Hi there everyone. It's been a while since I last updated this collection of sorta-drabbles. It's a lot shorter and a whole lot fluffier. Actually, the entire thing is made of indulgent and funny fluff. A friend of mine commissioned this from me, going about it in a round-a-bout way. I'll talk more about it in the after notes.
Here we're back to Drakath's POV and while I do think he's tiny bit OOC, it might be because the pairing's been established for a while now and he's more at ease. But he still is a jerk. I huge jerk but it's slightly subdued here.
So, have a read and I hope you enjoy this sorta cracky and very fluffy ficlet.
Just Making Sure
"Ty, by any chance...are you my sister?"
"Are you drunk?"
She had been lying on her stomach on the couch when I broke in through the window of her home. The sun was down now and her last visitor had just left. I was just about ready to barge in and turn them into pillow stuffing but unfortunately, after four hours of watching them talk through the window, they finally left in a hurry. Ty even had the audacity to ask them to come back soon.
As per usual, I checked her home high and low for anything that could help me. Ty neither aided nor stopped me from going in and out of her rooms, turning over her furniture and checking behind the weird paintings on the wall.
Of course there was nothing. There was nothing on the Orbs, nothing on Sepulchure, nothing on Alteon, nothing on her plan of action, just plain nothing.
Annoyed once again, I pushed over her magically regenerating expensive vase by the front door next to her suit of armor. The white and blue painstakingly painted flowery vase breaks into pieces with a loud crash but Ty doesn't even bother to come and stop me.
I think she leaves it here on purpose for me to vent.
As I stared down at the dust that used to be the ugly vase, I wondered how she managed to grab every Orb she had up to this point. Her methods were beyond me. She could somehow juggle collecting the Orbs with leading wars, protecting towns and getting home in time for the holidays without going crazy from the stress and pressure. Or maybe she was already crazy and I need to re-evaluate myself one of these days.
Perhaps there was some sort of blood ritual that the other peasants taught her to heighten her performance. If that were the case, I was going to have to ask for it soon.
But not today. I had another question in mind. A few actually. Many of them had been bothering me for a while now. They had bothered me enough to get me to sit around for an extra hour waiting for that clingy brat to leave.
When I had sat down next to her, she continued to sketch and write in one of her many detailed and disturbing notebooks, humming a nameless tune contently.
I spent a good half an hour staring at a cuckoo clock hanging on the wall in awkward silence, trying to word my question in a way that wouldn't sound strange. Failing at that, I decided to ask directly and bluntly.
Without missing a beat, the tiny hero slammed her book close, sat straight up, turned to me and asked if I was impaired. Great.
"I'm serious. Do you have full knowledge of your family? Your real family?" I grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to me. She went rigid at my touch. That can't be good.
"Of course I do," Ty shook my hand off and scoffed. "I'm not an amnesiac but it does seem to be common among heroes. Especially in Falconreach. There's even a special amnesia clinic in town. It's next to the place that helps orphaned heroes. One in five heroes gets amnesia they say," Ty rambled, biting on her cheek as she twirled a strand of her black hair. "But not me. My memories are clear…probably. The doctor said that not everyone knows that they're missing memories and-"
"Ty!" She winced at my voice and sighed.
"I'm not your sister. We don't even look alike. Save for the same colour of hair which is strange, considering I've always had a thing for blonds." Ty mused, unabashed as she reached up to run her fingers through my hair.
I made a mental note to eliminate anyone with golden hair once I was on the throne.
Her beastly dragon would love that. There'll be a whole nest of severed blond heads large enough for his titan form and he'll never bother me again.
"Are you absolutely sure?" I pressed, letting her gloved hands slide down to frame my face. Even with the gloves, they felt warm. Despite being in this position multiple times, and in the worst of places no less, I felt my cheeks heat up and I had to look away from her idiotic and smug little smile.
"Even if I was, would that bother you?" Her chest pushed against my shoulder as she whispered huskily to me. "Would it?" She repeated herself, brushing her thumb down my jawline and I was furious at myself for almost melting into a puddle.
I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out but a choked cough. Then, I felt her mouth turn down against my cheek and she pushed herself away.
"Holy fuck, it wouldn't bother you?" She gasped and backed herself up against the opposite end of the couch, almost falling off.
