it is so unsafe when you are/Insecure in the space where you are?/it is so, really so/is it more real? is it more yours?/is it more yours?/is it more real, for you/ Than it is for him or me?

I look around while walking amidst the fields made by trees and grass, painting the location into the hues of green. The mud is grabbing into my shoes as if it is trying to make me get stuck in the greenery. The road towards the halidom is getting closer and closer, but that is the smallest of anyone's problems.

"Gabriel, Gabriel. What are those whites things stuck in your ears?"

I should have paid way more attention. Remember, you always reap what you sow.

I pause the song, removing the headphones and looking back at Henry. "Some stuff" I reply.

Henry continues to stare back at me, the march still proceeding. When is it going to stop? There isn't enough time to tackle the actual problem.

"Some stuff? Your guts can't stop lying?"

I blink at him. The bright afternoon drowns us into the most monotone of things: nothing happening at all.

"Yes, they can. But it is some stuff."

Henry laughs at my answer, shrugging his head off once the laughter dies down. "Gabriel, Gabriel. When will you learn that I can read your entries?"

I blink at him, raising my eyebrows while at it.

"Well, it depends. Maybe tomorrow, maybe a year from now, maybe never," I reply.

He sighs but still remains smiling throughout the encounter, his eyes still dull as ever. He comes towards my ears and whispers to me, "Even after I gave you a lesson, your brain can't understand my insides. What was that white stuff?"

I contain my sigh. Can't I just get him out of my foot? Anyways, how do I deal with the guy? Honesty? Not a good option when dealing with a killer who loves his job. Perhaps, but not I don't think that w-

"What was this thing? Are your guts thinking too hard about something you used?" Henry replies, poking at my arm while I'm thinking.

I scramble back to reality, turning my head to him frowning "Sim."

Henry pouts at my answer, going back to stare at my soul. His voice gets a little lower, "Now you are replying in that weird language of yours. A heart pumps blood and entrails fall when cut. Tell me, what do these things do?"

How can I explain this to him? "Well… it's a thing that you put in your ear."

He blinks at me, his eyes gaze against mine. I frown at him but still that doesn't dissuade his smirk.

He clicks his tongue. "Gabriel." He shakes his head while wagging his finger left and right. "You aren't answering my question at all. For the love of all the blood in the world, tell me what it does."

I look at his other hand, where a tome is.

"It plays sound," I tell him.

"What kind of sound does it play?" His smirk widens and I strain my eyes.

"Well, it plays… noises."

He once again comes close toward me,turns the tome around and shows me off while pointing at its text.

"A tome uses words, but they words don't create magic. Muscles use blood, but blood doesn't flex . Your white thing uses sound but it isn't the sound, what is it playing ?"

I gulp, grab them and place them near his ear. Hope he doesn't kill me

I play the music, the pianos coming once again. His smile drops down and removes it from his ear, his attention going back to the passage in front of us. "Only that…" his voice trails off.

I grab the earphones and put them back in my ears. At least this interaction could have gone worse. I look around. There are just the two of us, a cart in the back and another in front of us. I go back while still taking glances at every side, I can't afford to not gaze.

The tent is set up in a far away place, to the point the camp is only a mere dot in my sight, the flames signalling its position in the night. I lay down in the ground, the soft ground of Ylisse comforting my back for the first time in a while. When are we going to fight against the Ylisseans and the Shepherds? The same question has been repeating in my head since the beginning of the always come blaring in my mind: Will I survive?

I gaze around the pitch darkness of the tent, shivers going down my spine as sounds rustle in the background the moment I close my eyes. My hands tremble in it as if someone's gazing at me from afar, their stare acting like a dagger in my throat. One brusque move and my death will come.

I close my eyes once again, the stare penetrating into my skull as if it's touching my own head. I immediately open my eyes. Are they here? I grab my Flux and get out of the tent. The world is consumed by the night, the aforementioned main camp as the only source of light. Aversa? Validar? Have you finally come for me?

My legs tremble like a wobbly bridge, ready to collapse at any moment. I slap myself on the head. I need to get a hold of myself otherwise the worst will come. I open the Flux and strain my eyes while reading it. Um. Dois. Três. The energy puts me in a daze, the tiredness being eaten away as I aim at the general vicinity, waiting for something to come out.

