Creatures of Value

Chapter 9, So Simple

It all happened so fast that Arthur had not seen a thing. The only thing he actually captured was the end result, which had him dropping to his knees. It had not hit him. The car was completely totaled, but it had not hit Alfred. He was still out in the middle of the road, gaping, with a solid black cat by his side, still in much of the same disbelief as Arthur. In front of him sat the carcass of what was once a car, utterly smashed into oblivion on the front end by way of a little, floppy-eared rabbit. Blair had always had a mean kick when he needed it. It just proved what kind of powers guides truly held. It was said rabbit that moved first.

"Are you two okay?" he asked, removing his foot from the indent reminiscent of a meteor's crater, "That was too close for comfort."

"We're fine." Nikkita assured, her tail swishing about, "I am not so sure about the driver, however."

It was around this point that Francis and Matthew, guides in tow, came outside to see what the ruckus was—and were immediately horrified. In fact, it was Francis's screams that roused Arthur from his trance. This was also when Alfred began to connect back to reality as well, two things especially weighing on his mind: the safety of the driver and his safety once Arthur got ahold of him. Being a hero, he knew one was more pressing, but the moment he saw Arthur hurtling towards him that all went out the window. He honestly could not help it when the tears started flowing. Before he knew it he was bawling. Because he was scared, because of the car crash, because the driver was bound to be hurt, because he caused all of this, because Arthur and Francis were so oblivious, because Estelle and Blair were not trying either, because Matthew was so torn up over it, because of absolutely everything. Each tear and hiccup was for yet another, distinct but connected, reason that he could not stop crying. And these tears served only to send Arthur into more of a panic.

"Alfred, Alfred! Are you hurt anywhere!?" Arthur cried, pulling his little brother into his arms faster than he ever had before, "Alfred, answer me!"

Naturally, Alfred could not exactly communicate at the moment, but just as much as his tears whipped up his older brother's hysteria, his voice served to calm him. It took a moment for the latter to win over and Arthur's heart to finally slow to a sustainable rate. Alfred was still a mess, but at least he could think clearly. The reason that Francis had yet to barrel him over had to be that he was trying to keep Matthew inside, which Arthur was grateful for. That freed him up to address the car's driver. If he said anything regrettable, he doubted Alfred would hear him, much less remember. Speaking of the driver, he could smell the booze from where he stood, which only stoked his anger. Nikkita had withdrawn to Alfred's mind long ago, but Blair had refocused himself to exploring the car's interior via the shattered windshield.

"He is unconscious, but I have a feeling he was before the crash." Blair stated, poking his head back out, "He is actually pretty lucky. His injuries seem namely minor. I wonder if the alcohol suppressed his guide."

"Alcohol can do that?" Arthur asked, moving in closer to take a look himself.

"A lot of things can prevent us from manifesting, but it all depends." Blair explained, moving out of the way, "Francis called the police, right?"

"I hope he at least has the sense to do that." Arthur muttered, "But you never know, so we better check."

"You go do that, and leave Alfred there will you? He has seen enough of this." Blair instructed, "I will keep an eye on this guy."

Arthur immediately looked sheepish. He was just so happy to have Alfred alive and in his arms that he had tuned out the boy's wailing long ago. Maybe he should do something about that.

"Of course." Arthur chucked nervously, darting back towards the house.

Before he even reached the front door Francis came out and snatched Alfred right out of his grasp.

"What took you so long!?" the man snapped, torn between trying to comfort the crying boy in his arms, yelling at Arthur, and just running back inside.

Arthur did not even dignify that with a response, not that he had one, "Have you called the police, yet?"

"You thought I wouldn't?"

"That is all I needed to know." Arthur clarified, turning away and starting the trek back to the vehicle.

A small smile graced his lips when he heard the door slam behind him, but that was short lived as he noticed Blair moving around what was left of the car hood erratically.

"He's waking up!" the rabbit yelled.

Very short lived.

Things moved quickly from then on. The driver had indeed woken up and Arthur got to have that argument he had been itching for. He had honestly tried to be polite at first, but when all the man could do was spit profanities he decided it was not even worth trying to hold back. Arthur had not learned so much as the man's name by the time the police, and ambulance, arrived, though it was partially due to the drunk's incessant slurring. Everyone should know their limits, and this man could not hold his liquor.

