was sure Beauregard suspected, and possibly Veth, and he was certain the rest, especially Caduceus, had caught on that he was headed down a self-destructive path. But Caleb had made the decision not to pursue it. Unveiling that now would upset them, and he had upset them enough. And Caleb preferred to keep that chapter of his life shut, lest he fall into temptation again.

It was time to look forward, as much as he was capable. As much as the current circumstances would allow him. The past would always have a hold on him, but he could choose to let it guide him towards making things better instead of breaking the world to undo what had already been done.

On that front, he had promised to pay Felix a visit, and Essek had burned his teleportation spells so Caleb still had his free for the day.

***

Caleb landed alone in Blumenthal. His breath still seized in his chest at the sight. He pressed a hand to his sternum and gulped down air until the world stopped spinning. He wondered, a little frantically, whether this would ever get easier. And then the panic passed, and he could breathe again.

He checked in with the gravekeeper, who confirmed they were holding off on the Baumanns’ funeral for a few more days in case Nico was willing and able to attend. He passed on the news that Nico had made a small amount of contact, and Caleb willed himself to exude what quiet optimism he could manage.

The gravekeeper was an elderly widow who had been tending the Blumenthal graves for as long as Caleb could remember. She knew him, of course, and that was unnerving as always. But he was trying to stay calm about the people of Blumenthal knowing the professor visiting Felix had once been Bren, son of Una and Leofric Ermundrud. It was hard, though, knowing there were at least a few neighbourhoods who could make the connection between what happened to the Baumanns, and what happened to the Ermendruds. They had not stated outright at any point that Nico had killed his parents, but the more people who knew about what happened, the more people were likely to suspect the truth. And, of course, the Schneiders knew. Caleb didn’t want the townspeople to think of Nico that way; he was going through enough. Caleb wasn’t sure how he felt about himself, only that there was a weight in his guts that intensified whenever he thought about it too much.

Caleb made one last stop before meeting Felix. He was here anyway, and he had not visited his parents since he had buried the letters with them. So he picked his way through the winding cemetery. It was easy to find his parents again, now that he had been here once.

“Hallo,” he said quietly, kneeling in the grass before their paired gravestones. His last visit hadn’t been that long ago, really, but he had been so swaddled in his grief that it had been hard to think straight. He pulled out the new book and rested it on his knee. “A lot has happened since I last came. I have a house now, in Rexxentrum, and a job teaching at Soltryce Academy. I’m going to stop what happened to me, and the both of you, from happening to anyone else. Best I can, anyway. Mixed success so far.” An inappropriate chuckle escaped him. “It’s… strange. Seeing these young boys, Felix and Nico, who had been set on the same path I had walked. We stopped Felix before he could… but I wasn’t fast enough to save Nico’s parents. I am… doing what I can now. They are both so young. Children, really. And, well, you know children that age rarely feel like children. I didn’t. I think Trent exploited that.”

He let the quiet wash over him. A light, fresh breeze played against his face. Most residents of Blumenthal were probably hard at work right now. This was a farming town, after all.

He remembered the journal on his knee. “Oh, and I have a new book now. This one is for happy memories. Nico left me a thank you note; I suppose that’s the first one. He’s not… he needs time. But I am starting to believe we can help him. I’m… I think that scares me. I understand what he’s going through better than most, but… this is a huge responsibility. I hope I don’t fuck it up. Sorry, mother. I would blame my new friends, but, in truth, I’ve always had a mouth on me. My friends are very cool, though. I think you would have liked them. Well, jury’s out on Beauregard, but she grows on you. Maybe I’ll tell you about our adventures next time I visit. Well, some of them. From Trostenwald, to Xhorhas, to a floating flesh city, to a Rexxentrum courtroom... we had a big year. And it’s because of them that I can bear talking to you like this.”

A tiny thought, right at the back of Caleb’s head, suggested he should bring the Nein next time. Or maybe one or two of them. Nine people clustered around a pair of graves sounded like a lot.

Caleb wanted to stay longer, but he had to check on Felix. He sighed, and pushed himself to his feet. “I will return, I promise. I will not leave you for as long as I did the first time. I love you both.”

He stepped away while he still had the will to do so. The grief was there, but he felt in control of it. For now, at least. And there was a family that needed him.

***

Louise Schneider was tending the vegetable patch in front of the house, while Friedrich knelt by a wooden cart, replacing a damaged wheel. Caleb fought off nausea at the sight of the cart; it looked just like the one his parents had owned. That… was fine. He was fine. Blumenthal-standard cart. The things were everywhere.

Louse set her trowel aside, sitting back on her heels. “Hallo… Caleb?” She was, evidently, struggling a bit to figure out what she was supposed to call him.

“Ja, hallo.” His voice was a little rough, but steady.

“Felix is in his room.” Louise wiped her brow with the back of her glove. “He’s been a little… reclusive.”

Sensing this conversation was going to take more than a few seconds, Caleb sat in the grass with her. “Okay, talk to me. How is he? And how are the two of you?”

Louise huffed a short, rueful laugh. “It is hard to tell how your child is feeling when he barely talks to you.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” Caleb said, as gently as he sensed she would tolerate. “My situation was not like Felix’s, but I can understand a little. It’s… not a comfortable feeling to know that all the love in the world is not enough to… to…” He breathed. “All I know is that I have grappled with the guilt of my actions for a long time, and the fact we were able to get to him before it went that far… it does not erase the shame. It is an ugly thing, to face yourself, to face the person you have become, even if you were manipulated and abused and brainwashed to become that person.”

“What the fuck are we supposed to do?” she whispered.

“Love him. Show him you are there for him, in whatever way he can bear.”

Louise gazed back at the house. “But if love wasn’t enough…”

“It takes time,” Caleb told her. “You can’t measure it, or count it. Time looks different for all of us. But with your support, it will be easier for him to come to terms with what happened to him, and to understand he is not a bad person for the things he was persuaded to do, and almost did… easier than it is for me. You have to remember, Frau Schneider, that those of us in the Volstrucker program thought we were serving our country, and we were honoured to do it.”

“We thought the same,” Louise murmured. “When Felix was chosen for the program…” She sighed. “I told Master Ikithon to do whatever it took to help him be what the Empire needed.”

The ground was unsteady beneath Caleb, and he was relieved to be sitting down. “My mother and father felt the same, if Ikithon spoke true. He usually does.” A wave of pettiness overcame him, and he chuckled. “Did. That is why it is so difficult to process. He rarely lied to us outright. And we thought we had a choice. We did, to a degree. We chose to serve, and we thought we had to endure what he put us through and what he asked us to do… so we could serve our country.”

“What do you now believe?”

“I believe there are good people in the Empire,” said Caleb. “There are things worth preserving. The child abuse and murder of innocent Empire citizens are not among of them.” He was getting distracted, so he steered his thoughts back in their original direction. “Now is the time Felix needs you most. The biggest thing that has helped me is knowing there are people who care about me and value me, even when I don’t care about myself.”

“We’re trying,” said Louise. “Thank you. He should be in his room, if you’d like to talk to him.”

“Ja, I will. He has been working on a Transmutation spell, which happens to be my specialty.” Caleb pushed himself to his feet, straightening his coat. “And, Louise?”

“Ja?”

“We were children a long time ago,” he said. “And my memories of Blumenthal are too… complicated to linger on, but I remember your kindness. And I have seen your love for your son. You are a good mother. Remember that, and extend that same kindness to yourself, ja?”

