Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹

“Boom, I wanna get a job.”

The sound of running water halted. Boombox placed down the plate he was holding– turning to look at Gunblade who’s sitting on the sofa.

“Why so suddenly?” he asks.

“Because… I feel bad just doing nothing…” he cups his chin with both of his hands, sitting curled.

“You don’t have to, you know,” he picks up another set of dirty utensils, carefully rubbing it with a sponge. “But… If you really want to, I won’t stop you.”

Most of his life has settled to a quiet monotony, which isn’t a bad thing. But, he’s grown used to this world, too used. It’s become something that grates his mind.

He spends his days training– or hanging out with Sword and sometimes, Rocket. If not that, he’ll go out with Boombox to do something. Just yesterday, he was visiting a store selling musical instruments. Boombox bought an electric guitar, which was pretty cool.

Though this guy already has a bunch. Well the more the better, he supposes.

But something about this is odd. No– everything is. Every time he thinks about it, he just doesn’t feel like he belongs here.

There was a separation between them. In the end, they were characters. He was… he was a real person. But it also feels wrong. It was wrong to dehumanize them like that. He can’t think like this– nor will he ever let Boombox know.

Gunblade mumbles a sighing noise. The wings on his back flutter, before closing back up. Boombox took notice of this small detail; of his wings spreading whenever he was stressed.

“Gunblade, your wings are pretty messy… Do you want me to help you preen it?” He stops his movement to turn himself completely.

The wings behind Gunblade’s back stills, as if having been exposed by Boombox. Its feathers are poking out of place, misaligned from the set. A consequence of having been confined for so long.

“Uhmm… sure!” He looks back to take a peek at his own wings. A flush of embarrassment filling his mind when he realizes how untidy it is. “Oh. I didn’t realize it was that bad.”

Boombox snickers, “I can always clean it up for you!”

He finishes up with his chore and tidies up all of the plates and utensils. Gunblade moves to sit down on the floor - curling his legs and relaxing. Boombox sits behind him, crossing his legs and starting to pick out the loose feathers.

Gunblade idly stares at the wall in front of him, almost falling asleep at the lack of activity. The person behind him continues to pluck out his feathers, though with hesitance to his motion– afraid to hurt him accidentally.

“Gunblade does this… hurt?” he asks curiously. “Just tell me if I accidentally mess up your feathers…” The sentence trails off nervously.

“Oh no! It… feels kinda nice actually,” his wings shuffles, letting Boombox know to continue. “I don’t know it’s like… being scratched, y’know?”

Boombox purses his lips. Well, he doesn’t have a set of wings so he wouldn’t know. “If you say so!”

Silence overtook the air once again; a comfortable one supported by warm rays of light and the permeating smell of wood. This was a call of action for gunblade, to hum a song from the remnants of his memory.

“And you don’t seem to understand… a shame you seemed an honest man…” He murmurs, “and all the fears you hold so dear… will turn to whisper in your ear…”

The verse perks up Boombox’s curiosity, “what song is that?”

“Oh uhm! It’s…” he thinks about it for a second. ‘Boa Duvet wouldn’t exist here… Would it?’

“It’s a song I made up in my head, haha…”

“I like the lyrics! Why don’t you try being a musician, Gunblade?”

He snaps his head to look at Boombox, who gives him an annoying smile. “What? No way! I can’t even play a single instrument!”

“I could always teach you… ya know?” His eyes moved to the corner of his room where an assortment of guitars and miscellaneous instruments were sitting. Untouched.

Learning from an actual musician sounds fun. There was nothing wrong with having a new hobby. “I’ll think about it.”

Gunblade’s mind continues to wander off, not knowing where to go. His tongue itches to start a new conversation. 

“Uhm… Boom, what do you actually do at phights?” he quipped.

With natural ease, Boombox replied, “oh! It’s really fun! It’s mostly a team-based fight and there's a bunch of objectives too!” 

‘The same as the game I suppose…” Gunblade nods.

“There's both official and unofficial phights! And usually, the phights are sponsored by Flipside!” Boombox fades out to think for a moment. He opens his mouth to continue, though more eager, “but the thing everyone’s raving about recently… Is the phight to determine the new leader of Crossroads.”

“The new leader? I thought Crossroads already had one?” 

“No… Well, technically the Flipside would be the leader of Crossroads since they’re Firebrand’s grandkids. But, no one really trusts the deities anymore after the Scorch… So people wanted a new, proper leader. So… Anyone can join! Don’t quote me on all that though, I’m just saying what I remember!”

“Anyone can join? Are there no forms of screening at all?” A competition to determine a new leader sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. Gunblade knows jack-shit of the politics of this world, but he at least knew that was a terrible idea. Not only that, but anyone could enter!?

