Ruy POV:
You know that feeling you get when your "boss" comes over to you casually and goes like, "Hey, your closest friend at 'work' just died. Can you take charge for the moment here while I go kidnap Forkle and the Moonlark? Thanks."
Nah, Ruy didn't either. Or at least, he didn't before that happened just now.
Ruy looked at Fintan like he was insane. Heck, he was insane. "No thanks. I'd rather eat a bag of hair," he said, but Fintan either didn't hear him, ignored him, or didn't understand the meaning of the word "no." If the last one was true, Fintan really needed to take up on some vocab lessons.
He and Gethen hadn't been the best of buddies, but they were closer to each other than with the other members. The scary Shade who is always fixing her hair? No. The Pyrokimaniac who always threatened to burn your arms off even though you were on the same side? Ruy shuddered. The too-smart-for-her-own-good and too-pretty-for-her-own-good psycho who manipulates her own son? Oh god, no. Even Ruy wasn't as cruel as that!
And not to mention Vespera. She seriously gave him the creeps.
Also, it'd be weird to be good friends with a teenager half your age. Besides, Damel was new. Ruy didn't even know him for that long.
So, he and Gethen worked together to stay sane in this whole mess.
An hour later, Ruy was mentally cursing Fintan. Why did he have to endure this sanity-murdering job? Couldn't Umber or someone else suffer this agonizing torture?
And to make matters worse, Fintan didn't even give him any details. "Oh, Gethen's dead." Yeah. So enlightening, wasn't it? Everyone was peppering him question after question, and it really hurt his reputation and pride when the only answer he could give to anything was, "I don't know." Amazing, isn't it?
But as pissed off as this was making Ruy, the real problem was: How were they going to get a new telepath? They did have Damel, but he was young and still getting used to the almost dying every other day routine thing. They needed someone more experienced. The Black Swan now had a big advantage, and nothing made Ruy want to punch things more than knowing that the Black Swan were definitely going to win.
But also, the Neverseen weren't dumb. They were everything but dumb. Cruel, ruthless, rude, cold-hearted, and all that jazz, but anything but stupid. They knew everything that was going on around here. And that meant that Ruy knew that Fitz was not being cooperative to the Black Swan at the moment, and this could turn in the Neverseen's favor.
Without notifying anyone, Ruy used the Everglen crystal to leap away.
A moment later, he found himself standing in front of an annoyingly bright gate. Ruy had always hated the Vackers, who were always so full of themselves that there was no space left for food. They would always say, Hey, look at me, I'm a Vacker and I'm so rich! You'd all better bow down to me or the Council will be mad! They were always showing off, thinking that they were so superior to everyone else. We'll see who the superior ones are after they're on their knees begging for mercy, Ruy thought crossly.
When he stepped inside the house, Ruy immediately spotted the moody boy with anger issues kicking the wall and cussing to the empty air. After he put a force field around himself(because he was fairly sure that the Vacker boy would start throwing things), he stepped forward and addressed Fitz. The boy was so engrossed in torturing the wall that he didn't even notice Ruy walking towards him.
"So," he started quietly. Fitz's head snapped toward his direction. Less than a second later, there were shoes flying in the air, aimed at Ruy's head. Called it, he thought. "I'm not here to murder you," Ruy said, his voice amused. Fitz's head snapped up and panicked. "You expect me to believe that?" he said after a few speechless moments. "I see you're as dense and uncooperative as ever," Ruy sighed. Before Fitz could answer, he continued. "I came to recruit you," he said. The boy's expression was priceless. "... Recruit me?" The Vacker must have had hearing problems.
"Yes," Ruy said, fighting his impulse to yell at Fitz. "I've heard you had problems with the Black Swan's puppet, yes? So I want you to join the Neverseen," he said. The bewildered teen stared at him as if he was crazy. "Join the Neverseen?" Fitz repeated. Ruy was getting irritated. Was it necessary to repeat everything he said?
Ruy could almost see the gears turning in Fitz's head. "Fitz," he started, his voice gentler. He fought the urge to gag. What kind of name was Fitz? And then Ruy remembered that his real name was Fitzroy. He suddenly felt pity for the boy. Imagine how hard it was introducing yourself to other people. Hey, uh, I'm Fitzroy. Ruy was pretty sure that nobody would have been able to repress their snicker.
