First mission. Seth couldn't quite grasp everything he felt. Drained, but in a good way, was the biggest and strongest feeling though.
"Hey, Seth." It was Roman. "You sure are the natural, man."
Seth felt shy by his praise, but yeah, it had felt really good out there.
"I mean, the way you analyzed that monster and changed between offence and defence. You're like a pro Hunter, man. Hadn't it been for you, we'd probably be toast. Glad you're on our team, wouldn't wanna go against that brain and skill of yours."
Seth knew he had a superior Rune control but using it in action and Roman seeing and acknowledging the same… it made him humble. But still proud. Not arrogant: he was too defensive to be that. He knew to keep his cool, being a Healer. Others relied on him.
"You're gonna make his head explode", he heard Dean from where he was walking in front of them.
"Come on, Dean, he deserves some praise. It was his first mission and he did it perfectly. If it wasn't for him, chance is we wouldn't be here now. We needed a mage in this battle. The monster had Magic and our physical defence would never been able to shield that."
"I'm not thanking him."
Seth still was saddened by 'this' Dean. He'd shown some of his nice side again, actually checking up on him and Re-Setting him during the fight. But yeah, he always seemed to put on that mean exterior again whenever he made a progress. He still didn't expect him to thank him but hearing him saying it aloud like that… it made him low in spirit. Why'd he even feel like that? Maybe it was because he knew how Dean could be…
And then it was his reluctance to refer to him personally… that just bugged him as well…
"I'm still glad to be of help…" he just said, a little low. He guessed it translated as shy though.
"Glad to have you on The Shield", Roman said, giving him an one-armed hug as they walked. "And no, Dean, don't say he's not part of it. I'm not having you make him feel like so. We're all in this together. We're The Shield, okay? Seth, you and me. Seth saved our asses our there. He saved you despite how you've treated him. He had your back. Actions speak louder than words."
"He got you hurt…" Dean said.
Seth got shocked by Dean's sudden accusation. He was blaming him for Roman's injury? What had he done? He'd only protected them, right? Yeah… his barrier wasn't strong enough…
"Whoa, Dean, don't even go there", Roman quickly said in his most serious, almost warning voice. "The monster hurt me, Seth didn't do it. And it was not because of his shielding Magic. If it wasn't for his shield, I'm sure I would have been snapped in half by that attack. That hurt like hell, you know. But I'm positive Seth's Magic protected me even there, caught some of the impact. He did everything a support mage could do; he even went unstable to protect us."
Seth was impressed by Roman's ability to totally defuse the situation. And he was grateful for it; Seth could easily have gotten into über thinking mode and just put on the self blame on full force. But the way Roman said it directly… that neutralized that. Thankfully.
Why'd Dean go there? Maybe he had just been worried about his brother in arms… But still… He inwardly sighed. He still didn't get Dean at all. He was just so… on and off… Like before. He'd come to find him… and he seemed… he had seemed like he was sorry, even though he hadn't apologized. He never did. But it had been something about his way back then. He had been… nice. And then it was the breakfast. Stealing his food. And from his fork nonetheless~ What's up with that?
And then now… he's being the jerk again. He didn't venture too far into that thinking; it was more fleeting memories resurfacing.
Seth got back to the topic at hand, watching Dean. He couldn't see his reaction. He just watched his back but he hadn't said anything either. No mocking or sarcastic remark. Maybe he over-analyzed it again but maybe Dean thought Roman was right but too stubborn to admit it?
He appreciated Roman's words very much. He really felt… accepted by him. And he had showed that during the fights. He was there for his team.
Did he dare consider him a big brother? Thinking back on his words and actions, he had behaved like a brother to him. Maybe not as he's seen with Dean but he still felt like Roman had… taken him in.
Dean on the other hand really hadn't. But, again, he had Re-Set him. Another Re-Set that had been different due to - again - having been high on adrenaline. Funny that. Dean's Re-Sets were always like that. And then the boost from the unstable Runes. He had never done a spell as powerful as the one he'd cast on that flame monster. His dangerous boost was probably part of it.
It scared him a little. He really didn't like unstable Runes. He wanted to have control. This uncertainty wasn't cool. He couldn't believe there actually were these daredevil mages that only used unstable Magic. That was just way too dangerous. Seth was all for calculated risks.
But overall, he was very happy after this mission, especially. He felt like he was where he belonged. Being a Hunter really was for him, even though he was more of a support. He hadn't felled any monsters but he had assisted two great Hunters. Keeping them safe for another battle. And he felt needed, appreciated. This really was what he was supposed to do. In every fibre, he knew it; he felt it in his heart.
