Yoooooo.
I fell down the stairs earlier (read: my dog son got under foot and I didn't want to crush him). So I'm using my ankle being messed up as an excuse to write a whole bunch.
I've got the next chapter allllll planned out but I think I'm going to work on my Dark Souls story before updating again!
But speaking of other stories, if any of you want a one shot or one of those 'imagine your OTP' things, hit me up! I'd love to do a few one shots or something ^w^
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! I really liked writing War's dialog, and hopefully you all agree he remains in character.
((Also Shadow/ The Watcher's pronouns are officially 'it/its/itself' bc yes. Yessssss. Also that makes distinglishing between War and Shadow easier. No double pronouns))
Fighting really isn't anything remarkable, aside from those brief moments of complete terror that seem to be appearing more often than ever. Thankfully Death had prepared you for battle terror, at least as much as he could without actually endangering you.
You did manage to get your first few kills though, making sure that War witnessed at least one instance of you bringing your halberd down on a demon's neck. He didn't really seem impressed, but you smugly noted that he stopped shoving you out of the way when another batch of demons appeared. You do however, stay the hell outta the way of the mini boss /exploding guy.
You mentally give yourself a gold star as War scoops you back onto his back to navigate the hotel. You're almost to the end now, and you're practically buzzing with excitement. It's only a few more tricky maneuvers until you reach the final hallway, where you find a gaping hole that will serve as your escape.
He sets you down to look out at the destroyed city, his expression giving nothing away aside from possible annoyance.
You can't help but frown at the sight before you. It was bad enough seeing the Wicked, but seeing this kind of devastation... It makes your chest ache. Almost like homesickness, you think.
Not that you don't also experience homesickness. Being with the other Horseman numbed it a bit, but still. You have to wonder how the Horseman faired after losing their original home. Or if they cared at all. Death is adamant that time has softened them for the better.
Welcome home, you think sarcastically, shifting closer to War.
"How long have I been gone?" He asks gravely.
You expected Shadow to answer, but you flinch anyway. "In earth years? About a century. Long enough for all the mouth breathers to die off."
"Hey!" You protest lightly, casting it a glare. "I'm a mouth breather, grumpy gills."
"I don't have gills." Shadow snarls. "Besides, you're not naturally of this world."
War interrupts before you can think of a snappy comeback, sounding oddly despondent as he says, "The third kingdom is lost then."
"Of course not. I'm still here and Death- he's trying his best to help." You snap determinedly, tightening your grip on the halberd. You chain burns in warning, but not enough to faze you at this point.
"Death." War repeats.
Frowning fretfully, you answer, "Yes. Death. You do remember your brother, right?"
"What is Death trying to do?" He grumbles.
"He's-" You're cut off a nearby building crumbling and War yanking you back on his back. Making a loud squeaking noise, you hide your face as he leaps out. You white knuckle the lip of his armor and squeeze your eyes shut.
If I never have to free fall again it will be too soon, you think miserably.
The two of land with a crash, although War seems less then effected. The collapsing building just barely misses you and the noise makes your teeth rattle. War doesn't even wait for the dust to settle to start moving again, but he doesn't set you down either.
You're willing to bet he doesn't look half as cool as he did in game with you on him like a koala and shivering with fear though.
Lifting your head, you use your sleeve to filter out the dust. "Check point." Your voice is muffled, but considering you're literally on him you think he got the message.
"Subtle." A familiar voice crows. "I almost didn't hear you coming."
"Vulgrim." War greets.
You carefully slip off his back while Vulgrim asks for souls, flinching only a tiny bit when you hit the ground. He's so big. Even compared to the other Horseman, War is big. He's quite a bit shorter than Death, you think, but Death is leaner than War. Strife is in between (with hands down the best arms), and Fury is the smallest and quickest.
They're all bigger than you though.
You feel your lips curl back in mild annoyance, remembering Strife's habit of rubbing that fact in your face. It pains you to admit you'll miss that. Less than a day into your quest and you're daydreaming about seeing the others again. Just shameful.
"I will be back." War raises his voice just a bit, bringing you back from the recesses of you mind.
You wave him off, agreeing, "Yeah sure. Make sure to break all the fire hydrants."
Vulgrim is watching you curiously when you turn to him, asking, "And what is plaguing you, human?"