Louise picked up her trowel, her movements slow as if through water. “Danke.”

Caleb moved towards the house, exchanging a wave with Friedrich. The front door was open, so he stepped through. The house only had one storey, so he moved past the living area to a short, thin hallway. One door was open, revealing a wide bed for two people. He knocked on the other door.

“What?” said Felix, voice tinged with adolescent irritation that brought back a fuckton of memories for Caleb, of studying in his bedroom until his mother interrupted to coax him down for a meal. It ached, but bearably so.

“It’s Caleb. May I come in?”

“Ja, I guess.”

Caleb turned the knob and slowly pushed, poking his head through first. Felix was sitting on the wooden floor, beside a low bed made from a rough timber frame. His spellbook lay on the floor in front of him, but it was seemingly open to a random page, and Felix’s hair was mussed as if he had just been lying down. On the floor, if Caleb were to guess.

“Would you like some good news?” Caleb said, stepping inside. He shut the door, leaning against it while he awaited Felix’s response.

“That would make a nice change,” Felix said flatly.

Caleb sat on the floor in front of him and pulled out his new book, removing Nico’s note and handing it to Felix. “Nico visited my home while it was empty the other day. He left this.”

Felix scanned the note with careful, controlled slowness. He passed it back, staring sightlessly at the pages of his book.

“He also responded to a Sending,” Caleb continued. “Only to tell me he did not wish to talk, but that is progress. Has he spoken to you?”

“Nein,” Felix said quietly. There was a heaviness to his posture, and he seemed to lack the energy to express himself with his face or voice. Aside from that singular spike of irritation when Caleb had knocked.

“Well, it appears he is listening. If you can bear it, I would suggest you keep talking to him.”

“Ja, okay.” The Felix in front of him was a far cry from the Felix in his messages. Exhausted, flattened… defeated, in some ways. Beaten down and ready to give up. Caleb knew the feeling well. It was why he had been messaging Felix so frequently, knowing that he had no one else who could understand what he had been through. What he had almost done.

It would have been easy enough to talk about the Fly spell and let him have a distraction, but they had things to discuss first. It was better to end their meeting today on a positive note, rather than give him a reprieve now and drag him back to earth later.

“I spoke to your mother,” Caleb said, sitting with the guilt of not giving Felix the distraction he sorely needed. Not yet.

Felix huffed quietly. “Was it a useful conversation? Mine haven’t been.”

“I have the luxury of not being family,” Caleb replied. “I can tell her things that you never would.”

Felix snorted. “Right.”

“She says you’re becoming a recluse.”

Felix shrugged.

“Why is that?”

“What am I supposed to say?” Felix muttered, and Caleb got the sense he probably would have snapped at him, had he the energy. “I know they’re afraid of me.”

“I don’t think they are, Felix.”

“Doesn’t matter. I was going to kill them, and I would’ve succeeded. I know that. They know that.”

“I don’t think they’re worried about that right now.”

“Then they’re stupid.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say about your parents, Felix.”

“Murder also isn’t nice, but I was going to do that anyway.” Felix flipped through the pages of his spellbook until he landed on one Caleb recognised: the formula for Fireball. “Push the cart in front of the door, throw one of these fuckers into the house, or maybe a Lightning Bolt would’ve looked like a freak accident.” Having not expected this, Caleb had to fight a wave of nausea and grasp tightly to the present, and hoped it didn’t show on his face; this wasn’t about him or his bullshit. “Hadn’t decided. Whatever. If I aimed right, it would be over quickly. If not… it would be over eventually. Nico had similar plans, which apparently worked.” Felix’s fingers spasmed on the page, as if resisting the urge to tear it. “If my mother and father do not fear me, they have deluded themselves into thinking I’m innocent. Makes a certain kind of sense, I suppose. I never could tell them what Trent had us do. I have nothing to say to them. I see no point trying to comfort them when they should be afraid of me. They should not want me here.”

Felix was spiralling. Badly. Caleb was out of his depth, and his brain was not turning as efficiently as it usually did, on a knife’s edge of whether to stay present or dissociate entirely. But he had to do something.

“Would you like to guess where I have been today?” Caleb asked. “It’s here in Blumenthal.”

Felix shrugged. “I hate guessing games.”

“I visited my mother and father. Spoke to them for a while.”

Confusion furrowed Felix’s brow for a moment, before he looked up, understanding. “Can’t imagine they were very talkative.”

Caleb’s laugh surprised both of them. “You’re not wrong. Rather one-sided. But maybe they can hear me.”

Felix continued to take the bait. “Fine. I’ll bite. What did you talk about?”

“Life updates. I have only visited once before, a few months ago, and that was more… intense. And, well, since then, I’ve hit several personal milestones I wanted to tell them about.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I am about to guilt-trip you into speaking to your living parents.”

“Oh, fuck you.” There was no aggression behind it, merely exhausted resignation, as if Felix already knew Caleb had the upper hand.

“I am not expecting you to bare your soul to them,” Caleb said. “I understand the impulse to hold back and I do not wish to deny you your privacy. But, it is very easy for people like us to get caught in our heads, and it can be difficult to pull ourselves out of it without help.”

“And if I don’t want to have to look at them and remember I was going to fucking kill them?”

“You seem to remember that well enough without seeing their faces.”

Felix shoved his face into his hands, sighing loudly. “I don’t know what I would even talk about. We have nothing in common anymore.”

“I’ve always found admitting I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing is very helpful.”

Felix snorted.

“And I do not agree that you have nothing in common.” Caleb didn’t try to make Felix look at him. If this were one of the Nein, he probably would have gotten obnoxiously in the way until they couldn’t ignore him, like Jester, Veth and even sometimes Essek had been known to do for him. But, with Felix, his words would have to be enough. “You have told me you love them, and they clearly love you. There is a lot of common ground there.”

“What common ground?” Felix curled more deeply inward with the gravity of defeat. “I cared more about some bullshit Trent put in my head than how much I love my parents.”

This was far more familiar territory to Caleb. “You are not alone in that, Felix. I loved my mother and father. And I killed them just the same. Trent exploited our patriotism to isolate us from our families and tie our worth to serving the empire, to serving him. And by having us kill our families based on a lie, one of the only lies he ever told us, he could ensure we had no one else to support us. That we would not believe we deserved better, even if we learned he had modified our memories. He wanted us to have nothing else but him. Did he pull that ‘we are family’ bullshit with you?”

Felix dropped his hands, snickering bitterly. “Ja. All the time.”

“Creepy, ja?”

Felix kept laughing quietly.

“He invited me to a ‘family reunion’ with him, Astrid and Eadwulf a few months ago,” said Caleb. “My friends came with me. Do you remember Caduceus?” Felix nodded. “He told Trent he was a fool, and that no one loves him.”

Felix scoffed. “You’re lying.”

“I am paraphrasing. He did call Trent a fool, but what he said about love was… wait, let me quote this exactly. I have this burned into my memory forever.” Caleb cleared his throat, and did not attempt to mimic Caduceus’s voice because he was awful at accents, but he quoted: “He said, ‘I think it has been a long time since anyone has pointed out to you that you're a fool. Pain doesn't make people, it's love that makes people. The pain is inconsequential. It's love that saves them. And you would know that, but you have none around you. You said so yourself, you surround yourself with lies and deceptions. And I wish for you, in the future, to find someone who will mourn you when you are gone. Respectfully.’ And then Trent left.”