“Not that I’m aware of!”

“Okay hypothetically, but what if someone important from a specific faction won? Wouldn’t Crossroads basically be controlled by that specific faction?”

Boombox mulls over it, rubbing his chin with his free hand, “I’ve thought about that as well. I’m planning to participate in it for fun, but I’m sure some people would have a lot more nefarious… Purposes.”

The both of them shrugged. Gunblade hopes that Flipside will reconsider their options. He lives in Crossroads. He wouldn’t want some crazy serial killer or an extremely corrupt politician to become its newest leader. At least add some sort of background check?

“Oh right! You still want to find a job right? I’ll hit up Slingshot!” Boombox chirped up in a sudden, grabbing his phone sitting on the floor. “Maybe he’ll have a spot free…”

“Uhm… He’s the owner of the cafe right?” Working at a cafe doesn’t sound bad at all! He’s dreamt of that a few times, being a barista and all. Maybe he’s watched too many barista videos on Youtube.

“Yeah! He’s super reliable and nice! I’m sure he’ll understand your circumstances!”

With a few press of a button, the phone rang and a merry-like voice answered on the other end, “hey Boom! What's up?”

“Hi Sling! Just wanted to talk to you about something…”

--------------------

“So, you wanna try working here Gunblade?”” Slingshot placed down a pot of bubbling soup, letting the small flames of the stove continue to heat it.

Gunblade sits down on a chair nearby, clutching his sweaty hands on his knee.

“Ye-yeah.”

This was his first time doing SFOTH-honest work. Not some shitty unpaid internship he did during highschool. Actual proper work. He can’t believe that was something he randomly remembered about himself.

Even during his internship, he never took anything too seriously and ended up messing around with his… friends. He hoped Slingshot would give him some leeway at least. Surely, being an amnesiac child of a god that fell down from the sky would be a good enough reason. 

Slingshot took his time to think about his words thoroughly. Not wanting to accidentally hurt Gunblade by being too stern, whilst trying to be realistic about it.

“Okay hm… Let’s see,” He takes a good look around his cafe. “Is there anything you’re good at, Gunblade?”

“Well I can do simple tasks, and I’m good at calculations and… Yeah, things like that.” He smiles sheepishly. Shrinking himself onto the chair.

Nothing in school taught him anything on how to survive a job, especially not one from another world. Sure, he’s in STEM and all. But what the hell’s an honors in biology gonna do in the face of an angry customer?

“Well we already have Vine as a cashier, Shuri’s working as the server and hm… Oh!” He does a small clap, “how about being a dishwasher?” 

“I can do that!” Gunblade nods. Thank fuck it was something easy. Dishwashing is easy, right?

“That’s great! When are you good to start?”

“I can start tomorrow! I’m free on all days except Wednesday and Friday!” he sends Slingshot an ecstatic grin. That couldn’t have gone better!

A pang of pain hits Slingshot’s heart as he looks at him. ‘So… So cute!!’

He takes a breather and softly gives him a pat, “sorry, you really remind me of my brother when he was a nespawn. You’ve met him before I think? He was the one that served the parfait to you that time!”

Gunblade still doesn’t know what to feel about being treated like a child. Maybe instead of complaining about it, he should start using it to his advantage instead. Having no responsibilities feels nice.

“Oh! Is it the person with the long pink horns?” He vaguely remembers him. The exhaustion in his eyes was eminent.

“Yeah, that's him alright!” Slingshot returns the smile, “him and the cashier in this cafe are my siblings! Though me and them aren’t exactly blood-related… We’re still a family.”

If Gunblade were to describe the expression on Slingshot’s face, it’d be melancholy. Though, it was not of sadness. 

‘Family… huh.’

Pinching the edge of his hoodie wasn’t something he intended. Simply hearing Slingshot's tone made him ponder.

“Speaking of which… Wait a second, I'll go grab both of them!” 

He scurries out of the kitchen, shortly returning with two familiar figures. One was the cashier he remembered from when he was hanging out with Boombox and the others. They fiddled with their fingers, brimming in silent anticipation. One thing he’s just realized was the fact that her left arm was made out of wood. He wanted to ask about it, but decided to keep quiet.

The other was the server. Gunblade was somewhat taken aback by them. Like a few other inphernals, he couldn’t read their expressions. Their back was slightly slouched, leaning over the countertop with their arm supporting them. Eyebags quietly sitting below their eyes.

“These are my siblings, Vinestaff and Shuriken!” He spreads his arms out, showing off his siblings with all of the sparkles and glimmers he could ever give.

“Uhm… It’s nice to meet you g-guys!” He stutters. Wow, wasn’t that embarrassing.

“Nice to meet you too Gunblade! I’m Vinestaff! I go by she/her!” The one he assumed to be the cashier greeted him with a smile. 

