Tezz Returns

== Summary ==
== Full Text ==
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz walks to the doors of the fortress and pushes them open. Only to run straight into Stonegit. The person he feared most right now. “I have returned Stonegit.” He bowed his head to the man he considered his superior.
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: Stonegit’s tongue presses to the roof of his mouth, but then he hesitates, seeing Clover and Tree. He squints, and then sees his missing hand. “You’re just in time,” he said. “So…you have regained full control?”
Tezzeret Verdile: "To the fullest extent of my knowledge, sir." He let go of his concentration on his water hand, the water splashed onto the floor. "You have permission to kill me if I do lose it, but, not with the mark you branded me with. I will not be branded." Tezz took note of the inhabitants of the hall. "What’s happening here?"
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: Stonegit shrugged, motioning behind him. “Mera, Haddock’s wife has come to the fortress. She is our Queen now. I’m currently running the military operations…we got a…little over run a few days ago. Four possessed people, and only one of them was on our side. You understand that mark was in case you suddenly attack the King, but I understand why you refuse to go out that way…my magic is gone these days anyway, at least the potent stuff is.”
He hefted the pike in his hand experimentally. “Well, I only want to have to put up with any possessed people.” Stonegit looked up. “You can I can hit the books and check out Hemlock’s library. If we find something that can help you and Skye so much so the better.” his demeanor darkened. “And if we don’t, I’m killing the one that doesn’t have present family duties.”
Clover Rose: Clover, who had been quietly observing Stonegit and Tezz’s conversation, momentarily put a hand to her head before stumbling and collapsing. If anyone were to brush a hand against her skin, it would have become apparent how hot it was to the touch.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz smiled at Stonegit. “I will help you with finding a way to cure this. But, I also came back to hunt our newest enemy. You know of what I speak.” As the last words were uttered from his mouth, Clover fell behind him. “Clover?” He turned to see her on the floor behind him. “I need help! We need to get her to a healer!”
Treepelt Halfpaw: Treepelt got down next to Clover, panic rising in her chest. “She’s okay…she’s fine. We just need to get her to…a…I’ll…” She hated the feeling of being useless. She knew people wouldn’t trust her around their wounded, but she scooped Clover up into her arms. “I’ll…I’ll find someone to help.” The end of her sentence almost sounded like a question.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Take her to my room, I’ll get a healer and meet you there." He started to walk away. "…and Tree, we’re talking when we get a chance." Tezzeret knew something was wrong with her, and he wanted to make sure she’d be alright. He’d do the same for Clover, but, she’s not exactly able to speak.
He ran to where he took Vox, where he took Clover after the accident. The all too familiar wing. The healers almost knew what was going on, and 2 followed him back to his room. Where Tree was sitting by Clover at his old bed. Melira was laying next to Clover, hugging her close.
He let the healers begin to work, he bent some water out of the wall to give to Clover before stepping out of his room. Motioning to Tree to follow him. When they were in the hall outside he spoke, “Tree, are you alright?”
Treepelt Halfpaw: Treepelt avoided his gaze, hands running nervously through the ends of her hair. “Y-yes, I’m fine. The Warden’s gone.” Her voice hitched a bit. “Why shouldn’t I be?” She turned to face down the hallway, turning her shoulders away from him. “I’m not—everything’s fine.”
She had never told a bigger lie in her life.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Tree…" He put his hand on her shoulder. "I know what happened. How are you holding up, really?"
Treepelt Halfpaw: "I—I’m…"
She continued staring down the hallway for a few seconds more. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed a hand to her forehead, lips trembling. Her tail began to lash back and forth.
"I wasn’t strong enough," she said shakily, almost to herself.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Treepelt…" Tezz went forward and hugged one of his best friends. "What happened? You need to talk this out. I can’t help you if you don’t say anything and you damn well know that. ” He pulled back from the hug and gave her a stern look from his short height.
Treepelt Halfpaw: Screwing up her face and biting her lip, she choked. “It’s—it’s Haddock—if i hadn’t—if he—a-at the start of—everything—if I had fought the Warden off—in the first place—none of this would have happened—nobody would’ve—”
Her mind was fevered now; with few people to speak with her lately, the guilt had soared. It had grown twisted and black again, back to how it had been when she was coming out of complete possession, still forced to do horrific things but still remembering them. She was broken. She was completely convinced that all of the tragedy that had befallen the Rebellion was her fault alone. The last few days had been a silent trance for her and she hadn’t tried to articulate her feelings before they progressed into something dark.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz pursed his lips, he had to choose his words carefully. “Treepelt, oh Treepelt. You’re not to blame, your actions of the past have not butterflied into the events that just happened. The Warden is its own entity, she is not a part of you, not like what I am. Not like what I did to the one person I let myself love.”
