Day 19 (July 25th). Headcanon

We all have our different head canons we have about the characters or story. What are yours? Today's prompt can be anything from changing canon to implementing your own ideas.

the HC relates to a certain part of Devack's backstory. this also should be the last of the pieces from a couple years ago I'll be posting as part of the event

Disclaimer: this piece was once posted a couple years ago and deleted – now is up for good

The Bodyguard

My finger traced down the picture frame in my hands. His smiling face and bright green eyes were trapped forever. This was the only immortality he could achieve. Even my memories of him would fade with me. Why was decay this cruel world's nature? Why?

A red rose rested on my desk. I placed the picture in front of the mirror and picked up the flower by its stem, carefully avoiding the thorns. The person in the reflection was not me. Misty Tredwell did not have all-black eyes separated by the rings of emerald irises. I was some ghost trapped between life and death. I could not meet Toby again, and all because of the Black Rose.

The Black Rose.

I plucked a petal off the rose's blossom and crushed it between my fingertips. The residue left behind stained my skin like blood.

"What are you doing?"

A hulking form filled the threshold to my room. My strange new living quarters within the crater were constantly dark. The wandering shadows were broken by spare few candles. Flickering firelight was hardly enough to see by. The dark robes the man wore only made it harder. He edged closer, so I could make out golden lining on his cloak.

"Oh. Devack," I said. "You caught me at a bad time. I-"

"I know exactly what you're doing. Come here."

"What? Why?"

He stepped aside and gestured towards the door in response. I supposed it was all the answer I would receive from the cryptic man. We had barely spoken since my life was given back to me. He didn't seem to be much of a talker. Regardless, he seemed to be a superior in the organization considering his closeness to Roman. Waving off his request would likely be a mistake.

I could no longer afford mistakes. I followed him into the main hall. The high ceiling was draped with spider webs, which caught the orange candlelight. A single, long table stretched before me. A candelabrum holding four lit candles burned at the center.

Devack was rummaging through a cabinet in the corner. How he managed to see anything was beyond me. I took the time to drag a chair out from under the table and take a seat. I crossed one leg over the other and rested my cheek on my fist.

Something slammed down in front of me, and I yelped. A colorful, rectangular box sat on the table. Devack sat opposite me. I blinked and my stare darted between him and the box. "Candyland?"

He opened the container and went about setting up the board game as though it were the most natural action in the universe. "That is the name of the game, yes."

"…Why?"

"Because it's game night, you fool!"

"Really?" I peered around the hall. "Where are the other two?"

Devack slapped down a stack of cards. "I offer you the first move, Tredwell. Draw!"

Though stunned, his bellowed order forced my hands to move on their own. "Uh, it has an orange square on it."

"Curses!" Devack shouted. "You reached the rainbow bridge on your very first move! How dare you! Now you advance past the Peppermint Forest, Licorice Castle, and Gumdrop Mountain with zero resistance!"

"Um, sorry?"

"You will be truly sorry after my move! I draw!" He scowled at the card in his hand. "A red. I advance one space. Don't think this is over!"

A bead of sweat formed at my temple. What, exactly, was happening here? Was this some sort of test for my dueling skills? I drew another from the stack. "It, uh, says Molasses Swamp."

"What?" he hollered. "That means you advance to the next to last area in the game! I refuse to accept this! I'm shuffling again!"

He grabbed the stack and deftly shifted them among his beefy fingers. He said, "What are you waiting for? Move your piece!"

I quickly moved my person to the brown pile of goo marking the area. True enough, the game's end goal was a few spaces away. Devack grinned at his draw. "An invitation from Queen Frostene herself! I advance all the way to the Ice Cream Sea!"

"Right after you shuffled? Are you cheating?"

"You would dare to dishonor me? You still have the lead! If I were cheating, you would not!"

"Yeah, right," I groaned. "Let me see that card!"

He revealed its face. It read "Ice Cream Sea," as he had said. "I am no cheater, Misty Tredwell."

"Well! I don't need reshuffles to win!" I picked up a card. "This one says Peppermint Forest."

Devack observed me for a tense few seconds. He burst into laughter and pounded his fist against the table. Tears streamed down his cheeks. Between howling laughs, he managed: "You- you have to- go back to the- beginning!"

"Oh, dammit. Why is that possible? This game isn't fair!"

He only laughed harder and dropped his head on the table. When he did, his hood fell off. It was the first time I had seen him without it. Red marks trailed down his cheeks, and the firelight seemed to shine on his bald head. He regained composure as I scanned his features. His irises were a startling purple and tilted down with his frown. "I used to play this with my daughter. To be honest, I would shuffle it so she would win. I guess I hadn't changed the order since then, so you are the cheater here."

I paused. The cards and board did seem well-worn. "Is your daughter the reason why-"

"The purpose of game night is not to remember," he said, "but to forget."

"Oh." These past moments hadn't brought Toby to my mind after he had all but consumed my thoughts before. "What about Roman?"

"He refuses to participate."

"And Kalin?"

"Have you even met Kalin? He's nuts. It makes me nervous. Anytime he laughs, I feel like I need to take a shower with holy water."

I laughed, but he was unmoving. Who could have guessed the fellow had such a personality? "You're not so talkative yourself."

"Yes, well, you remind me of her. But this is not the place for that, Misty Tredwell. Face your doomed fate!" He swiped off a card. "No, no! This is impossible! I drew…"

His card showed the Gingerbread Plum Trees, which was farther back to the beginning than the location I had drawn. I burst into a fit of laughter like he had earlier.

I brushed off the scarlet velvet of my gown and tossed back a shot of whiskey. The NYC skyline glowed like fallen stars against the night's ink black outside my hotel window. My glass left a quarter circle stain on the paper sitting on the see-through glass table.

How nice to talk to you. How are you doing. What's the weather like. Sent with love. The smallest of small talk from Akiza in her letters, all dancing around the true subject we constantly avoided. Why had I done it? Why had I let it consume me and almost take her down with me? Why was I still alive?

"How are you doing, Madame?"

The voice came from outside my room, so I swung open the door. A suited man with a black earpiece and silver briefcase looked down on me. I said, "Shirking your bodyguard duties to check on me? That's a fireable offense, Devack."

He accepted the stab without a twitch. His slicked black hair had streaks of gray and no patches. Thankfully, I had convinced him to grow it out. "I heard you received a letter from New Domino."

"It's nothing," I said quickly. "Well, it is, but-"

He shut the door, dropped the briefcase on the table, and popped it open. The only item inside was an old board game. He moved the letter onto the kitchen area countertop and said, "It's game night."

My lips spread into a reluctant smile. I sat on the couch as Devack set up Candyland.