Man to Man, Rogue and Thief (DCStuck)

[gantzgun74]

"Are you really going to take my word at face value?"

Alex smiled as his quick change option took effect. Evan watched Alex switch from his god-Tier robes to his blue star shirt and jeans, looking to the young man with crossed arms. "This isn't about lack of communication or Giant monsters right now Evan. This is about making peace with the things we can't change about our respective stories... For a moment, stop thinking about all this in terms of moral upbringing. Focus instead on what happened with Swift. BOTH Swifts."

He looked like such an unassuming target, standing there in his civilian clothes arms out to his side somewhat. "If you don't, the whole thing is just going to keep bugging us both. And don't act like it won't just to make me feel better."

[ParamountKeymaster]

Evan slumped slightly, letting his coat crumple on the ground, and stared at Alex like he had suddenly transformed into Tommy Wiseau, his face a ridiculously dumbfounded caricature of confusion. He really, genuinely had no idea how to react to this. How was this going to solve anything? What difference was this going to make? And what did Swift have to do with this? Was Alex expecting Evan to be angry at him for her sake? He wasn't sure he had it in him. One, Alex had brought Swift back, so water under that bridge. Two, what happened to alt Evan's Swift wasn't Alex's fault. It was...

"I..."

[gantzgun74]

..... Alex sighed. "Phew.... Alright. I'll go first then. Like I said before, this is 30% power."

Wait wha-

BIFF!!!

Needless to say, Evan cheek was now bruised and it would no doubt swell up later.

"That's what I deem is fitting for the usage of the key, sticking your nose in where it didn't initially appear to belong..." ... "... For... For scaring me. For continuing to scare me with each passing minute you play this game. And... For not punching me first... Because... Because I've wronged you, numerous times and I feel completely responsible for it."

[ParamountKeymaster]

In his bewildered state, Evan had in no way been prepared for Alex's punch. Nonetheless, durable as he was, he merely stumbled back a few feet while managing to stay standing. Upon catching himself and leaning forward, Evan held his face, eyes closed tightly and mouth hanging open in a silent gesture of pain.

The bruise was relatively minor. Patrick could certainly heal it no problem. And sure, maybe he had it coming. He could accept that. Evan's only real concern was that this wasn't helping anything!

"Dude, what are you talking about?! You never wronged-!"

[gantzgun74]

"I took away Swift from you and just let that entire situation go out of control." Sure Swift made sure he paid in SPADES for that mistake, but that had been Swift, not Evan. "I treated you with nothing but disrespect, suspicion, and bitterness since I met you." Slightly more relevant, though only vaguely. "And to top it all off, I tried to kill you back on mt. Bonsai. Those tentacles aimed at you because the horror terrors saw you through my eyes and recognized my hate... and on top of THAT, It's because of me and Arti that my entire session is dead, and that there's a psychotic adult troll watching us somewhere."

... Nothing.

..... "..... Fine then. I'm not asking you anymore, I'm TELLING YOU. HIT ME."

[ParamountKeymaster]

All throughout Alex's speech, Evan was desperately shooting back counterpoints, albeit at a shaky volume that Alex more than likely only barely heard. "You... You stopped her from killing us all and brought her back! I-I told you I was being naïve at the time! Of course you were- I j- I get why you were angry at me! Dude! Just stop!"

And then, having been denied his chance at diplomacy and outright ordered to fight back, Evan responded the only way he could possibly think of...

"NO!"

[gantzgun74]

"And why exactly? Is it a religious thing? Are you afraid of pissing off some sort of diety that may or may not even EXIST? And even if he did, what good has he done anyone, especially in our situation?" The thief looked incredibly impatient. "Or is this about how Swift or your friends see's you?"

..... Suddenly, he remembered the Evan ghost.

"Or... Maybe you're just too scared to."

?

"Are you scared like he is Evan? Are you willing to throw everything away, even when the promise of fixing things is just in reach? HUH? ARE YOU??"

[ParamountKeymaster]

"What- NO!" Evan was getting well and truly irritated now, although less in an angry way and more in a disbelieving kind of way. Could Alex not see that Evan didn't need this sort of catharsis?! "I don't wanna hurt you, Alex! You don't...! You don't deserve it!"

Please... don't... don't make me...

"I'm not scared, man! I'm doing everything I can here! I'm trying to help!"

Don't make me do this, Aaron...

[gantzgun74]

"It's not like I'm asking you to kill me Ev. Just punch me. However hard you like." He noted the young man's continued expression. "... If you're not going to do it for your sake then do it for MINE. I hurt you, and a few other people close to you. And I feel like I got off WAY too easy for it. Had it been someone doing all that stuff to me, I think I'd be pretty furious."

..... The man's eyes narrowed. "You might as well do it Evan. I'm going to hound you about it every time I get the chance until you do!"

[ParamountKeymaster]

"WHY?!" Evan shouted loud enough to turn the heads of some concerned passersby. His fists were balled and his teeth were grinding as Evan finally found himself furious for reasons he honestly didn't understand. "Why would you WANT this?! How is this going to solve anything?!"

Stop talking like everything's fine! It's not fine!!

"Have I not done enough to you already?!" Evan pressed his fists against his forehead, seething, shaking, barely conscious of what was going on around him. "Can't you see that I don't want to hurt you?!"

Can't you see that I don't want to fight?! Can't you see that there's NOTHING TO FIGHT FOR?!

