Blackblade 17.1 - It's For The Best

Ridley flopped heavily onto his bed. It had been months since he’d been back to his apartment, and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity now. “Oh, I missed you,” he mumbled as he wrapped the blankets about himself and mushed his face deep into a pillow. “I don’t know why I keep leaving you behind; I’m a terrible person for making you stay here alone. I can go all over the world, and I never meet anyone as comfortable as you,” the sultry words directed towards his furniture came out as stifled murmur through the pillow. Rolling over, he sighed in deep relaxation, relishing the good night’s sleep to come. He felt a vibrating on his finger, and his reverie was broken. With a groan, he sat up; this was probably Yomiel, calling in another request from the fearless leader. As he went to complete the connection, he stopped. That wasn’t the pattern for the 4th ring, it was for the 2nd. Jack’s ring. Ridley took a deep breath and pushed his hair back. This wasn’t likely to be pleasant. He twisted the ring. “Hello.”
Ridley could hear a held breath being exhaled. Jack didn’t waste any more time, “What was that all about then?” His voice had an edge to it.
“Um...that’s not quite what I was expecting, honestly.” Ridley was already becoming defensive.“What ‘that’ do you want to know about, then?”
“Well, I’ve been trying to contact you for nearly a week, and the rings weren’t working for some reason; you can start with that.”
Ridley looked at his ring. “Huh,” he exclaimed. “Well, that’s good to know I guess. I was in Etherea; guess these don’t work across planar boundaries.”
“...What?”
“Yeah. The spirit realm, if you’re asking an Asonian. Purgatory to the Yetomen, apparently. The Ethereal Plane. Home of the fey, weird ass trees and apparently we killed winter? Or a storm or something, I don’t even know. Giant freezing worm beast, nearly killed the cleric. It exploded, for reasons I can’t explain.” There was only silence from Jack. “I’ll assume you’re making that face, the one where you blink a lot, so I’ll continue. We used some scrolls of Plane Shift, powerful faith spell, to go there so that we could snap the Northlander, the red-head, not the tool with the elephant, out of his fairy-induced emotional coma. Not only do the rings not work, but apparently time is off too; we were fairly sure we were only there for four days, but suddenly I’m in Verdigris, and it turns out we lost 13 days.
“Wait, Verdigris? You’re in Verdigris now?” Jack interjected.
“Oh, well, no, right now I’m in my apartment. Apparently this spell throws you out randomly. We went from Yeto to the tundra in Etherea, then from Yeto in Etherea to the desert, so I got a terrible sunburn, then I got sent to Rio to get more scrolls of Teleport so that we can get back to Yeto again. So if you’re calling for a ride it will have to wait a few days. Though I can probably just teleport to wherever you are, save some time.”
“No. No that’s fine. I’m actually back in Kalleandar already.”
Ridley frowned. “How’d you get back?”
“I got a teleport.”
“No shit. From who?”
“I don’t see how that’s important...”
“Well, what did you do, pay someone for it?”
“This really isn’t...”
“Just...tell me you didn’t spend money because you didn’t want to call.” Ridley kept cutting him off, his own impatience showing.
“No. No I did not. It was free, it was serendipitous, drop it.” Jack was becoming short.
“Fine. Then what did you want?”
“Huh?”
“What did you call for, if not for that?”
“I couldn’t reach you! I thought that you might be dead!”
“Well, I’m not. Sorry, I didn’t know that would happen. I’ll let someone know the next time I decide to step outside space and time.”
“Wha...that’s it? I worry about you, and you just...”
“Oh, now you worry.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“You fucking...”
“Goodnight, Jack.” Ridley twisted the ring and flicked it off his hand. Immediately he flopped back over onto the bed, burying his face in his pillow. If one listened closely, they could hear a soft string of curses emanating up from the downy depths. Minutes passed; eventually, Ridley sat back up. Eyes closed, he took some deep breaths, running his hands through his hair. Eyes still closed and head down, Ridley slid the ring back on, clicking its inner band into position. It vibrated softly for a while, as the elf sat in the dark room, the only light coming from the stars outside his window. Time crept past, but he sat motionless, waiting. What might have been hours ticked by, when finally the ring stopped shaking. Jack said nothing, but Ridley knew he could hear him. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for,” he said softly. Jack still didn’t reply. The two sat in silence. A small, sad smile played on Ridley’s lips, “I told myself that I wouldn’t apologize first. That it wasn’t my fault this time, and that this time you would apologize to me first, and I’d get to be the one to say, ‘oh no, it’s alright, you don’t have to worry so much.’ But I ruined that, I guess. So I’m sorry.”
Another long silence passed before Jack answered, “I’m sorry too. I’m sorry about what happened in the mountains. But...I’m more sorry about why it happened. Because it shouldn’t have. It was wrong for me to leave you there, but...it’s worse that I gave you the hope that I’d stay. We both know it, Rid. I don’t love you. I’m not ever going to love you, not like her. And I’m sorry that I wasn’t strong enough to really tell you that. I wasn’t strong enough to stop you from hoping, and I let you dream, like you asked, and it only got us here. That fey, only brought out things that were already there. That will always be there.” Ridley sat quietly, listening. “So...I’m not going to let you pretend anymore. I’m not going to pretend anymore. Because that’s what’s really for the best.”
“...I know...” Ridley whispered, barely audible.
Jack was quiet for a moment. “I’m finally doing it.”
“What?” Ridley asked, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth.
“I’m enacting the revolution. Next week. I’m going to present the case to the council, and if they don’t accept...well...we’ll have to do what needs to be done.”
“That’s...that’s great. Good. Good for you,” Ridley’s voice was off, though he tried to make the positivity genuine.
“I’d...still like it if you were here. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. You’re one of the original four Embers, after all.”
“I...” Ridley thought about it for a moment. Slowly, he shook his head. “No.”
“No?”
“No. This...this is yours. It’s always been yours. I’ve just been hanging around, doing what I always do. You need to do this.” Ridley tried to give a wry smile, even though there was no one around to see it. “Besides, I’ve got my own stuff to deal with. Two kids who the Yetoman seems determined to get killed, a Northman who can’t even keep his own head in line, six baby dragons, and who knows what’s going to become of them, and two other guys who can barely keep their own acts together.” He chuckled, “And the horse would be so sad if I left. She’s probably sad right now.”
“But...”
“No, no but.” Ridley shook his head again. “You don’t need me. Not right now, not for this. They need me though, the kids, and the idiots. Heh, and I suppose maybe the animals too.”
There was a long pause before Jack conceded, “...Alright.”
“If...if you do need me, for whatever reason, I’ve still got the ring. It should work, as long as I stay in space-time. I’m only a teleport away, should you need me.”
“...Yeah. I’ll...talk to you soon.”
“So...good luck changing the world.”
“Thanks. Good luck...doing what you need to do, then.”
Ridley smiled sadly, “I’m just doing what I always do. Making sure dumb kids live long enough to change the world.” He twisted his ring again, and once more slipped it off his hand. He lay back down and stared at the ceiling for a moment, before getting out of bed entirely. He went to the window, and looked out over the perfectly-manicured lawns and roads of Riolythe, illuminated softly by the stars. Slowly, he leaned forward, first resting his hands on the sill, then his elbows, until eventually he dropped to his knees, his face covered by his arms. And he cried.
Category:Banishment of the Blackblades