"Yes! I mean no! I mean it's not uncommon for royalty to marry within the family, you know, to keep the bloodline clean. It's not uncommon for Kings, even the best of them, to have bastards." I tried to explain myself nonchalantly, clasping my hands together nervously as her expression twisted in disgust and confusion.
"Feel lucky that I like your face enough to keep myself from turning it into a funny hat," Ty said, trying to increase the space between us. "So you think I'm either a long lost sister or a bastard and you don't mind at all. I'm surprised your father decided to dirty himself with us grimy little peasants." Ty said and I think she was using sarcasm despite it being the truth.
"It surprises me as well," I sat back, rubbing my cheek with my hand to cover my mortification. "My father wasn't perfect and considering my mother, it's not as all surprising."
"You asshat! You'll say that about your own mother?" She threw a pillow at me hard enough to knock me over.
If it was with Ty's monstrously strong arms, a thrown pillow would have the same effect as a thrown brick but my experience with flying brinks helped me endure. It was a wonder how she could do that with her thin arms. You'd expect them to be thicker than the walls of a guardian tower with that amount of strength.
"I can't believe I still wanna tap that. If your father had bastards, don't they have the same 'claim' to the throne as you? Or wait…" Ty became pale and her eyes widened in fright as some sort of realization hit her. "Did you order a massacre? You did, didn't you." Ty accused. "Oh gods, you killed babies! The castle moats ran red with baby juice!" She exclaimed, staring at me like I had just fed one to a goat.
"No, unfortunately I was too young to understand that concept," I shook my head and instead of calming her fears, Ty's expression turned resigned and she sighed heavily. She was accepting some sort of fact that filled her with an enormous amount of shame. "On the bright side, I am sure none of them know their heritage and if you really are my sister, then I am very glad that I didn't know back then." I said but despite the good intention behind my words, she was still upset.
Her glare could have reduced a regular man into fidgeting spasms.
"…I'm not your sister or sister by another mother. I know that," Ty said, crossing her arms as she furrowed her brow in irritation. "Why are you even asking me this? Why would you even think it might be true?"
"I've been hearing rumors in Sepulcher's fortress and from my men," I began slowly, edging myself towards the girl. "Normally I don't indulge myself in foolish rumors but…I just want to make sure. To be safe."
"Rumors? What kind of rumors?" Ty became thoughtful, mulling over her history. "I've been really careful about not saying anything. Now I'm curious. What does the side of evil think of me or at least what my background is? I'm assuming the notion that I might be your sister has crossed their minds?"
"Among others that worry me."
"Which are?"
"Ty…do you happen to be related to the Alteons in any way?"
"I serve them as a knight every now and then but if you mean by blood, the answer is a definitive no."
"Good," I sighed, relieved at not having to deal with the problems that would come with that shameful bloodline. "Then you won't mind if I have them executed and stick their heads on the castle walls?"
Ty remained stoic at this as she flipped through the pages of her notebook, which was possibly a good sign.
"Drakath…" Ty bit her cheek, tapping the notebook on her forehead. "One day, we're going to work something out. It's going to be a very heated conversation that will result in a body count but right now, you have other things on the mind."
"So maybe not kill all of them?" I tried to appeal to her and compromise. I assume this is how regular people work out their problems? My father just threatened my mother with a public execution and replacing her but I wouldn't ever consider saying anything like that to Ty.
It would end with me flying through the roof and besides, the mere notion of me doing that to her made my stomach and chest feel stuffy and sick. The idea of anything happening to her made me want to puke and Alteon and Sepulcher were the ones who posed the largest threats. But if Ty had some feelings or attachment to them…
"We could keep some as pets. Or maybe it wouldn't be so bad letting them live in the dungeons. I can rub their noses in my throne. I can rub their noses in you! I can't wait to see it," I rubbed my hands together in anticipation of their shocked and bloody faces. "Figuratively speaking of course. If they touch you, I will feed the usurper King his children's feet."
"Next question!" Ty shouted and my next question should have been obvious to her.
"Are you related to Sepulcher in any way?"
"That sounds absolutely ridiculous." Ty scoffed, appalled. The very idea of being even remotely related to the Doom Knight seemed to make her skin want to crawl off and jump into the nearest ocean. "Could you imagine if that was true? I'd never be able to live it down." She said, crawling over and gently pushing me on my back.
