preyforheaven (preyforheaven) wrote,
@ 2013-07-10 18:43:00

New AU: Salvation
It was the first personal contact he'd had in so very long. He didn’t know it was 800 years, but it had been so long in the dark.

The Crusader felt his savior's mind directly, just a little. Careful, considered, firm thoughts. Someone who wasn't a mental collection of shattered porcelein himself might have felt the scars more, but to the young -- still young, in so many ways -- soldier, it was stability. It was a bright shining glimmer in the darkness. It was the nearest thing to Heaven.

As soon as he was fully unearthed, he sank to his knees.

He clasped his hands in front of him and held them out. That was how these things were Done, after all.

He'd never had a liegelord before. He remembered, vaguely, his critical view of Eobar's slaughter of civilians on the order of an unworthy 'superior'. The False God had, it turned out, been more of the same.

This, this was the real thing. And if it became necessary, Paris Bennet would do absolutely anything he had to to make sure he was never alone again.

"If you will have me, I am your man."

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	preyforheaven 2013-07-11 02:03 am UTC (link)
	Paris raised a hand, and with a green-gold crackle, a 12th-century French arming-sword flew from the that tiny sliver of Hell to Paris's hand. He actually blinks a little. He had still been getting used to his abilities when he was sealed away. "Just this, thank you. And... as you wish, Sir." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

gotham_knight
2013-07-11 02:08 am UTC (link)

The show of power has Bruce look on with an odd sort of intensity. At least for most people, for him it wasn't out of the ordinary. Before closing the tomb, he pockets a piece of shrapnel from it, perhaps there'd be something interesting when looking into it later. "What are your powers exactly, Sir Bennett?" With the small shovel he'd initially used, Bruce gets to work covering the tomb again.

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	preyforheaven 2013-07-11 02:12 am UTC (link)
	"I was... still figuring that out, when the False God sealed me away. It had been suppressed for so long. I can fly. I can...hear voices, in my head.And I did not do it, but I knew... just knew somehow, that I could make people forget things." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

gotham_knight
2013-07-11 02:19 am UTC (link)

"What sort of voices? Other people's? Your own?" As he spoke he continued working to put the sand back over.

For the briefest moment, though he was ashamed to admit it, he wondered if this man could make him forget the memory...of that night. But as soon as the thought came, he pushed it away. No, that was not something he would ever let himself forget, it meant everything. And even without it, it wouldn't bring back his old life, his parents, or happiness. He would not alter the cards he'd been dealt, just take them, as use what he had to make sure what had happened to him, would never happen to any child.

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	preyforheaven 2013-07-11 02:21 am UTC (link)
	"Other people's...before. For...800 years, apparently, there has only been me." Paris tried to shake it off ... and then he cringed. "...what is gun, Sir?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

gotham_knight
2013-07-11 02:35 am UTC (link)

He froze, and almost at once his entire demeanour shifted, jaw clenching, his neck muscles standing out at the strain, and a glare that spoke of an indomitable will but now served to show just how much he was holding in at the question. Pain? Of course. Anger? Yes. At the invasion of privacy, and the extra reminder of the memory, but more than anything at himself. The man had just told him he heard voices. Bruce knew he should have been carefully schooling his thoughts. Yet he hadn't, he'd been stupid, and a flash of his most important, yet darkest, memory had come through.

"...A weapon," he finally answered, with such obvious restraint to his words. There was still anger, but he placed the blame more on himself for even putting them into a situation the question would come up. "One anyone can wield. Even cowards. With some skill, a man can stand where I am now, and kill another a distance away. With no effort or thought for the consequences." The restraint was still there, his tightly clenched jaw told that tale, but bitterness slipped through for a moment.

"But these are my thoughts. My mind. You are Not to go into them. Are we Clear?"

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preyforheaven
2013-07-11 02:49 am UTC (link)

Paris now knows what a gun is.
And would happily eradicate the entire breed of weapon from the world if he could.

...perhaps he can. He doesn't know his limits yet. Not at all.
...But the first thing to work on is keeping back from listening, which his mind is already at work on.
"Understood, Sir," he said, bowing. He'd have sunk back to his knees, if he he couldn't tell his savior wouldn't like that.

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gotham_knight
2013-07-11 02:54 am UTC (link)

There's a grim look and a nod of acknowledgement at the bow before he goes back to covering up the tomb. His jaw is still clenched, and there's still that dark cloud hanging over him, but there's no glare now, just an intense sort of...well...brooding. Paris might not know it yet, but soon enough he'll realize that brooding was quite common for Bruce.

He doesn't say anything for the duration of his job, and the black mood doesn't leave, but at the end of it he folds the collapsible compact shovel and returns it back to his bag with a question directed Paris's way. "And who is this False God?"

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	preyforheaven 2013-07-11 02:59 am UTC (link)
	"There were rumors, Sir, of someone else who was different. Some...thing else. I found him. Thought he could stop the repression. Help me improve myself. He... did. I... did not mind the pain. It was what he demanded after..." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	gotham_knight 2013-07-11 03:31 am UTC (link)
	He gives an encouraging nod for Paris to continue. He'd perhaps ask what had been done that had caused the pain, but later. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

preyforheaven
2013-07-11 03:46 am UTC (link)

Paris swallows. "I had this friend, Sir. An Englishman. We'd been travelling alone. I'd dragged him away from Acer because... because damn his orders, those were women and boys and men with their arms bound behind their backs and my friend was... and he wasn't going to give into that. He wasn't going to become that. Damn his orders, it wasn't going to happen. I dragged him off, told him we'd find a quest that was worth it. Not ....that. It was... good, for a while. But then we fought. He called me a heretic, and left, and I kept going to find what I was looking for. And when I did... when the False God was done, and I was... this... my friend was there. He and that witch of his had come looking for me. He was worried...." The glow gets stronger.