“S’nice to meet you too, I’m Shuriken, he/him.” He averts his eyes absentmindedly. It wasn’t out of indifference, simply from fatigue.

Gunblade takes a moment to go over the duo. ‘These two are playable characters too… Right?’

“Oh right one thing too Gunblade… If you want to, you don’t have to wear your hoodie,” Slingshot readjusts the knot on his headband, “It gets tiring doesn’t it? Keeping your wings all cooped up like that?”

His question startles Gunblade. He looks at Slingshot– then his two siblings who are only looking at him without saying anything, “huh, but–”

“It’s okay! You can trust them, they won’t say a peep about anything. Besides, you’d be working inside the kitchen anyways, none of the customers would see you.” The cat-like inphernal gives him a warm smile.

The panicked expression he had slowly dissolved. Boombox trusts Slingshot, so it should be fine, right? But if they were to get into trouble because of him…

“Everyone has their secrets to keep, goes for all of us. You’re still a kid, so don’t worry about all of that, okay?”

In the corner, Shuriken flinched for a moment. He returned normally as fast as he flinched; both Slingshot and Vinestaff being wholly oblivious.

“Okay… Thank you.” At the very least, he’s grateful. On the other hand, having all of this attention on him is awkward. He’ll graciously accept not having to cage in his wings anytime though. But that brings up another concern…

“Are having wings in the kitchen considered a health and safety hazard?”

The three stared at him with a look of contemplation. 

Slingshot was the first to say something, “you know, we’ve never really had to consider that before.” 

“I mean, it’s not every Tuesday that you’d get the child of a deity working at your cafe.” Shuriken blurts out, completely deadpan but holding a quiet laugh.

‘Yeah, right.’ He looks back at them with an incredulous look.

“Do your feathers… fall out, Gunblade? Or anything like that?” Slingshot, as nicely as possible, asked him.

“No… Well if I’m moving my wings a lot then maybe? They don’t really fall out unless you’re picking my feathers off.”

Shuriken decides to chip in, “sorry but don’t bird feathers contain like… Dangerous–” 

“I wash my wings everyday, they’re not dirty at all!” Being compared to a wild animal certainly wasn’t the best feeling ever. “It’s a hundred-percent sanitized!”

Slingshot claps, “that should be good then! Just make sure you don’t accidentally touch any plates with your wings while you’re washing…” He glances towards the clock hung up on the wall, “We’re opening in a few hours, stay a bit so I can teach you how the kitchen works Gunblade!”

Gunblade nods. It’s just a dishwashing job, all you’d have to do is wash plates and utensils. What could possibly go wrong?

--------------------

The tension was palpating. It wasn’t this bad yesterday, not at least in his memory. He couldn’t mess up, not in his first ever job. It’s fine, It’s all fine and he’s just stressing out for nothing!

All he has to do is wash dishes. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong?

He takes a breather. In, and out. 

Perhaps he had over-prepared today. He’d washed his wings much more than usual, wasting precious soap. He’d pace around the living room, thinking of all the things that could possibly go right, and wrong. Even Boombox grew worried.

It was far from opening time, he came in earlier than he was supposed to be. He still had time to work out what to do.

Then he steps inside the cafe. Shuriken was inside, holding a broom and sweeping the floors. Same tired look as ever. He raises his head up to meet eye-to-eye with Gunblade.

“Oh, Gunblade, g’morning. Ready for work?” He places the broom aside, letting it lean against a table.

“Good morning… Shuriken! And yeah!” Gunblade waves at him shyly. 

Shuriken nods back, “okay, follow me.”

Inside the staff room was Slingshot having a light conversation with Vinestaff, laughing at an old memory they were looking back on. Their conversation stopped as the sound of the creaking door interrupted them.

“Oh Shuri! And Gunblade!” Slingshot watches them walk into the room, with Gunblade scampering behind Shuriken. Vinestaff opted to simply smile and wave at them instead.

“You’re here early.” Slingshot picked up a stack of folded clothes and presented them to Gunblade, “this is our staff uniform, Vinestaff personally cut out holes at the back for your wings, try them on!.”

“Ah but… If it doesn’t fit, please tell me and I’ll fix them for you!” She simpers awkwardly.

Gunblade takes the uniform, a simple blue shirt and a blue apron to wear over it. The apron had paw-like patterns over it, a small text of the cafe’s name imprinted on the side.

“Thank you…” He sets down the uniform to take off his hoodie. Both Vinestaff and Shuriken stare in anticipation. It wasn’t their first time seeing a demi-deities' wings. Posters of the Flipside are literally plastered all over the wall right outside of the cafe.

But it was their first time actually seeing it up close.