“Okay, two things,” said Felix. “First of all, Caduceus is cooler than you. Second, your memory is terrifying and I am rethinking every word I have ever said to you.”

“Caduceus is very cool, ja. And the memory is a blessing and a curse for me and everyone around me. I also have a very good sense of time, and I have used it to annoy the shit out of my friends.”

“Nerd.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“Fuck off.”

Caleb chuckled. “Back to my original point. Trent is a piece of shit. He wanted us to believe we chose to follow him, ja, but the choice was false. He wanted us to believe we did not deserve better. Even now that we are free from him, it is not easy to break that conditioning. Our minds are more fragile than we like to think, ja?”

“Ja, I guess.” The momentary brightness faded from Felix’s expression, and the heaviness returned.

“And an important step in countering that is to reach out to the people who care about you.”

Felix slammed his spellbook shut, hiding the Fireball spell from view. “And if I don’t want to?”

“Let me ask a question in return. What do you want?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you so sure you do not want to repair your relationship with your parents?”

Felix groaned softly. “Did you have to word it like that? Of course I…” His voice dropped to a murmur. “Arschloch.”

“Then, is the problem less about what you want, or don’t want, and more about what you think you deserve?” Caleb had far too much experience in feeling that way.

“Fuck you, Caleb.” Felix scrambled to his feet, hugging the spellbook to his chest. “Are you going to teach me this spell, or did you just plan on lecturing me all day?”

Ah. There was the limit. “All right, I’ve said my piece.” Caleb got up. “You said you’ve transcribed the spell?”

“Ja. I just… it’s not an easy spell to practice.”

“I know. Shall we go outside? We will need space for this.”

#shadowgast #caleb widogast #critical role #cr2 #fanfiction #my fics #the pomegranate's professor widogast fic

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jtsfavslut · 4 years

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Stages[2/6]

Description: In which a girl goes through six stages to realize and accept the fact that her marriage is going downhill.

Stage Two: Anger

- Stages 1

- Stages 3

Description: Yeimy is upset, but only at herself. All she’s feeling is anger for being blind, and letting Grayson step all over her.

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2.2k+

You clenched your fists as you looked at time that was displayed on the stainless steel stove in your kitchen. He was three hours late, yet you hadn’t received a single phone call during the entire day. Usually, if he was staying late he would’ve called you to let you know, but he didn’t so you busted your ass in the kitchen to make him dinner only to have it placed in a tupperware container and placed in the fridge until he decided to come home.

You’ve been feeling like that all day. After getting woken up by his loud voice because he couldn’t find his belt, you wondered why he was going to work almost two hours early and coming home three hours late.

The thoughts and questions angered you. Maybe because you knew the answer, but that wasn’t the answer you were looking for so you decided to push it away. It angered you that you’ve been feeling sick and throwing up all day, yet you pushed through and made him his favorite dinner only for him to not come home on time.

It angered you that the only thing you could think about was Grayson being unfaithful to you.

And it angered you that you knew he was staying loyal to her. He won’t kiss you on the lips anymore, he’ll sometimes kiss you cheek before he goes to work, or on the forehead when he comes back. Or when he says an ‘I love you’ that you know doesn’t mean shit to him anymore.

You slammed the fridge’s door and made your way to the couch where you watched TV until you heard the gates unlock and the sound of his Tesla make its way inside the garage.

“Hi angel,” he said, walking inside and throwing his keys on a smile table next to the front door.

“Hi, dinner is on the table. I think you know how to heat it up don't you?” you spat turning off the tv and making your way upstairs to your room.

You noticed how cold and strange the room felt. The bed was perfectly made from the morning, and your night stand was dust free. Your wedding picture catches your eye. It was your favorite out of all the pictures. Grayson’s hands were tightly wrapped around your waist, while yours were wrapped around his shoulder, and you looked into eachothers eyes. It was taken right before you threw your bouquet into the air, which Karina managed to catch.

“Angel are you ok?” Grayson said standing on the doorway. His voice caught you by surprise making you drop the frame on the floor and the glass to shatter all over the floor.

“I’m fine, just a tad sick. Now if you excuse me, I have to clean this up,” you said signaling to the broken picture frame. You angrily pushed past him and made your way to the kitsch to get the broom.

You angrily sweep the glass up, taking out the picture and placing it on your nightstand, until you could find another frame. That was if it was even worth it putting it up.

“Hey angel, have you seen my black louis shoes? I can’t find them anywhere.” Grayson asked standing infront of you while you were laying on the couch watching How To Get Away With Murder, the only thing you’ve been doing for the past two hours or so.

“I haven’t seen them ever since you went on that weekend business trip last month,” you carelessly replied emphasizing on the business trip part. Mainly because you knew it was yet another lie.

“Are you upset? Did I do something?” he asked you, making you roll your eyes and scoff.

“The question is what haven’t you done Grayson.” You spat and rolled your eyes yet again at his confused state.

“You go to work two hours early but then come back home three hours late, which I don’t understand how but then again who the fuck knows what you do in that office. I stay here, como una puta idiota, waiting for you to come home, I cook, I clean, I do everything and lately I’ve been by myself. You’re constantly telling me lies but when I say something you pull the ‘are you questioning me card’ and I'm sick and tired of it,” you said getting p from the couch and walking towards the kitchen while he stood in the living room like an idiot.

“You forgot our anniversary last week, Grayson. And honestly I don’t know what’s going on with you or what you’re going through, but I hope you can get your shit straight and not waist my fucking time.” You added while aggressively opening the kitchen cabinets looking for your coffee cup.

“And don’t bother waiting for me tonight, I’ll be with Karina and Ethan. Maybe you can hang out with the boys since you haven’t done that in a while,” you sarcastically said before giving up on looking for your cup and going to your room to get ready.

If you weren’t mad before, then Grayson not replying and letting you go like that was sending you through the roof. Did he not care anymore? Or was he just letting you get space?

Whatever it was you couldn’t continue to think about it because Karina snapped her fingers in your face multiple times.

“Nena, we’ve been talking to you for the past five minutes,” she said while Ethan nodded his head in agreement.

“Are you ok? You seem too deep in your brain, and you look extremely upset.” Ethan pointed out, making you sigh.

“I’m fine trust, Grayson’s acting weird but I guess it’s because he’s under a lot of pressure.” You sighed as Ethan sent you a confused look.

“Yeah, he said you guys are really busy with the new projects and launches, and that there’s a lot of meetings he has to go to which stresses him out,” you said making Ethan’s heart ache for you. He knew there weren’t any launches for his and his brother’s company, and they definitely haven’t attended any meetings in the past few weeks.

“Oh yeah. The meetings he always gets stressed out by those. Always wanting to impress everyone, you know how he is.” he said, trying to sound as honest as possible, yet something felt a bit weird to you, but you decided to let that slide.

“This one is like that too. Always trying to please everyone, when he knows he can’t” Karina replied while playfully smacking the back of his head making you laugh.

Karina always found a way to make you laugh, that’s just one of the reasons why you’re best friends. And the fact that she’s also hispanic and you can talk shit about others without them understanding.

You decided to go back home around ten pm, since you were feeling a bit calmed down and you were starting to get tired. But that moment was caught short once you entered the house and Grayson started questioning you.

“You do the same thing tho, so I don’t get how it bothers you,” you shrugged, getting a bottle of water and sipping on it.

“But I-,” he began saying before you cut him off.