By the time Arthur finally got back inside, choosing to call his insurance company outside rather than deal with whatever was waiting for him indoors, he quickly found out that Alfred was just calming down. It seems that Nikki had yet to reappear as well. That was without a doubt worrisome, but he could not exactly interrogate Alfred just yet, even if he really wanted to. Sure, he was glad the boy was safe, beyond thankful for it, but the overall shock was wearing off and he wanted answers. What had possessed him to just run out of the house like that, and so soon after the forest escapade? If this was merely the boy's defiance growing in strength, he wanted to know that, too, so he could deal with it. However, he was having a hard time accepting it. Alfred was still so young, even if he had a guide. Surely he had a couple more years of reprieve? All his thoughts tongue tied him, so he left Alfred to dry the remainder of his tears on the couch. Matthew, with Florence in his arms, was by his younger brother's side. Francis had invaded the kitchen and was anxiously cleaning everything he could reach. Arthur involuntarily opened his mouth to say the first snide thing that popped into his head—before he was interrupted that is.

"How is Nikki?"

Arthur recognized the voice as Blair's.

"She's fine, but doesn't want to be bothered." Alfred managed, though rather breathily.

When no further questioning came but instead the shuffling of little, furry feet Arthur knew that his observant rabbit was not so convinced. As to what Blair was thinking, or truly feeling, Arthur had not the slightest clue. For the first time Arthur truly noticed that, and it was humbling. What had it felt like to know those kind of things instantly, without even realizing it, he wondered. However, he did not spend too much time on the thought as the tension in the living room started to rise.

"Will she tell me herself?"

At this point Arthur could not get to the living room faster and Francis was hot on his heels. Arthur even caught sight of the bright green creature sitting on Francis's shoulder. So even Estelle was on edge.

Alfred did not answer right away, but when he did he had an unidentified emotion on his face, "She says your concern is misdirected."

Blair sighed, "She seems to be saying a little more than that, but it is only for your ears, yes?"

Alfred's facial features contorted a little, "Not really, but why does it matter?"

All of the observers were becoming more absorbed in the conversation by the minute, but Arthur especially. Blair was doing exactly what he felt he had needed to, get answers. It surprised him how eager he was to hear the responses to questions he never thought of asking, probably for that very reason. It was better to know too much rather than too little, in his opinion.

"Because you two are dangerous." Blair admitted, rather reluctantly.

He had been well aware of their gathering audience, but he felt he had to explain this clearly and concisely to Alfred. He needed to speak to Nikkita, and he would be sure to later, but either educating her other half or determining just how much he really knew was not time wasted. Now if only the audience would stay as such.

"Dangerous?! Blair, what are you saying?" Arthur barked, closing in on the two and taking the open seat on the couch to Alfred's right, the left being occupied by Matthew.

Blair could not remember a time that he had ever wanted to shove a sock in Arthur's mouth as badly as he did now. He supposed the anger and frustration was due to their disconnection, but whatever it was, Blair knew where he, himself, stood. He doubted that Arthur even knew what spectrum he was on. As such, he believed it was reasonable for him to simply shut up, and if he did not understand that, Blair could ignore him. Blair's irritation level grew slightly when Francis took the open seat to the left of Matthew and he now had to see the green amphibian on Francis's shoulder in his peripheral vision. Fine then. If she was just going to observe, there was no need to hold back, though he doubted he would have anyway.

"What I mean by dangerous," Blair began, studying the rather amused face of the young boy, "Is that you are a danger to yourselves. Nikki's priority is not of the normal sort, correct?"

Alfred's face shifted from his previous amusement to that of being stunned as the rest of the audience just grew even more confused. They tried their best to join the conversation, asking Blair, and Alfred, questions of varying nature. However, Blair had one goal and one alone. They would simply have to wait. Even Arthur, whose impatience was growing into hysteria once more.

"I guess it is not surprising you noticed. You have been watching us pretty much constantly lately."

Blair could not help but grin at the appearance of the voice behind him. So she did come out after all. And it shut everyone else up as an added bonus.