With a shudder, he continued. "You've been lied to your whole life. The elvin world would not be at war if it was not for the Moonlark. Everything was her fault. Join the winning team, Fitz. You're going to get killed working with the Black Swan."
"Everything was her fault..." Ruy heard him murmur to himself. He was starting to regret his decision of trying to recruit this stupid boy. He'd be absolutely useless! Ruy could just imagine what Fintan would say to him. The Neverseen are supposed to be a group full of intelligent rebels, and this is what you give me?
Ruy thought that the "Golden Boy" of the family was supposed to be more intelligent, but no. He was as thick and dense as a donkey.
But alas, a stupid telepath was better than no telepath. So here they were. "Come on," he said, "make up your mind." And still, the boy stared at him, his face lacking emotion.
Finally, Ruy's patience broke. "You've got thirty seconds," he snapped. "And after thirty seconds...?" Fitz urged. Shoot. Ruy didn't think of that, and all he had were his stupid Psionipath powers. His special ability was good for protection against an angsty teenager's shoes, but it was useless when it came to actively fighting.
"That's for me to know, and you to find out when you're out of time," was all Ruy said.
Fitz visibly gulped. In Ruy's opinion, it was a wonder that he didn't immediately accept his offer. What was better than getting revenge on a stupid, lying, manipulative person you've had as an ally for years on end? Nothing.
Ruy watched as Fitz took a shaky deep breath. The boy opened his mouth and started to say something when a sedative disk landed at his feet. Fitz looked at it in alarm and never had the chance to hold his breath. He fell to the floor, unconscious.
Shockingly, it was not him who threw the disk. He would've loved to be the one who was responsible for the unconscious Vacker. It would've been very satisfying to knock out Fitz after he had to endure his moment of epic stupidness.
But no, it was not Ruy who had done it. Crouching a few feet behind Fitz's body was a grinning Damel. "Kafuta! What the hell are you doing here?"
"I thought you would need a bit of help, sir," Damel said, still grinning.
"Oh, so it's sir, now is it? Is this your way of apologizing for coming on an extremely risky mission that you WERE NOT INVITED ON?" Ruy practically shouted. He could have handled it just fine!
Okay, maybe he was not handling it fine, but still!
Damel just gave Ruy a look. He was good at giving looks. "But anyways, why are you recruiting the Vacker boy? Isn't he the stupid one?" Damel said.
Well, duh. Of course he's the stupid one, Ruy wanted to say. But he knew that would only cause trouble. "We needed another telepath," he said instead. Damel looked hurt. "Are you saying that I'm not good enough? And are you trying to replace me with the Vacker boy?"
Ruy sighed. He was almost as annoying and stupid as Fitz. Talk about angsty teens.
"Mr. Kafuta, always jumping to wrong conclusions. Stupid, farfetched conclusions, I might add. No. Have you forgotten that the Black Swan have four telepaths? And we have one," Ruy said. But they wouldn't have four telepaths after a few minutes. As annoying as he was, Fitz was going to become part of the Neverseen.
It was a huge honor, really. Fitz didn't even deserve to be part of the Neverseen, and here they were, going as far as erasing Fitz's memories of how cruel the Neverseen were to him the past year.
They brought him to their hideout. Right when they appeared in the room, every single head turned their way.
In unison, the Neverseen yelled, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" at Ruy and Damel. Ruy thought that they should join a choir. Ruy grabbed a fistful of the unconscious Fitz's hair and lifted him up without saying a word. Everyone seemed to understand.
The Neverseen were amazing in that way. No explaining, and everyone understood. Of course, once the Vacker boy joined, things would become more... well, frustrating was putting it mildly.
Some studied the Vacker with doubt, and some looked disappointed. But nobody said anything against Ruy. They all knew that Fitz would be the best recruit. Which was quite depressing, really, when you thought about it.
"You ready?" Ruy asked Damel quietly. When he nodded, they set to work.
And after about half an hour, the job was done. They didn't take much away from him, though. Just the pain they had caused them and his so-called friends was gone.
And of course, they left the argument between him and Sophie with Fitz. That was definitely going to come in handy in convincing him to cooperate.
Ruy shuddered to imagine explaining everything about them to the boy. He decided that his worst nightmare would be trying to teach the boy.
And it would have to come true one day.
Ruy's life really was depressing.