"I lose enough sleep thinking about how that smelly and stiff old corpse has you stuck in that creaky old castle. Gods, is there even a bathroom in there? How do you survive?" She asked me as she straddled my stomach and pushed my shoulders back against the cushions.
"With a minimum amount of sleep and nerves of steel. The skeletons' screeching and screaming have given me that much," I mumbled quickly, turning my head to face the back of the couch. "And will you stop doing this?"
"Stop doing what?" She smirked, knowing full well that she was turning me into a quivering wreck. I kept my hands curled into rigid fists at my sides to keep them from doing anything stupid. Of course she would notice. Humming happily, she slid her hand down my arms, pried my hands open and laced her fingers into mine. "If you want me to stop, don't say it like a question." Ty smirked down at me with half-lidded eyes as she began to close the distance between us.
"Fine," I barked and I couldn't keep it from sounding shrill. I wasn't about to look like some weak infatuated fool in front of her. It shouldn't be that easy for her! "Get off. I'm not asking."
"I shall obey, my fair liege." She chuckled at my sudden outburst, releasing my hands before pushing off to leave.
"Wait!" I pulled on her shirt and she tumbled backwards on to my chest, somehow caught by surprise by my act. Her elbow jamming itself into my sternum pushed the air out of my lungs and the back of her head slammed painfully against my chin.
"Ow, fucking shit!" Ty hissed through her teeth in pain. "Gods, make up your mind!"
I was still winded by the heavy oaf and I had to ignore my throbbing chin in favour of wrapping my arms around her waist, keeping her from escaping me.
"You didn't give me a straight answer," I dodged her question, trying to keep her from squirming out of my hold. "Are you sure you aren't related to Sepulcher? Not even a distant niece? A thrice removed cousin?"
"The answer is a firm no," Ty sighed, releasing the tension from her muscles as she lay back on me. "And even if I was related to him, don't expect me to ball tears and get on my knees to hug my 'father's' leg. I'll commit patricide then and there. I only have one father now. I don't need anymore. Besides, who would have children with him?"
"You'd be surprised." I mumbled and I could practically hear his little brat screeching from all the way back in the fortress. Even the undead could lose their hearing from listening to her demonic tantrums. That old hag must have let the brat cry as some form of passive aggressive revenge.
"The rumors about me are boring," Ty tsked, disappointed. "Aren't there any more interesting stories? Like if I collected the hearts of my enemies and fed them to Libérta to let him absorb their strength?"
"I don't doubt that," I cringed at the image. "The rumors are more along the lines of a very badly written heroic fantasies. Almost all of them are about your lineage. One popular theory names you as Alteon's daughter by my mother who was somehow the priestess in disguise who was in turn a velociraptor wearing a human costume. There are many variations but they're more or less the same."
"How the fuck does anyone around here know what a velociraptor is?" Ty laughed incredulously, almost choking herself. "You can't believe that shit…you don't right? Right?"
Keeping my mouth shut, I pinched her cheek and pulled. It felt real or maybe it was just that well made. Or magic. There's always magic.
"This isn't a mask," Ty slapped my hand away. "If I had a lizard head, I would have shown that off but instead I'm…" Her voice tapers off and I could feel her body tensing up again.
Ty became silent and eerily still. The ticking of the clock hid the sound of her breathing and I began to worry.
"Do you want to know the truth?" Ty asked, her voice sounding uncharacteristically small and fragile. I was afraid that if I moved even a tiny bit, Ty would shatter into dust.
Immediately, thousands of terrifying possibilities flew through my mind and I braced myself for the incoming revelation.
"Sure." I clutched her arms tightly, inwardly cursing at myself for letting my voice crack.
"Promise me you won't leave?" Ty asked again in the same delicate voice. I couldn't see her face because of our position but her shoulders began to shudder against my chest. She curled them inwards in some attempt to make herself look smaller.
This could be worse than I thought.
"S-sure." I stuttered. Fuck. That sounded really bad. "I-I mean…I yeah. Yup." I swallowed hard and she was sure to have felt it.
Fuck, that went even worse.
"Okay…" Ty tipped her head forward slightly. She breathed in slowly through her nose, calming herself. "The truth is…The truth is…I have always been-" Ty took in another deep breath and my grip tightened on her arms in petrified anticipation.
"I am your mother."
That was a fucking joke. That was the worst fucking joke. That was even worse than what the rumors had said about her.
