The Watcher is like my favorite character.
I love it's tiny frickin wings and sassy remarks so much.
Thats really all I have to say atm.
"How will we reach the Cathedral?"
"You'll see." You hum, thankful to be out of that dreadful cave. You resorted to just wearing your undershirt halfway through, much to War's confusion. Apparently Horseman are much less susceptible to extreme temperatures. "We have to get through the rest of this area and the broken stair first anyway."
"You have a name for everything." War says decisively.
"That's just what I remember them being called. I'll admit I'm pretty horrible and directions though, so I'll be relying on you for that." You shrug lightly, switching into work mode. "There's... Quite a few chests, or coffins or whatever, you want to call them nearby, plus another artifact and a Vulgrim location."
"You remember from where?" He asks.
You make an honest effort not to squirm under his harsh gaze. "I'm not allowed to talk about that. The Council has me on lock." Your free hand moves to your chain link belt, worrying the smooth metal. Please don't ask me about this.
War nods. "Of course. I will not pry then."
"Thank you." You smile. "So... We can collect all the loot and then I'll chat with Vulgrim while you handle the Shadow realm." You quickly change the subject, returning your grip to your halberd.
He takes the bait, thankfully. "The Shadow Realm."
"Yes. I don't think I can join you, unfortunately." You press the flat of your halberd against your ear. "Frail human."
War sighs, a scowl appearing. "I told you not to allow 'Shadow' to bother you."
He's trying to comfort me? You blink. "What? It didn't. I meant in general. Are... Okay, actually it is way too early to be having heart to hearts." Shaking your head, you stride away towards where you remember the artifact being. "We've got better things to do then cater to my feelings."
He seems to think this is an acceptable reply, and you continue over the Choking Grounds in silence.
It's only when War finds the second 'gate' that you leave to go find Vulgrim. He doesn't seem to mind, and Shadow doesn't even bother to bid you farewell.
"Hello, dear human!" The demon greets as you ascend the steps. "Have you brought your Horseman?"
"War is his own Horseman." You answer tersely, finding yourself irritated by the insinuation. "And right now he's in the Shadow Realm, so I've got time to kill."
Vulgrim laughs, "Lucky you."
You make an excited squeaking noise when he pulls out another sheet of grey paper. "Oh, wow, he's already replied? That's great!"
Vulgrim lets you tear the paper out of his hands without trouble, laughing as you skim over it. "Death seems to think War your Horseman, you know."
"I doubt..." You drift off.
You picked a fight with Samael? Samael? Why am I not surprised?
And yes, I am aware you are completely enamored with my youngest brother. Thank you for the reminder. Speaking of Vulgrim, have you had this planned from the beginning? You knew I would be more or less trapped in the Tri-Force.
I should be telling you to stay safe, human. Let War do the fighting.
"See what I mean?" Vulgrim hums. "Enamored."
"Vulgrim." You warn, glaring up at him.
He just laughs, and you take this as a dismissal. You settle onto the floor with a light smile, taking out your notebook and pen. You find the wind-chime noise to be calming. Hmmmm... "What should I say?"
Vulgrim's decorations rattle when he shrugs, "Buy better armor? Request that his bird stay far away from my chimes?"
You snort. "Oh, Dust."
You have more time to think out your response this time, but you're still unfinished when War reappears. You even have forewarning, the giant stone golem creature stomping away from its post. You quietly thank War for not trying to deafen you again while you scribble the last lines of you note.
I didn't "pick a fight" with Samael. I prevented him from manipulating and lying to War, in an arguably reckless manner. We all knew I'm reckless though, I mean, I share a bed with Strife.
Which I'm apparently notorious for. Did you know that? For some reason Shadow keeps referencing that particular fact and I'm really confused? Honestly I cannot for the life of me figure out why it would do that. Unless it can't come up with any better insults, but I sort of doubt that. Your thoughts?
And yes. I did know about the whole Tri-force deal. I didn't think of asking Vulgrim to help us communicate until a few days before our departure though.
Did I mention War chucked me across a gap? I landed perfectly. It was amazing, Death. Fury would've been proud.
