CHAPTER FOUR ♔ does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love

[coldheritage]

♬ The Truth - Nonpoint

WHO || Failboat, Rafael, Isabella, Nadia  [Closed]
WHAT || After an exciting Grammy night, the Knights meet up with Nadia to hear what she has to say
WHERE || Staples Center, LA -->  Warehouse
WHEN || Feb 8th, 2015  [back dated]
HOW || Actionspam

[  The Knights' mission to stop the signal and prevent Draken's cult from spreading whatever subliminal message  was lurking beneath Keijen Blade's performance was a success.  It didn't come without its bumps in the road, however:  Alexander Anderson showed up, and the Knights ran afoul of the Mind Master.    Buffy nearly died fighting Anderson, but in the end, he was defeated, beheaded, and hopefully put to death forever.   Finnick, though, found himself thrust into a mental illusion that convinced him he might still be in the Hunger Games, and left him uncertain about whether any of his life here was real.  

Another surprise came in the form of an announcement by Nadia Reichenov, an artist working with Crombe and company, that she was changing her band name and taking things in a 'new direction'.   This direction was perhaps revealed when after her performance, she approached the Knights in Rafael's dressing room - and handed them the necklace that connects her to the Nightmare God Malaak'a, saying she was willing to tell them everything.  ]

Comments

[nothingsodivine]

[uh... yeah, he sees. and he's pretty damn startled, because when most women cry, he's comfortable hugging them and trying to comfort them, BUT YOU CAN'T DO THAT WITH ISABELLA.

After a moment of dumbfounded staring, he shakes his head.] You, Isabella. You have you. You have a beautiful, smart, fiery woman, who doesn't take any shit from anyone, who doesn't need to define herself by how much she gave to a man who couldn't give as much back. I'm not bullshitting you. I know you're more than what you think you are. I wish I could tell you more than that.

[savemyself]

You do not understand. I have had nothing that was mine, do you see? His causes have been my causes, his family, my family. His friends, my friends, until he lost us them as well. Even Jade-- [ she stops herself, shaking her head strongly ] Our home, our lives, what we have hoped for and fought for, he had defined each of these things for both of us. And now I have none of them, have followed him now, to help him realize his dream, to see him succeed.

And what of my dreams? Do I even know what they are anymore? Where to look for them?

[nothingsodivine]

[He can't speak for a long time as he listens to her and even after she's done, he's left dumbstruck, lost to all ways he could help her. How can he when he suffered so long finding those answers and the only thing that helped him... The only thing that made it better, in the end, was letting go of so much he thought he believed in and turning his life around.

He hesitates again, but reaches out to touch her shoulder this time.] Maybe you need to burn the last bridge. Get out of his shadow. Find one thing that can be yours and build your life back up brick by brick until you figure out what you really need. You can't define yourself by him anymore, so the only way to stop is to step back. Not forever. Just until it stops hurting and he stops being the center of your universe. It'll be hard. It'll be terrifying. But the way I see it, you've got nothing to lose.

Sometimes the only thing that can save us in the end is doing the one thing we thought ourselves least capable of. Sometimes we have to let go of something to grab hold of something else.

That's all I know to do.

[savemyself]

And did this work? For you? [ that last bit sounded p personal bro ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des looks down at his feet so he can hide the look on his face- the pained smile that suggests so much and none of it is sadness, so much as the bittersweet acknowledgement that it wasn't what one would call an easy path.]

Yeah. It actually did.

[savemyself]

And how did you find this thing?

[nothingsodivine]

[Des's smile becomes serene, almost wistful.] It found me.

[He swallows, as he realizes he'll have to explain this further and it digs up some painful memories.] Rafael wasn't the only one who probably put too much on Eterna Jade's shoulders. I didn't think she needed a pedestal, but she could have been my salvation. When she died, I thought everything went with her. And when I was at my lowest point... Everything just fell together.

That makes it sound so simple. It wasn't. Not by a long shot. But if I have to believe sometimes things have to fall together like that. That all the pain and bullshit we can't escape means something in the end.

[savemyself]

[ she's quiet for a moment, clearly uncomfortable having the story be about jade since... reasons, but taking it in ] I hope you are right. I really do.

[nothingsodivine]

[yeah, sorry, isabella, everything is about jade until it isn't.]

Me too. [He squeezes her shoulder and then turns to go.] I'll let you get back to that cigarette, now.

[savemyself]

Hmm. [ she takes another drag, and then once he's turned around, she faces away as well, and says: ] Thank you.