A Helping Hand

"A Helping Hand" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
https://www.tumblr.com/lbigreyhound13/187851287935/a-helping-hand-botgd-2
https://moe-lazyeye.tumblr.com/post/187903970939/i-appreciate-that-mamethank-you-malak
==Summary==
[Write a summary of the thread's events here, including spoilers and important plot details. Check the Order of Threads to see if the thread you are placing already has a summary, to make less work for yourself.]
==Full Text==
“Thanks for the company, buddy,” Brandt said as he and Sven walked through the village under the moonlight. 
“No problem, Dad,” Sven replied. “So, Mom really released Malak?”
“Yeah,” Brandt replied, “but it’s okay. They’re going to be watched at all times. Your mom and I wouldn’t do anything that would endanger you or your sisters.”
Sven smiled. Of course, he knew that. They stood up to Rhenco to save him. They rescued him from the hotel. Grey and Brandt would never let anything happen to him or his sisters. 
Sep 19, 2019
At first they look liked splotches of ink in the evening shadows. But soon the two men realized that it was a trail of dotting blood that had appeared in front of them in the snow. The line dotting itself up the walkway, and to a lone figure sitting with hunched shoulders on a bench.
Sep 19, 2019
“Stay behind me, Sven,” Brandt said as he essentially shoved Sven behind him and unsheathed his sword eying the figure on the bench. “WHO’S THERE?”
Sep 19, 2019
Malak jumped at the voice and put a hand on his chest before relaxing.
Probably just a guard. 
He waved a dismissive hand from down the street, his bloodied hand forgotten in the midst of his storming mind. “Just a man catching some evening air sir…shall I move along?” He called.
Sep 19, 2019
Sven and Brandt both widened their eyes and looked at each other clearly recognizing the voice. 
“M-Malak? Is that you?” Sven asked cautiously still standing behind his father.
Sep 19, 2019
Aw shit…
Malak closed his eyes, knowing Sven’s voice. “Y-yeah its me…”
Sep 19, 2019
“What…in Hel’s name happened to you?” Brandt asked as they walked over to Malak looking him over for any signs of injuries. 
Sep 19, 2019
Malak held out his good hand and looked away from them. “I’m…fine…” he growled. “Just a cut…”
Sep 19, 2019
Sven noted the hand Malak held out to them, and then the Heir remembered the blood trail in the snow. He furrowed his eyebrows together forming a look that made him resemble his mother even more. 
“If it was just a cut,” Sven began, “then what was with that blood trail leading to you? And why do you look like you’re about to pass out on us?”
Sep 19, 2019
Malak grumbled some more and brought the hand down to clutch at the kitchen cloth around his other fingers. “Alright…the cuts here are a little deep…I got the bleeding to stop though.” He eyed the two of them. “Neither of you have much of a reason to concern yourself with my well being. So…um…”
He swallowed once as he trailed off. He gave a brief shake of his head. “Sorry…I’m fine, really.”
Sep 20, 2019
Sven furrowed his eyebrows together in concern watching the half-breed in the dark of the night. There was a moment where Sven couldn’t believe that this was the same man who helped Rhenco hold him captive in that hotel…the same man who restrained him when he tried to escape. He seemed so weak due to the blood loss, and yet Sven couldn’t bring himself to be glad for that…to be satisfied.
“Maybe we can let Grandma look him over, Dad,” Brandt said. “She can stitch him up.”
Sep 20, 2019
“I don’t want anyone else to see this. I don’t want you to see this.” Malak practically snarled. His rough day light-headedness rendering any filter he may have had obsolete.
Sep 20, 2019
“Yeah, well, at least let us get you inside,” Brandt said as he moved to help Malak stand up. “You’ll freeze out here.”
“And really, you’re talking to the Chief’s second-in-command and the future Chief, so you kind of have to follow orders,” Sven said with a raised eyebrow. “You’re lucky Mom didn’t find you. She would just have Shadow pick you up and drag you.”
Sep 20, 2019
Malak didn’t resist and stood to his feet, his eyes downcast and face grim. “Alright…” he said, barely audible as he followed them.
Sep 20, 2019
“You want to go back to the house Chelsea’s in?” Brandt asked as Malak followed them. “Or we could take you to the healer’s hut? Or our house for the night? Or the Great Hall?” He offered to take him to their house, but a part of him wasn’t all that comfortable having Malak in their home. However, for some reason, a part of him felt that Malak wouldn’t want to go back to the house Grey placed their family in.
Sep 20, 2019
Malak bristled at the mention of Chelsea and he lowered his head. “A healer is fine.”
I figure I’ll go back to the prison after this…just to sleep this off…
Sep 20, 2019
“Okay,” Brandt said. “Sven, why don’t you run on ahead and tell Grandma what’s going on?”
Sven nodded and eyed Malak real quick showing some concern before sprinting ahead over to his grandmother’s hut. She said something to Grey earlier that she was seeing patients a little later that night. 
Sep 20, 2019
Malak stood beside Brandt in tense silence. “This is…appreciated…” he ventured to say. He didnt know Brandt well. He didnt know how much his patience over Malak’s past misgivings sized up to Grey’s.
Sep 20, 2019
“You’re welcome,” Brandt said giving him a small smile. “May I…ask what happened?”
