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 Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:41 am
Ever since the spar incident, Rick had expected some form of punishment, maybe extra work duty on top of a severe dressing down from the current Hunter in charge. But oddly enough, none came. Apparently, Before had insisted the whole thing be swept under the rug since Rick really didn’t kill him and technically when it came down to it, a fight was a fight.
Rick didn’t know if he should be relieved or pissed beyond words. He settled for the latter.
The days passed as usual, with the only difference being the way the other trainees acted around him. Lilah and Glen would stop talking the instant they saw him, bodily shifting themselves so that neither of them had their backs to Rick. And Before, well, Before was even more skittish and more nervous.
Not that he could blame the Mist. If Lilah and Glen hadn’t been there to stop him, Rick would more than likely have ended up accidentally killing Before. He tried to apologize, but Before just wasn’t letting him. Neither were Lilah and Glen.
Before always had a basic trainee with him, and apparently not by choice, considering the times Rick eavesdropped in on them, Before was always telling his companion he was fine on his own.
"Seriously, I'm totes okay! You don’t gotta worry about Rick and me."
Lilah usually countered by saying how she wasn’t going to risk it while Glen just flat-out ignored the attempts at assurance.
"Look, I got this! I'm the Intermediate here, I don’t need a babysitter," Before laughed, still trying to lighten the mood despite the very real fact he could have been killed with them sealed off from the main HQ, and medical equipment were severely limited. "I'm sure I've learned my lesson."
"How can you think you're the problem?" Lilah pressed, eyes narrowed while she jabbed Before on the chest with a finger.
Before shrugged, "I always am? And I've bounced back, haven't I? I-I mean the FEAR shield took most of the damage. Plus! I got a message from my friends that they're all okay and that whoever got kidnapped has been rescued and-"
"Hi Rick," Lilah cut in, much to Rick's surprise because he was certain that he was still hidden.
"OH ******** s**t WHERE?!" Before shrieked, leaping a good foot into the air and landing with his weapon drawn.
"Bounced back, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight," the female trainee rolled her eyes.
"Th-that was totes not funny!" D
"Wasn't supposed to be," Glen stated, deadpan as always.
Grumbling beneath his breath, Before dismissed Vanna, "Well you two can't babysit me forever, y'know. You're gonna have to go do your own thing and get promoted too."
"Yeah but by then you'll be back on base and away from Sir smacks-a-lot."
The Moon trainee tried to feel bad about his actions. He really, really did. But the attitude of his fellow trainees just annoyed him all the more. Okay so they're not supposed to attack a fellow Hunter especially when they're already down for the count but Before clearly needed to toughen up more because if he became a Hunter and still needed other people to pull him along? ********, the Mist was going to drag everyone down! And while he was still in Moon, Rick wasn’t going to let that happen.
But why should he care? Once he got promoted to Full Hunter and was transferred to Death, none of this should even matter to him other than intel on how to group these people.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:45 am
Before didn’t know how much longer he could take this. At first it was nice to have people looking out for him, making sure Rick wouldn’t be able to finish him off, and other little things that made him feel like he had worth. But he knew the universe would conspire for a way to force him and Rick together, one way or another. And when that happened, he didn’t know what he’d do.
Kill him before he kills you, silly Before, Vanna stated calmly, though black rage colored the undertones.
I can’t do that! He... he’s still a trainee and a fellow human... I mean, yeah he’s pretty much on my irrelevant list and I really wouldn’t care if he lived or died or turned into a tofurky. But kill him myself?
Why not? You’ve desired it many times over, not just with Rick but with others. I’ve seen it in your heart, we’re bonded, you and I. You can’t hide anything from me.
Before remained quiet for a long time after that. He tuned out Lilah’s chatter and went through the chores mechanically as he mulled over his weapon’s words. He can’t deny that he’d wished certain individuals would meet horrific, gruesome ends, even before he donned the coat and FEAR shield. But that’s all they were: Wishes. Daydreams.