I was about to toss her off and leave but then I thought to myself 'What if? I didn't see my mother after what happened. Did she escape and make a new identity for herself? With there being magic, you can't rule out the possibility. Could she possibly-'
"Mother?" I said, barely louder than her staggered breathing. She went stock still and gently laid her palm on the back of my hand.
"There's something I need to apologize for…" She began and I could feel the blood dropping from my face all the way down to my ankles. "When you were a child, I kept dropping you on your head. That's why you're dumb as fuck. You can't blame me though. I couldn't tell which end was which; there's hardly a difference between your head and your ass!"
Ty elbowed me in the stomach and escaped, laughing like a madwoman as she ran away into the hall.
"You fucking- Get back here!" I chased after her, charging into the empty corridor. The vase had fixed itself so I knocked it on to the ground again. "Ty! That wasn't fucking funny! I'm going to strangle you! I'm going to crush you!" I called down the hall. She was nowhere in sight so I back myself up towards the front door, making sure there was nowhere she could jump out of without me noticing.
"Ty! Come out!" I shouted again before my back bumped into someone who wasn't the door but had a chest as flat as one. Then I was literally swept off my feet and carried away.
"You mean come in," Ty laughed, scooping me up in her arms after coming back in the house through the front door. I kicked and struggled by her hold on me was strong. "Wow, you're heavier than before. Ha, my knees are quivering here. If you ever want to beat me in a fight, just throw yourself on me and I'll be crushed by your fat." Ty joked, giggling at my struggles.
"Let me down right now!" I tried glaring at her but that just made her smile wider. Immediately recognizing what was giving her so much enjoyment, I covered my face. "I swear, I will-" I choked on my threat. "Let me go or I'm going to-" Damn it. I couldn't say anything.
"You know I'll never let you go. Not even from my cold, dead and dried fingers." Ty teased as she skipped down the hall, spinning us around and around.
"That was the dumbest thing to come out of your mouth yet. Never say anything like that again!" I scolded her, feeling myself getting dizzy from the erratic motions.
What was she, a child?
"And would you let me go if I did have a secret as crazy as what the rumors have said about me?" Ty joked, swinging us from side to side.
"Of course not! Like I actually care about any of that!" I protested without thinking.
Ty swung too far to the right, lost her balance and threw us into the wall by accident; my words apparently striking some sort of chord with her.
Our heads bang painfully against the gaudy wall paper and we slid back down to the polished floor taking a couple of the paintings down with us.
"You clutz! And they say you're supposed to be graceful in battle." I rubbed the side of my head as I smacked a portrait off of me, finding myself sitting on top of Ty's thighs.
"Forgive me, dear prince. Your kind words had struck me dumb as has your astounding beauty." Ty articulated in a faux-aristocratic tone.
"Shut up!" I grounded out, reaching over to cover her dumb mouth. She took the chance to trap my wrists and suddenly went back to being serious.
"But I did hear you, right? You don't care who or what I am?" Ty looked up to me, waiting for my answer with carefully hidden apprehension. "I could be literally anyone or anything, done anything and it wouldn't matter?"
I scrutinized her, weighing the real meaning behind her words. So there was something she was keeping a secret and if she hadn't even told me yet, it must be important.
But does it matter to me that much?
"No. It doesn't matter at all." I shook my head and though her mouth opened to speak, she was at a loss for words.
"You didn't need to think about it for too long," Ty said after a moment of thought, sitting up. I was sitting on her lap and she looked up at me with genuine curiosity. "I'd think you'd be worried about where I came from."
"I just wanted to know so we could take the right precautions in the future." I replied, shaking my head. "It doesn't have anything to do with what I'll think about you. That won't change."
"I'm perfect," I said frankly, earning an exasperated groan from her. "That means my preferences are perfect. So it doesn't matter if you're some peasant street rat or some sort of beast. I love you so that means you're perfect no matter what."
Ty's jaw dropped open and I swear, her mouth was open wide enough for a gorillaphant to make its home in there.
Realizing her over the top reaction, Ty's hands flew up to cover her mouth and she turned her head away from me.
"Wh-what are you saying? Did you just really say that?" Ty stuttered under her hands. I almost couldn't understand her muffled words. "Since when did you think that up? Are you trying to kill me?"
"Huh?" I leaned over to face her. I could see her blush behind her fingers and I couldn't stop myself from grinning. "You are flustered." I stated as I laughed at her, thoroughly enjoying our reversed positions.