"Thank you", he said. Mostly to Roman because of his reassuring words, and that he didn't blame him for the weak shield. He knew his barriers were better against Magic than physical attacks, as it was. But he didn't voice it. He just had to figure out how to use his Wind better against physical attacks too. To be able to protect his fellow Hunters.
"Thank you", was Roman's smiling answer, ruffling his hair.
Seth just smiled at that, putting his hair behind his ear.
They soon returned to Authority. The two experienced Hunters went straight towards the Guild and agency to leave their report. Seth just followed them.
Roman was the one doing the talking and let them read his Rune stone. Turned out he had 8 wargs registered. Dean presented his blade and he had 6 of them. Seth noticed he wasn't happy with that number.
Even though they already had enough wargs they took Seth's stats as well, because he was part of the team too. Seth removed his bracer and loaned them his wrist Rune; he didn't want to argue with the procedure.
The attendant put her hand on it and read it. He couldn't feel anything at all, and if it was because of the unstable state or if it always was like that, he couldn't tell.
"You also felled a raupnir?" the attendant suddenly said, totally surprised.
"What?" Seth was stupefied. He had a kill? But which one was the raupnir? They were supposed to slay wargs, right? "I didn't think I slayed anything", he managed out in his confused state.
"I was the one taking the raupnir down", Dean said, almost interrupting Seth, shooting him a mean glare.
"Yes, I read that from your stone, Mr Ambrose. You took down two of them? One is a lot to handle."
"No…" Seth realized it must be that big one they referred to. "It must be some mistake. We encountered one and Dean was the one with the finishing blow."
"I read one from each of you", the attendant said.
Could it be the same? Had it registered for both of them? How and why?
"But… maybe it was an old one from Mr Ambrose…" she continued uncertainly.
"No. It was Dean's from today. He impaled it with his sword", Seth insisted. "Maybe mine's out of whack. My Runes are unstable at the moment. And was that at the time of the slaying." He just wanted to be fair to Dean. The last thing he wanted was to seem to try to steal his glory.
"That usually doesn't matter but since you're new, there might be something to it… anyway, you have 4 wargs registered, making your team's total 18."
"And we also have the sub-requested fangs", Roman said and handed over the items. The attendant thanked and gave him their payment.
"Thank you", Roman said and they made way for the other Hunters wanting to make their reports.
"That was mine", Dean said, not even trying to hide any of his grumpiness. "Why does the brat have that as well?"
"It's not like I stole it from you", Seth said, trying to ignore the fact that Dean didn't address him, just calling him brat, nonetheless.
"So much for your fancy Runes, they can't even register correctly."
"I'm unstable, remember?" Seth snapped.
"That usually doesn't matter", Roman said.
"You think… you think it's because Dean Re-Set me just before that?"
"Wait what? I'm stuck with your now or something?" Dean just stared at him.
"That's the only thing I can think of", Seth raised his hands in defence before Dean did something… to him.
"Like hell I wanna be connected to you…!"
"I was just saying, I'm not too keen on the idea either", Seth countered, mimicking Dean. He was just so confused, he didn't know what he thought or felt about it.
"But that doesn't explain the wargs", Roman said, interrupting before things got out of hand.
"Yeah…" Seth said, collecting himself a little, starting to think. He had been Re-Set after the wargs…
"You leeched on mine there as well?"
"Dude. I don't leech on you", Seth was a little offended by that actually.
"Let's go sit down somewhere and analyze this", Roman continued, yet again trying to put a lid on stuff.
They went towards the courtyard and sat down by one of the lonely benches. Seth and Roman sat on it and Dean leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
"Okay", Roman said. "What do we do now?"
"Well… I was sure I didn't have any kills", Seth said. "But it still registered four wargs and the raupnir."
"So let's go through the encounters."
"All I did was supporting you, you know with barriers and stuff. Especially with the raupnir. Yeah, I took the flames out but Dean clearly killed it. It doesn't make sense."
"How about you, Dean? You sensed anything differently? I mean you were the one Re-Setting him prior to that."
"Yeah, I just Re-Set him alright? You stole some of my energies or what is it?"
"The Re-Set doesn't work like that; the Re-Set is the thing that transfers my own energy to the Runes, you know refilling them. You just push the button, because I can't", Seth said.
"But did you feel anything different?" Roman asked again.
"No." Dean said stubbornly and shortly.
Seth thought about it too. He did feel the Re-Set was less painful and stuff, but it had been a very extreme situation. He really didn't know if it counted as different.
"What about the wargs?" Roman cut in. "Forget the Re-Set for a while, the wargs happened before that. You did some attacks on them, didn't you Seth? With the Wind blades?"