He gestured back into the room. “I am entirely to blame for her injury. I am to blame for what I’ve done to myself.” He held up the arm where is hand is missing. “But you Treepelt, you are so much better, you were controlled by an entity stronger than you. And there’s no way you could have predicted that you’d have to have that mental battle. You could not have done things any different. You’re blaming yourself for the actions and decisions a lying manipulative snake of a demon.” Tears glistened in his eyes as he stared up at Tree. “And I will not stand to see you be controlled by that.”
Treepelt Halfpaw: "What am I supposed to do about it!?"
Treepelt hadn’t expected her mood to turn so foul. “What can I do about it!? Every day I wake up and it’s the first thing I think about, it’s the last thing I see when I go to sleep—if I go to sleep—and every time I think I’ve gotten over it I have a—a relapse—and she was here, she could have talked to me again, but no,had to scheme with Stonegit, and—I’m never going to get over this! Am I?” she shot at him. “You said it yourself, I’m…I’m…” She buried her face in her hands.
"I’m broken."
She brought her shivering hands away slightly, staring at them in horror.
"I’M BROKEN!!" she screamed.
Tezzeret Verdile: "THOR DAMN IT TREEPELT!" Tree bellowed a voice that should not have come from a frame so small.  He lashed out and punched into the ice near him with his only hand, bending a hole where his fist impacted. "You expect us, all of us, your friends, your family. To idly sit by and let you destroy yourself?” The tears he was holding back spilled down his face.
"Your guilt and anguish are affecting more than just you! You need to accept that we need you Treepelt. I can’t stand to see one of the only people on this planet that I relate to… just…” Tezz drew in a breath. “live in this nightmare of the past. We have to accept where we come from, and use it to better ourselves. I don’t expect you to be the person you were before all of this. I don’t know that person. I expect you to be a better person than the old you.”
Treepelt Halfpaw: "Who needs me?" Her voice got dangerously soft. "I don’t do anything here. I’m the…I’m the insane guard, that’s what I am. There’s nothing left of me, of my reputation, nothing.” She advanced a step. 
"You say they need me, but they don’t. They don’t trust me." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the hall in which the meeting had just taken place. "That girl, that Viking girl, she doesn’t trust me, none of them do. None of them trust me enough to clean the mud off their boots. So why," she said, raising her voice again, "should I pretend to start over when no one will let me forget!?"
Tezzeret Verdile: "You fucking… grahhh!" Tezz clenched his fist and tightened his jaw. "Fine, they don’t need you. But I know for a fact that Vox needs you. I know for a fact that I need you. I’m not asking you to start over, I’m asking you to move on. I have to go in there and face what I’ve done to Clover when she wakes up. I have to charge head first in there and deal with the fact that I still have a nightmare living in my head that doesn’t give a shit about ruining my life.” He pointed to his skull as he spoke. The tears became more prolific as he continued.
"Odin… These rebels don’t truly trust either of us Tree. But they have more reason to trust you than to trust me. I can still snap at any moment, I’m a walking explosive that puts all of your lives in danger by refusing to leave."
"How do you plan to move past this Treepelt? What are you going to do? Run away? Let yourself rot away in solitude? I will sell my soul before I let you off yourself."
Treepelt Halfpaw: Treepelt stopped with her mouth open, still staring at him with the half-snarl on her face, but it slowly melted away and she seemed to shrink in place. 
"…I don’t know."
She’d been dry all throughout her rant. Only now did the tears come. 
"I don’t know."
She looked up from the ground and shook her head, opening her mouth. “Tezz, I don’t know….I don’t know what to do…”
She practically fell forward and caught him around the shoulders, hugging him tightly as the tears streamed down her face. “What do I do?” she sobbed. “What did…what did you do…to feel…to feel better again…?”
Tezzeret Verdile: "It took me four years to figure out how to even start to feel better Treepelt." Tezz hugged his friend close. "And I sure as Hel didn’t have the luxury of a councilor. The only way I’ve felt better is to practice what I’ve been trying to get through your thick skull since we first talked about this. You have to realize that you’re not at fault, you are not to blame.” He pushed a finger into her chest at each syllable to emphasize his words. ”Inner peace comes when you can overcome that thought.”
"I’m back now, and I will help you whenever you need it. If you start to relapse, come find me. If you feel angry, come beat the shit out of me,  I could always use a good sparring match. If you need someone to back you up when you’re being confronted, you can always get me to back you up. To start to heal, you need to know you have people you can go to." He sniffled as he broke a smile through the tears. "People aren’t going to trust either of us for a long time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t trust each other."
Treepelt Halfpaw: Treepelt sniffed and wiped her face, nodding carefully. “Okay.” She attempted a watery smile. “Okay. I’ll…I’ll do that.” She wanted to express the depth of her gratitude to him, she wanted to say something so much deeper than “thank you” for allowing her to scream at him, to vent to him, to cry on him, but she couldn’t come up with anything, so she merely grasped his forearms where she still held them, shaking them slightly and nodding.