"Have you seen Death yet?" You cut right to the heart of it as soon as War (and Shadow, more importantly) is out of earshot.
He pauses, doing that weird thing he does with his hands. You're not sure how to explain it properly. "Not on Earth."
Confirmed, you think without an ounce of irony. "I know." You scoff. "He's in the Maker's realm, is he not?"
"Indeed. How did you guess?" Vulgrim laughs, now appearing amused.
"Third Kingdom magic." You huff. "Can you do me a favor?"
"I do not deal with favors." He answers, his eyes narrowing.
You roll your eyes, "No shit, Sherlock. I meant... A trade. Both of us know neither Death nor War will complete your little side-quest collection without incentive. You relay messages between Death and me, and I will make sure they get every. Last. One."
You're positive Death will collect every last page without hesitation if you say it will help War, and roping War into collecting the artifacts won't be too hard when you're forced to collect the Blade pieces anyway. You'll just have to make sure not to mention they're not mandatory. That's not too horrible a lie, right?
Okay, maybe you're being sort of manipulative. But you really want to keep Death updated, and his opinion should be useful. If only you could get ahold of Strife. You're a weak human who needs a big brother figure, apparently.
Vulgrim makes a show of thinking your offer over while you debate your morality, circling you like a bored cat. You keep your expression perfectly neutral even with your thoughts in a tangled mess.
"Fine. I will hold you to that promise." He finally agrees, holding out his hand.
You flash him a smile and shake his hand before yanking off your backpack (you set the halberd on the ground next to you). "Perfect. I assume you can provide paper for Death also? He's not to type to keep stationary." You ask, pulling out a notebook one of the Watcher's gifted to you. It's hideously bright pink, and the pages have flowers on the edges, but you suppose it fits the Watcher's strange sense of humor.
"It would be no trouble." Vulgrim replies lightly, stopping to flutter over your shoulder. You don't really mind, having figured he'd read the notes before handing them over anyway.
It takes you hardly any time to scrawl, Hey, so if you do get this can you please collect the pages Vulgrim wants? We made a deal. He's gonna help us (War and me, not Shadow) keep in contact w/ you and Dust. And Despair, I guess but I never really met him. Give them both a pet for me.
"A pet?" Vulgrim repeats, snickering.
"Yeah, like, petting? Just one lil pet though. Don't wanna spoil 'em." You shrug, folding the note in half and handing it to him. "He'll know it's me, I'm sure."
"Yes. I doubt Death gets much mail. He is rather fearsome. Although not nearly as charming you, I must admit." He hums, clearly trying to get in your good graces. You've gotta admit he's a great merchant.
"Save your sweet talk for War." You laugh, giving him a wain smile. "Speaking of which, he's talking a while..." You glance around, trying to find his bright red armor.
Vulgrim makes a noncommittal noise, moving to float in front of you. "So human... How did you come to be? I haven't seen one of the Third Kingdom in decades. And one so young...?"
You spend quite some time explaining your arrival and occupation to the demon, careful to keep any actually useful information to yourself. You tell enough to make him feel more comfortable around you though, which you figure is a good investment. Allies are a good thing.
By the time War finally returns, you've taken your letter to Death back and begun to color in the flowers. While War receives the horn and Vulgrim talks about Samael you also add a tiny caricature of Dust in the corner, which you're sure Death will appreciate.
"What are you doing?" An unwelcome voice hisses. Ugh.
You send it a mock-friendly smile and refold the letter. "Flirting with Death."
Shadow's eyes narrow, obviously unimpressed. "Remind me how you got this job?"
You blink. Oh. That's- "Wow, okay, asshole." You slowly get to your feet, pulling your halberd up with you. "I'm so offended by that scaldingly original dig." The sarcasm drips from your words as you brush past it. Strife would've given you a high five.
Yeah, there's no way you'll admit you're actually hurt by its commentary.
You hand Vulgrim the improved letter before joining War in front of the gate. "Just use the horn." You chirp.
"This... Is alive, is it not?" He answers, watching it distrustfully.
"How did you know that?" You look at him curiously. "And yeah. It's friendly though."
He apparently doesn't care enough to answer, instead bringing the horn up to his lips.
