Translator
AN: A note or two:
- Lola and those close to him call him Copen, those who aren't call him iX.
- As per the summary, Copen is making a point about being kinder in the face of cruelty. So he doesn't dismiss things as 'this was the only way' ; he will give people a chance and if they don't take it, maybe one more. After that, it's fair game. (Then again it depends on the situation)
The world is dead and barren, and all its 'heroes' are their worst selves. And so, in the face of this nation of pain, Copen resized his heart, fed his emaciated conscience, and bought back the soul he'd pawned off. Nobody else was going to do it, so it might as well be him.
Sheathe your sword.
Tend a hand to a hand
A (unwilling) foe turned (willing) friend
Rebellio is remarkably calm, and that's what unnerves Copen. Even with his gun neatly pressed against his forehead, the thread-master remains neutral. The smile that plays on the boy's lips makes the hair on the back of Copen's neck rise at the sheer falseness of it all. The forced facade.
He smells copper. It's rich and infectious odor no longer making his mind start swimming. He glances down at his foot firmly pressed against the other's chest, finding the pool of blood spreading. The scent wafts around him, lifting up from the ground as he takes a step back.
"You got me," Rebellio remarks, setting his hand to his chest and smirking like he had told a painful pun. Not rising up to attack again, not cursing him with one last breath. Simply accepting it all.
Copen wonders how long and deep the slash is on Rebellio's body. He carved an X into him, having heard his ribs crack under the weight of his desperate attack. The wound inflicted by his Twin Shredder was the breaking point, ending the fight in his victory and so it is time to do the usual.
He has his opponent where he wants him. He is all for the taking like a bountiful harvest. All the power that he displayed could become part of Copen's arsenal with one more clean cut straight through the neck. But he doesn't move, simply keeping his gun pointed at his foe in indecision.
Rebellio shows his smile again, a fine red line dripping out of the corner of his mouth. Copen watches him inspect his stained hand. Rebellio traces his thumb along the sharp points of his fingers, flicking away excess ichor.
"I really have the strangest luck, that strike turning for the near fatal instead of cutting me in half, what are the odds?" Rebellio croons, sitting upright, a gesture to which Copen doesn't stiffen, doesn't throw a threat to remain still at, a display to which the adept tilt his head at.
"No such thing as luck, I simply chose not to," Copen confesses, and Rebellio's eyes widen, the clean white metal of his gun letting him see the same stoic expression he always wore.
"Ah, are you perhaps thinking of sparing me then? A kind gesture, but also useless," the smile dissapears as Rebellio lets out a cough, and Copen tries to ignore the feeling of guilt in his chest when blood comes spat out of the latter. He couldn't afford to hold back on someone so strong.
"Whether I die by your hands or fail to deliver you to the lands below, my fate will be the same-"
"No such thing," Copen interrupts, tone fiercer as if the latter had said a slur. "Fate is an excuse to justify the misery of others and your own." he was all too familiar with that mindset, how many had he killed with that logic? How much slaughter had he committed for the sake of maintaining his own ego? The number and faces have become a blur, still Copen vowed to never make that mistake again. To treat life as anything but sacred, to deny his own status as a man of this barren earth.
He'd failed to stop society from becoming this cruel. He'd failed to protect his loved ones from those who would bring them harm. He'd failed to make a difference with a body of flesh and was forced to retreat until he got a sturdier one. Still, the past would not make him fall into despair.
"You and I both remember kinder times...and fight for the day more can be made." he added.
"Can't the same be said for most men?" Rebellio replied right back, and something in his demeanor has changed, where he once looked mysterious, now he looked as if he was barely holding back the many words he wanted to say but couldn't tell anyone. "We live with our heads down, only thinking about the good times while surrounded by misery. Don't get angry, they'll hit you back harder. Don't make a stand or you'll be silenced. I made the mistake of doing both, tried to cover the arm of a stranger pointing a gun at my mum in my threads and said limb fell right off. It was deemed a clear cut murder case, didn't care if it was an accident or not. I dared harm an officer and got a death penalty for it. The only reason I haven't been disposed off yet something you already know."
"What a cruel society we live in," Copen shook his head, to the other's amusement as he choked on his own laugh and firmly pressed one hand against his wound. "I'm sorry you went through that."
Words that didn't need to be said, his pity must have already shown in his eyes. To verbalize them could be seen as a sign of insult or weakness but frankly Copen didn't give a fuck about subtlety.
"Well...if you feel sorry for me then…" Rebellio moved one hand towards his threads.
"No." A warning shot to move said hand back.