"Well it was rather odd that you came out just to stand there with your claws at the ready." Blair considered aloud, "You could have stop the car well before I got there, I am sure."

"I was more concerned with the driver's safety."

When Alfred's face became colored with shock Blair had seen all he needed to finally turn around and face the black cat.

"You mean he was."

Now Nikkita looked amused, "We are two halves of the same whole. His concerns, thoughts, emotions, and choices are all mine. I have no reason to be adversarial with him. Why would I not accept them as my own?"

Blair had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what her value was, but he felt he had to make her say it. Yet he did not even have to ask the question.

"I value freedom, Blair. My freedom, specifically." she specified, her eyes meeting with Alfred's to calm him.

Their practically captive audience could barely take it anymore, even the guides wanted to chime in.

"And because his first impulse was to ensure the safety of the driver you refrained from attacking the vehicle, but since no other kind of instruction came before I intervened, you did nothing." Blair concluded, "And that is exactly why you two are dangerous, especially from my point of view. My primary value is loyalty, as such I cannot allow you to make choices that will hurt yourselves."

The tension in the room increased tenfold at Blair's words, but not in the way one would expect. Though the audience was significantly hyped, it was Nikkita that was the source of the dark aura in the room. Her ears were laid completely back and her pupils had narrowed into slits.

"My values allow for self-sacrifice when desired. Even if these values differ from yours, I assure you that all my choices are in my best interest, and even if they were not, it is not your place to decide that. Rest assured that I will never let you interfere if I do not desire you to do so."

There was absolutely no effort on her part to conceal that her words were a very real and serious threat. Blair did not particularly blame her for her response, but the malice behind the words was enough to make him pause. He made note of the landmine he stepped on, just to be sure he did not incur her wrath once more in a later conversation. That would benefit no one.

"Okay! I believe we should move on to Estelle's explanation corner, where we make sense of Blair and Nikkita's cryptic references to their assumptions~" chimed Estelle, hopping from Francis's shoulder to Blair's head, who was not pleased in the slightest by this development.

Apparently Nikkita was as entertained by this as much as Blair because she retreated back to the depths of Alfred's mind. Blair wished he could do as much, but there was a chance that he would not be able to come back out so he was not going to risk it. He kind of hoped that Estelle would, but settled for knocking her off his head. Even Florence, with all her curiosity, felt it was better to retreat.

Estelle took a deep breath, "I am going to cover the basics, so bear with me. All guides have at least one primary value that they put above all else, though some have more and possibly equal values. Now, not all guides know this at first. As different as all the guides are, we typically rank ourselves on a scale on how much we know about ourselves. We never mentioned this earlier, because Blair and I are both at the center of this scale, so there was no need. However, now that there are two more guides, both of which are at different extremes, you should probably know. Florence, on one end, knows absolutely nothing about herself and will discover her own values and abilities with Matthew as a team. On the other end, there is Nikkita who knows exactly what her values are and how she will implement them. I suspect that she even retains quite a bit of human knowledge that Alfred does not even know, which is probably the detail that truly ranks on that end."

"What exactly does that mean?" Arthur asked for everyone intently listening.

So she passed the baton, swiftly kicking Blair with quite a bit of might.

"Alright!" he spluttered, "That means you cannot just treat us all the same and hope for the best anymore. You could treat us, Estelle and me, the same without issues, but you would be expecting too much from Florence and Nikkita in different ways. For one, Florence knows about as much as Matthew when it comes to herself, and even less so in basic human knowledge. You expect us to be able to help you stick to your paths when making critical decisions, while she cannot be held to that standard because she is still trying to find that path. Nikkita, then, you cannot expect her to follow a path completely acceptable to you, plain and simple. This was already an issue before she had such a tricky value attached to her, but now even more so. Pretty much, your influence on Alfred will be minimal if existent from this point on. In fact, I only explained Florence's case like I did because you can influence both her and Matthew. Because we are in the middle, you can influence Estelle and me just as much as we can influence you two. However, Alfred from this point on will forever govern himself on Nikkita's overarching rules, which will be something you can never change. The best you can do is adapt to that, because if you go against it, I assure you that bad things will happen."