Something does come in my direction, the sound of grass being stepped on as it gets close towards my ears. I grit my teeth, and shoot the orb. It flies straight into the air, passing by without hitting anyone. The sound ceases. I stand there for several minutes, waiting for the time the thing comes but alas there are only the sounds of my own breathing.

I sigh. Damn those bastards, I can't even go back to sleep. I enter the tent, sitting in it, while still holding Flux with me. There is always something lurking in the darkness right? I keep aiming at the entrance, waiting for time when the thing comes. When am I going to be murdered? After all, if Validar knows about my attempts, then the end is very near. I will die soon, right?

The cracking of the sounds makes my body go stiff, I hear my teeth clanking. My arm is trembling. The eyelids get heavier but the moment I close the eyes, the presence returns back haunting me, making me scramble back into the defending position. I go back to the position, waiting for the attack. There is always someone attacking someone.

With the energy jolting, my eyelids threaten to close off but my body fights back with trembling, a last attempt in the sight of death. I can't die, I simply can't die here.

Until a moment comes where the tome drops before I can notice it. My eyelids drop down heavily but relief comes. Perhaps sleeping isn't so bad, the haunting ceasing of existence as if the darkness had been lightened all along. Within a few moments, I fall asleep.

The moon shines from the window on my right. The place around me has a bed and a collection of books, the silence hangs in the air with a soft wind soothing my heart. An oddity but my heart beats to the rhythm of the breeze. A sigh to satisfy it.

I look at my clothes, all the scratches and rips gone as if I'd never gone to war. What is this place? I sit down for a moment. Whatever it might be, it feels relaxing to just exist here. I put my hand in front of me and play out the tunes which screeches like hell. Ahh, Xenakis, of course we need more math to create more chaotic music. Blares, peace in my heart.

When the tune ends, a door emerges, slowly opening in front of my face, revealing navy blue veins pouring out from it, but when they come close toward me, they get stuck a few centimeters away from my skin. Are dreams weird like that?

They recede back to the door, which closes before I can even get up.

I get up. In a single instance, the room changes to a green field where the palace of the capital rises against the horizon. In front of me, Reflet with her hair down, turned so that I can't see her eyes.

"Gabriel, why are you gazing at me?"

I blink. "Well, you just appeared in front of me."

She turns her back away from me, a sigh soon following. "This shouldn't have happened."

Is this Reflet? "What?"

She turns around, revealing her eyes which are gray instead of red, frowning. "This is a dream, Gabriel. But I don't think I can hold out for much longer. I'm sorry."

She jumps toward me but she dissolves into sand, as does the whole place, turning to an empty desert, trails of rocks in front of me.

There isn't any air in my lungs, as if the heat had dried the oxygen. My feet tremble after taking a few steps. Skeletons emerge from the sand dunes, piling up to form entire mountains.

The future is coming closer than expected.

My shoes get stuck in it, the sand turns into a dead pavement, the rusted building rising from the bones. I move but I meet with the ground, falling face down to the pavement, noticing little cracks in the road.

A dark goo emerges from the cracks. Damn it, I need to run! I remove my shoes and run away from the thing. The goo turns to flesh when I give a quick glance at it. I try to reach for one of the buildings, but once again fall. This is going to suck.

The arm reaches towards my neck, putting its hand on it. With a slow moment, it tests by closing and opening it on my trachea. Then it strangles me, as a face forms on it, its teeth laid bare. Please leave me alone, why are you doing this to me!? But neither my mouth nor body move until it comes the same old familiar voice.

"Se eu pudesse, eu te matava."

I sigh as I open my eyes, my body splayed against the ground. I gaze around and my body, the arm is still in here, the wound still is here. I look around for my tome. A nightmare? Huh, yes.

I now have to go to battle.

The camp has always been a place of happiness and fun for Gangrel but I doubt for anyone else. The gazes follow me when walking amidst the path of the claustrophobic place. Whenever I stop, the staring stops at me and focuses on the other person moving. Is this even a proper war camp or a paranoiac Panopticon?

Still, I can't wait much time. It's either having the gaze or not being able to catch up with Reflet? I sigh, the stares return. What even place Reflet and the others are going to appear either way? Wait, is this the main area? A circular field where people meet each other has a massive fire pit in it. Well, I Should get going.

Then I hear a discussion coming out of it. "What are you doing coming to Orthodox's area?"

I gaze at the sound's location, two men staring back at each other. Then one of them punches and a brawl ensues, screams coming from both sides. I probably should get out from here before anything worse happens…

"Things are a little bit way too heated, I guess someone needs to get some cold blood" A man comes to my side, Henry.