"Ah, it was worth an attempt." Another cough, then his eyes seem lose focus. "Not to hurry you, but could you make your point already? I'm kind of bleeding out here...unless that's your goal." a sarcastic snicker. "Giving me hope until I submit to a slow death, how cruel that would be."
"You're already a dead man walking," Copen lowered his gun, and took out some emergency supplies as he closed the distance. "But I won't be your executioner," he jabbed a needle with some advanced tranexamic acid and a pick me up, returning some sensation of warmth to Rebellio.
"Oh…" he couldn't help but reply in surprise, the drug was working quick, slowly but surely he could start to feel his legs again. In a minute or so he might even be able to stand up. "Now, I don't want to sound ungrateful, because I'm very happy to be alive I'll have you know, but again…"
"What is the point?" Copen finishes for him, to which he nods. "Simple, consider this: Win and Sumeragi will simply make another excuse to keep you in their ranks. Lose and you die. Is it really freedom if any choice you make supports your tormentors? I believe you need a third option."
They would be that cruel, Rebellio can admit. That doesn't make the famed slayer covering his large wound with his own thread like an improvised bandage less of a stranger sight. "And…" another cough that interrupts him, a wave of exhaustion follows as his adrenaline runs out.
"What would that option be?" he manages to ask, tone doubtful and just a bit scared despite his default smile. "If you want me to join you, I'd have to refuse. Sorry if that makes things awkward."
"I wasn't going to ask something so unreasonable," Copen shakes his head then finally makes his point. "Why don't you fake your death? It's like you said, your superior didn't see things through to the end. A clear sign that they expected you to die here." Rebellio winces, whether it's from the uncomfortable truth or a slight to his pride, Copen doesn't know, but he continues. "You could track down where your family is while lying beneath the radar. Perhaps save them as well."
Silence, only the sound of his breathing shows Rebellio is still alive, then… "I don't understand."
"It's not that complicated." Copen counters. "I don't want to kill you so I won't. What do you do with your life thereon is your own choice. And if you're going to ask me what makes you so different from any of the soldiers that I've cut down, I recognize and do not care about the so-called hypocrisy in my actions. A person can be talked to, but people, people are stupid."
"But that only makes things more complicated for you." Rebellio counters, speaking a bit louder now that his lungs don't feel like they're pressed against his chest. "What if I decide to track you down? That I take your goodwill and bite down on you instead? It'd be so much-"
"Easy? Simple? I don't do those." Copen interrupts. "I just...live, one day at a time, trying to do what I think is right. Because I have something I believe in, a cause to fight this war over."
His voice turns to the more passionate, the evening sun sets down on him, giving him a sort of natural stage light. Despite his small stature and young look, he's never looked more solid.
"It's not something I can share with you nor can I tell you what you should believe in; it's something you have to find for yourself. But, when you find that reason to live, that reason to go through the pain, the loneliness, the despair, you grab it; and fight with everything you have for what you think is right."
Rebellio's eyes widened a bit, for once he understands why others see this guy as a symbol of hope, why the media decries him as a monster, one that should run from or fought, never listened to. Because the words he were saying...were making sense to him. "Even if it might be...wrong?"
"Right and wrong are subjective; to some, I'm a hero, a man that fights for those who can't, as for my enemies you already know what they think. But what does it matter what they think? Everyone has a different opinion of the same thing, so you shouldn't give a damn what anyone else thinks, fight for what you think is right, nothing else matters."
Rebellio paused, pondering what the man said...and again couldn't refute it.
Things seemed to click together as he mulled over the words some more; the avenger seemed so confident, so deadset on whatever path he chose. But how did he obtain such determination?
Rebellio...wanted to know more. "What do you fight for, iX? To end this war?"
His red eyes returned to being firm as he spoke, "Partly, I'll defeat the master minds. But I won't enforce the peace that comes after, it has to be natural. Otherwise, there's just no point." He paused, taking a short breath.
"No one has the right to control anyone else." His hand sheathed his gun, feeling the weapon's hum dissapear from his grasp. "What I want...my wish is to ensure no one abuses that kind of power."
Rebellio paused; the man had spent his entire life underneath the governments cold heel, only allowed to head outside to end the life of someone they decided should die before being forced back into his cage with the promise of execution if it meant protecting his family. Sumeragi has enslaved the world, turning the citizens towards cynicism and neglect towards their fellow men.
If iX wanted to keep that kind of scum far away from ever reaching that level of authority again, the ability to reshape the world as you see fit, he could only approve.
Rebellio forced himself up, cracking the exhaustion from his legs and back as he stumbled forward only to be caught by firm hands; "Then I guess we have a lot of work ahead of us?" the falcon snickered at the raised eyebrow he got. "Come now, haven't you read a book? You spared my life and delivered a speech I can't help but agree with. I've got no choice but to join you now."