Arthur looked pretty disturbed by the end of Blair's speech, and found himself gripping Alfred's shoulder rather tightly. Chances were that it hurt by now, but he doubted he could loosen the grip until someone said anything. Even then it might be a little questionable. Luckily for him, Alfred was far more concerned with something else.

"That is it?" he quizzed expectantly.

Surely that was not—

"Yes." Blair answered simply.

The boy lost it for the second time that day, but this time in anger.

"What about your disconnection, are you going to say anything about that? Why do you think Mattie and Flori are whispering all the time? Why I cannot talk to anyone unless I am at school. If you are going to start this, go all the way!"

Estelle was a little taken aback, everyone else, too, except for the little bunny that had been observing him the whole time.

"You finally boiled over and that is why you ran outside…"

Everyone sat in a still silence for a moment—before Alfred very violently tried to throw a pillow at irritating rabbit. He would have if Arthur had not grabbed it out of his hands.

Blair was beginning to feel sinister intentions coming from the boy, and he knew that Nikkita's were starting to peak at that point as well. He better get on with it. Sigh.

"Arthur,"—Blair hopped right into his other half's lap and stared him dead in the eye—"Do you have any idea why I went to sleep, and still could if I went back inside your mind at any point?"

After a moment of hesitation and thought, he shook his head. Blair then proceeded to climb up his shirt and touch their foreheads together—before leaning back his head and swinging it forward with all his might.

"Because you don't believe in me anymore!" Blair snarled in the wake of the sickening crack from their skulls bashing together.

Arthur stared in utter disbelief at the rabbit huffing in his lap, "I don't believe in you—"

"No you, don't!" Blair continued, "The moment your parents died you lost faith in me because that was the one thing that I was not able to fix for you, but new flash: no one can fix it for you, you have to be the one to accept it and move on!"

"Mon chou, Arthur is not the only one with this problem." Estelle added, jumping into Francis's lap, "I am not going to head-butt you, but if you want me not to fall asleep again, then something will have to change. Neither of us can stay in the physical realm forever."

Both of the older brothers were not sure what quite to say. It stung more than a little to learn that this was a problem with themselves once more. But it was always like that, it seemed. What was more, it had put the twins in danger, again. There was too much repeating with this, but this was all because they did not believe in their guides, right? How exactly were they supposed to fix something like that? Besides, Arthur was still having a hard time accepting that he did not believe in Blair. After all, the rabbit had not only saved Alfred, but explained why he did the things Arthur could not make sense of, and the only reason he could was because he kept such a good watch over him. Pretty much everything Arthur wanted to but could not do himself. Why would he not believe in someone like that? Francis was having his own issues as well. Estelle fell asleep when he needed her most when she had been the closest person to him. It was a little hard to believe in someone after that, even if he caused it in the first place.

Silence engulfed the house as everyone waited for the stepbrothers to process all they had heard and say something back so the conversation could continue. That was just not happening. If anything, the conversation went on, but split in between Arthur's and Francis's individual heads. Because of the disconnection, not even Estelle or Blair knew what was going on in there. It was frustrating to say the least. Alfred felt like they were back to where they all started, and he was getting the feeling that Matthew was losing hope by the second as well. He did the only thing he could think of—call for help.

Alfred bounced off the couch, finally because he was getting numb, and turned sharply to face his brother's. He had made sure his turn was so sharp because it looked like Arthur was about to lunge and tackle him. Apparently he was not allowed to make any sudden movements for a while. Naturally, he had more than just Arthur's attention, and everyone looked at him expectantly.

He smiled a bright smile that seemed odd for a moment like this, "You know, Nikki said that a good first step is to first believe in yourself. Remember? We are two halves of the same whole! So she has to be right. Believe in yourself and it should carry over to your guides. As long as you believe they are a part of you, of course."

Alfred said it all like it was so simple, and to him, it probably was. Even Matthew seemed energized with Alfred's conclusion. It must have been easy for him, too. Maybe, just maybe, it could be simple for Arthur and Francis. That was all they could hope for under the eager gazes of their guides. At the very least, they had a starting point. Maybe it was already less complicated, even if only a little. That was something to smile about.