Was it a blue moon tonight? This almost never happens.
"Just shut up! How can you say that so easily?" Ty stumbled over her words, shielding herself from me.
"Really?" I teased her, turning her head back to face me. I held her jaw and neck still so she wouldn't be able to look away. She felt like she was burning up under my hands. "So you don't like what I said?"
"It was so sweet and so narcissistic at the same time that I have to go out later and punch a unicorn to feel like myself again." She grumbled, blue eyes turned down.
There was no time to savor that moment; Ty bounced back and she grabbed my collar to tug me forward. Our foreheads were touching and all I could see were her warm and clear, almost electric, blue eyes.
"But I think you should say stuff like that more often." She answered and we were close enough that talking made our lips brush against each other.
At that moment, I was very glad that I was the one sitting on her lap instead of the other way around.
We kept staring at each other as the old clock in her hall ticked away in time with our breathing.
Ty smelled like the dirt from her garden outside. The way that smell mixed with the almost overpoweringly sweet odor of the flowers stuck all over the house was awful; her scent could make a man's eyes water.
Instead, it just made me go crazy.
It was quicker than a blink but it was impossible for her to miss. I kissed the tip of her nose before bolting towards the door as fast as my shaking legs could carry me.
"Not happening, jerkface!" Ty laughed, catching me just as the tips of my fingers grazed the doorknob. She wrapped her arms around my waist and hoisted me off of my feet.
"Let me go!" I shouted but I didn't make any real effort to escape and there wasn't an ounce of urgency in my words. She couldn't see my face so I didn't need to make the effort to hide my smile either.
"No way! Not after that!" Ty giggled gleefully before carrying me back into her living room with ease, spinning us around as we went. The vase had regenerated again and Ty's motions knocked it over again. "I'll never let you go. Not ever!"
"That goes both ways." I muttered and her laugher melded with mine, echoing down the halls.
Author's Notes: A friend of mine, who helps read and edit some chapters of my work, once asked me if Drakath would still like Ty if she was a velociraptor. The question came out of nowhere and by the time that question came around, most of the planning for their relationship in DE had been finished, and it's safe to say that after all the shit I'm going to put him through, Ty being a dinosaur's not going to be much of a problem. He'd rationalize it somehow.
Also, still no backstory for Ty since it's a major plot point in Double Edged.
And most of these additions are going to be about them already being together unless I come up with something that's not going to be put in the main fic/someone asking for it.
Since we won't be seeing Drakath for a while after the Wind Orb Saga is finished, my friend asked me to write something cute and small. So I did it.
Most of the stuff that ends up here have Ty and Drakath already in a relationship. The main fic, Double Edged, spends more focus on the development of said relationship so I can't post much on that (besides the cut out chapter that was the first addition of Drowning) until those scenes have passed.
Most of the ideas came from the forums. A long time ago, there used to be a section mainly for theories and speculations. It's gone now but there'd always be a thread about the backstory of the main character.
Some were interesting and others were awful. Most had something to do with the main character (ie. You) being related to the game's bigger players like Alteon and Sepulcher. Though the main point of having a generic main character is so the player can project themselves on to the character and make up their own backstories.
So if you wanted, your character could be part velociraptor and it would all work out. "The Shadowscythe's been defeated by a slightly smarter velociraptor" actually sounds interesting.
A lot about what Drakath says is my headcannons for him. Especially considering his mother and father. In Mechquest, Kingadent Slugwrath was confirmed to be his father but there's hardly anything about him character wise. There's absolutely nothing on his mother so for all we know, Drakath might be part doormat. Putting it that way, it might not be so unbelievable.
And if you haven't noticed yet, my artist friend, Electronelle, made a picture of one of the later scenes in Double Edged. It's now the cover picture for this collection of drabble thingies and the full version can be found on our deviantart account without any explanation that I have a link to on my fanfiction profile. One of you guys found out and I was sent a message telling me that I was an incarnation of the devil. I was flattered.
These fics have also been getting popular. The views for these one-shots out do the number of views for my main fic. That means I should work harder on that, huh?
That's all really. Thanks for reading and I will get to continuing DE soon. With real life in the way, other writing projects I'm working on and editing making me rewrite and rewrite, it's a slow process but we are moving!
Goodnight/Good day and don't stay up all night on exam days to write (like I do).