"Yeah, and some tornadoes", Seth nodded, happy to have changed the subject a little.
"So you just have to do some attacks on them to make them count as kills? That's so lame…!" Dean said, shifting a little where he stood. "Fancy mages just have to be there to have kills registered, leeching on their Hunters, making their kills less significant."
"I didn't take them from you…" Seth mumbled.
"What about cooperation? You had joint forces with us, making it impossible for the Runes to know who actually killed it?" Roman said.
"That could make sense", Seth said after giving it a thought. "I guess the whirlwinds I sent when Dean needed to retrieve his sword took them out and then Dean took care of them."
"Roman and I do that all the time but it doesn't count for both of us", Dean said.
"That's the only explanation I can come up with", Seth said. "If it's not the unstableness that did it. But I still wasn't unstable when we encountered the wargs."
"Yeah, you said that", Dean muttered.
"Again, it's not like I took them from you. It counted for both of us, right. At least the raupnir. Because that one we know for sure was only one. Maybe my attacks had killed the wargs even if anyone of you overkilled it. I don't know. I did attack them too, so I didn't just passively just 'take advantage of your kills'." At least he didn't think so. He couldn't know. Then it hit him. "What about that dirt snail before? You two were the ones who took it down. I just poked it painfully and made it open its mouth. My attack could never have killed it by itself." The raupnir still could have something to do with the unstableness so he didn't count that. And the wargs were weaker monsters so maybe he actually did have some kills on them. "I'll go and see if I can get to know all my record. Okay?"
The others didn't get a say in the matter as Seth concluded his thinking and returned to the agency disk. He was met by the same lady as before.
"Um… can you read my monster count again? I would like to know about my total stats", he said.
"Yeah, sure", she seemed a little confused though but she read his offered wrist Rune. "One raupnir and four wargs. That's it."
"So there aren't any others, like older records?"
"This is all I can sense, I extended the sense, but this is the only record you have."
"Okay. Thank you." Seth said. So the dirt snail wasn't counted. If it wasn't counted because it was before he was approved. Maybe it was only counted after he was able to use his Runes freely?
With his thoughts running wild he returned to his team mates. He gave them the monster report.
"Leech", Dean said.
"Hey, I had a decent attack on them for them to be killed. You know, the wargs. And as suspected I didn't have anything to do with the dirt snail so I didn't leech on your kills, alright?" Why wouldn't he just drop it…?
"Why don't we just put it to the test? We go out, take out some monsters and see who it counts for", Roman said. "Dean and I kill one monster each with Seth present; without using his Magic, to see if his Runes pick anything up, because of his unstableness and/or the fact that Dean Re-Set Seth."
"You have to slay two different kinds of monsters or else we won't know anyway", Seth said. He liked the plan too. Maybe it would put Dean's mind at ease?
"Good point", Roman said. "I personally don't care about this matter, but since Dean is so bugged by it, we better investigate it."
Seth agreed. But he also wanted to know for himself, since this wasn't any phenomenon he had read or heard anything about. Mostly because he still was new to the Hunter world. He noticed Dean giving Roman a look though but he didn't comment on anything.
"Let's go, we'll still have quite some time before dinner", Roman said.
Dean just rolled his eyes and just had to bump Seth's shoulder as he passed him. Seriously? Was he so broad shouldered that he always bumped into him or did he just need so much space passing him? Seth had a bad (?) habit running into him but this was just weird; Dean always had to invade his personal sphere while passing. It wasn't like hard or hurt or anything. Just the deal about it.
They followed the creek away from town, and it didn't take them long until they spotted a birdlike monster. Dean took care of it in a single blow.
"Oh… shit…" he said and put his hand on the sword's Rune stone. He made a face touching it, like half squinting. Activating it didn't seem to be that pleasant. Like Seth's Re-Set.
"Forgot to activate it…" Dean continued afterwards.
Even though Seth felt for him when activating it, he couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips. It was just something about Dean and his way of dealing with stuff. He didn't quite know what it was precisely, just the feel he got from him. Thankfully Dean didn't see his smile or else he would probably have scolded him for it.
Roman activated his weapon as well and Seth just kept close until ordered to do otherwise.
Dean took care of another bird monster and then he kept a little more distance.
A little further away, a small group of insect monsters were flying around. They looked like giant wasps. Roman ambushed one of them, making the other three confront them.
"Stay out of it, Dean", Roman said to him. "It's easier if you just have the jawks and I have the gitts." He engaged them and struck them all down without any bigger effort.
"That should do it", Roman said.
"Wait, shouldn't we find another type of monster and try to do a cooperative attack? To see if it registers?" Seth said.
