Chapter Text
Hector and Victor were casually sitting at a park in New Haden. Hector was feeding pigeons while talking to Victor. Victor’s hands moved a bit as he talked. “He'll… be fine. Eventually. He may say he's used to it and that it doesn't affect him but I've known him for most of my life. I've known him since the first grade and it's possible I owe him my life.” Victor puts his hand on his chest. “I was born with a bad heart, it's why I'm so scared of lightning. One bad zap and I'm done for. The doctors told me I'd be lucky to live past the first grade let alone to adulthood. Here I am, drinking age. I owe it in part to a child with an indomitable spirit, who could smile no matter what. He thought anything was possible if you just put in the work, and there was no shame in starting slow.”
Hector looked at Victor. “Do you get regular check ups like Percy does?” Victor nods. “My heart is a lot stronger than when I was born, the result of a long time of slow and tedious building. All thanks to the motivation I got from my first friend. I do miss the smile he used to have sometimes though. I blame myself for it to be honest.” Hector tilts his head. “What do you mean?” Victor sighed. “Percy's first love, the first person he ever had a crush on. Before your sister was hitting on him, before Ginger caught his eye, before he was even in highschool… was my cousin. Though thanks to her parents and mine being close she was almost like a sister to me back then.”
Hector sighs. “I'm guessing there's a good reason you don't bring her up.” Victor nods. “He developed a crush on her technically before I met him. We became friends before I knew that she was the girl he liked. Crushed on her for years before I knew it. When he told me I wanted to help a brother out, you know? I helped build and hype him up for it. He was friends with her too for years before knowing we were related. But…” Victor sighed. “Despite his sunny disposition Percy never was popular. Not like his brother was. My cousin however quickly became queen bee of our transitionary school. You know, between elementary and highschool. So when he finally asked her out with me giving her a light heads up thinking she liked him back because they were friends in elementary…”
Victor grabbed some bread and tossed it out. “I thought it was a done deal, you know? Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Not only did she reject him, publicly, in a humiliating manner. She basically pretended she didn't even know he existed. Like his world and hers became so separate that he might as well have been an alien to her. He simply wasn't worth the time of day to acknowledge. Percy was always so physically and emotionally strong back then, nothing could bring him down. But when someone he cared about made him feel worthless it… broke him. He stopped smiling all the time and became withdrawn. He's been slowly building himself back up but it hasn't been easy with all the hardships and setbacks.”
Victor gets up off the bench. “That explains why he has such a hard time getting close to people. It's starting to get late, we should start heading out. It was nice to chill and hang out, talking about my various concerns. I worry about Percy as a friend but didn't realize just how much relationship baggage he had.” Victor also gets up. “Yeah, I've always been a good listener and actually enjoy waxing philosophical so any time you need an ear in here. As a friend. I don't swing your way any more than Percy does so no funny business.” Hector laughed. “I mean… for what it's worth I would have hit on you if I thought it would go anywhere. Your sense of fashion may be a bit strange with your self-stitched and recycled fabric but visibly speaking you definitely ain't slacking in the body department. One wouldn't think you had a weak heart looking at you.”
Victor laughed. “Percy calls what I do with clothes as “up-cycling”. Taking used things and elevating it into something new and unique. Something fully and truly me. Anyway, I guess I'll see you around.” Just as Victor was about to leave, Hector grabbed his arm. “Hol’ up, something's not right.” Just as Hector said that a figure cloaked in a black hooded outfit emerged from the shadows of the park. “I'm surprised you were able to sense me. I guess there's little point in using the shadows to hide now. I suppose I should cut right to what counts as an introduction among those like us.”
The cloaked figure reached out their hand and shadows started to gather around it. The figure then spoke in a low and slow drone. “Come forth, bident scythe of the undergod, Hades.” The figure allowed a solid pause between saying undergod and Hades. The weapon summoned was a scythe with two blades sitting on the side of the shaft at the top. He paused again after summoning his weapon as if waiting for his opponent to draw theirs.
Hector went pale before his shaking hands reached out to gather wind and earth. “Come forth, staff of the messenger god, Hermes.” Although he brought out his Armatus, his hand was shaking. The holder of Hades looked at Victor. “Isn't your friend going to also take out his weapon? Two on one is the closest you'll get to a fair fight.” Victor laughed nervously. “I uhhh… don't have an Armatus.” The cloaked figure made a sound of disappointment. “What a shame, it seems like you're only dead weight.” The figure dashed forward, being thrust forward by a mix of darkness and earth, swinging his two bladed scythe at Victor but Hector moved in to slam them in the side by striking them in the ribs with the wing on the top of the staff. “Why don't you focus on the enemy that can actually fight back?”