“But I, nothing. I’m going to bed, this conversation is done. Bye.” you replied deciding to be the bigger adult and left the kitchen, took a shower and went to bed.

The next morning you woke up in the same mood as yesterday, if not worse, Grayson asked if you were on your period, which you weren’t since you had it two weeks ago.

Honestly, you didn’t know what was getting you so upset. In the back of your head you did know tho, you simply did not want to accept it, so you just let it go, and that was starting to bother you.

On the other hand, you were angry at yourself for being so stupid and for putting Grayson in a pedestal letting him step all over you.

But you had enough of that. You decided that you needed a day for yourself so you went to the hair salon, cutting your long black hair up to your shoulders, you went to the nail salon and your nails and toes done, you went shopping and spent an unnecessarily amount of money on clothes you did not need, but who gives a fuck? You certainly did not.

After you did whatever that was, you went back home and put everything away, cleaned around the house a bit and decided to meet Karina and another friend of yours for dinner.

“Alright Yeimy, what’s going on with you?” Ambar your other friend asked you, you mentally rolled your eyes getting annoyed but trying to not be rude.

“I’m ok, Grayson’s just acting a tad weird,” you sighed and she nodded her head while Karina sent you a ‘what’s wrong’ look.

“Is he cheating on you?” she asked, making you snap.

“I don’t fucking know Ambar. I don’t. I think he is. But I don’t know. And I’m upset because deep inside my heart I know he is, and I know he doesn’t love me anymore. And what’s even more fucked up is that I can’t confront him because I don’t have fucking prove.” You slightly shouted, dragging attention to your table.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I just, I-,” you apologized feeling bad for letting out your anger on her, when she didn’t do anything wrong. “I just don’t what to do, and I feel like a fucking pendeja,” you added while they’re faces showed they felt sad for you.

“Mami, is ok. Relax you’re going to get through this. Vos es fuerte y averiguaras todo. Por ahora, olvídate de eso y sigue actuando como si vos no supieras nada hasta que encuentres algo,” (You’re strong and you’ll find everything out. But for now, keep acting clueless until you find something) Karina spoke in her colombian accent making you smile. Everytime she spoke spanish her accent always made you feel better, or just her in general. (A/N is it just me or is speaking in accents that are not yours fun. One second I’m british and the second I’m Columbian)

“Whatever she said. Just make sure you confront him when you’re certain and have proof, because he’s going to deny it, even tho he is babe,” Ambar replied and you nodded your head smiling.

“What would I do without you white ass and Colombian ass,” you replied, making them laugh.

“Probably die, who knows?” Karina jokingly shrugged making you laugh.

“I guess so,” you shrugged with a smile. Your mood completely changes after ranting to your best friends. ��What do we do now?” you asked. You didn’t want to go home yet, and it was early anyways.

“How about we go to the beach, and blast music?” Ambar asked and you nodded your head.

“Yes, just like when we were 18, listening to Yeimy’s indie playlist,” Karina said, making you playfully smack her arm.

“Shut up. You know you like it,” you joked leaving a $20 bill on the table as tips and leaving the restaurant. (Y'all always tip your waiters well, they get paid shit)

“I do love my baby Clairo,” she laughed causing all of you to laugh.

You spent the rest of the day at the beach with your old playlist on shuffle, thank god the area you were at was empty allowing all three of you to sing your hearts out until Ambar left, even if your voices would have probably gotten Simon Cowell pretty upset.

“Remember, after we both got that internship at WakeHeart we came here and celebrated with Ambar?” Karina asked, making you nod your head with a smile.

“Yeah, we were 18 right? Just starting college.” You replied and she nodded her head.

“Those were some good times. Now 24 and boring as fuck,” you sighed and you nodded your head agreeing.

“I guess that’s what happens when you get married young,” you replied, laying down on your car’s roof. You were sitting on the roof of your Jeep just looking at the ocean while music softly plaid in the background.

“I just realized, I rushed my entire life for what? I started dating Grayson six months into knowing him, he was what 22? Got married 2 years later when I was 21, Graduated college and started working for him. Stopped working at the office last year, and now I stay at home while he’s out putting his dick inside who knows,” you sighed looking at the stars above you while your mind raced at twenty five thoughts per second.

“Everything happens for a reason Yeimy. And you’ll figure everything out, just take it easy on your mental health. And I can’t really give you any other piece of advice because I’m not going through that,” she reassured said, grabbing your hand.

“I hope what you’re saying is true, otherwise I don’t know what to do.” You sighed squeezing her hand back.

“Everything happens for reason babe. Everything,” she said, you nodded your head and continued looking out into space.

Stages 3

Tags: @angelgrayson @rhyrhy462 @333dolans @vinylhazza @foxglovedolan @dolanissues @mercurygrant @persistence-ofmemories @dolansficsandpics @blindedbythelightt @kinkygrays @pineappledols @the-evolution-of-stupidity @evergreendolan

#grayson #grayson x reader #grayson bailey #grayson dolan #graysonbailey #grayson dolan imagine #dolan #dolan twins #ethan dolan #Ethangrant #ethan dolan x reader #bad bitchikins

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jokerfan99 · 5 years

Photo

Red Alert (RWBY/RVB) by Necroceph

*RVB Opening Theme*

At the Blue Base

All has gone quiet. An aqua colored helmet, hold by an armored hand, peaks out from cover to see if the sniper reacted to it. Nothing. The hand shakes the helmet to if he reacts to its movement. Nothing. Church puts the helmet back, exposing himself out of the open before jumping left and right like a mindless fool. Still nothing. He let out sigh of relief as it would seem the sniper has stopped shooting for whatever reason.

Church: Okay, guys. You can come out now!

His two teammates did as they were told. Tucker is shocked by the experience. That sniper, whoever the hell he is, meant serious business. And as for Caboose, is still the good old Caboose.

Church: Everyone okay? Tucker: Holy shit, that was intense! I think a bullet just scratched the side of my helm. One more inch, I would've been killed! Church: Caboose? Caboose: I think I got a cut on my pinky. Ouch. Church: That's a yes. It's a good thing none of us got shot but goddammit, do they need to add more holes on our base! Tucker: So what do we do now? Church: Don't know. That sniper of theirs suddenly stopped shooting, and it could possibly be Grif. If I know him well, that fatass could be having another snack time again.

Church grabs his binoculars and looks through it to see what's happening out there on the Red's base. On it are three Reds, two of them he recognized but not the other, who is lying on the concrete floor with a sniper rifle in his hands. He noticed that he isn't wearing a helmet, however, due to the distance from here and there and the rifle the sniper's holding, he couldn't get a good look on his face. Don't tell me the Red's have another newbie in their gang, thought Church. And aside from that, is that a mini pyramid made out of sniper magazines beside him?

Tucker: Well, is it Grif? Church: No, it looks like the Red's aren't the only ones who got a new rookie. Tucker: They got a new member too?! Wow, Blood Gulch is turning a holiday destination. So what's he look like? Church: Don't know, I can't see his face that clearly. But the good news is, he really isn't shooting at us anymore. See.

Church hands out the binoculars to Tucker. The Teal One looks through them and surprised to see the pyramid of magazines. But what really caught his attention is what's beside the mini pyramid, a helmetless sniper. The hair's what caught his attention. Like Church, he couldn't clearly see the face but that doesn't stop him from guessing the sniper's gender.