Dean seemed to wanting to say something but Roman just raised his hand. "Good plan." He looked around. "There's a bumblur over there." Seth looked where he pointed. There was indeed another type of insect monster over there. Like a fatter one with a different kind of pattern and general anatomical features.
They went closer to it but they didn't get the advantage as it noticed them and flew to attack. Roman deflected its initial attack, making it stunned.
"I'll slice it with my Wind blades when you stab it", Seth quickly said. Roman just nodded. Seth sent out his blade and struck as the spearman hit it. It was a perfect simultaneous attack so it should be counted as a co-op one.
"Okay", Roman said and deactivated his stone. Dean did the same. "We encountered two jawks, four gitts and one bumblur, all and all. Even though Dean should only have one jawks registered. Let's see what the score say." He summed it up.
There were other monsters around but Roman didn't want them to bother about them. Dean didn't care about that though as he strolled off by himself anyway. Seth couldn't help but wonder if it would affect the monster count or not, but at least he was at a safe distance, he hoped. Dean always did what he wanted, it seemed.
He seemed… content to be taking care of the monsters. Seth just looked at his moves. He was kind of everywhere in his movements, not quite energy efficient but he got the job done. Quite the opposite to how Seth worked. Maybe it was that that drew him in; his sometimes unnecessary movements. But it was rhythm to them, like he was dancing to a beat only he could hear. At the same time, he was very accurate. He knew where to hit the monsters to kill them quickly. He was very fair and considerate like that; he didn't just play with the monsters. Even if he seemed to enjoy the fight. They needed to be killed and Dean took care of it swiftly with the least suffering possible.
He sure did more than expected of him when he took care of monsters even though he didn't let his stone register them.
He was quite… fascinating to watch actually.
Dean joined them soon enough, when they were almost back in Authority. He seemed so much more at ease now. Seth just couldn't take his eyes off him; the swordsman held an almost smile, something that affected his cheeks. He had dimples. Or at least small hints of dimples. It seemed like he had those. How could he make him smile for real to confirm he had dimples?
"What?" Dean said when he caught Seth watching him. The hints were gone again. Seth quickly looked away as he felt his cheeks become hotter all of a sudden. Why'd he even had that kind of a thought anyway?
"N-nothing", he said.
"Weirdo", Dean said and bumped his shoulder. Seth wasn't prepared for it and stumbled forward but was caught by the arm. By Dean.
He looked up and stared at him, feeling even more flushed; his ears were getting hotter too.
"Watch where you're going", Dean just said and released him.
Seth put his hair behind his ear. What was that? His thoughts weren't that long lived as it was interrupted by Roman's "Guys…"
They returned to the Guild and bugged the same lady again. They explained their situation, asking her to read their Runes. She decided to help them. And she started with Dean.
"Since after your previous check, one jawks", she informed, looking a little puzzled it was only one when it came to Dean.
Roman handed her his weapon.
"Four gitts and one bumblur", she said.
"So far, nothing weird", he said, mainly to his team mates.
Seth suddenly, and randomly, became nervous when he gave her his wrist again. His mind started to race as she did her thing. What if there was something wrong. And something about his unstableness. What if he had picked up Dean's other monsters on the way back? That would totally complicate things. What if-
"One bumblur", she informed. Seth let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding. The single insect monster. Roman's monster.
"Thank you", Roman said, for all of them.
"You're welcome", she said, a little confused but still wearing a friendly smile.
The guys walked away a little before they started talking.
"I only had the bumblur", Seth was the one breaking into the conversation. "That means the only one I picked up was the co-op one. Roman's."
"Seems like there isn't anything wrong with your Runes", Roman said, smiling, as if he'd known it all along.
"I didn't leech on your kills, Dean", Seth continued but Dean just stubbornly crossed his arms and didn't have anything to say. "I guess that's what happened earlier too. Cooperative attacks."
"We didn't even cooperate", Dean said, not looking at him.
"Maybe not consciously, but we must have done something for it to be counted as team work", Seth said. He paused and gave the raupnir fight another round of thinking. He had put out the flames with the tornado… but when he took it down he had observed Dean and his jump. It had been quite the high jump to reach the head of that thing.
He had a feeling he might have had something to do with it. He may actually have given Dean a Wind push to reach it. Did that mean team work? It sounded too little to be counted as one… but then again, that was the finishing blow and would maybe not have happened without his Magic. Did he just bend the past to fit his theories? Or did he have a vague feeling of something he didn't register back then? Or did he just want to feed his ego?
"Dean…?" he said. "About that finisher on the raupnir?"
"What of it?"
"It was counted for both of us so it must have been a cooperative attack, there is no other explanation."