Oh jeez, that's loud. You clamp your hands down on your ears but that hardly helps. The noise makes your head pound. Nice plan, advisor, you scold yourself as your knees hit the concrete.
It's over in a matter of seconds, as War stops when the creature begins to glow, but it's enough to render you to a puddle of pained whimpers. God, why didn't I think of this? The freaken thing literally sends demons flying, I should've known it would have a bad effect on humans.
"Dammit." You distantly hear War curse. He plucks your halberd away before scooping you into his arms.
"Horseman." The gate golem says, the sound grating against your ear drums. "The horn call of my ancestor..." Yata, yata, yata. You're too preoccupied with the horrible head pain to really listen to it explain what you already know.
You do perk up a bit when War says, "None are free when the Destroyer still breathes."
He's got such a weird accent. All of them do, really, although its pretty faint. You wonder if that's a nephilim trait, or its something they picked up from traveling.
If you weren't nearly in tears you'd probably be telling him how nice it sounds. He should really talk more. God knows the other Horseman do.
You'll have enough time for miss them later though. Right now you should concentrate on not throwing up. That sounds like a great plan of action. You pull your knees closer to your chest as the golem stomps away, trusting War not to drop you.
"If that was the gate, I can't wait to see what's on the other side," Shadow says, sounding genuinely excited. It moves to poke at you, "Get up, advisor. We've got things to do."
"Screw yourself." You groan, thankful when War moves you out of its reach. Shadow makes a huffing noise in reply, returning to the gauntlet. Well, that was surprisingly civil... You think. "I think I'm good though." You add, looking up at War.
He gives you a scalding glare, his scowl having returned. "I doubt it."
"Well, now that that is over..." Vulgrim starts, sounding amused. You don't remember him sticking around in game, so this strikes you as odd. "Would you like to look over my wares?"
You send War a frown, trying to will him not to go shopping. We've got better things to do.
Unfortunately War doesn't seem to care. He takes his sweet time deciding whether or not to buy any of the little charms Vulgrim has. Apparently that's what the upgrades are 'in real life'. You're still having a hard time realizing this is an actual thing. You're literally in a game right now.
You're also literally a demon slayer, but that's way more badass than disconcerting.
War sets you down only when you're safely inside the building and near hissing for him to do so. The entire situation is mortifying, and you know it'll haunt you. When you finally steady yourself, War has to go and ruin it by poking at your face. You never really thought metal fucking claws prodding at your jaw would make you blush.
"You're bleeding." He says, sounding mildly concerned. "Humans truly are delicate creatures."
You mentally note that he didn't say weak. Delicate makes you sound... Cute. "You should've seen me before all my training." You answer lightly, moving to wipe away the blood. You feel over your jaw like War did, finding it falling from your ear. Ouch. "Although I doubt I can fix my hearing."
"Your... chain will likely prevent any permanent damage." He grunts, pointedly turning his attention to your surroundings.
You assume he's done talking for the moment and nearly jump out of your skin when he asks, "Who trained you?"
"Uh, Fury at first. She covered the basics until we all decided I should get a wide swinging weapon. Then we tracked Death down and he took over. Strife tried too, but the kickback on Mercy was enough to floor me."
"They were all together?" He sounds dubious.
You shrug, "They collectively agreed training me could benefit you. Death and Strife got into a fight at least once a day though, and Fury and Strife only got along marginally better."
He seems to be interested, although he doesn't voice it.
You motion for the two of you to start moving again before continuing, "But Strife and I got along really well. Fury is really friendly too! She just... Has a weird way of expressing affection. And Death is Death, you know? Lately I think he's warmed up to me more, but that could be wishful thinking on my part. Dust is very nice also."
"The bird." War scoffs, jumping down to the main floor of the second room. He then turns around and holds up his arms, raising an eyebrow at you expectantly.
You hesitate just a second (those claws are rather intimidating) before jumping. He catches you effortlessly and with surprising gentleness, although the armor still pricks at your through your clothing.
Nice, you think. You're unable to stop yourself really.
"Yes. The bird. He's like the cutest one here, lets be honest." You go on, only stopping when you're forced to deal with a few enemies. Thankfully War takes care of all the Wicked while you dance around the bigger exploding demon. You don't think you can kill what used to be humans, and War seems to understand that.