Tucker: Well hello there babe. Church: What? Tucker: Nothing! Caboose: What's happening? Church: That sniper of theirs stopped shooting. Guy must've used up all of the Red base's sniper rounds. Tucker: No shit. He made a pyramid out of sniper magazines. Caboose: Oh that's good! Can we spank 'em back? Church: And go out there turning ourselves into swiss cheese? Not a chance! Plus, I wanna try spending a whole year not becoming Casper the Unfriendly Ghost. Caboose: How long did you not become a ghost? Church: Eight months. Tucker: Wait a minute, we don't need to get out there and go guns blazing. Church: Your point is? Tucker: We counter-attack with 'that'

Tucker points Church to the mystery rifle, once again being cudled in the idiot's arms.

Caboose: Don't worry, Sheila II. Everything's going to be alright. Church: Oooh, hehehehe. Caboose, get as many sniper rounds as you can and bring 'em back here. Caboose: Oh right! It's feeding time for Sheila!

At the Red Base

CLICK CLICK CLICK

Ruby kept repeatedly pulls the trigger to continue firing, but no shots came out from the barrel. Her fifty-eighth and last magazine has gone dry. She creepily turns her head slowly to Sarge and Lopez still standing still behind her. Lopez, despite being a robot, slowly backs up a bit when the sight of her demonic eyes made contact with his optics. Sarge, as the grown soldier he is, isn't phased by this but is gravely concerned for his favourite markswoman's sudden personality change.

Ruby: Magazine... now... Lopez: ¡Esas son todas las rondas de francotiradores que tenemos en la base!

Ruby shots up from the floor before walking towards Sarge and Lopez.

Sarge: Ruby, I order you to stop! You're acting strangely and you require some psychological treatment from me!

Ruby responded to her superior with a menacing glare. Sarge makes a second thought about the psycho treatment and moved to side to give the brunette way. Now she's heading towards Lopez. The poor bot's fear chip starts to heat up as he witnesses Mictlāntēcutli's child heading straight towards him. Perhaps she's now crossed at him that he couldn't give her anymore bullets.

Lopez: Realmente, eso es todo lo que tenemos! Sr. Sarge, haga algo! Sarge: Well, Lopez it's nice knowing you.

Lopez turns his optics off, bracing for the terrible fate that awaits him! But instead of Ruby tearing him apart, bolt by bolt, she walked passed beside him. Ruby then descends down the stairs but before she enters the base, she asked one thing from Sarge.

Ruby: Permission... to use... Mongoose. Sarge: Uhm... permission granted?

Ruby stood still for a while before continuing her way down.

Sarge: Well that was something. Lopez, I'm dissapointed in you. You should've told me something was wrong with Rose! Lopez: Al menos el hijo de Mictlāntēcutli se ha ido. Sarge: It looks like the sight of the Blue's holding her weapon has somehow triggered an animalistic instinct within her. Like a mother bear whose cub got kidnapped by a pack of hungry mountain lions and went on a rampage on them! Lopez: Entonces, ¿qué hacemos ahora? Sarge: If you mean, 'what's next', nothing. Lopez: ¿Qué? Sarge: Think about it, Lopez. The Blue's are the mountain lions who kidnapped her cub a.k.a her rifle, she'll pour all her anger onto them and tear them apart like hot butter! Lopez: ¿Crees que es una buena idea dejar que luchen contra ellos solos? Sarge: The Blue's don't have time to react when Ruby shows up at their doorbell. Get a bucket of popcorn, and some chairs as well!

BANG!

Sarge: WHAT IN SAM HILL?!

The sound of concrete shattering caught both of their attention before another chunk of concrete get's blasted nearby. Sarge quickly ducks onto the ground, however for Lopez, the third shot pierces through his neck. The shockwave of the shot erupts his neck, causing his head to fly off from his body. His head landed right in front of his superior before the bullets began flying above them.

Lopez: Que pasó ?! Sarge: Damn those, Blues! They're now using Crescent Rose against us! Thieving barbarians!!!

Sarge puts two of his fingers on the side of his helmet to contact the Warthog team.

Simmons through radio: Yes, Sarge? Sarge: Simmons, how far are you to the base? Simmons through radio: We're stopping by at a tree, sir. Fatass here forgot to do his business before we left! Grif through radio: It just kicked in! Sarge: Well tell that idiot to hurry up! The Blues are unleashing a counter-attack with Crescent Rose on us, we're being pinned down! Simmons through radio: Yessir! Hurry up, Grif!

Back at the Blue Base

Caboose continuosly pulls the trigger as he fires at the Red base. He fires the cartridges last bullet before loading up a new magazine while singing Ten Little Unggoys, counting each Unggoys with each shot he fires. This puts a smile on Church as he witnesses the mayhem Caboose unleashes through the binos. He laughed when one of the shots obliterated the sniper's mini magazine pyramid.

Caboose: ~One little, two little, three little Unngoys, four little, five little, six little Unngoys...! Church: Hahaha! How's it feel to have hole on your walls, biatch! Tucker: How they holding up out there? Church: Take a look at yourself. Schnee is seriously missing out the fun. I have never been so happy for months! Tucker: Really? Hey, Caboose. I wanna try it out! Church: Oh no you don't, I got a sniper rifle and I should try it first! Tucker: Says the guy who can't even land a single shot at something. Church: Fuck off! You just wanna use it to hook up girls don't you? And I doubt it'll work on Schnee this time. Caboose: Here you go. Church: Fuck! Tucker: Oh yeah-hah, baby. Let's do this!

Tucker grabs the rifle. He lies down on the same spot Caboose was lying and begins aiming for a target. Sarge, wherever the hell he is hiding now, is just too easy so he waits for the other Reds to come out. Grif? Got shot too many times by Sarge. Simmons? His skull's covered in layer of steel. Donut? Well he did made one hell of a choir during one of those nights. So Donut it is. Except for that sniper, cause if he's really a girl, he plans to hook up with her later.

Church: What are you waiting for 'Teal One'? Shoot something already. Tucker: Not yet. I'm planning to shoot Donut right on the ass. You're gonna hear high-class choir. Buahahaha! Church: Donut? Hold on a sec!

Church takes a look at the Red base again. He examines it, top to bottom. The only Reds he sees are Sarge and Lopez, but no sign of the Simmons, Grif nor Donut. Not just them, the Warthog's nowhere to be seen too!

Church: Oh fuck. Uhm, guys? Their Warthog's gone. Tucker: So? Come on out you pink piece of shit.

[Los Dos Laredos Acordeones Playing In The Distance]

Tucker: Guys, will you keep it down? I'm trying to concentrate here. Church: Like I thought. Caboose: Uh oh! Tucker: Huh?

The Blues turned around to the source of the god awful music. There they spotted an incoming Warthog with a familiar trio of idiots riding on it before the gattling gun begins firing at the Blues.

Donut: Eat this, you rotten thieves!

BABABABABABABABABABANG!!!

Church, Tucker and Caboose: SON OF A BITCH!!!

All three quickly duck down. The bullets missed their mark, but the walls fall victim to enemy fire once again. Once it got close to the base, the Warthog starts to circling around as it firing at them with no signs of stopping.

Church: First a sniper, now a MACHINE GUN! Is this day getting any worse? Simmons: Suck it, Blues! This is what you get for stealing our rifle! Church and Tucker: ...Steal?! Caboose: Santa steals weapon so he can give them as presents?! Does that mean he gets himself a lump of coal?

