Man to Man, Rogue and Thief (DCStuck)

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Woooooooooow..."

Evan lay awake in his Prospitian bed with his hand on his chest, staring at the ceiling of his lopsided dream room in a starry-eyed daze. "That was awesome..."

It was hard for him to fully process what had just occurred. The exact scenario, scene for scene, was fuzzy at best. All he could really remember was the emotion. The passion. The adrenaline rush as the power sealed within him had been unlocked. This feeling and understanding of hope unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Even if he couldn't exactly remember what had led to his transformation, Evan had never felt such a state of euphoria.

He knew now... he fully believed... that this was who he was truly meant to be.

In a burst of excitement, Evan threw the covers off, then flew out his window and into the streets of Prospit's moon. From there, he flew in circles around the towers, laughing like he hadn't a care in the world and proudly decreeing to the frozen inhabitants, "I AM THE ROGUE OF HOPE! IT IS ME!"

He slowed to a halt and took a deep breath, hovering between the golden moon and Skaia. With a blissful smile, Evan stared into the blue atmosphere and the rolling clouds, taking in the beautiful scene and the glimpses of the past and future that the magnificent crucible portrayed. His friends playing the game, the adventure they were about to have... it was all in there somewhere, scattered about, waiting to be discovered and pieced together. And he was ready for it all, now more than ever.

At some point in his cloud gazing, Evan's smile faltered and his head tilted. There was... something just ahead. Something he had never seen before. Something that most definitely was not an image in the clouds.

Off in the distance was a white, deformed-looking creature with a serpentine body, a skull-like head, and limp, feathery wings. Just hovering in the open void, staring right back at him. Strangely enough, Evan didn't feel nervous or intimidated by this new creature. He simply felt curious. Maybe even a little concerned for the lone figure. Just what was it, and what was it doing way out here?

"Hello..."

All of a sudden, the winged creature shrieked and lunged at him.

"HO CRAP-!"

Just moments before impact, a flash of white sent Evan out of his dream body and back to the island. He jolted awake with a gasp, eyes wide, breaths choppy, heart pounding.

Once he had regained his composure, Evan grabbed his chest and stared into space. Again. "Wow."

[gantzgun74]

When at last Evan awoke, he found that he was no longer on the streets in front of the cafe he had left to visit, in the hopes of negotiating with Alex. Rather, he was now somewhere a biiiiit..... less then familiar but someplace he could recognize due to it coming up in casual conversation at least once.

A wide open large black space filled with various brick-a-brack and debris from a previous life, a space that looked like it had been cleaned out somewhat in recent days. All that remained now were house parts, ruined Christmas decoration, some disheveled and forgotten toys-...

And just to sell where he was even further, he also saw his Quest Bed not too far away from the normal bed he slept on now.

“Well... At least you weren’t out for as long as I feared you’d be.” and there was the man himself, the owner of all this free space, approaching with an odd looking cell-phone, playing a song on that felt like something slow and somewhat morose before evolving into a hopeful and bombastic battle cry.

”Though there are times I really wish you would stop doing that. After all, I really don’t wanna fuck this up a third time... How are you feeling?”

[ParamountKeymaster]

Eutla...

Evan lay still, staring into the void above him, that name echoing at the back of his mind and deep within his chest.

His hand flew to his heart, still warm where the Paramount Key had reached inside him, still filled to the brim with that overwhelming sense of hope.

He sat up like a shot, the bruise on his face a complete nonissue, and took a quick look around. The change in his waking self's location certainly caught him off guard, but it didn't exactly unsettle him. He had a fairly good idea where he was even before Alex made his presence known.

When he did, Evan turned to him and took a deep breath, flinching at the sight of Alex's bruises. Evan knew full well where those came from, but to his dismay, the exact details behind the event were alluding him. "Um... I'm... going to be completely frank here. I'm having a hard time remembering anything that happened between you punching me and me using the key."

With another sigh, Evan swung his legs off the bed, gazing ahead at the stone slab adorned with that angel wing emblem he had grown so familiar with. "But other than that... I feel... amazing. I-I don't know how to describe it. This never happened to me whenever I've used the key on myself. It was like... It was I unlocked the real me... Like I was sealed inside my own body for years and... finally let myself out..."