He fully takes his hoodie off, letting his wings breathe. It flares out, proudly flaunting itself in the face of the trio. Vinestaff, who was mostly quiet during their interactions, awed in amazement; Shuriken on the other hand, was somewhat impressed.

The feathers, although slightly disheveled from being confined inside the hoodie, propped itself up. After the display, he calmly folded his wings.

“So cool!” Vinestaff does a small clap before inching to Gunblade, “uhm… Can I touch your wings!?”

That took him by surprise, but he concluded that there wasn’t any harm in doing so. “Sure!”

Vinestaff gently brushes the back of his wings, feeling the softness of the feathers. She takes her time doing so, forgetting about her other two siblings. “So soft and fluffy…”

“Vine, he’s not a cat. You’ve been doing that for five minutes straight.” Shuriken holds a snicker.

“Eh! Oh… Oops! I’m sorry!” She pulls herself away in embarrassment, giving both Shuriken and Slingshot a disgruntled look. “Why were you guys just staring at me!?”

“Well, I mean what else were we supposed to do?” Slingshot shared the same amusement as Shuriken did, chuckling.

“It’s okay… I don’t really mind haha…” 

As the three start bickering about random things, Gunblade goes on to wear his staff uniform. The shirt fits his size perfectly with two holes cut out in the back for his wings. It took some time to shove his wings into the hole, but it turned out a lot more comfortable than he expected.

Lastly was the blue apron which he simply slung on and tied. Thus, the outfit was completed!

Seeing Gunblade wearing the uniform, Slingshot broke away from the banter, “looks good on you Gunblade!”

“Yeah! It fits perfectly!” He spun around, letting Slingshot see the full outfit on him.

Slingshot lets go of a cackle, “much better than what those three made you wear huh?” 

“Oh yeah no, anything’s better than that.”

“Ah one sec, I know one last thing…” Grabbing a blue cloth from one of the lockers, Slingshot moved to tie it on top of his head and over his horns, creating a kerchief bandana. “Kay you’re all done! Time to get ready for work!”

--------------------

The hour arrow currently points at the number twelve. The cafe had just opened and the first set of customers started coming in. At this point in time, he didn’t really have anything to do.

On the other side of the kitchen, Slingshot is prepping some baked goods. Trays of cupcakes and muffins were sitting on the table completely bare. Fresh decorations sitting atop of it.

…If he stole some, Slingshot wouldn’t mind, right?

He shakes those thoughts off. He’d be fired immediately!

Instead, he goes to wipe a nearby countertop.

The kitchen is on the smaller side, with most of the utilities being used for baking. All manners of pots and pans were hung up on the wall. While they don’t have those professional grade dishwashers… He doesn’t mind having to wash the plates manually.

Thankfully, he’s stationed at a small corner where he won’t have to worry about his wings hitting anything important.

‘Just gotta wash the dishes… Just gotta wash the dishes…’

It didn’t take too long until Shuriken opened the door, holding a tray of dirty plates. He places it down on the counter near Gunblade.

“Here, just wash these and place them back on the rack. Slingshot will help you.” He leaves immediately right after that, returning back to his position.

Gunblade separates the utensils from the plates, placing them at different positions. He turns on the sink and washes the dirty plates as thoroughly as possible.

‘Eugh… I don’t wanna touch the leftover food pieces…’ 

Most of his daytime shift repeats this cycle. Shuriken leaves dirty plates near him as Slingshot tries to help him sort out all of the plates. To him it's actually… not too hard! And he’s somewhat enjoying it actually.

He didn’t know something as simple as dishwashing would actually be this fun. Back at home, he hated washing the dishes. But there is something different when you’re actually working.

The other three are incredibly nice, they would often help him out with any questions or difficulties he had. 

Slingshot is somewhat strict, but also very helpful and forgiving. Vinestaff is super kind, she would compliment everything he did well! Shuriken… although he seems out of it most of the time, he does care about him.

They make up a pretty dynamic trio too, with Slingshot being the straight man most of the time.

Through all of that, watching Slingshot work has been very inspiring. Seriously, he handles all of the cooking and baking all by himself? and with such efficiency too. 

Maybe one day he can be as good as Slingshot. It's a very distant dream though.

So far so good. It's nearing lunch time and Gunblade’s been doing well. There aren't as many customers during the morning so he’s been taking it easy. Slingshot seems to be taking a breather too from all of the cooking he had to do.

“It’s pretty slow right now huh–”

“Wait! Gunblade don’t say that–!” Slingshot was about to stop him until Shuriken barges into the kitchen.

“Sling! We’ve got a rush of customers!” He warns the duo. Slingshot somehow turned paler than he already has, his previously colorful face turning into a lifeless husk. 

