#zero with Riven and the Bro Squad

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

quiet yearning

She didn't know how to explain it. It was a pull...a draw unlike anything she had ever felt before. And it didn't make sense. Yet Zero found herself continuing to wander into the orbit of Riven and her fellows.

Simple curiosity, she tried to tell herself. It wasn't because of hunger--that had been more than sated ever since her arrival on the Source. She was just curious, that was all.

And then Garlamald happened. She had almost died--a final and complete death. But she hadn't been alone. Riven and the others had come to help her. Saved her. They'd learned what Golbez was plotting. And Zero...

The fire still burned inside her, even now. Another thing she didn't understand. And it would be so much easier to return to her normal--to only work in bargains. Stay within the lines. But Zero didn't want to. Everything was now chaotic, messy.

Colorful.

"Do you want something?" Zero was jolted out of her inner musings and back to reality. She was in the kitchen of Sunward, Riven's personal home in...U'ldah, it was called.

"What?"

"Do you want me to make you something to eat?" Sebastian repeated. Zero blinked at the question.

"I..." Her eyes roamed the kitchen, taking in the fruit, herbs, the fresh-baked bread that was cooling on a nearby table, the ingredients Sebastian had taken out for whatever he was planning on making. A mound of fluffy pancakes was on the table near her, golden brown and dripping with butter. A kettle was bubbling as the water inside it boiled, and another machine was steaming as a dark brown liquid slowly dripped out into a pot that had been placed beneath it.

"I...wouldn't know what to ask for." Zero admitted. Sebastian pondered this statement, then started to flip pages in the recipe book.

"Here, I'll fix you something simple." He said. A thought occurred to Zero.

"It won't have fire in it, will it?"

"Fire?" Sebastian repeated, then the light dawned. "Oooh, like the...no. It won't be spicy." He set about gathering items--milk, eggs, several slices of the freshly-baked bread. Zero watched him carefully--this was the first time she'd really been alone with the hyur. He wasn't like Riven and the others, he was more...quiet. Reserved. His aether wasn't as...colorful or chaotic--there was Light there, a unholy amount of it, Zero sensed. But then there was elemental magic, a smell of gunpowder that always seemed to linger, and...

"What are the golden lines in your left arm?"

"What?"

"There are..." Zero tilted her head. "Golden lines in your upper left arm. They don't go very far, but they're there." She watched as Sebastian went very silent, moving his right hand to just graze the skin directly over the lines Zero had pointed out.

"A plan that went very, very wrong on the First." He answered.

"The world that was broken by Light." Zero responded. Sebastian nodded.

"Those are...scars of the corrupted Light that I was infected with." His voice was soft. "It was purged, but this remained. And not just myself either. Riven and the others have their own markings."

"...Why are you with them?" Zero asked. "You...don't seem like...their type." Now it was Sebastian's turn to blink, and he turned around.

"Their type?" He repeated.

"Loud. Annoying. Nosy. Get into everything." Zero stopped as Sebastian started to laugh.

"Was what I said a jest?"

"No, you're not wrong! I didn't think I stood out that much--though...I'm not loud, but I am nosy, annoying, and get into everything." Sebastian chortled. He faced Zero, his lips twitching in a grin.

"I suppose you can say that we all share the same desire. We want to explore. Help people. Just because we're different doesn't mean we can't have similar wants and goals." He began.

"And...we're family. Not by the water of the womb, but by the blood we've shed in trying to protect each other. I've put myself in harm's way for Riven, Augustine, Mathye and Reinhardt, and they've all done the same for me at one time or another. We've supported each other through difficult times. I consider them the brothers and little sister I never had."

"Family." Zero said quietly. "You truly consider them as such?"

"I do." Sebastian answered. "I love them as such, and would do anything for them, to keep them safe. Even die for them." To that Zero had no response, hiding her eyes with the brim of her hat as she thought.

"Family." She repeated, her voice soft. Could that explain the burning feeling inside her?

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

Unexpected

Cut for 6.3 spoilers.  Zero’s take on Riven and co’s arrival in that cutscene.

-------------------

Zero...wasn’t too certain of what to think anymore.   What once had been simple--wasn’t any longer.  She’d fully expected to die alone, like she had so many times before.  But this time it would be for good.