Eutla.

[gantzgun74]

........ Alex considers the prospect of telling him what exactly happened... But decides to simply not to. After all, all things considered, he ended up getting... Kind of what he wanted, even if Evan couldn't exactly remember it.... But it was looking at him now that Alex saw at last what he really needed to see for all of the pieces to fit together.

Life in itself usually isn't supposed to be all that complicated in the bigger picture. A person exists and strives for a certain period of time, death comes to claim them, their energy is briefly lost to the universe before being recycled into new life. Easy. But looking at Evan now... He could almost feel it. Was it reincarnation? Was it something else? Who could really say. All he knew was, he felt Evan's and... HIS Evan's aura's seemingly intermingling within the body before him, more then explaining the previous outburst.

.... His only response is to float up, land on the floorboard that his old bed was nailed to and place his hands on Evan's shoulders. "Don't worry too much about what happened there. I think in the end I got exactly what I needed." When Evan looks at him oddly, Alex sits on the bed next to him. ".... The truth is Evan, I've felt immensely guilty about how I acted before. Yes, I know a lot of it was a bit outside of my control but..."

Here it came; the truth.

"But back in the game, that was ALWAYS the excuse. The only excuse I could give. And that was for the problems I caused that when I was in a Grimdark State... The true reason I'm so afraid of this game starting up again... And I'm certain Erin feels the same way..."

"I'm.... Petrified that I'm going fuck it up all over again."

[ParamountKeymaster]

Evan turned to look back at Alex, following the thief's movements as he sat down next to him. The lack of any clarification on the blanks in his memory was certainly concerning to Evan for both their sake, but he opted not to press the matter. If this strange sensation in his subconscious was any indication, he had the slightest idea what was happening to him anyway.

His hand continued to rub his chest, fondling the key tucked inside his hoodie.

A warm, empathetic smile crossed Evan's face in response to Alex's explanation. That look on his face was one that Evan was all too familiar with. The confession of doubt was one that didn't surprise him in the slightest. He'd been there. He'd gone through those rounds more times than he cared to count. And even if his experiences had been on a smaller scale, it didn't stop him from looking at the game the way that Alex was now. If anything, it gave him greater insight on how to approach it.

"Hey, come on..." Evan softly chided in a friendly, heartfelt tone. "We've put what happened between you and me behind us. I'm not mad at you for feeling the way you do. I don't think any less of you for whatever brought you here. Let's be realistic: We're basically a couple of dumb kids tasked with playing God. You think we're gonna get it right the first hundred times? Pfft. If at all..."

He lifted one leg up onto the bed and rested his arm on his knee. "It's easy to blame yourself for whatever goes wrong around you. It's a lot harder to do something about it. And... for what it's worth, I'm glad to know that we've both given that prospect serious thought. Fact is... you never know if you're gonna mess up again. It's a leap of faith."

Evan's smile broadened. "Just know that whatever you choose to do... you don't have to do it alone."

[gantzgun74]

...... A leap of faith huh....

Pfft...

Alex lets out a sigh. "... At the very least, I feel like I've sort of confronted everything that's went wrong....... I still wish I could have.... The old Evan here so I could confront that several year old demon but...." He shakes his head. The ability he had to face that demon was long gone in the physical world... Not to mention any ghosts of that Evan he had come across in the Dream Bubbles had long since moved on from that, denying him any sort of emotional catharsis from it... The Two punches in the face he got earlier would just have to do for now. "Whatever happens, you can at least take comfort in knowing that I'm not going anywhere. Me and Erin both."

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

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He lets out a groan and flops back on his bed, looking out at the inky blackness before him. ".... I'll admit though... It feels weird coming back into this place after cleaning out most of it in preparation for the big game... All that remains now is my Boondollar stache, hidden among the debris of my old house, and your quest bed..." .... This change of subject felt more wistful then sad. "I remember when I first landed on this island, this place was utterly jampacked with all of the shit I could possibly carry. And now..."

And now it was..... Well it still had some junk in it but.... It now felt far emptier then ever, it was spooky... But at the same time, spooky meant slightly less depressing.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Evan simply shrugged at Alex's sentiment. He didn't take it personally when Alex referred to the other Evan. He understood. At the same time, though, he had this feeling deep down... this little voice inside that told him that the Evan that Alex had played the game with, fought for, made mistakes on behalf of... he knew. And he understood too.