And what did that letter you sent War say!? He just gave me this look and tore it to pieces. So irritating.
Oh, and War thinks I'm immune to demonic energy. I've got no idea what that means, but I feel like it's an important thing to mention. I forgot last time. Both Samael and Vulgrim didn't seem to notice me at first too, which was very odd.
...
You finish the letter with three little hearts.
"Ready to proceed?" War asks, glancing down at you curiously.
Folding the letter, you get to your feet. "...yes."
You loiter just a bit longer while War decides whether or not he'll buy the scythe Vulgrim has to offer (the answer is yes). As you depart, Vulgrim shamelessly looks over your letter, giggling maniacally.
You roll your eyes in response, turning your attention to War. "Death says hi."
He gives you a look. "Did he?" His tone makes it obvious he doesn't believe you.
"No. He judged my life choices and accused me of knowing he would be trapped in the Tri-Force. Which, is actually true, but whatever." You shrug, dutifully following the Horseman.
"You did know." He reiterates.
"I literally just said that." You deadpan. You move one hand to your burn scars, feeling the uneven skin. "It was necessary and I couldn't just... Tell him the future outright."
He glances back at you. Looking at the chain, you assume. "Why is it necessary?"
"To farther his storyline." You shrug lightly. Your chain sends you a warning heat, forcing you to think your next words out carefully. "His story is important. To the both of us... I can almost guarantee that you won't have to wait too long to see him again though."
War gives you an almost smile, although you'd call it more of a small twitch if his lips. Still progress, you cheer silently.
You then try not so silently to get War to loosen up a bit more, going on and on about various aspects of your life both before and after your trans-detentional travel.
The only time you get any sort of reaction aside from minor glares and grunts is when you flinch as War kicks the door to the underground open. He seems awfully amused when you clutch your halberd defensively and shift into a fighting stance. You stick your tongue out in reply.
He's right though, I should try to calm down. You tell yourself, brushing past the infuriating Horseman. Only to realize there's a ledge you have to scale up.
"Ugh." You groan quietly, throwing your halberd over first and trying to grab the lip. "Fricken post apoco- WAR!" Your voice breaks as War grabs you just under your ribs and helps you up.
Oh my god. Is about the only thing you can think of, while War hops onto the ledge beside you. You pretend you can't feel heat creeping up your neck as you retrieve your halberd and follow him out to the main area.
And here I thought Strife could fluster me. You picture Fury giggling behind her hand and congratulating you on romancing her 'baby brother'.
"Thank you?" You finally say, your eyebrows furrowing.
War doesn't respond, and you're pretty sure it for the best. You follow him with your halberd held tight and ready to lash out at the first thing that moves towards you.
Which, as it turns out, is a bat. You knock it to the floor with one quick swipe and then spear it. It makes a horrible noise as it dies, but you distract yourself by asking War if you could just shoot them.
You and Strife had come to a middle ground with your firearms, and although you still use the same gun from your home Strife did some weird nephilim magic on it. It's much stronger now and allegedly has infinite ammunition. You don't really question how they do these things at this point.
War opens the chest in the far corner of the area before answering you. "If you aim it well, perhaps." He responds dubiously. "Strife?"
"Of course." You hum, pausing long enough to grab said gun. You tilt it so War can make out the bright gold etchings. "Still have no idea what he did though."
War makes a face, shaking his head. "You don't want to."
This makes you grin. "Ohhh, mysterious."
He mutters something that sounds an awful lot like "Or murderous." and scoops you into his arms. You keep your mouth shut this time and absolutely do not make any embarrassingly fanlike noises.
You have to admit though, gliding with the shadow wings is much less terrifying than your other experiences. You wouldn't go as far as to say relaxing and your heart is still hammering in your chest, but it is marginally better.
He sets you back down on the other side of the gap and immediately begins to cut down the rest of the bats. You just try to regulate your breathing. Just wait until the ride to Tiamat's place, some malicious part of you snickers.
Oh fuck. Your eyes go wide, conjuring images of the angelic mount and the lava and ohhh no... This is very, very bad.