“Okay… let's do this…” He scrambles to start prepping for the upcoming orders.

Gunblade looks at them with confusion and slight guilt. ‘Uh-oh, was that my fault…?’

--------------------

Well, it really was his fault. Now, he has a mountain of dirty dishes and cleaning to do. 

Gunblade accepts his fate. Let this be his consequence for speaking without thinking. One by one, he’ll get through everything.

‘How did they do this with only three of them…’

Hours pass and his arms feel sore. He doesn’t want to see another dirty dish in his lifetime. Nevertheless, he still has tomorrow to go through. Of course this means even more dirty dishes.

The clock strikes eight and the cafe prepares to close. Gunblade grabs a broom and goes to sweep the dining area. With no customers in the building, he can go out of the kitchen as freely as he wants.

Vinestaff had taken to wiping down the tables and reorganizing the utensils. Occasionally, Gunblade could see her sneaking glances at him, as if wanting to say something.

“Busy day, huh?” He decides to start the conversation first.

She stumbles on her reply, “o-oh! Yeah it was really busy!” 

Gunblade holds his chuckle, not wanting to look rude. She really reminded him of… himself? Himself from back then when he was…

Vinestaff can’t help but stare at him. His previously cheerful expression had darkened. ‘Oh no… Did I say something wrong!?’

Although not wanting to overstep her boundaries, she couldn’t help but do something. She trudged closer to him, and placed a hand on his head.

This snapped Gunblade back to reality, flinching as a result. Vinestaff immediately backed away, putting her arms up as if she had done wrong. “Ah I’m sorry! I just thought that you were…”

“N-no it's okay! I wasn’t really in the right headspace haha…” Gunblade scratches the back of his head. “Also you snapped me out of it so… Thanks!”

With that statement, Vinestaff brightened up instantly. The previous guilt stuck to her face had vanished. Gunblade found it really funny that she couldn’t contain her smile.

‘What a joyous fellow…’

“Uhm… I often did that with Shuri and Sling… So I thought it’d work on you too!” She nods.

“Well it really did, I didn’t mind it at all.” Glancing at Vinestaff, the first thing he’d always lay his eyes on were her wooden arms. He’s been curious about it since yesterday, but would it be rude to ask her?

Being already used to the stares, Vinestaff perked up, “are you curious about my arm?”

Gunblade nodded, “yeah, if you’re okay with telling me about it.”

“Of course!” As if having waited her entire life for it, Vinestaff coughed and began explaining. “I don’t really know about my arm too well… But where I’m from, they refer to it as a curse.”

She takes a breather before continuing, “this arm can’t feel pain or anything like that and it grows really fast… So I often cut it to use as firewood!”

As Vinestaff looks at Gunblade, he could see his expression turn into that of morbid horrification. “Well that's rather…”

“Haha… Don’t worry! I mean it when I say I don’t feel any pain! And it doesn’t bleed either!” She tries to cheer him up, showing off her wooden arm.

“Uh… Okay, if you say so…” The vision he has of her cutting her arm still rests in his head, he doesn’t want to think about it. “But that's a pretty useful ability!”

“Yeah right? It has helped me survive in the wilderness for so long…”

‘The wilderness?’ 

The air around Vinestaff turned dismal. Her smile had soured as she looked at her arm with consideration. Gunblade immediately felt guilty, ‘shit, did I say something wrong!?’

Vinestaff opened her mouth a couple of times, wanting to continue, yet words refuse to come out. Yet, she didn’t want to lose this chance, so she pushed forward.

“When I was a newspawn I was… exiled from my clan. Because of my arm, I was cast away to live alone in the wilderness. No one wanted to go near me, other than Shuriken and Slingshot.”

She grabs onto her wooden arm, as if clinging onto it for comfort.

“Both of them decided to sacrifice everything and move to Crossroads… Just for me.” Her downcast eyes looked at the ground, not having the strength to face Gunblade. “But here… For the first time ever, I get to walk alongside others, with my arm… So…”

“I’m happy, that's all.”

Vinestaff tilts her head up, finally looking at him eye to eye.

Gunblade could only stare at her. After all of that, what was he supposed to say? It was like a nuke had been dropped on him. Out of nowhere too.

“Uhm… Are you okay with telling me this?” He points at himself.

“Yeah! I… don’t mind. Sorry, I got carried away, didn’t I? I didn’t mean to dump all of this on you!” She scratches the back of her horns and looks away in shame.

“No, it's fine! Just a lot to take in…” 

She gives Gunblade a sheepish smile, “the reason why I told you this is because you kind of remind me of myself… It sucks doesn’t it, being the spawn of a deity everyone hates?” 

He was certainly surprised by her sudden remark, but she wasn’t wrong. It was kind of validating really, being told this. 