"It was a really high jump", Roman commented thoughtfully.
"Yeah… I was thinking… that maybe I gave you some push to be able to land that attack?"
Dean held one of his unreadable expressions again, just looking at him, staring even. "Don't flatter yourself", he just said and walked off.
"I think you got it there", Roman said.
"Yeah… I think so too…" Seth agreed, looking at Dean's disappearing form. Those unreadable expressions seemed to be Dean's thinking face, usually ending where he didn't quite want it to. It was true but he stubbornly defied it. At least that was Seth's latest Dean-analysis.
"Nice work", Roman said, patting his shoulder. Seth wasn't sure if it was because of their supposed team work or the fact that they had solved the mystery. He just nodded. He was just glad they had checked things out and that they now knew a little more about their Runes and team work and everything. Funny that; Seth and Dean had worked as a team without even knowing… the raupnir data proved it. And it wasn't because that it had been Dean that had Re-Set him. The bumblur had proved that since he was in the same state still. And that state, his unstable Runes, didn't seem to have mattered, as they had said.
They started to walk off; they had no more business at the agency. Probably had bugged them enough anyway. On their way out, Roman stopped and smiled.
"Cesaro! Dolph!" he shouted and gave a wave.
Seth noticed two men down the corridor; one tall with his head shaved and a shorter one with curly half-long hair.
"Roman!" the curly haired one exclaimed happily as they closed in on each other. They did a fist bump, and Roman repeated it with the other man.
"Hey", the tall one said, smiling.
"Just wanted to introduce you to our new team mate", Roman said, and made an inviting gesture towards Seth.
"Hi, I'm Seth", he said, reaching out his hand.
"Cesaro", the tall one said, shaking hands. He had a firm grip. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise", Seth said. This one seemed like a nice man. And he didn't seem to be from around here; he had some kind of accent.
"Dolph Ziggler", the curly one said, eagerly shaking Seth's hand. "Like dude, you're a Healer~"
"Yeah", Seth said modestly.
"You're so lucky, having a Healer on your team", Mr Ziggler continued. "But I bet Dean wasn't as happy."
"Well… you know Dean…" Roman said, Seth wasn't sure if he was avoiding it or just was matter-of-factly about it.
"Where is he, he's still with you, right?"
"Yeah, yeah of course, Seth's just our new member, we haven't been split up. The Shield is a three man squad now. He should be around here somewhere. We just got back from our first mission."
"Already?" Mr Ziggler said. "I mean you've only been a team for like a day and Triple H has already sent you out on a mission? Are you a ninja or something since you got to be a Hunter without years of training?"
"No, I'm not…" Seth said, feeling a little shy to be in the center of attention. "I'm more of a support, so I Heal people and protect them."
"He does attacking too, you won't wanna go against him", Roman filled in, having a, for him, sneaky smile on his lips.
"That's cool. But like, I guess the Healer is needed, Dean usually isn't in the best condition after battle", Mr Ziggler laughed.
Something stung in Seth, hearing that. Maybe it's because he'd seen himself the state Dean was in after battle and hearing it from Mr Ziggler… his mind started to race again, thinking that Dan maybe even was in worse shape 'normally'.
"Dean's a great fighter", Mr Cesaro said.
"But reckless", Mr Ziggler said.
Seemed that was everyone's description of him. To him… Dean was just more aware of other's than his own well-being.
"So what are you up to?" Roman asked.
"Heading for the cafeteria soon. It's fried hen sticks night~" Mr Ziggler beamed.
Seth noticed Roman's smile changed, it was more polite than happy. "I see, better hope we'll be getting some this time."
"I'll be sure to let Dean know about its awesomeness~"
"Dolph…" Mr Cesaro said. "Don't be mean to him on purpose, okay? You know how he feels."
"That's why it's just such a fun tease."
Seth didn't get it. What was so special about that?
"He's not happy about it, you shouldn't take advantage and put him even lower", Roman said in a very serious voice. His smile was completely gone and he made sure he wasn't one to mess with. Roman sure could be scary…
"Take it easy, big guy", Mr Ziggler said, patting his shoulder. Roman gave him another look, making the curly haired man sweat a little. "Yeah okay." He just said after that.
Seth looked at them. The air was suddenly very tense but there was an approving look between the two tallest men. And the air changed again. They suddenly were completely on the same page again. What kind of connection did they have? Like the big brother code? Mr Cesaro seemed to have that role for Mr Ziggler as Roman had for Dean. Mr Ziggler seemed like a very energetic man so he probably needed someone to keep him on the ground.
"Hope to be able to work with you", Mr Cesaro said next, turned to Seth.