"...What about your family?"
"You said they can be rescued," Rebellio said with an optimism that wasn't false for once, perhaps it was the drugs in him but he was starting to feel more alive then he has ever felt before. "In the meantime I can't be seen with you, sure, but I can still be useful with my threads, be it crafting materials or ammo you need or fixing holes in whatever hideout you dwell in. Oh! I'm pretty sure I might have like a tracker inside my armor though, I hope you could dig or hack that out somehow."
He was blabbering, talking one's ears off. He was well aware of that but the words wouldn't just stop, he was in front of someone who understood, who doesn't look at him in disdain, who doesn't tell him to shut up. Who doesn't want anything from him. How low his standards have become to feel so happy about that. One of his arms got put over iX's shoulder and soon enough they started walking.
No more words were coming from iX, too focused on properly moving them, not that he would have been heard over Rebellio's chatter. Still he listened and amused the adept with his attention.
And already he was doing more than anyone else Rebellio knew.
"So," Lola finally speaks up, hovering beside Copen as he waits outside the room where Rebellio is recovering from his injuries. "I didn't say anything earlier cause it would ruin the mood, but-"
"But?" Copen parrots then looks up to her with a nuetral expression. "It must be important, seeing how you always spoke your mind before."
"Oh, shush!" she full pod strikes his forehead, like a soft slap. "Anyway, about earlier, is that a thing that we'll be doing now or was this a one and done kind of deal?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because I don't get it. What has changed I mean." she leans back, and if there was a face to read it'd show concentration. "Most opponent's we've met have had their...circumstances." she was about to say sob stories, but that'd be cruel and dismissive so circumstances it is. "Why him? Why now? And don't misunderstand, I'm totally fine with redemption stuff and the like."
"Do I need a reason to not take a life?" he deflects for a moment, then continues at Lola's silence. There is no need to lie here. "I just wanted to try something different."
"That's it?"
"If you're hoping for a confession or a spiel, I'm sorry to dissapoint you." Irrationally, he feels he should look away, he resists the urge. "But if I had to make one, it'd likely be about how avenging is nice and all, but that having done so has brought us nothing but a chain of violence and no allies. Say we win, get our happy ending. There would still be a power vaccuum and with it, another conflict to come."
"And that idea totally didn't come to you just now."
"Lola." he snaps, the name holding less bite than they would towards anyone else, but he's still annoyed by her pedanticness.
"Ok, ok, I didn't to mean buzz you off!" she surrenders, yet fidgets around in the air still. "It's just, you know..."
"Not something you'd expect from me?"
"Exactly! You're like one of those anti heroes, all violence and misery! No insult. But this, this is different and I don't hate it one bit."
"You could've said you were proud of me or something then."
"Oh, but boss..." she trails off and he can tell, face or not, she's grinning on the inside. "Someone has to keep you humble."
"That's it." he leans off the wall, waiting a moment before he walks off. "You're no longer my favorite person."
"HUH?!" she blurts, as if hit by thunder. Before recovering, "Yeah, pshaw! And who would be the new-"
"Maria."
"BUT SHE HATES YOUR GUTS!"
"I know, but she's nicer than you are to me right now, and..." a small smile adorns his face. "She's not number one, you're simply below her now."
"But that makes me..." one, two, three, four, five if Rebellio counts. "I'm not even on the top three anymore?"
"Eh," he moves his hands in the way he saw one of the kids once do. "As they say: Skill issue."
"Okay, now you're just taunting me back!" Lola shouts, overly dramatical and saying more words that Copen simply tunes out.
The question of before comes back to him, does he need a reason to not take a life?
He does, but he's tired of not finding any.
AN: That's Rebellio done.
And Bakto, Crimm, Isola, Stella, and Dystnine left to varying difficulties.
Like c'mon, if Stella isn't dead. iX would only have to reveal she's still alive to Mr Android and recruitment success! No?
Crimm and Isola would be way harder since they take their job with professionalism. And Crimm loves his job as the wiki says since he can EXPLOSION whenever he wants. Bakto has his whole family hostage and since he's also an adult, he'd be way more stubborn.
That aside, if you've got any suggestion on any of them, lemme know. (I'm still thinking on how to handle them).
And, I'm thinking about adding bonus chappies, like bonus missions where one fully obtains a Falcon's loyalty. (Like a scene in which iX and Rebellio track down his family, or iX and Crimm blowing up an important Sumeragi Factory, et.) Would you like that or nah?