He stared ahead again, giving Alex a chance to let everything he needed off his chest. If Alex felt content with leaving his past behind, then Evan saw no reason to say anything more. Watching the quest bed drift by, though, did stir up a bit of unease. "I'm still not sure how to feel about that thing, honestly... Feels a little wrong to even consider using it myself." He sighed and scratched his head. "I'm glad you have it stowed in here. It's honestly a little easier not to think about it."

[gantzgun74]

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

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Alex felt horrible suggesting this.... But...

"I've actually been considering hiding it somewhere on the island."

[ParamountKeymaster]

Evan straightened up and glanced back at Alex over his shoulder. The suggestion had clearly caught him off guard, but he certainly wasn't freaking out at the idea. He simply seemed bewildered by it. Unclear on the logic behind it. Maybe a little upset at the thought of potential outcomes.

"Uh... Any particular reason why? I thought the whole idea of keeping it in the void was to prevent Clockwork's attempts at making me god tier."

[gantzgun74]

"And... Unfortunately... You god-tiering might be something we can't... really avoid. Clockwork is a powerful opponent, and he will do literally anything to make sure you god-tier, that much we know." He sits up. "But at the same time, The Rogue of Hope's powers may be needed one day... Rest assured it is an absolute last resort and we won't even ENTERTAIN the notion normally... But... I'm just saying... You never know."

........ Then came the bigger truth to the matter, which made Alex grunt.

"Besides... Much as I hate to admit it, Clockwork has access to my powers, given to him by an alternate version of me. It's only a matter of time before he narrows down which pocket void this Modus is in and takes it out anyway."

[ParamountKeymaster]

"I guess I can understand that part," Evan mumbled in regards to Alex's latter point, basically shrugging off the rest. "I'm mostly playing that whole god tier aspect by ear. Like I said, I've pretty much been trying to avoid thinking about it. But all things considered... I honestly hope it doesn't come to that."

He blew out his cheeks and stood up, stretching his back. "But I'll leave this up to you. You know the game better than I do, after all. I'm just additional muscle."

[gantzgun74]

........ Alex looks Evan over, his heart aching at his friend's.... Resignation to what he was saying.

It wasn't a good feeling.

"Hey. Like I said, it's an absolute last resort ONLY." He floats off the bed and crosses his arms, looking outward. ".... That being said however.... How's about I take you home? You should take some time to rest after what just happened with the Paramount Key." He floats over to a corner of the remaining floorboards, looking ready to open up a portal. Most likely back home to his family and friends at the Summer Snow Apartments.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Heh... Yeah, no worries. I can live with that placement on the list of resorts." Evan smiled back at Alex, almost sensing his reaction to Evan's statement. He hoped he didn't come across as too dour. He was only being honest. It didn't diminish his commitment to the team in any way. "For all its ups, downs and emotional baggage... I'd say today was a good day. A little time to rest and mull things over is probably called for."

Evan cast one last, quick grin at the quest bed. Then he looked into the void where the portal was forming. Then he turned back to the thief. "And, uh... thanks... Aar- Alex."

[gantzgun74]

..........

The Thief froze when Evan almost uttered his true name, but verbal backspaced to state the name he had given himself.

It was such a constant reminder now. That his previous life was over, that he could change his name and run away from the mistakes he's made in the past... And yet here he was;

- after making a lot of those mistakes again.

- after attacking Evan and the others.

- after letting himself go Grimdark not once more, not twice more, but practically THRICE more, which just heightened the pathetical sense of the change.

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

And yet... Here he was after making new friends, finding a new home, gaining a new sister, gaining a new loved one in his relationship with Yang, gaining New Purpose.

.... Maybe this is why he... Felt something when he looked out to his now emptied Void Modus. The past still loomed... But the present loomed greater still. His life was his own again.

...... Yes... He would keep his new name he believed. He was still making distance, still attempting to patch things up... But Aaron wouldn't have made it this far on his own.

".... Any time Evan. Any time."

And with that, he opened the portal and stepped through it... Evan followed soon after....

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The door closes, allowing the Darkness to once more claim the Void Modus and all within it....