The same mistakes, the same ends.  Again and again.  What should I...what could I have done?

Always fighting alone, never anyone to help--not without demanding a price.

Who...?

The sudden sound of footsteps, of steel meeting steel, and a animalistic roar of pain.  Opening her eyes to see the sky-blue gleam of Riven’s cloak, the other woman and her friends standing between Zero and the voidsent army.  Zero could only stare in bewildered confusion, this wasn’t supposed to happen, it normally didn’t happen...

 They...came. 

We’re a little late, but we’ve come to help you.  A smile on Riven’s lips as she turned her head towards Zero, her voice warm and gentle.  Zero could only keep staring at her, speechless. 

And then from behind-more footsteps.  Riven’s other friends--rushing to her side, weapons out and at the ready. 

Sorry about that, got slightly held up.  Sebastian had said.

Winds are a bitch out in this neck of the woods!  Reinhardt added.

Voidsent were blocking the road, it took us a while to cut through.  Augustine adding his voice to the group, while Mathye nodded.  Zero gawked at all of them.  Something inside of her...it was beginning to feel warm and bright.  Like a fire had just been lit inside her.

They came.  They had all come--and they weren’t demanding payment.  They weren’t withholding help.  It was being freely given of their own free wills, and they had no problems in doing so.

I help them because I want to.  Because it’s the right thing to do.

But what do you stand to gain?  You didn’t answer the question.

Didn’t I?  I followed my heart.  What I got out of it came after.

Zero bowed her head.  The thought crossed her mind briefly--she could stand back.  Demand payment, restore equilibrium to this...whatever in the hells relationship that had spawned between her and these strangers.  She could not assist them--she’d almost gotten killed.  She wasn’t immortal on this world.  She could keep herself safe.  But with this strange fire burning inside her chest, the pain of those memories of that long-ago fight on the ice lessening--she wasn’t alone this time, somebody had come, someone had actually come...

That’s just the kind of people they are.  Makes sense they’d get along with someone like you, who tries to push others away.

Get along? I’m upholding my part of the bargain.  There’s nothing more to it than that.

Maybe...just maybe...she could trust these strangers.  She could...actually have comrades.  The thought made that strange fire inside her roar, filling Zero’s veins with unexpected strength. 

She wouldn’t have to fight alone.

“...All right.”

------

(and then later, this happened)

Riven: ...if you don’t shut the hell up right now Mathye: *loud draconic growl of Impending Doom*

y’all pray for Zero, they have been adopted by one smol agent of chaos, three ishgardians and one sharlayan.  A group of loons.

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

🖊 for the crew and Gaius.

Considering that they never met up until the events of the Burn--I honestly want to say that the Bro Squad and Gaius were a Very Serious Bit.

I really want to say that.

I can't.

Gaius had been keeping his own tabs on Riven and finding out that she had four companions that were equal to her might and trusted allies did pique his interest. And seeing the Bro Squad in the Burn--with calling upon Riven and crew's help for the Weapons, he expected to see the powerful heroes that they were.

Instead he got a gremlin and her four loons.

Mathye on a rampage because Reinhardt did dumb dragoon shite

Reinhardt

Augustine trying to maintain the peace

Sebastian getting caught up on the Garlean Weapon program and all assorted fuckery

Riven because of Mathye and Reinhardt

And then terrifyingly enough, Gaius witnessed them get serious and beat the Ruby Weapon, and deal with the fallout. As for the Bro Squad's own opinions of Gaius, considering the events of the Weapon series--the general consensus is that he's been effectively declawed and defanged, and just to leave him be.

(Side note: I had major issues with the Weapon storyline and feel Gaius got did fucking DIRTY. The most I have in character for Riven and the others was that they helped up to Sapphire, then they got called to Bozja and Cid and co finished out the storyline. Because really when you look at it, we as the WoL have zero influence on what happens. We are literally only along for a ride and a super shitty one at that.)

Gaius was...also witness to this

(If Gaius were to have more meaningful interaction in the story again, then there's a good chance I could have the crew interact more with him. However given how his stuff's been resolved...yeah. He is one of the things I feel SE dropped the ball badly on, and seeing as how his story endured from 1.0, it's a fucking shame.)