The young mage wasn't prepared for it and just nodded. "Yeah, that would be nice. I'm just glad to help."
"So now we know where to turn to if we're getting injured", Mr Ziggler said, grinning.
"Sure", Seth didn't know what else to say.
"Come on Cesaro, gotta go, gotta go~" That was totally out of nowhere and Seth could have sworn that Mr Ziggler almost bounced where he stood.
"You won't be getting them earlier because of that."
"I know, it's not that; I still need the bathroom!"
Cesaro gave him an incredulous look. Seth understood him; that was even more out of nowhere. "What? You need my help or what? Just go if you have to."
Seth just looked confusedly after him as the man darted off. That was totally random.
"He's just like that", Mr Cesaro said apologetically. Probably mostly towards Seth; Roman probably knew him already.
The two older Hunters kept exchanging words and Seth just stayed and was more or less just present. He didn't know what to say. Never really did with new people. If he didn't nervously ramble of course.
He scanned the area and noticed another pair of Hunters down the corridor. One kind of short and bearded and a very tall man wearing a mask.
Mr Cesaro saw his general direction of his gaze: "That's Daniel Bryan and Kane. The big one is Kane."
That Kane man seemed scary. His height and mask just added to that. And his long greasy hair.
The short bearded dude gave them a wave as they continued on wherever their destination was. At least one of them had time to acknowledge their little group.
"Seems like they were in a hurry", Roman commented. "Daniel usually stops and says hi."
"He's a decent man", Mr Cesaro said. "Agile fighter. And Kane… he's more like the silent warrior. Can be quite ruthless. I think they have Daniel with him to keep him levelled. Kane was paired with his brother before but they have their ups and downs when it comes to their cooperation abilities. And for a time now, it's bad blood between them."
"I see. But like what about his mask?" Seth asked before he could stop himself. What if it was some touchy subject? Stupid…!
"He's always had that as far as I know, he has been seen without it though, I think it's for shows, or some family stuff. Or he just wanna be intimidating", Roman said.
Seth just nodded. Didn't know what else to say. At least it didn't seem to have stirred up too much awkwardness.
"Anyway, Daniel has a way with people. They just seem to naturally take a liking of him. And he gets along with Kane, even though they at first glance seem like a random pair. But they work very well together", Mr Cesaro continued.
By now, Mr Ziggler returned.
"Come on, Cesaro, let's go", he just said.
"Alright, alright", Mr Cesaro sighed. "It was nice meeting you. See you around." He smiled.
"Yeah, see you", Seth said, smiling too.
"See ya, man", Roman said, bumping fists. Seems like that was their usual greeting thing to do.
"Later guys", Mr Ziggler said and dragged off with his partner.
"Lively pair", Roman said, having a helpless smile.
"They seemed nice though."
"They are."
"Hey, Roman!"
The two Hunters turned and faced the owner of the voice; a short, long-haired man with distinct ears. "I'm sorry to bother you, but can you help us out? We just had a herb collecting mission but now the herbs are jumbled in the bag. We could just report it anyway but we wanted to make sure we got the right kind. Again, I'm sorry to bother you but yeah, I hear you're good with herbs."
"It's okay, I don't mind", Roman said with a smile. "Neville, this is Seth."
"Hi, nice to meet you", Neville said, reaching out his hand. Seth shook it. Or was it Mr Neville? With Mr Cesaro he couldn't be sure if it was the first or last name, but he was a senior and obviously a Mr. But Neville sounded like a first name… Yeah, have to go with Neville, could sound weird otherwise. Funny how he seemed to just considering Kane as Kane then. But then again, he didn't seem like a Mr, really.
"Hi", he managed to say before he got himself completely off track.
"Haven't seen you around before. You're new too?"
"Yeah, I am."
"Neville is one of our junior Hunters. He joined a couple of months ago, wasn't it?"
"Four months ago actually", Neville smiled. "Got these really low ranked missions for now but I'm learning. Eager to get my first real mission."
Seth couldn't help thinking he'd been kind of treated differently in this case as well. So okay, he got into the Guild in a maybe unconventional manner due to his unapproved incident and he got into an experienced top team and got a hunting mission more or less immediately. Or so it sounded like with how other people talked about stuff.
"You'll get it soon enough, you're talented", Roman smiled. "So, where are your herbs?"
"Sami got them."
Roman turned to Seth, he already knew that look; "It's okay, I'll just go back to the room for now", he said. "Feeling a little tired after today."
"Right. I'll be right with you."
"No rush for my sake."
Roman left with Neville. Seth could hear the younger man expressing his gratitude as they walked. He smiled. Roman was really a good man. Kind and helpful.