Fitz POV:
"W-where am I?" was the first thing that slipped from Fitz's mouth.
He heard Ruy scoff and mutter under his breath, "Of course the first thing he says is a question." Fitz didn't know whether he should be offended or not.
And then it came crashing down on him.
Standing above where he was lying, multiple eyes looked down at him. His eyes flicked from one face to another. Ruy. Damel. Umber. Gisela. Trix. Vespera. All part of the Neverseen.
He didn't panic, though. He knew that they could help him. What he didn't know was how he fell unconscious right when he was having a conversation with Ruy. He was just about to accept his offer, and then–nothing. He didn't remember what happened next.
Also, it would definitely be sweet to get revenge. To see Sophie's face when he appeared in the Neverseen cloak... to finally get her back for lying to him for longer than a year... Fitz got an indescribable longing for the possibilities.
"Would you like to join us, Fitz Vacker?" Vespera said in her soft voice.
When Fitz hesitated, Gisela said, "She's been lying to you the whole time. The Moonlark has caused us all this trouble. If she hadn't been poking around, lying, and doing what she's been for months, we would never be in this war. But here we are. And don't you want to be on the winning side, Fitz? Do you want to taste the sweetness of victory, to finally get revenge on Sophie? Or do you want to die along with those stupid Black Swan losers? They'll never win. You should know that, having worked with them for the past year."
And that was all Fitz needed. He was going to join. There was no changing his mind, no going back. But of course, there would simply be no need to go back. He knew that he would never regret his decision.
For years, Sophie had kept him blindfolded, hiding the truth from him. He was deprived of the sense of victory, of the fleeting sense of glory. She had lied to him for so long, and he would finally be getting revenge.
But now, the Neverseen helped him strip away that blindfold. Now he saw the truth, not the pretty lies the Black Swan had led him to believe. And Fitz would be forever grateful.
"Will you join us?" Ruy asked.
He said the word that changed everything. Three letters that held so much meaning. Three letters that could light up his future or tip the world sideways and lead to disaster.
"Yes."
A/N: wOw. Is this... is this... AN UPDATE? OH YES IT IS, DEAR READERS! AFTER A MONTH(I THINK IT'S BEEN MORE), I'VE FINALLY UPDATED! THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!
Okay. Got that out of my system. And there aren't words strong enough to describe how sorry I am. You know, for the ONE MONTH WAIT? Even I'm angry! Sorry.
Of course, you guys are welcome to scream at me and hate on me through your reviews and your PMs. YOUR ANGER IS WELCOME, GUYS! (If I were you, I'd be pretty damn excited right now.)
In my defense, though, I had horrible writer's block. And ya know, I actually had the very end of this chapter planned out, word for word before I even got started on the beginning? And then, when I actually wrote the end, I didn't put in that part. It just... didn't fit. Sure, it sounded good, but... I like to leave things at cliffhangers. Does this even count as one, though?
See, this is my chapter brainstorming and writing routine:
Me: *sits at desk and stares at screen for incredibly long time*
1 hour later:
Me: Okay. I'm DONE. tHis iS nOt HeLPing.
In the middle of the night(or, more accurately, at three in the morning):
Me: OMG OMG OMG OMG I JUST GOT AN AMAZING IDEA FOR THE LAST FEW PARAGRAPHS FOR MY FANFIC AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH... *gets out of bed and writes down ending on mirror*
Yes. I write on my mirror.
And then, it turns out, when I'm finished with the beginning and the middle, I get another idea for the ending and I completely throw the original idea away.
I kinda regret not putting it in, but it was a bit extra. Maybe I'll tell you guys what it was someday. Right now, I'm too lazy. And my mother's screaming at me to go shower.
Shannon's starting to rub off of me with those cliffhangers. It's real nice, getting to torture people without needing physical contact. It's amazing. Absolutely amazing. Though, I have to say, the physical contact is pretty satisfying.
Did I ever mention that I am known as "The Violent One" to a lot of people? Like seriously. A lot.
Okay, I'm getting off topic.
But yeah! Chapter 6 is DONE! WOO HOO! And... now I have to work on the seventh. *cue panicking and orders for more sanity-saving cookies* I'll shut up now.
And as always, don't forget to REVIEW, FOLLOW, AND FAVORITE!
Now I'll shut up. Promise.
-ChickenButter888