“Yeah. It’s not like I asked to be his spawn…” Great, now he’s feeling emotional too.

“Right?” Vinestaff nodded vigorously, “it kind of saddens me that you have to hide your wings like this…”

That statement gave out a bashful chuckle out of Gunblade. He stays quiet, not knowing what to say.

“Maybe one day… Like I was able to show my arms freely like this… then maybe you could keep your wings out too! And you can fly whenever you want…” She spreads her arms out and waves it around, as if making a flapping motion.

An awe inspiring sentence from Vinestaff. Perhaps, this kind of encouragement was what he needed the most. 

“Yeah, one day.” He smiles. Nothing more, nothing less.

…Now both of them don't know what to say, despite the warm atmosphere. Awkwardness floated around the air, and Vinestaff was left standing there trying to think of something.

She finally comes around to saying something she’s always wanted to say.

“Gunblade… Will you b-be my friend!?” She stutters. Her face flushed with embarrassment, but she held onto her question.

The genuine emotion when she asked that was palpating. How could Gunblade ever refuse this?

“Of course! I’ll be friends with you anytime!”

Vinestaff held her hands over her mouth in shock, the happy kind of shock. Her eyes turned watery, as if she was on the verge of crying. “My first friend…!”

‘Huh? First? No way.’

--------------------

Back at the staff room, both Shuriken and Slingshot had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation.

“See? Told you it’ll work! Vine just made her first friend!” Slingshot cheered, as if he had just won a victory.

“I’ll give it to you this time… I guess it works since they both have something in common.” Shuriken peeked through the cracks of the staff room door to see both Vinestaff and Gunblade cheerfully chattering about.

“She won’t be so lonely anymore now.”

--------------------

“That was a hard day of work…” Gunblade closes the door behind him, leaving the comfort of Slingshot’s cafe. “But I made a friend so everything's all great…”

Despite it being night, it didn’t feel dark at all to him. It’s a shame that he can’t see the stars, but maybe this isn’t so bad at all.

He trudges through the streets. The stress from the day left him behind as he basked in the quiet wind.

‘How long will I have to keep living like this?’

The thought permeated through his head.

The life he’s living isn’t a bad one by any means. He’s safe from… Most of the dangers in the Inpherno, at least he thinks he is.

He’s thankful that he was dropped in Crossroads.

Working at Slingshot’s cafe has made him realize that– life here is just the same as it was. 

Despite being in a completely different world, it’s as if nothing had changed. How odd.

Gunblade sighs. He’ll have to take a long, good shower once he gets back home. Hopefully Boombox isn’t worrying over him or something like that right now.

He takes turns after turns, weaving through the streets; careful to not enter any suspicious back-alleys. Being kidnapped after the first day of work would be disastrous after all.

The steps he takes starts to slow down.

‘Maybe I could enjoy some of the scenery…’

Even the 2nd layer of Crossroads has security. As long as he isn’t in some random area in the middle of nowhere, like he was with Sword, he would be fine.

Cracks and other forms of damage were visible on the road. While it wasn’t abandoned, it’s definitely seen better days. Beside it was some sort of construction area with building materials dumped all over the place. There were no people to be seen in the area, possibly taking a break.

The other side is surrounded by a brick wall, occasionally breaking into decrepit alleyways. Railings were placed at the side for extra support.

Gunblade leans in onto the railing, allowing it to take all of his weight. The lights above him were flickering around, as if dancing.

‘Okay so, I’m in another world… One with magic and random bullshit no less… So why the hell– am I working a part time job like an average person here!?’

‘Well I am training with Sword and all but… I wanna see and do more things! Ugh!’ 

He buries his head in his arm. 

‘Maybe I could convince Boom to let me visit one of the factions…’

‘Whatever.’ He stands up, leaving his thoughts and continuing his walk back home. He’d much rather spend time inside than alone in the streets.

Vague footsteps appeared near him. The sound grew closer till he could hear ragged breathings too. He looked around him. ‘Who’s running?’

“Shit– watch out!”

A hooded figure had crashed onto him before he could react, toppling the both of them to the ground. He closed his eyes as a natural response.

Gunblade felt their weight on top of him, along with the hard ground hitting his back and especially, his wings. It hurt, definitely. But the softness of his wings has eased the impact on his back.

Opening his eyes, he sees an inphernal sprawled at the side. Using their arms for support, they slowly, wobbly, stood up. 

“Ow, ow, ow…” They massaged their forehead, the pain from the fall still present.

Gunblade opened his mouth, about to say something until they interrupted him. “Ah, sorry…! You okay dude?”

“Yeah… I’m fine–” Before he could finish replying, the other had already grabbed his arms and pulled him onto a nearby alleyway. As much as he struggled, he couldn’t wrestle himself from their grip. ‘What the hell!?’

