Cue Intro Music: The Witcher (Netflix) OST- "Geralt of Rivia"

Proceed once finished.

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Book 1: Silver and Steel

Chapter 1: Big Brother

Page #1

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Inside one of the three rooms of the Rose-Xiao Long household, we find Gerald Xiao Long Branwen snoring away in blissful slumber. The young man of 20 years was sprawled on his bed, half-naked and drooling profusely, without a care in the world. So much so that he barely even minded the heat of the sun bearing down on him through his bedroom window.

BZZZT...BZZZT... A scroll, his scroll, located on top of his nightstand lit up and began vibrating. ...BZZZT...BZZZT...BZZZT...BZZZT...

Subconsciously hearing, and in turn, recognizing his scroll's buzzing, Gerald groaned as he closed his gaping mouth shut before tiredly opening his eyes.

"Argh, damn, what now?" He said as he groggily looked towards his scroll. And with the same amount of enthusiasm as that of a corpse, he sat up straight on his bed and reached for his scroll. He took one look at the caller I.D. and his drowsiness couldn't have faded any faster. "Wade," the young man said as he tapped on the answer button and pressed the scroll to his ear. ", what's the sitch?

"Gerald! Thanks be to the brother gods you picked up right away." The familiar voice of Wade Wilson answered happily."No time to explain right now but you gotta get over to the tavern. Like, right now. As in now-now."

"Whoa-whoa now, Wade. Clam it down a notch." Gerald urged as he kicked up out of his bed and proceeded to tidy it up with the scroll pressed between his ear and his shoulder. "Why didn't you just call through the emergency box?"

The emergency box, a black box that was no bigger than a small notebook, located at the home's living room next to the hollow-screen. This was a long-range telecommunication device that allowed members of the Uni-Guild direct access to its main lines and vice versa. In Gerald's case, due to the rather loud alarm tone it emits, he thought it prudent to place it in the living room. At that distance, it was close enough for him to hear its loud alarm tone while also being far enough to not deafen him. The problem was though...

"Uhhh...your Missus happened, remember? Three days ago, you took that job down south of Sanus and you, quote on quote, forgot to tell her about? And she straight up nailed you in the balls for it? Ring any bells?" Wade explained on the other end. "You even told me that she thrashed the box and threatened to shove it deep in your arse if you ever pull another fast one on her".

...it had been, to say the least, rendered completely useless by a certain blondie.

"Ah, " He nodded to himself and held the scroll on one hand as the memory of it came rushing back to the forefront of his mind, and with it the phantom-pain of his family jewels that had him unconsciously covering his groin. ", that's right, yeah. I remember now. But moving on from that, what's happening that's so urgent? Did something happen?"

"Oh fuck, I got sidetracked there for a bit-totally your fault by the way-but yeah, you gotta get here to the Tavern as soon as you can. ASAP!"

"Those two mean the same thing, Wade." Gerald amended with a raised brow. "And why, exactly? I gotta tell her something this time or else I might end up getting something worse from her. And I'm not sure about you, but I really wanna have kids someday." Not that she would actually go that far, or that's what he hopes at least, but you can never really know for sure. And that's especially true with Yang Xiao Long.

"...I can't tell you that, Gerald. I wish I could but I can't. Sorry." Wade answered after a short pause.

"What? You can't tell me? The hell is that supposed to mean, Wade? You are literally the last person I can think of that would keep a secret." Gerald shot back with a slightly irritated tone as he opened his bedroom door and stepped out. "Come on Wade, tell me. I really ought to know why you want me to come over there in a hurry." He continued, making his way down the stairs and unto the first floor of their cottage home.

"Sorry, dude. No means no. If you wanna find out, then find out for yourself. So don on your armor and get your tight ass over here." Another pause as Gerald walked through across their living room, along the way petting Zwei who was chilling on their couch, before continuing towards the basement door. "...and just a little heads up, you've been specially summoned. And if you're wondering by who, both my Dad and Mom did. And they've got special clients in tow."

That last part had Gerald stopping just as he had opened the basement door and was about to start his descent. "Holy shit, " cursing with slightly widened eyes, the young man shook his head and continued down in a hurried pace. ", so its gonna be one of those days huh, Wade?"

"Oooh, definitely. I can literally smell the dough in the air, Gerald." A beat. "That, or its Vanessa making another batch of unholy pastries. I love that woman to death, you know, but her buns sure are a lot to handle. If ya know what I mean, wink-wink-nudge-nudge."

"Shut up, Wade." He couldn't help but chuckle at his best friend's usual quirkiness as he flicked the basement lights on. And lo and behold, their "basement" could be called a large war armory and it would still be an adequate description. What with all the numerous and varying arrays of armors, weapons, bullets, gadgets, and trinkets. The works. "All right, I'm gonna suit up and head there straight after. I'll see you in a bit."

"All right, big guy. See you then. And please hurry it up a tad bit. I don't think Vanesa and I can keep these shmucks entertained much longer."

And with that, the call ended and Gerald went straight to work.

He chose a full body armor set, one that excluded the head and hands, which was made out of thick dark leather. It took him a couple of minutes, with added time on having to wear the full-body chain mail underneath, but he now had the armor fully strapped on and ready. He gave himself an up-down and nodded in satisfaction before proceeding to pick a utility belt that matched the armor he was wearing and strapped it on.

Once it was rightly secured around his waist, he moved to the weapons corner and began arming himself. He grabbed a bowie knife which had a thick knuckle guard and sheathed it before hooking its scabbard at the left hip of his belt. He then grabbed a Beluga Hand Cannon, secured it in its large strap and hooked the strap at the belts right side. And not wanting to take any chances, Gerald decided that bringing a few vials of "medicine" would be a wise course of action. And so, he grabbed three fist-size brown colored pouches, hooked them at the front side of the belt, and placed two vials in each pouch.