Things left in his head and things that would stay in his head because, because he was Milton. He was Before. And he was damn sure neither of them would be able to do anything about said wishes and daydreams. He’d always been too scared of getting caught. There was no such thing as the perfect opportunity for murder, CSI and a slew of other crime drama shows had taught him that.
Oh, but didn’t that horrid leader mention something about collateral damage? About how Hunters died all the time because of carelessness or stupidity or sheer bad luck?
Before grimaced then quickly pulled his mouth into a smile, lest Lilah ask him what was wrong. He didn’t want to be any more of a burden to her and Glen than he already was. He’d been a burden all his life. Shouldn’t he be doing something to change that?
You really ought to, silly Before. Killing him before he kills you is the first step. Listen to me. I only want what’s best for you.
Before did trust his bonded had only the best intentions. And because Before did not have much faith in his own abilities nor did he think he’d ever find himself in the situations Vanna spoke of, he opened himself to the possibility.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:46 am
The heavily bandaged Hunter summoned both Rick and Before into the briefing room. She opened up with letting them know that the portals were fixed and that their time in this outpost would be over soon. Rick’s in particular would be over after one last task and once he returned he should exchange his Intermediate Moon coat for that of a Death Hunter’s.
Rick did not so much as smile as he did smirk, glancing briefly at Before to see the other man’s reaction. Before was smiling a strained smile and looked more like he was having the runs. The expression on the Mist’s face grew worse when the Hunter (after nearly hacking up a lung) explained what they were both doing here.
"I got word that Rick’s replacement for the outpost is another basic trainee, which means Before will be the next ranked hunter here. Rick, I want you and Before to go give that cave one final sweep. You can brief him on your usual duties and how you’ve been arranging shifts while you’re at it. Rick, your first task once you’re a full-fledged Hunter is to submit a report on your stay here."
Rick’s smirk widened and he sharply elbowed Before’s side, "You can bet you're getting a mention in it."
Before gulped, rubbing at the spot Rick had jabbed, letting the resentment and anger and fear inside him fester in his gut. Vanna’s voice reminded him of her plan and that Before knew what he should do.
Oh right, like Rick’s just gonna lie down and let me impale him. Or that he won’t sense a surprise attack from me coming a mile away, he mentally sniped at the devil shield.
Then get creative, silly Before. I can’t come up with all the ideas! You need to pull your own weight too, Vanna chided.
Too bad there isn’t a giant oven I can shove Rick into and listen to him burn, he wryly chuckled, half-listening to Hunter’s dry heaving. Maybe I should check how big the chute leading to the incinerator in Deus is...
The rest of Before’s morbid fantasies was cut off when the bandaged Hunter half-barked and half-choked that they were dismissed.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:47 am
Despite Lilah and Glen’s offer (read: insistence) to join them, the pair of basic trainees were left behind once Rick pulled rank on them. Before tried to placate the two until Rick roughly shoved him away, growling out orders to prep and meet up at the cave entrance. He watched as the Mist disappeared around the corner
"If something happens to Before, we are so reporting you, Rick! Higher ranked or not!" Lilah scowled menacingly. "You’re totes on a power ********, now you’re even starting to talk like him," Rick sneered. "Listen up kiddies. This s**t ain’t all fun and games. Idiots like Before get people killed all the ******** damn time because someone has to play hero and save their sorry a**! The weak get weeded out, that’s just how it ******** works."
"So that makes it acceptable for Hunters to attack each other with the intent to kill?" Glen countered, despite his lazy stance there was a sharpness in his eyes, a heat that he shared with Lilah’s energy.
"Can’t prove I was trying to kill him," Rick snorted, "And even if I was, he won’t be missed. None of you will be. That’s why you were all sent here in the first place." The Moon hunter turned on his heels, ending the discussion. He ignored the indignant sputtering, uncaring that it was Glen’s voice rather than Lilah’s, not bothering to glance back as he stalked away.
If he had, he might have seen that Before had been listening to the conversation this whole time. He might have noticed the ramrod posture, the rigid tightness of gloved fists, the grim edge in the Mist hunter’s teal eyes.