"I presume so." I reply, Henry nods in response.

"If only they focused that energy on the war, then our corpse could have finished this soon." I blink at the affirmation, staring back at him while he wears a smirk on his face although he twitches for a bit.

"Why are you looking at me with confusion?" He says, staring back at me with his empty eyes.

"I didn't take you to be someone who hated war." I reply back to him while I make a step away from him. The raven man cackles at my question while clutching his hand.

"Nah, it is Dad who has prohibited me from picking up bodies from either side. 'You are an officer' He says. 'You can't set a bad example' he says! " The irritation coming towards him, his smiling straining staying occupied in his little world.

"When I get back to the guts it will be an excellent day." The White-haired man says, turning his head towards me. I'm a few meters away, damn it! This isn't enough.

"Why are you escaping, Gabriel? Do you know that annoying vessel has something for us?" I stop in my tracks.

"Do you mean that we are going to a battle soon?"

"Of course. That is the only good thing that a hellish woman can do!" Well, didn't take him to hate Reflet, I don't think this is good. I remain silent about it.

"Follow me. Gabriel, hope your guts are ready for the bloodshed" I hold my twitch by clutching my hand. Henry begins to walk while moving his arm to make me follow him.

There is only silence at the walk, the stares still unto me. The only respite is when I reach a camp in a field where an army stands and on the right side, Reflet and surrounded by bodyguards and the dark mages behind them.

The vessel breaks off from the formation, walking towards us. But when she comes close to Henry, she passes by his side and meets with me, stopping me in my tracks. Henry reacts the same way, walking straight by her and disappearing amidst the crowd of dark mages.

"Despite the reunion results. I think I might have some time for you after we are done with this battle" Reflet speaks with a smile forming in her face. I nod to her.

May I survive this encounter.

So this was an awful chapter. Yep, I'm being honest with you, reader. This chapter was hell to make, annoying, things didn't flow as I planned and there was much more interesting stuff to work with. So this is much a disappointment to anyone who was waiting for one month by this point

Besides, when I began to edit it, it started more or less a moment of personal difficulty in my life, so I wasn't exactly able to write or do much beyond being very tired. I apologize for this chapter's quality and hope that the next can be better to read than this catastrophic mess.

Anyways, You didn't come here for my rants. So good news, Detachment is almost done on my side, if I can return to my pace of writing then I can finish it at the beginning of march and solely focus on editing it. It is going to take a while to publish all of them, but Detachment is going to end this year. Rest assured.

In other news, I have begun to write for another fic for Awakening. Something more Valm related and pretty much a project that I'm doing to rest, I might publish the first chapter of it soon.

But because of that, I started to explore other fic ideas that I have. As such, I have made a poll for the fates and 3H fics, it's more for gauging what the audience wants so don't expect me to write as you people wish, I guess.

Finally, thank you very much for reading this mess of a chapter and somehow still stucking for a fic that isn't that good. Special thanks to David for beta reading this fic, massive thanks to him for helping me a lot with this fic from the start.

For people who want to know what song Gabriel is listening to, it is "Red Queen" from Coil.

I participate in a Discord server with other people. Feel free to enter. discord . gg / 9XG3U7a

Crowbars357: You are most welcome, sir!

VGBlackwing: Very interesting scenario, I remember reading that and thinking that it might be fun to write about it. But sadly, this no prelude to no Canon, the mess Gabriel is in is stuck in this timeline. But thanks for a good idea in my head.

Ascandas: Well, Gabriel might be acting reckless and acting like a mad man, but considering everything, there isn't much he can do. So it's basically him going to stop her in any way he can or die trying. So RIP for him. Glad you liked the chapter. also apologizes for the bad chapter.

2010si: You can interpret that way, it isn't Gabriel's mind is the sanest thing ever so it could be Grima doing that or not. Well, Validar is the guy who wants Grima's awakening to be as smooth as possible and Gabriel has a headache. Tharja, well, Tharja is complicated, possibly a mix of annoyance and conflicted feelings. Glad you liked this chapter

TheBobcat18: Thank you very much for the kind comments. About the part, it's supposed to be abstract since it's literal energy from where dark magic takes its power from going straight to his psyche but I'm still glad you enjoyed nonetheless. I hope the next chapters are going to be better for you. I'm glad you are enjoying the story so far