Sep 20, 2019
“Uuuh…” Malak examined his fingers. “I think I uh…got a divorce…”
Sep 20, 2019
“Divorce?” Brandt repeated in shock turning to Malak. He looked down at the hand, and a cold rush of terror fell over him. He thought of the woman he and Grey saw Malak with...his wife. “Y-Your wife did this to you?”
Malak rubbed his face with his good hand, and then nodded with a sigh. "Yeah...yeah Chelsea did this"
Brandt could see the gears in Malak's head turning. But then he saw Malak sigh and seemingly settle his thoughts. "Its fine though..."
@lbigreyhound13
lbigreyhound13
“How is this fine?” Brandt asked. A part of him could understand why Malak was so casual about this. If it were him and Grey, he would want to find the reason as to why she did it and hopefully help her. In fact, he had unintentionally hurt her at one point before they had met, but Grey found it in her heart to forgive him. “W-Was she...I mean...how?”
moe-lazyeye
Malak held out a hand and paused in his step. “Listen...” He said in a low voice. “My family and I have been strangers even to ourselves for the better part of a decade. My family did things no person could forgive. But today I forgot that. Today I lived in the past for a brief moment before I was snapped back to the reality of the situation.” He looked away then, and drew his coat closer to him. “Chelsea isn’t my wife anymore...she hasn’t been for a long time. It was just that tonight she realized that...and then made sure I knew it as well.”
lbigreyhound13
Brandt nodded taking in Malak’s words. It made sense, they went through so much pain and trauma and misery. Not that it made what Malak tried to do to Sven right, but...they had their futures...their dreams ripped away from them when Rhenco kidnapped them. Of course, curing Farris wasn’t going to magically cure their misery and their pain, and both Grey and Brandt knew that. 
“I understand,” Brandt finally said. In a way, it was like when he put the pieces together regarding Grey’s father. Their relationship changed forever after that, but they were able to make it work. “I know...it’s not the same, but Grey and I...we once had become strangers for a while...sort of. Our relationship was changed, and we had to find each other again in a way.”
moe-lazyeye
"Thats... good." Malak ventured to say. "Whatever it was you did...I'm glad you both were able to..reunite I suppose."
He glanced off across the length of the town. "I wont be finding her again though. Chelsea doesnt say much...but I know her...the message was clear."
lbigreyhound13
Brandt nodded sadly and lightly patted him on the shoulder. “Rhenco stole that from you all,” he said simply. 
moe-lazyeye
Malak's eyes became unfocused and distant as he thought back to his old life. "Yeah..." he said, almost as if he hadn't really acknowledged the statement.
The group stepped into the warmth of the house and Malak took a seat. He began to begrudgingly remove the kitchen cloth bandage to reveal his deeply cut fingers, readying them for treatment.
lbigreyhound13
Brandt studied him as he sat down and removed the bandage from his hand. He could imagine what was going through the half-breed’s mind. This crazed madman, who kidnapped his own son and caused distress in their family...their little bubble of peace, kidnapped this entire family and stripped them of what they once were. The second-in-command felt a chill go down his spine at the mere thought of the same fate happening to his family... He and Grey didn’t see what was in that hotel, but if it haunted Sven, then chances were it wasn’t pretty. His stomach churned at the thought of his strong and determined wife, his innocent daughters, headstrong son, and himself all being stripped of all that for a time, and it scared him. 
Rhenco was still out there, which made it worse. Malak had already warned Grey that Rhenco could potentially come after their family again, and now that Grey had figured out the Red Card and Sven had figured out his weakness, that gave him more motive. 
He was about to say something when...
“They’re here, Grandma,” Sven said as he came to the tent with an elderly woman...Ingrid, Grey’s mother behind him. 
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Ingrid said as she followed him. 
“Malak, this is Ingrid, Grey’s mother,” Brandt said. “Ingrid, this is Malak.”
moe-lazyeye
Malak swallowed but nodded. He had no idea what to say. Here he was, surrounded by people he had tried to harm and one of them kill.
Yet all of them were here to help stitch up his fingers, rather than stab him as they ought to be considering from Malak's point of view. The half breed felt as he were in a dream, or about to lose his mind. There was no way this was happening. There was no way there could be people like this...
lbigreyhound13
“It’s nice to meet you, Malak,” Ingrid said as she sat down next to Malak lying out her supplies consisting of herbs and thread. “Sven told me you had an incident with your fingers.” She held out her hand to get a closer look. “May I look?”
moe-lazyeye
The half breed held out his hand to allow to her inspect the injuries. He glanced at Sven, a question in his eyes as the whether or not she knew.
"L-likewise..." he managed. "And yes I uh...put my hand in the wrong place at the wrong time..."
lbigreyhound13
Sven quickly shook his head silently telling the half-breed that Ingrid did not know the true story. 
“I see,” Ingrid said studying the cuts on his fingers. “Well, not to worry, I can clean the would stitch them up, and you’ll be good as new.”
moe-lazyeye
“I appreciate that mame…thank you.” Malak settled back into his chair.
This is going to take some getting used to…
But I’ll have to get used to it…
His other hand clenched into a fist.
I cant get my life back. But I want myself. I want to be who I was again…even if I dont deserve it…
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Events
Category:Act I
Category:Sven Felman
Category:Malak
Category:Ingrid Bergman
Category:Brandt Felman