"…do you think they’ll do anything to us?" she said after a second, hesitantly, sniffing again. "Do you think they would?"
Tezzeret Verdile: "Honestly Tree? They’ll kill me before they harm a hair on your head if it has anything to do with your past." Tezz gave her arm a squeeze before backing off. "Now then, i have a daughter that has missed me for several days that probably needs me as much as you needed to talk tonight." He softly punches her arm. "If you’d care to join me, I don’t want you going off alone and having negative thoughts fill your head again."
Treepelt Halfpaw: Treepelt smiled again, more genuinely this time. “All right. I’ll come.” She followed Tezz back into the room they placed Clover in, where Melira still rested next to Clover’s bandaged shoulder.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Clover… what’s wrong… is the wound not healing?" Tezz leaned in close to the woman he loved. He reached out with his good hand and scruffled Melira’s hair before picking her up and holding her close where she could hug him and bury her face in his shoulder.
Clover Rose: Clover looks at Tezz, blinking slowly as she tries to process his words. The fever was beginning to slow her mind a bit by this point. When it finally clicked what he was asking, her mouth formed a silent “oh” before she spoke. “I . . I don’t know. I felt fine yesterday . . ” She speaks quietly, hesitant.
Melira, on the other hand, was just happy to see Tezz, and clung to him tightly.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz turned to the healers in the room. “What’s happening to her? Is there anyway I can help?”
"We have to keep the wound clean, it’s becoming infected. It needs to be washed every couple of hours and have the bandages replaced. It’s a tedious process to get her to heal properly. We have to be extra careful with how close the wound is to her heart."
"I can provide clean water, at the very least." Tezzeret bowed his head to the healers. "If you could have someone run fresh bandages to me I can take care of Clover." 
"Of course sir." Tezzeret set down Melira and turned to Tree as the healers left the room. "I may need help changing the bandages, I… forgot that I don’t have both of my hands."
Treepelt Halfpaw: "Absolutely." She sat down next to Clover, glad to have something to do with her hands. She discreetly eyed Tezz’s missing hand again as she gingerly unwound the bandages, wondering how in the world he had the willpower to just…saw it off. Or maybe it didn’t happen like that. Tree wasn’t sure. 
"How are you holding up, Clover?"
Clover Rose: Clover considers the answer to this question carefully, not quite sure how to answer it. “I’ve been . . better.”
Tezzeret Verdile: "Clover… I know we need to talk…" Tezz was moving his hand over the wound, cleaning it with water from deep in the wall next to them. "Since we haven’t had a chance to do that yet. But you look awful right now. I can tell you haven’t been eating, you look exhausted, and I know for a fact that it’s not all from this wound… It’s from another wound… I get it." He pulled the water away, also pulling some of the pus and fluids out of the wound.  "But right now we need to make sure you’re going to be better. You’re going to eat and get some rest before we work on any of our relationship problems. You’re in no shape to be yelling at me yet."
Clover Rose: "Tezz … there’s no … there’s no problem with you. I’ve had time to think. I get that it was an accident. You didn’t mean to do it. I . . I think you’re probably in control." Clover deliberately looks away from him, and she stream of water. "More than anything . . I just want things to be okay. And nothing’s going to get better in here . . " She trails off, tapping the side of her head with her left hand, "Until it does."
Tezzeret Verdile: "I’ve been worried sick about you since I left Clover, and… I know I’m going to have to leave again to keep you safe. Things will be okay, but it’s better if we have some distance while you heal. But part of this process means you have to eat, and you have to sleep while I’m gone, please."
Clover Rose: "Please don’t leave me again." The words are barely above a whisper, and she turns and looks at him with pleading eyes. "Please don’t leave for no reason other than … ‘keeping me safe’ … "
Tezzeret Verdile: "They’re using me to fight the witches Clover, I have to do my part to help." He brushed her cheek as he spoke. "I’m the only one besides Kiri who’s seen or fought them, and they need my help to keep everyone safe. But I’ll return as often as possible, you know I will."
Clover Rose: "I … I know. You have to help … but don’t leave for no reason. Please don’t do that." Clover grabs his hand and laces their fingers together. "I love you. I don’t want to lose you."
Tezzeret Verdile: "I won’t do that. I love you too much to do that to you. I realize that especially now after being in exile. But you need to take care of yourself while I’m fighting witches.”
Clover Rose: "I just … I don’t have the energy to care. I don’t feel hungry, so I don’t eat … and then when I try to sleep I just end up staring at a wall or the ceiling until it’s morning again. I … I don’t know if I can.”
Tezzeret Verdile: "You have to try, if not for you, for Melira, for me." He bent down and gave her an awkward hug.
Clover Rose: Clover closes her eyes with a sigh. “I’ve been trying, it just hasn’t been enough, I guess.”Category:Season 3
Category:Events
Category:Tezzeret Verdile
Category:Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss
Category:Clover Rose
Category:Treepelt Halfpaw
Category:BOTGD