"I would have done anything else that monster wanted... but he wanted my friend and his harlot dead. It wasn't going to happen." The green-gold energy didn't just crackle in his eyes. It whipped up the sand, and Paris didn't even notice for a while.

Suddenly he caught himself, straightened, cleared his throat. "But of course... 800 years... they are... long at rest, no doubt. You will not need to worry, Sir, about my refusing any request you might have."

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gotham_knight
2013-07-11 04:00 am UTC (link)

As the sand whips up around them, Bruce takes note, not just of the story, but it's effect on the man, and in turn...how his powers responded.

But the story told him more about the man in front of him, what he valued, what he'd do, his limits and...what he could do in the wrong hands.

"We all have our limits, what we won't do," he said and tilted his head to a point in the distance, implying 'follow me'. As he turned and began walking, Bruce had to correct something. "You have no obligation to follow any of my requests, Sir Bennett. What quest you choose for yourself now is up to you, and not me."

"What did the False God do to you?"

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preyforheaven
2013-07-11 04:09 am UTC (link)

"Understood, Sir. But... I would appreciate your opinion." It seems more delicate than begging him not to leave him.

He follows, shrugging slightly as the crackling subsides. "I attacked him, he was stronger. Possibly he could not destroy me, or perhaps he just knew being buried alive would be worse. I was... frozen, somehow. I would never have gotten out if you had not come."

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	gotham_knight 2013-07-11 04:13 am UTC (link)
	Well, it seems whatever great power it took to trap the man down there had been undone by a wanderer with too much curiosity. And now he had to deal with the consequences of that. "And what did the False God do to you to make you...'this' as you put it?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	preyforheaven 2013-07-11 04:20 am UTC (link)
	"There were... metal attachments? I do not have the right learning. It seemed...unearthly." He clearly just didn't have words for the technology. But he did add, darkly, "The butchers at Acer would have loved such tricks." A shrug. "He said if I survived the pain, it would bring out the rest of what I was. It did." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

gotham_knight
2013-07-11 04:23 am UTC (link)

The bottled anger was back, and again restrained, his jaw said it all. But this time it was at the False God who'd clearly tortured this man into...servitude really. His hand closed around the piece of shrapnel in his pocket, determined to figure out more of what it was.

Bruce turned away and walked a little faster, still inwardly fuming at the injustice of it. "It won't happen again, we won't let it happen," he said through his teeth.

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preyforheaven
2013-07-11 04:37 am UTC (link)

"Yes, Sir," Paris says simply.

Not wanting to contribute to further stress, he's silent for the rest of their walk, until it's time to prepare for the night.

...One things clear, however long he spent wandering the desert before he was buried, Paris had become well-practiced at the basics of survival in such circumstances.
...of course, building a fire is much easier for him now. The work almost does itself.

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gotham_knight
2013-07-11 04:41 am UTC (link)

Once it becomes clear that his travelling companion was quite good at setting up camp, and starting fires, Bruce makes sure to observe the man at work, seeing what he can pick up to add to his own skill set.

When the fire's built and they're sitting by it in silence again, he'll finally speak up again. "Earlier...you said you'd appreciate my opinion. On what exactly?"

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preyforheaven
2013-07-11 04:48 am UTC (link)

"On a great deal of things, Sir. I ...suspect much will be difficult to understand, when even the language has changed so much... I have no information. I do not want to be decieved again, looking for answers... alone." He stares at the fire, then looks back to him. "You said I could choose my own quests, my own war, Sir. I simply want it to be clear that I will be choosing yours."

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gotham_knight
2013-07-11 04:56 am UTC (link)

No, Bruce didn't want this man to be decieved either. That much power, or potential for it anyway, with a follower's streak to him...it was too easy to lead him astray or use him. He couldn't let that happen, Bruce had unleashed him on this world again, it was his responsibility to make sure the worst didn't come to pass.

"Why mine? You don't know what my war is." Or anything else about him for that matter.

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	preyforheaven 2013-07-11 05:04 am UTC (link)
	"...You despise reckless cowards. You decide that some things Aren't Going To Happen. You did not take my hands, which means we have no legal obligation to each other, but you are the only Right Thing that I know. Sir." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	gotham_knight 2013-07-11 05:10 am UTC (link)
	"I see..." He looks far too serious and morose for a young man, but it's a norm with him that's easy to pick up on. "But you offered your...loyalty when you first emerged, before you even knew that much about me. Why?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	preyforheaven 2013-07-11 05:12 am UTC (link)
	And Paris can't help looking at him with passionate intensity. "You Saved Me." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

gotham_knight
2013-07-11 05:16 am UTC (link)

Freed you. Unleashed you. Perhaps should've kept you there. But Bruce now knows better and schools those thoughts lest the other man pick up on them. He's been more aware of controlling what he's been thinking since that first incident.

Bruce sighs, what more is there to say to that? "If you must know, and really do feel like my war will be yours. Don't you want to know more about it? And when it will truly start?" Because he had no illusions, the real war would not begin here, so far from home. He'd always intended it to start where this had all begun. Back in Gotham.

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