You point to the pool in the lower floor afterwards, stating in a slightly aggressive tone, "There's a chest on the other side of that. And more enemies."
War nods and descends.
You scale the library shelves while he takes care of that, unsurprised to find a few demons of your own. You're pleased to note that you can slaughter them without getting hit once, although they are the lowest, you remind yourself. You've gotta keep working towards being stronger.
You do allow yourself a pleased grin when the souls go flying to War and he glances your way. You're then left staring at the glowing soldier artifact with narrowed eyes. You know War can't make that jump without Shadow Flight but... He could probably throw you over pretty easily. Like that one dungeon in Darksiders 2. Although I'm not nearly as graceful as Death. That boy is smoother than ice, you snicker.
Then there's the question of how you'll get back, but you'd wager he can catch you fairly easily even from a greater height.
You decide it's a pretty good plan and not-so patiently wait for War to join you on the broken bridge.
"What is that?" He asks, gauging the distance.
You flash him a confident smile, "One of the artifacts Vulgrim wants so bad. He'll trade 'em for souls. Wanna help me?" You set your halberd on the ground, knowing you can't keep it on your back while doing acrobat routines.
He heaves a sigh, and you're struck by the similarity to Strife's mock-annoyed sighs. Oh. You doubt he'd like being compared to Strife though, so you keep your mouth shut.
He bends down a bit and holds out his hand, which you step onto. Thankfully Fury thought this would be a good skill to learn, so you're prepared when he flings you over the gap. You land in a perfect somersault.
"How rad was that?" You ask with a laugh, glancing back at War.
He doesn't react that you can see, but Shadow seeps out of the gauntlet. You turn around before it can have that satisfaction and allow it to bitch about taking too long while you grab the artifact. It's icy to the touch and thrumming with weak power, much to your surprise. Weird.
You carefully wrap it in one of your spare shirts before shoving it in your backpack. You don't want some ancient evil getting anywhere near your food supply after all.
War is still waiting on the other side when you return, now glaring at Shadow. Its going on and on about something or another, hissing all the while. And here you thought it was annoying in game.
Guess I'm on my own then. You hmph.
You sit down on the edge of the bridge before hopping down, bending your knees and holding your arms out for balance. "A plus," You congratulate yourself lightly, moving to the demonic growth wall. You're less then shocked by the grossly slimy texture (but it is still unsettling), digging the tips of your fingers into the fleshy wall. Disgusting.
You're going to ask the Blackhammer for gauntlets (or at least something similar to Fury's claws) you decide in that second, very carefully scaling the wall. You are not going to make a habit of touching this... Substance.
War is all the way on the other side of the room by the time you scamper up the book shelf again (some of us can't just jump), but he does wait at the doorway with your halberd held awkwardly out for you.
"Thanks." You hum, reclaiming the weapon. It shimmers in return, making your smile widen. I missed you too. Wait. "I was meaning to ask you that. Is ChaosEater sentient? The Council mentioned it thirsting for blood or something, but I always figured that was dramatics."
He doesn't answer right away, giving you a strange look. "Not in the sense you and I are sentient. It experiences vague feelings and pushes them onto me. Yours is a nephilim weapon also?"
"Yup! Or similar enough. Death got it for me after deeming me 'worthy'." You nod, following him out into the last hallway before the Scalding Gallow.
"I do not remember Death being so fond of humans." He comments lightly.
"Oh, he's not. He's not overly fond of me either, I don't think. But when I explained I'm gonna be helping you stay alive and all that, he agreed that training was in everyone's best interest. And I convinced him to try and resurrect humanity! Although, I think he was planning on that anyway. Nevertheless." You shrug, acutely aware you're hogging the conversation. War is pretty quiet though.
"That's what I was talking to Vulgrim about by the way. I made a deal so we can communicate with Death." You grin, vainly hoping you've impressed him. You're not exactly sure why you allow yourself such a hope, considering you know War isn't the type to throw around compliments. Bodies, maybe.
War's eyes narrow, "What kind of deal?"
"Nothing you wouldn't have done without me here. Collecting the artifacts just got sweeter. Death also has a fetch quest for Vulgrim, although I really doubt he'd appreciate it being called that."
"Hmph." War sort of responds, moving to throw the doors open.
You pretend you're not colossally disappointed by the lack of praise.