On the Warthog

Grif almost lost concentration on the wheel by what Simmons cried out.

Grif: What was that for? Simmons: I'm trying to get along with the situation. You should too. Grif: I can't believe we're doing this! A rescue mission for a weapon is the stupidest thing that has ever happened in military history! All thanks to us! Simmons: SHHH, shut up! Donut's with us! Donut: ~You get a bullet, and you get bullet, and you get a bullet, we all get bullets! Grif:Sorry!

Back to the Blues

Tucker: Was I hearing things or did Simmon's just said we stole their rifle? Caboose: We did? Church: No we didn't! Those assholes left it here! Tucker: Okay, thing's are starting to get a little confusing. Church: Hey, dumbassess! We didn't steal you're rifle!

Back to Simmons and Grif

Girf: Agh, crap. They heard us! Don't just sit there, keep 'em quiet before Donut hears them! Simmons: Got it! Hey, Blues! Here' something you should've steal!

Simmons takes a frag grenade. As they got close enough, Simmons pulls the pin and throws the grenade high to land on the roof.

TICK TAK!

Even with the sound of gunfire from the gattling gun, they were able to clearly hear the sound of dropping by a light object. They slowly looked to the source to see a horrifying sight of an unpinned grenade right in front of of their visors!

Tucker: Aw shit. Church: JESUS CHRIST!!! What the- Caboose!

Caboose, without warning, quickly gets up and grabs the grenade. He rushes to the edge but instead of throwing it out, he throws the grenade up into the air before grabbing the mystery rifle that had been left lying on the floor.

Caboose: Get away from Michael J. Caboose and friends you big bullies!!!

As the grenade fall in the air, Caboose smacks the ball with the rifle once it drops in front of him like a baseball player trying to hit homerun! With his inhumane strength, the grenade is launched with such extreme velocity that it almost went into lightspeed flying straight to an unsuspecting Donut who is still firing while also being distracted by the enemies base's terrible condition.

Donut: My God, the Blue's base could use some- huh?

The high speed grenade hits the Red's helmet, so fast that it creates a dent deep enough for the grenade to get stuck into his helm. His energy shielding was able to save his skull from shattering into pieces, but impact was still enough to knock Donut into a daze.

Donut: Oh, pretty lights... hohohooo!

Donut not only begins to loose his consciouness, but also the gun he is firing. His finger's still pulling the trigger! The weight of his unconscious body pushes the still firing gun causing it to aim lower and unintentionally shooting at the Warthog's dashboard. Grif and Simmons cried out in genuine terror by what's happening between them.

Grif: DONUT, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! THE BLUES, NOT US! Simmons: LOOK OUT!!!

Grif turns back to the front. They're heading right to the Blue's wall! He quickly slammed on the breaks but was too late as the Warthog crashes onto the concrete wall. The crash caught the Blue's attention. They looked down from the roof and witnessed the accident that had befallen on the Reds.

Church: Caboose... that was the most epic thing I have ever seen in my life. Caboose: Neat! Grif: *Groaning* Simmons: Grif? Grif: Yeah? Simmons: I hate you. Is Donut okay?

Both looked at Donut now lying on the gattling gun before spotting a grenade stuck on his pjnk helmet! Simmons and Grif screeched in horror, fearing that the small ordnance would explode at any moment. But a second passed, it didn't.

Grif: Why didn't it explode? Simmons: I think it misfired. Grif: Well that's terrific! How do we pry it out of him? Church: Okay, nobody move! Simmons: Uh, Grif? Grif: Huh? Oh shit.

Simmons and Grif looked up to see the Blue's pointing their guns at them from the roof. And Caboose is holding Crescent Rose. How ironic for the very weapon they stole and used to be pointing right above them.

Grif: Wait, don't shoot! If you wanna shoot someone, shoot Simmons! Simmons: No shoot, Grif. He caused this accident! Church: We're not shooting anyone. Grif: Oh thank God. Church: You're gonna tell us why you think we stole you're rifle and more importantly, why was it in our base this morning! Grif: You should've kept quiet. Simmons: Shut up, fatass.

Back at the Red Base

Through the binoculars, Sarge is very disgruntled to sees his own men pathetically tied up and taken hostage by the Blues.

Sarge: Dagnabbit dammit! They failed me, Lopez! They failed me! Lopez: Todo esto por un solo rifle. Que desperdicio. Deberíamos haber esperado la noche y colarnos en su base para rescatarla. Sarge: If we don't bring it back soon, they'll begin the reverse engineering process! There's only one person we can now rely on. Lopez: ¿Crees que el demonio se va a manejar sola? Sarge: Not me, someone has to be in Command.

Sarge contacts Ruby through the comms.

Sarge: Rose, are you ready?

Sarge hears nothing but heavy breathing and weapons loading up through the comms. He doesn't what's going on through the other, but he can tell Ruby's getting ready.

Sarge: I'd say that's a yes.

Back at the Blue Base (again)

Caboose and Tucker looked down at Donut's unconscious body to make sure he doesn't wake up, but the main attraction is the grenade stuck on his head. This is the second time Donut had one stuck on his head.

Tucker: Okay, what you did was seriously over the top awesome. By the way, how did you know the grenade misfired? Caboose: The grenade didn't miss, it already landed on his head.

Leaving with their discussion, we move to Church procceding with the interrogation of the Reds. He wants answers, now!

Church: Alright, you got ten seconds to explain everything or I'll shoot you both in the face! Grif: Question are you going to shoot us with a shotgun? Church: No just this Magnum. Yes, Simmons? Simmons: Hate to break it to you, but the bullet in that thing can't penetrate my metal skull. Church: Then I'll shoot you through eyes! Now talk! Grif: Okay okay! But first make sure Donut doesn't wake up. Donut: Ugh, what happened?

Just when Donut was about to regain consciouness, Caboose smacked him right on the head, knocking him out again.

Caboose: Good night! Grif: That works too. Simmons: Donut doesn't know what we both did, but it's best to keep it that way. Church: Don't know about what? Simmons: You want the short or the long story? Church: As long as you punks talk. Simmons: Long story it is... GASP!

Several minutes of explanations and reactions later

Church is not happy after hearing the two Red's entire story. Hearing this revelation made him want to shoot them in their faces right now but he's got plans for them.

Church: So it was you idiots who caused all this mess!!! Grif: Blame the genius here, I'm just a gun tester. Simmons: You're the one who decided this base is the perfect target! Grif: You also decided to keep it here just to frame the Blue's. Simmons: All because you don't want a few shells on your face! Church: That's enough you two! I don't care who did it first, I'm still holding you both responsible for this! Grif: Of course we are. So can you untie us now, cause I gotta get back to take a nap for my Oreo binge tonight. Church: No way, I'm not letting you both go while this base is in a state like this! Grif: What? Simmons: Wait, you're not saying- Church: While you're our imprisoners, I got a perfect job for you two! Grif: Hold on, you want us to fill up every bullet hole here? Yeah, but no thanks. Simmons: We really need to get back to base before Donut wakes up. Church: Or maybe I'll just tell Sarge everything about this and tell him there's been a big misunderstanding.

Simmons and Grif looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Church.

Simmons: On the second thought, I think a bit of manual labor doesn't hurt at all. Grif: Yeah, working hard does give a guy good rewards. Hehehe, ...SNIFF... huhuhuh... just.. don't tell Sarge okay? Church: Good. But what about Donut? Simmons: Well you can bring him back along with the rifle. Also write a letter that in exchange for them, you'll have us as your prisoners for a while. Church: Then it's a deal! Wait here you two, while I bring back the...