"CAN'T YOU SEE..."

CAN'T YOU SEE...

"THAT I DON'T WANNA DO THIS?!!"

WHAM

So quickly that no one saw it coming, so powerfully that the sound of the impact echoed off the walls, Evan's right fist connected with Alex's face.

[gantzgun74]

WHUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

?!?!?!?!?!

Maybe in retrospect he should've seen this coming. Maybe in retrospect Swift should have been a.... fair if not EXTREME warning to just how tough a punch people from Evan's world could throw. Maybe he should've taken it as a warning that crossing these people, in his weaker state, DIRECTLY, was a bad idea until he could work up his defense stat and make some new armor to further bolster it.

However if he had did that, there would've been no point. Evan may not have understood it yet, but this was, in Alex's head, a means to bolster equality. That they were in this together...

Though perhaps... He should have further braced himself for the blow. It had come so fast and so hard, he was actually sent stumbling backward, narrowly losing his balance a number of times before recovering. When he checked his stats he found a 55,000,000 HP stat chipped down to about 41,250,000. 25% chipped away with a single decisive hit. He had to give Evan this... He hit almost as hard as Swift was when she was angry.... Which struck him as a bit strange. It... It was almost like something else was behind the punch.

When he noticed Evan, he found the man reeling at the blow. His cheek was puffed up similarly to Evan's by now, the bruise swelling slightly... But it was nothing he couldn't handle. He had dealt with far worse after all.

"........." ....... He smiled a bit. ".... I'm... I'm sorry for being so selfish."

..... "It... Really did feel like I was being let off too easy for all the shit I put you through."

[ParamountKeymaster]

POW

In hindsight, at least one of the two men probably should've seen it coming, and it probably wouldn't have been Evan, given how scrambled his head was. His shuddering form, ragged breaths and tight fists were more than enough of a sign that there was still a large amount of frustration brewing within him, and it quickly came exploding out of him once Alex was close enough for Evan to nail him with a left hook. The impact was not quite as potent as the first, but it was by no means less profound.

As the thief stumbled back again, Evan scowled down at him, still shaking, still fuming... tears pouring from his eyes profusely... his expression somewhere between stalwart fury and complete and total devastation...

[gantzgun74]

WHUD!!!!!!!

And now his HP was down to 35,750,000. 10% more down, and he was now sporting a black eye on top of the swollen cheek. Perhaps somewhat deserved but perhaps the tiniest bit excessive. By this point, Alex, squinting the best he could, looked out for a third attack, should any come.

[ParamountKeymaster]

By that point, Evan had all but completely lost control of himself. His violent shudders and haggard weeps intensified as he rocked back and forth, constantly transitioning between grabbing his head and balling his fists, as if he couldn't decide whether to fall on Alex and sob or lay waste into him again. He couldn't even pinpoint what had him so darn flustered anymore. His mind was stuck somewhere between the past and present. It just felt like everything was crashing down on top of him... right out of nowhere... and somehow... this sudden instance of pressure had snapped something that Evan didn't even know he had in him.

More than anything... Evan just felt... like Alex was expecting something out of him.

"Why?"

Evan calmed down slightly... only slightly... and glowered at Alex. He didn't look mad. He looked weary.

"Why do we keep doing this? Why do y- Why- Why did I EVER agree to this?! After everything we've been through, are you SERIOUSLY expecting me to APPEASE YOU? HUH? WHAT IS IT YOU WANT FROM ME, AARON?!"

His hand shook...

Don't you get it? I'm... I'm not the... I'll never be the... NO! SHUT UP! STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!



He pulled the Paramount Key out of his shirt.

"You wanna know what a Rogue of Hope is? IS THAT IT? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?! WELL FINE! LET'S SEE WHAT A ROGUE OF HOPE CAN DO!"

He stuck the key in his chest...

He turned it...

Almost immediately, a golden aura surrounded Evan's form, illuminating the vicinity, radiating with the pure, undiluted power from within. But shortly thereafter... slowly... surely... the golden glow turned pure white. Evan jerked back from this unexpected development, shaking, sweating, as if the key in his heart was forcibly reaching deeper than it ever had, pulling something out of his very core. It was an... oddly expansive feeling. Empowering. Enlightening. He stared down at himself in wonder, his breaths growing calmer as the white light flowed around and through him and his blood pumped with the warmest, most releasing, most amazing feeling he had ever felt in his life.

At the same time, Evan's mind began to race, though not in the same jumbled, frustrated and confused manner as before. It was a welcoming, awe-inspiring flow of information and insight, like a blind man seeing the world for the very first time. He suddenly knew great power that he never had before. No... Power that he always had... Power that had been inside him all this time... It was as if the key had unlocked the real Evan that had been sealed within, once doomed to dormancy, finally set free.

Evan looked up at the Thief of Void, the space between them feeling like an eternity. He pulled the key out of his chest, lost in a daze for only a moment longer. As this warmth overwhelmed him, he had all but forgotten why he had been so upset. He felt no fear. He felt no rage. There was only one word to adequately describe what Evan was feeling...

Hope.

"A-Alex?"

A smile spread across Evan's face. Tears slipped down his cheeks.

And finally, Evan tilted backwards and collapsed, out cold, still overcome with serenity, the white aura dissipating immediately after.

[gantzgun74]

.........................

Alex's expression was utterly hilarious.

"Oh crap."