He returned to the room and actually got to see Dean there. So he also took refuge in the room?
"Hey", he just said. To be polite.
"Yeah, yeah", Dean said where he was sitting on his bed looking over his sword.
"Is it really so hard to just reply with a hi?" Seth asked, not even sure why he was triggered by it. At least Dean has given him a reply, but it wasn't like a nice one.
"Well, greetings then, princess."
"I'm not a princess…" Seth crossed his arms. And he couldn't be because he obviously wasn't a girl. "Roman's out helping Neville with some herbs", he just said instead to ignore Dean's attitude, and not giving that too much attention.
"Always the good guy."
"I think it's very nice of him to help others."
"Did I say anything against it?"
"Well… no…" Seth felt a little embarrassed to have been assuming that Dean saw it negatively. But then again, considering the beginning of their conversation and his general behaviour, maybe it wasn't that weird that he had assumed like so. "I just…" then he decided to just keep his mouth shut about it.
Dean probably wasn't interested anyway. Or that they had met up with some of their fellow Hunters. He didn't like it when he talked so he'd just say nothing. Otherwise he just rambled. Which hadn't been popular.
He sat down on one of the chairs and removed his bracers. Oh yeah… the marks… Even though Dean had made these new markings on them… he had to admit, he had some master skill in pattern carving. It was really neat. And symmetrical. He liked that in stuff. And it was the same pattern that he had on his own shirt. Being reminded of that, he just got this weird feeling… he felt… connected like that. At the moment he didn't really welcome that feeling, because of how Dean had talked to him. Yeah, it hadn't been overly mean. It was just… his attitude. Like he had to make a statement not to like him. Just because.
He guessed it could have been worse and got up from his chair to make his bed more comfortable before taking out his book and continued reading. It was a book about history of Magic. He'd read a lot about it before, but he hadn't read this particular book and yeah… just had to because of it. The chapter was about elemental clans and clan wars that had been going on some hundred years ago. That system was long gone in Winchento though, as people had been mixed up so much it wasn't certain family members had the same element anymore. His own family was the greatest example of that; with one Earth, two Waters and one Wind. But during that time, people had been marrying their own element to keep it in the family and stuff. Children with another element than their clan sometimes were disowned during that time. He felt a sharp jolt in his stomach thinking about that. It reminded him too much about his own family. Not that he'd been disowned… but just the feeling of not being enough. Or belong.
He decided to skip that chapter for now, because he didn't like where his thoughts were heading. Reading about the foundation of the academy seemed much more interesting right now.
After some reading he looked up from the text and nearly jumped out of his skin as he was met by a face only inches from his own. He made a quick yelp before realizing Dean was sitting right in front of him.
"God, Dean…!" he managed out, pulling himself back some to get some much needed distance. "What are you doing!?"
Dean just grinned at that. Dude, why'd he do stuff like that!? "What does it look like I'm doing?" he just asked.
"Creeping me out while I'm reading", Seth said. Because that's really what he did, creeping up on him, totally out of nowhere.
"Then I guess that's what I'm doing."
"Why?"
"Because I can."
Seth just stared at him. He felt his heart beat against his ribs; a little from the startle moments ago but also because Dean was sitting so close to him, making that mischievous grin.
"Well, do you have to do that?" he asked, feeling a little flustered.
"Nope", another smirk. "But I wanna."
Seth swallowed, taking in his random messing around. "Why…?" he asked cautiously.
Dean just shrugged at that, still sitting where he had planted himself and intruded Seth's personal space by leaning in even more again, closing the distance Seth had tried to keep. The young mage felt awkward having him this close, which only resulted in heated cheeks. Why'd he always react like that? It was only Dean messing around. It wasn't funny. He was so close…
"Don't you need a Re-Set or something?" Dean suddenly asked with his almost staring expression.
"Wha-?" that totally caught Seth off guard. Just the fact that he'd appeared right in front of him and now he's asking for the Re-Set? And to have asked him that straight into his face, literally, while invading his sphere. That was just even more awkward. He didn't get Dean at all; all he did was just plain random.
"You're still unstable, aren't ya? So shouldn't you Re-Set?" he continued, leaning back again and gave some more room for Seth.
"Well… yeah… I'm unstable", Seth said, trying in vain to figure him out. He just looked uncaring as usual. "What's it to you? You're offering?" That last part was more or less just an insecure joke.
"You want it or not?"
Was he for real? He was offering the Re-Set? Why'd he do that? He'd always just done it because he was forced to before. So why was he the one asking him? He didn't like him, so why'd he help him? It must be a prank of some sort. He's messing with him. It's no way he's actually offering. He's setting him up. He had to be. Why would he otherwise freely offer to Re-Set him?