The two reached a small gap hidden at the side of the alleyway. The other inphernal covered Gunblade's mouth with their hand, their rushed breathing panting for air. “I’m sorry bro! I need you to like– Be quiet, right now…!”

Gunblade wanted to rip his hand off him. First of all, rude? Second of all, he’s in the prime position to be kidnapped– or worse, killed!

Yet, there's an odd feeling that tells him that he should just listen to this guy. Something unnerving was digging at his throat, yet he couldn’t tell exactly what.

‘Is this guy running from someone? What is going on?’

He was about to voice his complaints until footsteps came into the area. It was light, as if whoever it belonged to had a non-existent presence. 

The footsteps repeated itself for a few minutes, pacing back and forth nearby.

‘Is this the person they’re running away from?’

At first he was scared, and pissed. But mostly pissed. He’d just wanted to go home and have a good shower then hang out with Boombox. Now? He’s positively terrified. 

Whoever this person was, they did not have good intentions. A voice in his head tells him to run. But if he did, he would alert whoever it was to him. 

The person currently holding him hostage(?) had a worsened complexion; they were clearly in panic, trying to hold their breath as hard as they could. Their mouth would occasionally hitch, trying to suck in a breath to not make a single sound. Both of their eyes would dart around, looking for any escape points.

‘Holy shit this guy is way more terrified than I am…’

Looking at them more closely, for some reason he can’t shake the feeling off… Having seen them before. Just who is this person?

‘Why do they seem so…”

In what seemed like forever, the footsteps finally stopped. It stopped, right beside them. 

Gunblade’s legs were screaming at him to run, to do something. All he could do in the end, was freeze. Like a trapped prey.

Their shadow was visible on the ground. The one thing that caught his attention was the two antennas the figure had. The head of the shadow had an unnatural shape, as if they were wearing a helmet…

“Clear.”

A husked, yet somewhat robotic voice cleared the air. 

“No sir, they are not here.”

The duo could only grit their teeth and freeze. Just a bit more–

“Affirmative.”

And with that, they have left the scene. Walking away until their footsteps couldn’t be heard anymore.

The two let out the biggest wheeze they’ve had in their life, finally catching their breaths. Gunblade felt like throwing up, the tension from the scene was a first.

“Ugh… finally, he leaves me alone… I never want to see him ever again!” The… Mysterious inphernal sighs, inhaling and exhaling deeply.

“Who the hell was that? Who are you?” Now that everything's over, Gunblade finally has the chance to ask about what the hell’s going on. 

“Someone ya really don’t want to meet… Sorry, I can't say who I am either.” They faced away, adjusting their hood.

Gunblade felt offended. After all of that, the least they could do was tell him! “What…?”

“Sorry broski, gotta dip! See you later… or never! Bye!” Before Gunblade could even react or catch up to them, they had already left the alleyway running.

‘So fast!? What the hell?!’

He doesn’t even know anymore at this point. The best thing to do in this scenario, is to leave everything behind and just go home. Avoiding a near death scenario was good enough, he didn’t want to deal with anything else.

Stumbling out of the alleyway was an odd sense of freedom he hasn’t felt in a while. No more of that, and hopefully, he wouldn’t have to deal with something like this again in the future.

Still though, there was an unsettling feeling crawling on his spine.

‘Just what is happening?’

And most importantly…

‘Why was that person just now so… familiar?’

He decides to shake off the thoughts. There's no use in worrying about something he’ll never be involved in.

‘Boombox is gonna be worrying for me again…’

--------------------

“Well well… It’s quite rare to see you here, Ghostwalker.” 

An inphernal wearing a light-grey sweater stood in front of a flaming, red sword stuck onto the ground. His left horn was broken, with a spectre-like substance replacing its shape. He stands completely still, not creating any unnecessary movements.

“Are you just like him too? Being all… Nostalgic?”

He turns back. There wasn’t a single hint of expression on his face, not a wrinkle, not a curve of the eyebrows to indicate emotion, not even a mouth to tell what he is feeling. In place of his eyes, were two X’s. 

Looking back at his sibling, he could only remain expressionless. Even when he telepathically speaks, it is completely monotone. “What is it that you want, Darkheart?”

“What do we want? Is it so wrong to be curious of our own… Brother?” The inphernal buckles, acting as if he was hurting. Despite all of that, his neon green smile contrasting with his pure dark skin continues to grow.

“You are never… Just curious.” If Ghostwalker could feel emotions, he would be sighing right now. Instead he simply continues to speak unharmoniously. “You must be thinking of causing some chaos, aren’t you?”

“Oh now, why would we do that?” He creates an overdramatic shrug– putting his soul and mind to it. 