The figure laughed. “I was hired to kill the friends of that trident holder, although I don't exactly need the money. The client didn't specify that those friends had to be Armatus holders. As long as you all end up dead, the order of operations is inconsequential.” Hector gathered up his energy and sent a wave of wind and earth at his opponent forcing them to block. “Who hired you, MacGonagall?” The figure laughed again. “Wouldn't you like to know.”
The figure made another run at Hector forcing him to block a spinning, arching, horizontal slash as Victor gained some space between himself and the fight. After Hector blocked the scythe blade shifted to point forward more like a naginata or spear before the figure shoved it forward forcing Hector to move his stance to deflect and back away. Hector then uses his superior speed to rush to his opponent’s back to try and strike them from behind. Without even looking the figure shifted their weapons back to scythe mode and moved the blade to catch the wing and block the swing.
The figure chuckled. “You're fast, but two can play at that game.” The figure then seemed to dissolve into shadows, vanishing from sight. Hector stood his ground and started to pivot back and forth looking for his opponent. Although he couldn't see them, he could still feel their presence. Shadows then formed a solid figure behind Victor. “Nothing personal, kid.” They then swung their scythe at Victor’s head from behind. Victor dropped down under the swipe before spinning on his feet to face his assailant and took aim before sending the most powerful punch he could muster right at the figure's genital area.
The figure was caught off guard by Victor's ability to dodge the attack and was hit fully with the devastating blow causing them to almost crumple to the ground as they groaned out in pain. Hector then rushed in to move Victor a distance away as the figure recovered. “That was a dirty trick!” They yelled. Victor quickly retorted “Hey man, I'm fighting for my life here. All's fair in love and war. Maybe next time you teleport behind someone, you won't give away your position with an edgy one-liner.”
The figure stands upright grumbling before charging at the two. Hector moves to block and punch back the attack. “You have to run, I can't take this guy. Best I can do is use my speed to play keep away while you get back up.” The figure laughs. “No one's coming to save you, all your friends are preoccupied with their own fights. You might be able to outrun me, but your friend can't. Any time you try to leave the fight I'll go after him. There's no escape outside of your death. Only way you're leaving is in a body bag.” The figure is then clocked in the head by a rock, thrown by Victor. “Quit monologuing you edgy idiot.”
The figure lets out what sounds like a roar before charging at Victor only to get attacked from the side by Hector again. “You should focus more on me, the one that can actually do damage to you.” The figure grumbled as the stomped a food and spawned black rock spikes from the ground that forced Hector back. They then fired black rocks at Hector forcing him to continue to dodge. Victor lifted an access hatch to some ground wires to give himself something to block with just in case the figure decided to target him.
It was a good thing Victor had such foresight because one projectile was sent his way. Although it completely busted the access cover, at least it took most of the hit. Victor then ran at the figure from behind while they were distracted with launching projectiles at Hector. Victor snapped what was left of the bent cover over the figure's head. “Now that's how you sneak attack.” The figure didn't seem to take much damage and they swung around hitting Victor in the ribs with the back of his weapon and sending him flying. Victor laid on the ground grabbing his side. “That's a cracked rib. Ugh.” Victor didn't bother getting back up right away.
“Ah, good, I can finish him off at my leisure now. Normy should have known better than to take on someone with the power of a god.” The figure was barely able to dodge a swing for their head as Hector went for the attack. “My friend was right, you talk too much.” Hector then tried to press the attack by making several power boosted swings at the same spot knowing it'll be easily blocked but put strain on his opponent's arms. “(There's no way I can win this, my best bet is to run but I can't leave Victor behind. The best I can hope to do is hold them off. I'm not sure how long I'd be able to keep up if they went all out.)” Hector then backed off and used his speed to rush around and take pot shots from a distance.
