Fredrick was confused and, beyond that, very concerned. He couldn't entirely recall the process that had lead him to this moment, just vague snippets of things that didn't entirely add up. Leaving home, being approached by someone who finally believed him, and then...fighting? He reached up to rub at his temple, as if that would help smooth the memories into something he could work with.

He wanted to believe that one had been a nightmare, some side effect of sleeping in a pod straight out of a science fiction movie, but no manner of convincing was going to change the fact that the one bit of clear direction he had right now was to report to The Cove to retrieve a weapon. You didn't just go pick up a weapon unless you were going to be doing a lot of fighting, as best he could figure, and he wasn't entirely sure he had signed up for this. He couldn't remember what exactly he had signed up for, of course, but...

He shook his head, steadied himself, and moved forward. The only way to make sense of this was to get through it. Luckily the route to The Cove was straightforward, and he'd made it to the stairs before long at all. He went down them without hesitation but then paused uncertainly as he came to a stop in the near darkness at the bottom. Where were the weapons? The wall glowed with odd runes, and there were even little carvings that might have been weapon shapes, but there was nothing else here that he could take.

The torch on the wall made it clear he hadn't simply missed a light switch on the way down. There no more visible signs like the one that had brought him here. It was only him in the darkness, him and a wall that glowed and hummed as he touched it, and a light murmuring...He paused. A murmuring? So someone was here. He gave the room another once over, then tilted his head to listen for where it was coming from, but it just seemed to be around him.

"Hello?" Fredrick was beginning to have the sinking feeling that this had been a very elaborate prank, and he really just wanted whoever was behind it to pop out and get it over with. "I can hear you, you know. Where are you?"

I am here. The deep voice came with a presence so palpable that Fredrick whirled in place, sure that its owner was looming behind him. He found an empty stairway leading up, and empty room all around, and a wall that glowed just a little brighter on one rune. He stepped towards it, reaching out with one hesitant hand. He traced the symbol on it, something like a whip, and then stared in awe as the glow brightened, the tablet shifted.

There was something in his hand. Pressing the other to the wall to brace himself, he pulled. And for a moment he wondered if he would be pulling forever as the whip slowly emerged. Finally the end came, and there was a metallic clatter as it struck the floor. Careful of its bladed edges, he reached down to lift it up for closer inspection of the runes etched into the weapon. His weapon. There was a feeling then, a sort of pride that welled up within him, and a sense of approval that settled in around. That presence...

"It's you, isn't it?"

Deadrick, came the reply, simple but with just a hint of amusement.

"Deadrick?" He laughed, delighted despite himself. "Deadrick and Fredrick, huh? It seems we were meant to be partners all along."

Partners, Deadrick agreed, and there was that sense of approval again. Through any battle.

Fredrick still wasn't sure how he felt about battles, come to think of it, but there was a taste of confidence in the thought of it now, put there by the weapon's own hazy memories. They could handle battles, the two of them, and anything else the world had to offer going forward as well. He nodded to the weapon, and then turned to ascend the stairs. He'd done what he needed to do here, it was time to see what else there was.