Ghostwalker never liked him, but he doesn’t dislike him either. Him and Darkheart never worked well, or had a good dynamic for that matter. Too unpredictable, too chaotic, too laid-back. Nothing was ever done the way he wanted it with him.

He can’t feel hate– or annoyance. But whenever he has to deal with Darkheart, he can somewhat understand why his other siblings felt their way about him.

Like an uncontrollable typhoon that passes through, he does whatever he wants and whenever he feels like it.

“It’ll do you well to simply tell me why you are here. I am not a fool, Darkheart.” 

Darkheart sighs, “you’re no fun… Ghostwalker.”

He walks closer to the other, sneering mischievously. Ghostwalker does not intend to play along with him. It is never a good idea to play along to the whims of this brother of his.

“Well you see… We know why you are here. It’s because something similar happened again, did it?” He walks past Ghostwalker, his arm in the pocket of his coat. “The newspawn… there's another one.”

Ghostwalker doesn’t respond immediately. He takes the time to gauge Darkhearts expression. His brother must have something in his mind. 

“Yes, another one… and this time, it was created by Illumina’s power. Though it seems to be accidental.”

Darkheart's previous grin grew even wider, almost to a cackle. Even without seeing his face, Ghostwalker knows exactly what he’s thinking right now.

“Ah… So funny. Well, you know the funniest thing about this?” He spins back to face Ghostwalker, throwing his arm up in a dramatic fashion. “He isn’t even aware of this whole thing! He doesn’t know!”

‘Him and his schemes… Just what is he planning this time?’ Ghostwalker could only stare at him in disbelief.

“He’s always so… Pitiful and unlikeable. How do you think he’d feel about all of this, Ghostwalker?” 

Silence overtook the Heights for a brief moment. The two are fixed in a staring contest with each other. Ghostwalker takes the time to think of a response, though truthfully, he doesn’t really want to.

Before he could reply, Darkheart cuts in. “And what will you do about this?”

“If the newspawn proves to be a danger for the Inpherno… Then I myself will take action.” He looks down, crossing his arm.

“However, I believe that the one best to take action themselves is Illumina. Whatever Illumina decides to do with the newspawn is none of my problem as long as they are not an active danger.”

Darkheart snickers at his response, “really? How kind of you. What if he kills the newspawn?”

“As I said, whatever he decides to do with the newspawn, it does not concern me. Right now, investigating this strange phenomenon takes precedence.”

He stops, then continues, “as long as I figure out what's causing these soul-transmigration phenomena…”

“We must say. As we were travelling here… We noticed one of the portals to be broken. We believe that the newspawn must’ve gone through there.” Darkheart rubs his chin with his claws, “heh, the newspawn could just be dead already! They must not be able to fly properly yet– and from that height…”

“I do not believe that to be the case. If that was true, then I would have known.” 

Darkheart hums. Seemingly satisfied with the answer.

“...It looks like you know. Why bother asking?” Ghostwalker stares at him intently.

“Mmm… Nothing.” He makes a shrugging motion. “Then, how about that other newspawn? The one from a few months ago?”

“That one… The first one. I will keep observing them– It seems they’ve gotten themselves into trouble.”

Watching Ghostwalker drone on has exhausted all of the previous curiosity. The time calls for him to retreat back into the darkness. Once again, he walks past Ghostwalker. Ignoring his presence.

“Where are you going, Darkheart?”

Darkheart doesn’t stop, but strides much more slowly than he did. “You see… Shanks’ told us something interesting…” 

“That is?”

“None of your concern, is it not?” Stopping in his tracks, Darkheart takes one last look at Ghostwalker, a cheeky smile plastered onto his face. 

“...I suppose so.”

“Ah! One last thing…” Darkheart points his claw up, as if having a eureka moment. “Will you be telling Illumina about this?”

“Even if I didn’t, It will only be a matter of time until he finds out.”

“Is that so? We understand.” He continues his walk, not glancing a single look back at Ghostwalker. “Tell him to hurry up then, lest we have too much fun… Till we meet again, brother.”

The deity vanishes into nothingness. His once formidable presence turned into naught. The Heights trembled for a moment before returning to normalcy.

Ghostwalker, deity of death, was left standing alone in the ever empty place. He slowly returned his gaze onto the red sword in front of him. It represented the Firebrand. Just like his formerly kind brother, it stood tall and unwavering. 

What Darkheart had said in the beginning came back to him. He was not by any means, nostalgic. But he can’t help but ponder, if things turned out differently… What would they be right now?

‘Cease these useless thoughts…’

Right now, he has many investigations of utmost importance. There is no time to be dallying around, he must return to his duty.

‘Something is brewing in the inpherno… I must warn my watchers.’

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹

Doodles and thingymabobs