"Well?" Dean urged him.
"Please." What the heck was that? What did he just say? The realization made his cheeks burn even more and there was no way it could not be seen by Dean. Why'd he blush so much lately? And why couldn't his heart stop racing? He suddenly felt nervous. It was just a Re-Set. Their third. But maybe he was messing with him? He started to feel like a fool, going straight into his trap. He was so sure Dean would soon reveal his normal (what's normal for Dean anyway, Seth hadn't a clue) self and just make him feel bad again.
Just when he was about to back out, Dean wrapped his arms around him, hugging him. He felt the swordsman's hand travel up under his coat and find the Rune on his back. Seth's insides started to flutter like a swarm of butterflies at the sensation. The energy surge. He wrapped his arms around Dean, hugging him back as he pressed closer to him. But not from pain. It didn't hurt. It just tingled softly but quickly that made him not knowing what to do with himself. He breathed Dean's scent just embracing the sensation of having his arms around him, and his hand on his Rune. He heard his heart, his breath. No, he felt it. The energy surge was soon over, but the fluttering was still there, it stayed in his stomach particularly. He started to feel confused. It hadn't hurt… Re-Sets hurt, but not this. Just as their previous ones. He'd always thought it was because of the stress and adrenaline levels. Yeah, he'd been nervous… but he knew what he felt.
Realizing he was still holding on to Dean, he released himself from him. Was it just him, or did Dean reluctantly remove himself from him? He searched his eyes. They were baby blue and calm… He'd never seen them like that before. But he had no idea what was going on behind those eyes.
He opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted: "You're okay now right?" There was no real heat in that question, but it wasn't that concerned either. That actually made Seth a little disappointed.
"Y-yeah…" Seth just made out, feeling a little out of it. The Re-Set made him a little light-headed but it wasn't too bad.
"You okay?"
He was concerned? He'd asked him again.
"Just need the Recover", he tryingly said. "You're concerned?"
"Pfft, I'm not concerned. I'm just asking, stupid." The way he turned his face away spoke of something else. Something that made the fluttering a little more intense again for a second.
"But… I don't understand. Why did you offer?" He asked. He had to.
"Being unstable must suck so…"
"You know you made me unstable again. But you gave me chance to Recover, and gave me the chance to feel my Magic levels again. You don't care about that though. You don't like Magic, and wouldn't want it to be used. So why did you offer?" He'd been doing a lot of thinking about Dean, too much maybe.
"Just drop it, okay?" Dean got up, fleeing from their shared space.
"I can't. You're so… on and off. You're being a jerk the past few days and now you go offering to Re-Set me? It's something you've always rejected, or done because you had to. Do you blame me for not understanding, and want to know?"
"You needed it, okay. You're less bad when you're actually able to control that freaking Magic. And you need freaking time to Recover, better do it at a safe time when it's not likely we'd have to go out, okay?" He moved away from him, closer to the door. "Don't go using that freaking Magic now until you're Recovered."
"Where are you going?" Seth asked, feeling the escape act getting even closer.
"Out. What, I need you permission or what is it?"
"N-no, I was just-" Seth saw he didn't listen as he got closer to the door. "Hey, Dean-" he didn't manage to finish his sentence before the swordsman successfully left the scene. "Thank you…" he said to the empty room.
Dean always took a hike whenever he'd been showing his decent side, it seemed. But he had showed this side again nonetheless. He'd been concerned about his state… He had tried to make it look like he didn't care one bit, it was just… most convenient like that. Maybe Seth just wanted him concerned. Maybe he just had done it because he was 'less bad' like that… but he had said he had needed it. He had done it because Seth needed it. The other was more like a cover up of his first explanation. To make it sound less caring.
But Dean cared. He had willingly Re-Set him.
Dean's Re-Sets were different… this time he knew. Before he'd just tried to talk himself out of it, blaming outer reasons for why Dean's Re-Set didn't hurt. Dean's Re-Sets didn't hurt because, yeah, they simply didn't hurt. Not because of some extreme state of mind or body. Dean's Re-Sets felt differently. And he liked that about it. It was gentle. Yeah, he still felt tired, not as tired as when he had collapsed before the Trial. That had been extreme. But now he just felt… refreshed. There was a small skip in his stomach realizing that. Almost making him a little shy and fuzzy thinking about it. But it had felt nice…
Heh… Dean would probably freak out if he told him though. But… he wouldn't mind Dean Re-Setting him again…
Author's Note: A lot of random stuff going on. And a lot of thinking for Sethie...
Thanks for reading C:
