Face the Truth

"Face the Truth" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Sven/Brandt: “Still no word about Rhenco?” Sven asked his dad as they walked toward through the village. 
Brandt sighed. “Unfortunately no, not yet,” he said wrapping an arm around his oldest son, “but Mom and I are working with the council and Aunt Nala. For time being, you need to continue sticking with Lila with Mom, Malak, and I aren’t around.”
“I’m just she’s letting me do my sparring lessons,” Sven said. “I’ll have some ability to defend myself if I have to.”
Brandt chuckled. “It’s going to be fine, buddy,” he said. “You know Mom and I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know,” Sven replied. 
Farris: Just ahead of them, Farris stumbled into their view. He looked gastly, as if he had just thrown up, and blood covered his fingers. He heaved deep breaths as he caught their stunned gaze, and then he turned to hurry on.
Sven/Brandt: Sven and Brandt widened their eyes as soon as they saw Farris standing in front of them, but as he turned to leave, Brandt was able to snap out of it and grabbed him by the arm. 
“Whoa, whoa,” he said quickly. “Farris, are you okay?”
“What…happened to your fingers?” Sven asked as he eyed the blood that caked his hands.
Farris: “I…” Farris looked at his hands, and then back in the direction he had come, towards Malak’s house. For a moment realization, horror and worry filled his eyes, and then it was replaced by fear. “No I…just a scrape…just…just nothing. I am fine.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I must go. My employer will be waiting and much work is waiting for me at home…please be well, and goodbye.”
Sven/Brandt: “Hey, whoa, wait a minute,” Sven said. “You’re not in any shape to work right now. You look horrible.”
“Sven, easy,” Brandt said calmly. “Why don’t you sit down a minute, Farris?”
Farris: But Farris reeled away from them with a wave of his arm. “Away!” He barked. “Away from me! I have nothing left here to address so leave me be!”
He marched away with hunched shoulders, his arms rigid.
Sven/Brandt: Sven and Brandt could only watch with stunned looks on their faces as Farris walked away from them. Father and son were both silent as they looked at one another and then at Malak’s house.
“What was that about?” Sven asked. 
“Not sure…” Brandt said. “Come on, son. We better check on Malak.”
Malak: When the door opened to the house, Sven and Brandit were met with the image of Malak’s crumpled form on the floor of the cottage.
His head lifted in a daze at their entrance, his vision blurred and splatters of blood and saliva pooled under his chin.
‘Sven’ his mouth moved, but no voice came out as he slowly rested his head back to the floor.
Sven/Brandt: “Malak!” Sven shouted as he ran over to his sparring master kneeling down next to him as Brandt followed. “Are you okay?
“What happened?” Brandt asked putting a hand on Malak’s back. 
Malak: Malak blinked his swollen eyes as he heard their words, and very, very slowly he rolled to his side.
“I’m ugh…I’m…” he sniffed as some blood dribbled from his broken nose. “I had a bit of um…another disagreement with ugh….another family member it seems”
Sven/Brandt: “Farris,” Sven and Brandt said in unison. 
“Must’ve been a bad one,” Brandt said with concern on his face. 
“What did you two argue about?” Sven asked curiously. 
Malak: Malak spat once on the floor as the world started to become a little more clear. He then shook his head, and turned to Brandit.
Malak had thought long and hard many a night about his family, about Grey, and about Sven. He realized now he hadn’t thought nearly enough of Brandit. And that it had been deliberate.
He lowered his head. “Could I speak with you alone sir?” He managed to mutter around his busted lips.
Sven/Brandt: Brandt furrowed his eyebrows together and nodded. “O-Of course,” he replied. He then turned to his son. “Hey, buddy, why don’t you go wait outside? Maybe practice your moves a bit before your lesson?”
“Dad, I’m 17,” Sven said with a raise eyebrow, “I get it. I’ll wait outside.” With that said, as his father chuckled and lightly swatted him on the shoulder, Sven made his way out of the house and closed the door.
Malak: Malak slapped a hand to the floor and pushed himself up against the wall.
“Farris…” he sighed, as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep. “He found out I never had red card…and that it was only him…”
Sven/Brandt: As soon as Malak said that, things finally clicked as to why they found Farris so distressed outside the house…and why he had blood on his hands. The second-in-command sighed sadly and shook his head. 
“I’m sure that was very difficult for him to hear,” Brandt finally said after a moment. “Sven and I saw him outside.”
Malak: Malak groaned as he rubbed his head with a wince. “Was he okay? Outside…of the obvious…I guess…”
Sven/Brandt: “Well, we…we tried to talk to him,” Brandt replied, “but he looked like he was in distress. He looked a little disheveled, and…we saw the blood on his hands. I tried to get him to take it easy, but he insisted that he couldn’t and went to find his employer.”
Malak: Malak relaxed…a little. And then sat in silence. His thin breathing hissed against the slow drizzle of blood.
Finally he spoke.
“I think…I need advice…from someone who’s been a father longer than I…”
Sven/Brandt: “Of course,” Brandt said, “I mean…this father still has a lot to learn, but…what is it you need advice on?”
Malak: Malak rested his elbows on his pulled up knees. “I did…things my wife couldn’t forgive, for the same reasons my son did this, and…and Opie is off living in some jail cell by choice…”
“You’ve made and raised a wonderful, whole family…what on earth could I possibly do?”
Sven/Brandt: Brandt nodded as he listened to the half-breed, and he couldn’t help but shake his head at how Malak viewed his family. He, his wife, and their three kids…they really were a wonderful family, but…not everyone knew of what happened before Sven, Dagny, and Kari were born…before he and Grey got married. 
“Well, I’m going to be real honest with you, Malak,” he said after a moment. “Grey and I…we had some rough patches when we were just courting…before the kids were even born…before we even got married. It wasn’t always whole and wonderful.”
Malak: “But have come through it…whereas I am here, and the others scattered…” His eyes glazed over with thoughts of the past. “Truth me told…we had stopped being, or at least acting like a family for years now.”
Sven/Brandt: “Well, you...you all went through something traumatic,” Brandt replied. “We may have gotten through it, but I almost lost Grey because of something I did. It didn’t get fixed over night, but...we worked hard at it.”
Malak: Have I been working hard at this…?
“I did attempt to speak to Chelsea…about going back to how we were but…she wasn’t very interested.” He spat again on the floor and touched gingerly at one of his eyes. “Of course…that may been more out of idealism than hard work. Farris and I were are on fine terms…until just now. And I suppose…that was born out of lies.” He thought of Opie in his cells, and his hardened eyes glanced away from Brandit’s form. 
Sven/Brandt: “Well, I wouldn’t say it was born out of lies,” Brandt replied placing a hand on Malak’s shoulder. “I…I didn’t exactly come clean about who I was or where I came from when I first met my wife, but…that didn’t seem to matter at first. We just got to know each other, but…once the truth came out about some things, it took a lot more than just…talking about it and kissing and making up. We tried to spend more time together…tried to talk again, and I think Grey and I had to realize…that the past couldn’t be changed.”
Malak: “It feels so foreign.” Malak confessed. “The notion of moving on past an unchangeable…well…past. The balance of justice and mercy so that one might do better. Appropriate retribution and the chance for the ill doer to help those rather than harm. I cant sort it out in my own head.”
He looked to him. “Sir at first I was forced under threat, then I was ordered, then I began to act on Rhenco’s behalf without instruction…and finally I began to harm others for no other reason to escape my own reality for a few short moments, or cast his eyes to someone other than me…”
Sven/Brandt: “Please, call me Brandt,” he said with a small smile nodding. “You…had no choice. I didn’t know Rhenco…but from what my son has told us, it wasn’t pleasant. Your son, Farris tried to keep it together. He was your rock, but when that was taken from you…what else could you do?”
Brandt took a deep breath. “I’m going to tell you something that no one else knows,” he finally said. “About a year or so…before Grey and I met, I was a member of this tribe called the Barbaric Burglars. It was a tribe that attacked others just for the heck of it, and oddly enough, the island we set our sites on was…Haligan Island. At first, I didn’t think about the consequences. I just thought this was a mission to prove myself…a battle that I needed to survive and to win for my tribe…because I had no other choice.”
Malak: Malak blinked at him in some surprise. Brandt certainly didn’t strike him as a man that could be part of such an aggressive group. “I can see how that would cause some marital strain…” he folded his fingers, feeling a little awkward the man would  share something so personal.
“Please…I don’t want there to be a mistake. I was forced, truly, as you have said. But I also mean it when I said I began to hurt people for my own selfish reasons. I lost myself, and I willfully chose to do terrible things. And its caused a rift between my wife and son and I…I wonder, what do you do for you, to move past your past?”