Hector's kiting tactics only seemed to piss the figure off who was getting more and more visibly frustrated. “Enough games, I'm done playing around.” They then start to gather up their energy but are suddenly interrupted by a voice saying. “I'm not.” From behind the figure. They spun around to see where the voice came from only for it to be too late and take a stop sign slap right to the face. The figure looked up after the attack to see Victor there holding the sign. “I thought I knocked you down already. Do you have a death wish or something?” Victor then moved in to kick the figure in the shin and go for another attack.
The shin attack landed causing them to almost fall over but the stop sign was sliced in half before it reached them. The figure then pulls back for a swing as energy gathers only for Victor to send a punch to the face. The punch gets blocked by black sand and the figure stands stunned as Victor punches the magic barrier multiple times. “You… already got blocked, punching the same spots only going to injure your hand..”
Victor feels a burning sensation as the flesh on his hands starts to slowly rot. He then opened his hand and shoved it to the side of the black sand barrier as the other hand moved to the other side and Victor grabbed the figure's face. This maneuver caught the figure so off guard they dropped the magic barrier opening themselves to a savage headbutt from Victor. The figure pops out of the hold grabbing their bloody nose. “Ah #&$#, I think you broke it. You insignificant little-””
Before the figure could attack or even finish the sentence Hector launched an attack aimed at their side once again. This time Hector took the time to gather energy while Victor had them distracted. “Sandstorm Tempest!” He yelled before sending a tornado of greenish sand at the figure knocking them down. A burst of dark energy comes off them as their power feels, injured but not finished. “I really wanted to be able to take my time with you, to play with my toys without breaking them right away. But you… you had to take all the fun out of it.”
The figure rushed at Hector at speeds he didn't think possible for people besides himself and he barely had enough time to block. The figure continued to rant out in anger. “I'm going to put you six feet under!” Hector did his best to hold fast and even tried pushing back but didn't have enough strength. They decided to take a page out of Victor's book and fight a little dirty, kicking the figure in the same shin and giving himself an opening to create distance. “You dirty little- I should not have been so focused on your weapon.”
Victor slowly crumpled to the floor, grabbing his chest and started doing breathing exercises. “You… are on… your own Hector. I'll… be down… for the count… for a while now.” Hector knew he had to find a way to get out of here but he couldn't carry Victor and maintain his speed for more than a few seconds. He couldn't run and he knew his opponent was too strong for him. “(I'm not a fighter, I'm better off playing the role of a White Mage. My Armatus isn't a combat or caster type, it’s a support. It works best when backing up another Armatus.)” Hector moved around fast dodging ranged and melee attacks as the figure continued their savage barrage, now focused solely on Hector.
Then Hector realized something, even the most powerful Armatus had a limit. The more powerful combat types had the drawback of being a bigger drain on a person's stamina and this person had to run out of energy eventually. Once they were too worn out to fight, Hector could run out of there with plenty of energy left. He couldn't win the fight outright, but he could turn this battle into a war of attrition. “Is that all you got? You're pathetic! I can't believe I was actually scared to feel that you, when your ass got beat up by an unarmed man.”
Hector taunted the figure who let out sounds of frustration. “Maybe if you stopped running around like a chicken and fought me like a man this fight could end.” Hector continued to kite as he rushed in and out for quick attacks and started switching from kiting to zoning tactics and back again. “Nah, I'd rather live.” Keeping his distance and taking quick openings. The figure started creating more and more powerful attacks and making spikes of black rock any time Hector came in to attempt melee. Although he could no longer get in close enough to attack, he continued the tactic. After all, his goal was no longer to do damage but to wear his opponent down.
The tactic seemed to be working as the figure started getting slower and breathing heavily. “You can't even land a hit on me.” They wheezed. “Just give up.” Hector laughed. “Landing a hit stopped being my goal a long time ago.” The figure staggered as Hector took the time to go to Victor and use his energy to heal the man. “You good?” Victor groaned. “Peachy keen.” As he slowly got up. Hector then looked at the figure. “Don't bother giving chase, you're running on fumes and the only way for you to keep fighting is to draw on the weapon directly. You could do that, or you can save your energy and try again another time.”
Hector helped Victor to his feet, with Victor mostly healed now, and started lifting him and running in short bursts over and over again until he was sure he was a safe distance to walk. “He said the others were in danger too. Maybe we should split up and try to find them. They might need help.” Victor gave Hector a “are you serious” face. “Did you forget I don't have an Armatus?” Hector blinked. “Right, then head home and try your cellphone or something.” The two then went their separate ways.