"Advisor." War calls, glancing at you questioningly.
You force a smile. "Sorry. I'm totally ready."
He turns away as you catch up, throwing the door open. You dutifully follow him inside, your anxiousness only increasing when demonic sigils creep up both escape routes after you.
War casts you a look you're rapidly becoming familiar with. The why didn't you tell me about this look.
"First rule of fight club?" You offer. You're too distracted by War's perplexed expression to notice the demon's circle appearing on ground to your left until your chain sends you slamming into the wall.
Right, allergic to demonic energy. I suppose that includes summoning... Things, you think miserably. This little kink is going to cause you a lot of grievances. You can feel it in your bruised right side.
Shakily getting to your feet and using your halberd as a crutch, you opt to shoot at any demon that comes near until War jumps in to slaughter them. All the while you're trying to narrow down what the chain considers demonic energy. It didn't seem to mind Vulgrim popping out of that circle of his, but its obviously opposed to both the shadow flight (or maybe Samael in general?) and these lowly demons summoning.
War for once does not rush ahead of you once all of the demons are dead and the barriers disappears. Instead he moves to your side and growls, "Be careful. Are you injured?"
You suddenly know where Fury gets her "kind words, vicious tone" thing. Or maybe it's the other way around?
"I... I'm fine. A little sore is all. I'm good to go." You answer nervously. You wonder where the person who sassed Samael has run off to. They're certainly no where to be found now.
War bares his teeth in annoyance, stomping away from you.
You're not sure whether you should be flattered (he's worried about me) or offended (that's not how to treat an injured human). You settle on both and grip your halberd with a fierce grin. "Wait up!"
War's footsteps falter before resuming at a slower pace, while you stumble to his side. Each movement sends a wave of pain through your body (namely your ribs and arm). It's unfortunate really.
You make sure to keep the pain off your face though. Because I don't want to worry War, some part of you reasons, but you know yourself well enough to recognize it as an issue of pride. You don't want to admit you're so weak.
You do, however, allow War to take care of the bats and Wicked in the area and try to casually look over your injury. The back of your hand is scraped something nasty, although thankfully its superficial and only bleeding a tiny bit. Yanking up your sleeve, you find bruises blossoming up your forearm. You'll no doubt have the same sort of markings all up your right side.
"Gross." You groan. You're about to cover it back up when Shadow's freakishly long fingers brush yours out of the way.
"Owww, what have you done to yourself?" It hisses.
You blink. Is that honest concern or...? "My leash has some glitches." You answer slowly. "It threw me."
The Watcher laughs, "Is that what'd you call it?"
"Well sorry I don't have a fricken degree in linguistics, Shadow." You scowl.
"Shadow." It repeats with irritation. "What would that make you, Advisor?"
"I think you just answered your own question." You say, raising your eyebrows. You silently pray that War finishes whatever the hell he's doing soon.
"No, that is your title, as War is a Horseman and I am a Watcher. Because I am 'Shadow' and War is presumably a dog, that would make you..." It drifts off, prolonging the moment. "Glitch."
You bristle instantly, your hands curling into fists. "Excuse me? I'm not an error in p- well actually..." You have to admit it has a point. You are sort of a glitch in this universe. "I'm still offended."
Shadow appears rather proud of itself for ruffling you up. "I know."
"You could've at least picked something I didn't just say." You hiss. Hearing War draw near, you yank your arm from its grip and reset your sleeve.
His gaze lingers on said sleeve, obviously not trusting you're 'I'm fine' from earlier. "There is a lower area with Vulgrim's wind chimes." He says.
"We should probably head there first and then we go through the hotel." You reason, happy to change the subject. Shadow seeps back into War's gauntlet with a laugh. "There's an artifact too, I think. You'll have to swim."
"You can't?" He asks.
You press your lips together. "I can't. I've already said I'm a mouth-breather." You finger quote over mouth-breather.
He grimaces, but doesn't contest that. You take that as good sign and follow him down the steps with a smile. "Hey, when you talk to Vulgrim I'm gonna try to wash the blood off, kay?"
You never thought cleanliness would bring you such joy.