Geez…I probably could have phrased that better…
Sven/Brandt: “Well, it was…is never easy,” Brandt said after a moment of silence, “but…my love for Grey…and the love she has for me…is what drove us to want to fix our relationship…to move past it. I…did something horrible that day, but…when it happened, I was horrified and sought out to start a new life. Both Grey and I knew that it was before we even met, but it didn’t stop the hurt. So…we just…talked and tried to push through it you know? We agreed that we wouldn’t let it ruin our relationship. Honestly, Grey has been a huge help. She reminded me that I did what I was ordered to do and that I tried to change my life. We talked and talked, and we helped each other move on.” 
Malak: “As ordered…” Malak murmured, and began to get himself to his feet, and make his way over to a wash basin to take care of his face. He dabbed at the cuts with a cloth, the water becoming stained with pink. He thought over his words. 
He knew he certainly didn’t have the love and support from Chelsea that Brant had with Grey. That he could tell even before she cut at his finger. His past was horrible, and he had done horrible things, but…it was also a past that was contained to one place, as a prisoner, a prisoner suffering under brainwashing. 
He hummed. “I’ll admit…I feel like I don’t deserve to leave it all behind, and yet I’ve never been one to just wallow in guilt…” He gripped the back of his neck and pressed the rag to his mouth to spit in it. “My support is very different than yours but…I can’t pretend it isn’t there. I’m completely confounded by all of this…but perhaps that’s beyond my control. Perhaps I should just focus on living, and wait for the solution to come to me, instead of the other way around…”
Huh…fancy that…talking does help…   
Sven/Brandt: “I think that’s the best thing you can do for yourself,” Brandt said nodding. “Focus on yourself first, and if your family manages to move past what you all went through, then great. But if not…” Brandt’s eyes dart toward the door Sven just walked through, “maybe there’s…something better. I used to think it was destiny to help my tribe take over Haligan Island, but after I met Grey and we worked through everything, I realized that…our love, our relationship, our family…was what was meant to be.”
Malak: Malak paused as Sven entered the room, but he took Brandt’s words to heart. He still had no idea what to do. How much of what he had done could be considered a crime in the eyes of the law? How much a crime against morality? How much was black and white versus grey? Was living with a new chance like this an offence to nature? Or was it as life was supposed to be?
It was too many questions. But the man before him was right. Talking. Living. Thinking. He would find what was right, and it didn’t have to happen right away. He looked at Sven, and remembered all his angry words asking why the chief would entrust her son to a man who had once tried to kill him. He had been so focused on what he had done, he had forgotten who he was now.
Who I was…was left back in that hotel…I am who I am now. And I would never hurt a child. I would never lay hands on the unwilling. I will never do any of the things I had done before.
He motioned towards the heir and glanced at Brandt. “Yes…I agree…for everything you’ve been through, you must have such pride for your family. And it doesn’t take much to see why Sven would be such a favored child. He has quite the resolve.” 
Sven/Brandt: The man chuckled and looked at his eldest son smiling. “Yes…he does,” Brandt said, “just like his mother, and Grey and I are proud of all three of them. Both he and our daughters have bright futures ahead of them.” He wanted to make sure that Malak knew that there were no favorites in the Felman family. Yes, Sven was Grey’s heir and the future Chief of Haligan Island, and he had a lot to learn before taking such a position. However, Dagny and Kari also had big dreams and futures as well. Both he and Grey promised from the moment they realized she was pregnant with Dagny that neither of their children would feel unloved.
Malak: Malak listened to him, and then fell into an odd silence. He absentmindedly dabbed at his slip lips again, and then hissed as he straightened himself up, and suddenly made his way towards the door. “Um…please excuse me…I…I need to go. Thank you again for your words.” He paused at he stood shoulder to shoulder with Sven, and gave the boy a nod. “I’ll be back…”
Sven/Brandt: “You’re welcome,” Brandt said as he watched Malak leave the house and acknowledge his eldest son. He had a feeling as to where Malak was going, but he didn’t want to make any assumptions.
“Where are you going?” Sven asked his sparring master.
Malak: Malak hesitated by the door, and then gave Sven a passive wave of his hand. “I’ll let you know when I get back. Hold the fort okay?”
Sven/Brandt: “Oookay...” Sven said raising an eyebrow at Malak. 
“We’ll be here when you get back, Malak,” Brandt quickly added.
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Events
Category:Act I
Category:Malak
Category:Farris
Category:Sven Felman
Category:Brandt Felman