Before Church could get the stuff so that the Red prisoners could start working, he spots something from afar.

Church: Uhm, before you guys start working. Let me ask you one more question. Simmons: Fine, what is it? Church: Who the fuck is that?

Church points at the field. Both the Reds turn their heads to what he's looking at. From the distance, it looks like someone's riding on a bike. They could see the rider clearly from here. It is a Red wearing a long crimson cape riding on the Red's mongoose. With him is an arsenal containing a M41 SSR MAV/AW rocket launcher on his shoulder and a MA5B assault rifle hanging behind his back. He can't tell if he's imagining things, but are those red lights shining through his visor?!

Grif: Wait, is that Sarge? Simmons: Sarge doesn't wear capes. Grif: Oh it's Rose. What help can a snotty nosed brat like her do anyway? Church: Who's Rose? Tucker: YES!!! I knew she's a chick!

Then the Red makes a move. She aims the rocket launcher high and fires two barrages of rockets out of it. The rockets are flying in arc aand heading their way down to the Blue base! All have noticed the incoming projectiles coming towards them and jump to the sides before they made impact. The explosion of the rockets creates a massive hole in the roof, revealing the base's interior. Simmons gets up and shouts angrily at his teammate.

Simmons: CUT IT OUT YOU STUPID BITCH! YOU'RE GONNA MAKE OUR JOBS WORSE!!! Church: Now you know how we felt. Caboose, I got another target practice for you. Another Red duck! Caboose: Duck hunting time!

Caboose takes position and steadily aims at the incoming Red. Once the enemy is in his crosshairs, Caboose prepares to fire.

Caboose: Bye bye ducky!

One pull of the trigger. Nothing happened.

Caboose: Huh? Church: What are you waiting for? Fire!

Caboose tries again. The gun still refuses to fire the target!

Caboose: Church. What do you call when something's not working? Church: 'Not functioning', why? Caboose: Rifle's not functioning. Church: What?!?! Caboose: It won't fire! See!

Caboose turns back to Church. He pulls the trigger to show Church that it couldn't fire at all. That is when a massive blast of muzzle emmitted through the barrel right in front of the armored Aqua, shooting him right in the stomach! Church, now in ghost form, witnesses his cold dead body drop down onto the concrete floor. Church stood still, trying to resist the explosive anger within him.

Caboose: Oh nevermind it's... Church: Don't... say... A FUCKING... word...

Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/necroceph

#rwby #Red vs Blue #ruby rose #leonard l church #Michael J. Caboose #lavernius tucker #dexter grif #simmons rvb #franklin delano donut #rooster teeth #monty oum

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draginhikari · 6 years

Text

Final Fantasy XIV: Azure and Crimson Section 1: Warrior of Light, Shadros Hiku Chapter 2: Into the Nexus of Madness

(Events take place between Patch 2.4 Dream of Ice and before Patch 2.5 Before the Fall Part 1)

Shadros sat in a chair near his bed. He dapped a cloth in an oily substance before ran the cloth along the board side of the Curtana. The sunlight gleamed through his window and reflected off the blade’s surface causing the light to shine in Shadro’s eyes. Shadros grunts, squinting his eyes as he slowly polished the blade’s surface while it sat on the makeshift stand. An irritating necessity as the sword glowed like a lamp anytime he held the weapon. As such he needed the stand in order to clean the sword properly. Though he was a good fighter his crafting abilities were a bit lacking. His stand wasn’t the most stable in the world as it wobbled back and forth as he moved the heavy blade.

“You think if Jalzahn and Gerolt were such geniuses they would figure out how to turn the damn lights off once and awhile.” Shadros complained. His recent trials with the sword had brought new light to the weapon in the most literal sense of the word. It had achieved what Jalzahn called a “Nexus state”. Shadros didn’t really understand the soul attunement process that the transformation required to any degree beyond the basics. He knew that it developed a connection between himself and the weapon somehow. Though he didn’t really concern himself of the reasons of why on the matter, Shadros just did what he did best. The usefulness of the resulting weapon mattered more to him then the process itself.

Shadros had already been sent on another tedious operation by the pair to improve the sword further. His next task was to gather more rare materials for the next stage of the plan to reforge a Zodiac Brave using his current weapons as a base. Rather than rush ahead, Shadros decided a break was in order before proceeding. Shadros wasn’t looking forward to the task anyway as it would probably have him running around Eorzea like a headless cloudkin like every other task the two of them gave him. Sometimes he wondered if the two were making this whole thing complicated on purpose.

Shadros sat back a moment setting the polish and cloth on the dresser next to him. It had been a few weeks since his meeting with Aya in Ul’dah and he had yet to hear back from her. He wondered momentarily if she had been captured or worse but simply discarded the thought for the moment. All he could do was to try to be patient for the time being. After all given his past experiences with women he doubted he could get rid of a one that irritating so easily.

Shadros grumbles to himself. The thought of irritating women reminded him that Una would be coming to look for him soon. He needed to wrap things up before she arrived. He would stand up taking hold of the Curtana’s hilt before lifting it into his default combat position. The sword would manifest an incredible white Aether around the blade as well as a few white rings that would manifest at the base of the blade. Shadros took some light practice swings with it before glancing into its light. He was pleased with the power this recent transformation had brought forth regardless of the obnoxious degree of light it emitted. He gazed into the light suddenly feeling woozy. Shadros felt a strange sensation come over him much like when his manifestation of the Echo would invoke visions of the past. There was something different about it this time.

Without warning several visions occurred extremely quickly without any actual control by Shadros. He saw himself not through his own eyes, but through the eyes of someone else. Several scenes passed by extremely quickly making it difficult to focus on any one image. His age, appearance, and the locations in the images suggested earlier times and places he couldn’t recall. The last image held the longest involved a pool of water. In the last few moment of the vision, a gray-skinned, blue haired girl was reflected into the water. With her eyes holding a similar hue to her hair, her coloring was eerily similar to Una but that’s where the similarities ended. Her blue eyes also seem to have some kind of light blue outline around iris that appeared to glow. She had some kind of blue marking on her face that moved in an “m” shape pattern across her eyes. She had no visible ears. Rather, white horns that seemed to protrude from the sides of her head. They stretched back to point a short distance behind her head and tipped off into a sharp point on each side. Her face and neck, which is all he could see, were also adored with white scales in patches on her skin.

Shadros growls and tried to shake off the vision. Suddenly Shadros was filled with intense anger and rage but he wasn’t sure why. He began smashing the Curtana edge against the table in his room until it was nothing but shattered pieces. Quickly turning entirely around, he struck the wall breaking off some of the blue tiles that adorned it. He very seldom lost his temper in this manner but it was as if all of a sudden he had lost his sanity. He bellowed loudly and with one full power downward slash he cleaved straight through his bed dividing it into two pieces.

The vision faded from his mind as he pants lightly glancing around at the damage he had just done and growled, “What’s wrong me? I’m losing my grip on reality! That girl…who was she? What was she?” He had seen horns on the female Padjal like Kan-E-Senna or Raya-O-Senna of Gridania but there were some definite key differences. They almost seem reptilian compare to the horns of the Padjal. Shadros paces some back and forth, “Her horns, they look exactly like… Yugiri’s?” He took several deep breaths trying to calm down and released his hold on the Curtana which made a loud clank when it hit the floor cracking the panels underneath.

