what dis. → a collection of short stories to help ease my brain rot ft. runieric throuple. bc i don’t have a ship name for these three atm and i’m too lazy to come up with anything
side a. an exile so young
being sent away from the village to protect it was practically a death sentence. even the youngest viera knew this.
at the time, however, rune foolishly didn’t take any of it seriously. of course, back then he was only focused on goofing around with his friends, but that was before any of them had reached adolescence.
not much so now.
thunder roared overhead as the rain poured down, and only with the flashes of lightning was he able to see his master’s lifeless and glassy eyes gazing at him from across the clearing, betraying nothing - a stark contrast to when those same eyes had urged him to run only minutes ago. flames that once surged up and weaved itself through the bramble and trees that surrounded the camp were tempered down into embers and ash. and yet, even with the loud pattering of the rain and the singing of the thunder, rune couldn’t trust himself to breathe out loud as he watched several silhouettes trash about the only home he had ever known in the past two years.
“pathetic.” one voice spat out, nearly impossible to hear underneath the rain, “was anyone surprised that these savages basically have nothing? i’m fucking starving!”
“and whose fault is it for separating from the main contingent?” another responded harshly. “i knew i shouldn’t have gone with you to keep your sorry ass safe.”
“i didn’t fucking ask you to, you know!”
“and what do you think i was supposed to tell the platoon leader, then? now shut up and keep looking! there has to be food somewhere here.”
…
on your feet, rune. his master’s voice echoed in his head. staying on your feet is the first step to survival.
i can’t, he responded, tears threatening to take over his vision from looming despair. even then…
i have to.
in swift movement, rune picked up the knife and lunged towards his captor. there was a shout of surprise as he sank its blade into the man’s chest down to its hilt and tore it across his torso sideways with wild strength.
…
watch them preach in sour lies — i would rather see this world through the eyes of a child
…
in the past, rune was only an apprentice under another viera for two short years before it was cut short by a wayward garlean partol. his master sent him off to run and had managed to kill a few within the patrol before succumbing to his injuries - and after a particularly brutal smash of his head against the ground by its leader.
a last act of defiance led rune to run back to his master’s camp, but by then it was too late, and the man was already dead with the intruders ransacking their camp amidst a downpour. frightened and yet very, very angry, the young viera managed to kill the remaining stragglers before sustaining a grievous injury of his own. knowing that without finding help, he wouldn’t make it, rune began to slowly make his way towards civilization - that is, civilization outside of his own tribe.
rune had always been a stubborn one from the get go - that meant defying the elders’ instructions at every turn when he could, and that it didn’t take him long to find out how to get to the nearest village at a young age, making him a breaker of the green word at a very young age. even so, it was a secret that he kept to himself until the very end, and his knowledge turned out to be something that saved his life as well.
+++
side b. to have the world’s hopes rest on shoulders so weary and tired
let them in before they go
he knew how it felt to have the hopes of a nation on his own back. and yet, he couldn’t imagine how vastly it compared to having the weight of worlds on one’s shoulders instead.
“you’re okay,” he choked out, cupping rune’s face with both of his hands as the latter stared at him with wide, tearful eyes, the last traces of the nightmare haze fraying apart in his mind. “you’re okay.”
“‘meric?” the viera said in a heartwrenchingly small voice. “you’re here?” he nodded fervently, finding himself unable to lie.
“yes, my love. i’m here. i’m sorry,” he began preemptively, “i saw everything – but fear not, for they are no longer here to hurt you –” before he was able to finish his sentence, rune suddenly moved forward and grabbed him in a tight embrace, the silence between them breaking as the shorter man began sobbing, so much that it wracked painfully throughout his body from his injuries. aymeric held him there, moving his hand on rune’s back in soothing circles as he did so.
“they can’t hurt you anymore.” and with every fiber of his being, he meant it.
…