Maybe Rick should have paid more attention to his surroundings. Except he didn’t. Well, too bad for him.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:49 am
The sweep went by a lot smoother this time around, having eliminated most of the minipets from their earlier visit. But still, new tunnels had opened while old ones had closed and the two Intermediate hunters were forced to re-explore the caves. To Rick’s delight, Before was keeping his mouth shut. Finally some blessed silence! If he had known all it took to get the chatty Mist to shut up was to nearly kill him during a spar he would have done it sooner!
Any thoughts or desires to apologize to Before had been abandoned now that Rick was so close to becoming a full Hunter. So what if he nearly “weeded out” a fellow trainee? He didn’t actually weed him out, right? And from what he’d seen of Before since then, he was sure the guy was more likely going to continue jumping at the mere mention of Rick’s name instead of trying to get back at him.
Lilah and Glen, however, those two sounded like they could pose a problem. Rank or no, it was two people against one. Rick himself had no problem with people disliking him or requesting to work with someone else, but there was still the chance that those two would get the higher ups involved. And while Rick doubted Caelius would care how he treated his fellow trainees (the Death Division Leader himself pretty much abused those under him) it didn’t mean his former Division Leader would be happy with his ******** it, wasn’t that why he had requested for a division transfer out of Moon to go with his promotion? He wasn’t a watch-people’s-backs kind of guy, and while he wouldn’t mind getting the opportunity to bash heads in, he’d still be shoved into a team by dint of being a Sun. He had almost, almost filed to be a Mist, maybe emphasizing the solo-style activities the division Leader tended to go on. But then he’d be stuck with Before and ******** that noise!
He found himself snorting loudly irritation, the sound making Before press himself flat against the cave’s wall while somehow managing a defensive stance. Rick only rolled his eyes and marched on ahead, not even growling a command for his fellow Intermediate to catch up or risk being left behind. When they came up to a tunnel Rick hadn’t explored, he waved his flashlight forward, a silent order for Before go on ahead.
Teal eyes stared up at him questioningly but the Mist brought out his own flashlight and quickly got to moving. Rick brandishing his weapon might have had something to do with it. There was a rasp in the back of Rick’s mind, an incoherent grumble of a warning from his partner. Did his weapon want him to ease up on Before? Ridiculous! His weapon never cared about what happened to the other hunters. It was why he got on so well with the former Halloweener.
"All's clear!" Before squeaked out from the other end of the tunnel.
Hoisting the rune-inscribed shovel onto his shoulder, the Moon hunter began his cautious trek along the tunnel. "Shouldn’t be long now, and then we'll never have to see each other again," he murmured eagerly as he shouldered past Before to once again take the lead. With his attention fixed elsewhere, Rick missed the hard look that had settled on the brunette’s face. But Rick would have done jack s**t about it had he seen it.
The tunnel gradually narrowed down to the point the two men had to crawl to move forward, and just when it was starting to feel like they were reaching a dead end, Rick stumbled out into the cavern the mass of minipets had original gathered in.
Thankfully, the few minipets present had enough sense to flee and Rick wasn’t spoiling for a fight. He’d managed to work out that particular aggression already. And from the way Before remained absolutely silent and seemed to be trying to breathe as quietly as he could, the Moon didn’t think the other man was going to cause any fuss.
"Looks like we're done here," Rick stated, dismissing his weapon and heading for the entrance he had taken the first time with Glen. He gave the path little more than a cursory glance and ignored the suggestion to be careful from his soon-to-be former-fellow-Intermediate. In fact, he picked up his pace just out of spite. The instant his heel touched the floor Rick heard an ominous crack. And then the ground beneath him crumbled away.