"And last but not least," He said, turning towards the large red mecha-scabbard propped up in one corner. ", you." He walked to it and picked it up by its sling. "Another Hunt, another paycheck to be earned. Let's go." With a grunt, an action that's second nature to him at this point in his life, he positioned the scabbard upright at his back and secured the strappings as he made his way back up and out of the basement.

Fully equipped with all that he needed, Gerald closed the basement door and proceeded back upstairs to the second floor of their home. If this was to be what he thought it was likely going to be, he wanted to inform the girls this time to prevent any unnecessary repercussions. More so from the elder of the two.

"Yang? Ruby?" He called out to his younger sisters as he neared their bedroom door. "Uh, you girls awake yet?" He continued, knocking on their door. And when a few seconds passed with only silence greeting him, he tried again. "Yang? Ruby?" Still no reply. "I'm coming in, all right?"

He turned the knob and slowly creaked the door open at first, but when he heard no reaction whatsoever from the inside, he then pushed it wide open. "Girls?" Only, they weren't there. Their beds, each of them matching their respective owners' color scheme, were tidied up but were devoid of their said owners. "Huh, " With a shrug and a look of mild confusion, Gerald stepped back and closed the door. ", guess they got up already. But it's too early though. And where could they be on a Saturday?"

He made his way down to the kitchen to grab a quick bite to eat, and also to prepare Zwei's food, pondering all the while as to where his younger sisters could be on a day where they usually stay late in bed until noon. Once there, he saw a plate that had its contents covered up by a white sheet. But what really had him zeroing in his attention was the folded piece of paper on top of it. He quickly picked it up, unfolded it and inspected its texts.

"Dear Big Bro, " Gerald read mentally. The first few words alone already sold him as to who wrote the note. ", Yang and I are going to Vale. I'm going because I'm buying new parts for Crescent and Yang said she was gonna go "chill-out" with her friends or whatever that means. I wanted to tell you this personally but you were sound asleep, and I didn't wanna disturb you, so I decided to just write it down instead. And also, don't tell Yang I told you this, but she said she was gonna come home late because she's going clubbing tonight-" This got him to stop and grunt in displeasure with a small frown. Yang's a capable girl and a strong one at that, he'll proudly admit. But she's also young and can be recklessly impulsive, he'll admit that much too with gusto. And he didn't like any of the potential prospects clubbing would bring her. "-and she specifically told me not to tell you this, " He continued. ", because she wants to get back at you for not telling her about your last Hunt and making her worry her hair out. Said that this way you'd understand how hard it is. I tried to talk her out of it, but you can guess just how well that went." Feeling bad for having his youngest sibling go through something like this while also starting to feel annoyed at Yang for bringing Ruby into it, Gerald breathed out a sigh and took a mental note to fully talk this out with her. "So yeah, that's pretty much it, really. I'll be back in a few hours, it won't take me that long with the parts. I'll try talking Yang out of her "Revenge-clubbing" some more, maybe I'll get lucky and get through to her somehow. But if not, welp, I tried." He finished the main message.

But after noticing there was still some more text at the bottom of the note, he continued.

"P.S. I made you some pancakes just in case you might get hungry. With love, Ruby-Rubes. :-D"

"Aww, " Not at all caring how out of place his gruff voice was for it, Gerald cooed at his youngest's gesture. ", thanks, Rubes." And with that said, he placed the note down on the table and removed the sheet. And true to her word, as always, there were indeed three pieces of blueberry pancakes stacked on the plate. "I wish I could savor this, but duty calls." Shrugging, he grabbed all three pieces and shoved them into his mouth.

It took all but six seconds to chew it all, and as soon as he was able to start swallowing, he moved towards the fridge and grabbed a carton of milk. He then took a large glass mug from their cupboard and poured all the milk into it. "Never drink straight from the carton, " He recited one of his late father's teachings, his voice a little muffled due to the contents in his mouth, as he threw the carton in the recyclable trash bin before downing all the milk. ", etiquette maketh's the man." He grabbed a fresh paper towel from their paper towel dispenser and used it to wipe the remnants of milk from his lips.

"Right," He said to no one in particular with a nod as he cleaned the glass mug. ", time to to get a move on." Placing the mug back where it belongs, Gerald then walked out of the kitchen and into their living room. "Oh but first, " Smiling, he spotted Zwei still sitting on the couch and wagging his little tail as soon as he saw him. ", I gotta see to you, little guy." He stopped in front of the corgi and kneeled down.

"So Zwei, I'm heading out. Do you think you can man the house for me while I'm gone?"

"Arf!" The little guy responded with a happy jump. And with the way his head bobbed up and down when he landed, it looked like he was also nodding.

"Hehe, thanks, boy." With an amused chuckle, he rubbed the underside of Zwei's chin before standing back up. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Ruby will probably get here sooner than me though so don't worry. And if you ever go hungry, you know where to look. You got that, boy?" Another bark and a jump was his reply.

With another chuckle, Gerald rubbed Zwei's little head before heading towards the front door. He opened it and stepped out but stopped halfway through and looked back.

"I'm off!" He heard Zwei answer back with a bark. And this got Gerald to smile to himself as he stepped fully outside and close the door behind him. "Now then..." He stepped 10 paces forward before taking a stance that runners use to sprint. "... let's go."

Gerald shot off the ground, shattering the ground he was just standing on beforehand and blew large amounts of dust in the air in the process before disappearing into the tree lines in a blur.

And so, with speeds far surpassing Ruby's, Gerald of Patch made his way towards the Tavern located deep in the mountain ranges North of Patch. Not knowing in the slightest of what was to come.

A/N: Onward.