Shadros glanced at the blade silently for several minutes. The upgrade to the weapon was the only explanation for what he just saw. He needed to go to the North Shroud and he needed to go now. Completely forgetting the fact that he was supposed to meet Una in a few minutes, he picked up the Curtana. Placing it at his side along with the matching shield on his back, he invoked the teleport to Gridania and disappeared within moments.

A few minutes later Una walks through the door, “Sorry I’m late Shadros I was just…” She stopped mid-sentence when she notices the condition of the house, “What in seven hells happened here?” She quickly investigates the area but she found no signs of forced entry or any sign of a struggle. Did Shadros do this to his own house? Una crossed her arms, frowning. She was beginning to worry about Shadros. He was becoming angrier and more isolative then he’s ever been as of late. Una thought on the matter further but it was quickly interrupted by another thought that made her stomp her feet breaking another piece of broken tile, “Shadros! That arsehole ditched me again! Wait till I get my hands on him!”

Shadros materialized in front of the New Gridania Aetheryte. With a deep breath, he took in the forest air trying to regain his composure as best he could. Still he couldn’t understand this. Where were these visions coming from? Why couldn’t he remember anything that he was being shown? Why did he keep seeing this girl? In his dream he always saw the girl from his own perspective and assumed she was part of his imagination or potentially just a fellow prisoner. However, the fact that he had just witnessed events from her perspective just made the likelihood of that impossible. Anytime the Echo had shown him the past, it had always been a result of him being in contact with a person, object, or the context of the circumstance he was viewing. The Echo had always been limited in that manner. This time, he was in his house by himself, with only the Curtana and Holy Shield which he had been using for ages prior to this point. All these thoughts only seem to be making Shadros angry again as he made his way past the bridge leading to the Hyrstmill. On his way across the bridge an Ixal, a bird variety of beastmen, attempted to stop him. “Hark featherless o…” was all the beastmen could get out before Shadros, in his anger, took his shield from behind him without slowing down at all and with one smooth moment smacked the beastmen across the face with the heavy shield causing the Ixal to stumble over the side of the bridge. Shadros, not caring enough to see what happen to the beastmen, just kept going putting the shield back on his back. Once in Hyrstmill he silently made his way to the building across from Gerolt’s Forge where Jalzahn usually worked at. Shadros glanced around the general area to see who was around, only seeing Gerolt sleeping near his forge and Jalzahn near his spot on the porch.

Jalzahn was the first to see Shadros and says as he approached, “How goes the progress on the…“

Shadros grabbed and lifted Jalzahn by his coat and kicking the door the building open before pushing Jalzahn inside, “I want answers and I do not want any of your nonsense!” Shadros said with a louder, more aggressive tone than usual.

Jalzahn fell back and stood up dusting off his coat, “W-What is the meaning of this!? Shadros, have you dug into Gerolt’s cache!?”

Shadros growls and points at Jalzahn, “Be quiet, you’ve had me literally running laps around Eorzea for months now to seek out all this crap for your research. For once you are going to answer some questions rather barking instructions!”

Jalzahn eyes Shadros carefully. Jalzahn, after all, wasn’t stupid and he had worked with Shadros long enough to know this wasn’t his normal behavior and that something had definitely crawled under his skin. He removes his monocle and wiped it clean before speaking, “All right, take a deep breath. I don’t entirely understand what has you so heated but I will assist you in any way I can but I can’t do that if you don’t explain anything to me.” He would put the monocle back on.

Shadros did back off for a moment realizing that he’d been acting like a raving lunatic up to a moment ago. He rubs his temples some, waiting till he wasn’t raging before continuing. He began to speak to Jalzahn about what he had seen though intentionally leaving out the details about the girl’s appearance as it wasn’t something Jalzahn needed to know to answer his question.

Jalzahn strokes his chin momentarily after Shadros had finished explaining, “Remarkable. In all of my years of research, I have yet to hear anything like what you are describing. Though I do not have a clear answer for you in regards to why with certainty. During the soulglazing process, your use of the weapon in certain circumstances attuned your Curtana to your very soul truly becoming your weapon in a way where only you can fully utilize its power. It stands to reason that if your soul is unique or has been tampered it could be possible the attunement process could produce some unusual results.”

Shadros kept quiet for a few minutes before asking, “What kind of tampering?”

Jalzahn thought carefully on how to word the situation due to Shadros being somewhat frantic at the moment, “It could be an effect of the Echo you possess but I doubt that would be it. There have been many questionable experiments in regards to the way Aether interacts with people that simply resulting in tragedy more often than not. After all even though Aether plays a vital building block of our world, it is also potentially dangerous. As you are probably aware, it can not only destroy, but also manipulate the mind to degree where tempering normally occurs which is the most extreme case. Other minor alterations can occur depending on how intense the exposure was and the source of that exposure. It could very well be that this ‘girl’ you speak of is some kind of manifestation of the result of something that was done to you.”

Shadros kept quiet for a moment wondering if Jalzahn was right and the girl was some kind of illusion created by the trauma of what the Lambs of Dalamud did to him, “So someone has been messing with my head?”

Jalzahn turns his head back towards Shadros again, “Potentially or it could be possible this research is to blame as well. I will admit that this situation isn’t that different than any other manipulation of Aether. There was no guarantee that process that forges the power of your Relic Weapon could not have negative consequences. Not just in the sense of cause you physical harm as a result of the trials, but the consequence of working with Aether directly in this manner. It is a risk both we scientists and even you adventurers take by toying with such things do we not?”

Shadros didn’t directly answer. At the moment he really wasn’t sure what to make of any of this. Regardless of whether he was right about the girl or not, all this tied back to his dream he had been having. Whatever happened that day was responsible for all this but that made even less sense because if the dream was true, he was killed that day. His soul should have moved onto the life stream but he was still here. All of this seem to be coming back to the girl in his dream, whether she was real or not, she was an important element to solving this dilemma.

Jalzahn says, “Shadros, as much as I hate to ask you this. What will you do? Can you continue forward with this project in your current state?”

Shadros looked at the Curtana again, after what he saw he knew that stopping was not quite as easy as Jalzahn was suggesting. There were too many unanswered questions and completing the Zodiac Brave might be his only key to finding the truth. Shadros no longer cared how dangerous the process might be for him. He was determined to find the answers even at the risk of his own health, “Yes.” He answered, “I will complete the Zodiac Brave as planned. You can count on that.”

Jalzahn was not going to attempt to question his decision, “Very good, that’s what I like to hear. I look to hearing the results of your efforts.”

Shadros grumbles turning away from Jalzahn, “Look, I apologize for my behavior, but that doesn’t mean I think your methods are any less insane old man.” Jalzahn just chuckles lightly in response willing to put up with a bit of hostility from Shadros to get the results he wanted. Shadros would step out of the hut and slowly began to walk back towards Gridania. His thoughts were interrupted when he was approached by an angry group of Ixal, likely allies of the one he had batted into the creek a short time ago. Shadros just let a small smirk come to his face as he drew the Curtana before stating, “I guess if you’re intending to delay my progress I can at least take some of my stress out on you lot. So let’s go!”

Section 1 - Chapter 1: The Shinobi Meeting

Final Fantasy XIV: Azure and Crimson Complete

Section 1 - Chapter 3: Return to Tam Tara Deepcroft

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