"s**t! s**t! s**t! ********!" he hollered, relinquishing his hold on his flashlight and throwing himself back as quickly as he could. It wasn’t that he didn’t move quick enough, rather the ground fell away too suddenly and in too wide an area for him to be able to do more than reach for the edge of the pit. When his fingers barely brushed the mouth, Rick summoned his weapon again and shoved the bladed edge against the walls. Soil and stone and FEAR halted his descent abruptly, the force dislocating one of his arms in the process.
Over the sound of blood rushing in his ears, Rick heard Before calling out to him from the mouth of the pit. "Holy s**t, Rick, you okay?!"
He looked up, saw the brunette peering down and shining his flashlight right into his ******** eyes. "Point that thing somewhere else!" he growled and made the mistake of trying to lift his injured arm. He let out a pained growl. "I don’t ******** believe this," he cursed, furious over the fact that having a FEAR shield didn’t completely prevent physical trauma.
"I'll go and get help, you just-"
"No! You are not going anywhe-" the sound of Rick’s own flashlight clattering cut him off. Both Moon and Mist glanced down and saw several sharp, metal spikes glinting in the beam of light before it went out. "Yeah you are definitely not going anywhere. Pull me up!" he ordered, desperation heavy in his throat.
"But I thought you didn’t want my help?"
"I don’t but I can’t ******** climb out on my own, dipshit!" he grunted, and tried to hoist himself up.
"Are you hurt?"
"The ******** does that matter?! Just pull me the ******** up, you stupid, whiny little-"
"I'll take that as a yes."
If Rick hadn’t been so preoccupied with his weapon’s warning growl about the wall’s integrity, he might have heard the smile in Before’s voice. "Yes, yes, I'm hurt now pull me up! I don’t know how much longer the wall will support my weight."
The distance Rick had fallen wasn’t that much, if Before could anchor himself to something, all the Mist would need to do is lean down with that huge wheel of his and Rick’ll be up in no time.
A small clump of soil where Rick’s shovel was buried flaked away.
"What are you waiting for, dumbass, a written invitation!?"
"It’s neither nice nor smart to insult someone who saved your life once already, you know."
"What the- you want to do this now?! Oh for- your timing ******** sucks, Before!"
"I'm not the one dangling in a pit of spikes," Before laughed, the genuine pleasure ringing in his voice chilled Rick to the bone. Sure the Moon could understand the Mist taking delight at the situation; Rick didn’t even blame him for it. But the Mist wasn’t moving from his spot overlooking Rick’s precarious predicament, and the dim glow from the wheel’s runes backlit the sinister glee plastered on Before’s face.
"Do you want an apology from me?! Fine! Fine! I’m sorry for trying to toughen you up, I’m sorry for trying to prove to you that your way of thinking will get you killed."
Another clump, larger this time, crumbled off. Rick’s eyes grew saucer-wide and he swore mentally at the injustice of it all. He was so close, so <******** close to his promotion! What the ******** had he done to deserve this!?
"s**t I’m sorry! I’m sorry, okay? I need your help! Jesus H. Christ, I’m just sorry!!!"
"Yeah, me too," Before sighed and disappeared from sight.
"You ******** sonuva-" a beam of bright light cut him off, and Rick squinted against it to see the Mist’s hand waving the flashlight.
"I'm still here, just gotta set Vanna down," Before assured him.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:51 am
Before had removed his coat and twisted the garment as cord-like as possible despite his weapon’s protests.
What are you doing, silly Before?! You won’t have a better opportunity to kill him than this!
He said nothing in response. He simply laid the coiled coat down and nailed it to the ground using Vanna’s spikes despite her protests. Absently, he wondered if Ofie or Tori could teach him how to patch his coat up after all of this was over. He tuned out his weapon’s complaints and sighs and What am I going to do with yous as he tested the garment’s strength. Hopefully it would hold long enough. After he finished adjusting his clothes, he held the flashlight between his teeth, and then lowered himself into the pit.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:54 am
It felt like an eternity for Rick before Before finally reappeared. He was leaning in headfirst, the ends of his boots dug into the ground, one hand holding onto a make-shift rope of fabric, while the other was outstretched towards him.
"Finally," he murmured in relief, "You’re gonna have to grab this hand, my other arm’s useless," he grit out. The Moon hunter felt the Mist’s fingers lightly curl around his wrist and heard Before talking around the flashlight with garbled words. "What!?"
"Agh thehd: Reggo," Before repeated.
"Let go? You sure you got a good grip on me?"
Before stared at him pointedly.
"Sorry," Rick snorted not really meaning it. He steeled himself for a moment, and released his grip on his own weapon. Immediately he twisted his wrist, shifting so he could hold onto Before’s gloved hand. Relief flooded the soon-to-be Death Hunter when Rick suddenly found he was falling. Rather than the solid feel of another person’s hand in his, all he clutched was empty fabric.
The Moon realized his plummet too late to make a break for his weapon. Instead, he summoned the shovel back, tried to repeat his earlier procedure but found he lacked the strength and leverage. Rick jerked his head up, saw the stunned look on Before’s face and the outstretched arm ending in a now-bare hand.
"Well ********," the Moon hissed in frustration as he fell closer to the spikes below and prayed fervently for his FEAR shield to hold. He felt a sudden gust of air rush past, his breath exploding from his lungs as something small hurtled away from him. Was that...
"Oh you coward," he growled, eyes narrowing at the fleeing tablet as it soared upwards past Before. Rick felt some level of smug, self-satisfaction that his death would destroy the Mist with guilt. Or he would have. Had not the last thing Rick seen was Before smiling down and waving at him.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:56 am
With one final grunt, Before pulled himself back up from the pit, a calm, almost serene smile playing across his features. As he dusted himself off and retrieved Vanna from the ground, he began to sing.
"Happy, I'm feeling so happy." It started out soft, barely a whisper, hardly heard over the rustle and snap of fabric as he shook out the dirt and soil from his torn coat.
"I'm gonna go happy." His voice grew stronger, bolder, the smile widening to bare teeth as he draped the garment over his arm, dismissing Vanna back to her pin-form.
"I'm gonna be happy." He sang in earnest now, directing the beam from his flashlight in search of the weapon that used to belong to Rick. Teal eyes lit up in delight when he spotted the tablet.
"CAN'T YOU SEE I'M HAPPY NOOOOOOOOW~!" he belted out loud, voice echoing throughout the tunnel walls as he picked up the stone relic, pocketing the proof of the Moon trainee’s demise.
I am so proud of you, Before! Vanna cooed, the image of a beaming face wrought from metal flashed in the back of the Misty's mind. I knew you could do it! I knew you could stand up for yourself! Who next shall we show they aren't to push you around? The devil shield didn't wait for a response from her partner, instead listing out several hunter trainees she personally felt deserving of the same fate as Rick.
It was only when Before's vision blurred did Vanna stop talking.
S-silly Before? What's wrong? Why are you crying? Do you regret your actions? she sounded confused. One minute Before was singing at the top of his lungs about being happy and then the next he’s all-out bawling.
Before didn’t stop with the sobbing until he was hiccupping but something didn’t seem right to the weapon. She wasn’t sensing any sort of remorse from him despite the heaving of his shoulders and the thick, fat drops running down his flushed cheeks.
Then the sobbing turned into laughter and Before threw his head back, cackling merrily with all his heart, so loud and so hard Vanna worried her incessant prodding had broken him. But Before continued to chuckle, holding his sides in pain from laughing so intensely. Vann couldn’t help but question her bonded’s mental well-being, especially after that display of emotional whiplash.
Relax, Vanna, I'm gonna have to look like I went through the wringer if I wanna sell it. The ear-to-ear grin he sported as he made his way back to the cave’s entrance was wiped away as soon as he could see sunlight.
Awaiting him were two figures: Lilah and Glen. Awwww, that was so sweet of them to worry about him! Before felt a fresh wave of tears well up in his eyes and at Vanna’s amused order of Time for you to, as you said, sell it! he turned the waterworks on to their fullest.
"GLEEEEEEEEEEN! L-LILAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
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