fanfic; an interlude

[acperience]

Title: An Interlude
Series: The Legend of the Legendary Heroes / Insect, Eyeball, and Teddy Bear / Tales of Legendia
Character(s): Tiir.
Warnings: Death, and, er. Lots of murderous thoughts.
Summary: [AU, in this 'verse.] When Lafra and Pueka tell Tiir goodbye, it sounds like it's for good. It probably is.
Dedication: To igiko and broski.
Note: Jae, you are still a horrible person. Also, this hasn't been proofread, whoops.



—

An Interlude

—


It's arguably a blessing or a curse, Tiir's ability to keep thinking even when, by all means, his mind should have shut down. It doesn't necessarily think logically, but it thinks all the same, which is the only thing that stops him from staying as he is.

A wailing, broken mess on the floor.

He's standing, despite Lafra and Pueka's protests. As tempting as it is to lie forever, trying to drown his grief in his pain, a sense of urgency won't let him. His thoughts won't let him, because all he can think is Guriko is gone, they took her away, where is Walter, I need to do something—

"Tiir," Lafra says, his voice as gentle as ever. The familiarity is reassuring yet sharper than any knife could be (like the knife did him any good), in the same way that Tiir desperately wishes he were someone else right now while clinging to the fragments of reality.

Falling to delusions won't do him any good. They won't get Guriko back.

"You shouldn't be moving." At Pueka's words, Tiir belatedly realizes that he's moving—slow, shaky steps with a hand pressed against the wall, but steps nevertheless. His fingertips leave bloody smears as he moves his hand for support, but right now, the state of the house is the last thing he cares about.

It can go burn in a fire for all he cares, if it'll bring Guriko back.

(Though really, Tiir would prefer to see Lir burn.)

And so, he ignores her.

The door, where is the door—?

"I don't think there's anything we can do to stop him," Lafra says to Pueka, though the words almost sound like blurs, if they could make noise. Tiir doesn't know how badly injured he is, but it's yet another item on the list of things he simply doesn't give a damn about right now.

He has to find Walter.

He has to get Guriko back.

He has to make those bastards—Lir—pay for taking her away.

And while he'd never lay a hand against his cousins, God help anyone who tries to stop him.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to think about how he'd stop Lafra and Pueka from stopping him, because sure enough, they don't. Instead, he can feel Lafra moving his arm to place it over the boy's shoulders, as means of support.

"I'm sorry," he says.

Tiir says nothing in return.

There isn't any point.

—

Out of the pressing matters on his suddenly very free schedule, Tiir realizes that locating Walter is the most reasonable. As much as he'd like Guriko back as soon as possible, fighting Lir in the comfort of his own home didn't do much good. He can't imagine that fighting him anywhere else will provide better results at the moment.

The three receives stares as they walk down the streets. Not because of their ethnicity, as the people in the area have gotten used to it, in whatever sense of the word. Rather, what they stare at is Tiir's state, battered and bruised.

Lafra and Pueka don't bother commenting on it. It's clear that if the subject is brought up, Tiir's response would be nothing more than, "Let them stare."

He's never cared much for something as trivial as pride in the face of strangers to begin with. With everything that's happened, he doesn't even give it a second thought. Instead, he marches forward with grim determination, having regained the strength to walk on his own. He's barely aware of his surroundings, merely moving on instinct as he heads down the route to the grocery store.

Perhaps, if Tiir were someone else, he'd be trying to figure out how to break the news to Walter. Tiir, however, needs no contemplation.

They took Guriko away.

It's as simple as that.

And so, the only thing on his mind is that he needs to find him.

So focused in this, he nearly misses Lafra when his cousin speaks.

"Tiir... I don't think you should head down that road."

Tiir stops, nearly falling as his body remembers how weak it truly is, with momentum no longer giving him strength. He turns to face Lafra, and though he isn't annoyed, impatience is written all over his face.

He waits for an explanation and receives none other than a glance away.

Tiir knows a few things. Firstly, if he were about to walk to his death, Lafra would say as much.

(And as much as he wants to die right now, he also wants to live—live, so that he can make things better again, somehow.)

Secondly, his cousin isn't above withholding information from him. Tiir doesn't hold it against him, and what he does tell him is never wrong, but "don't think" is not a fact. As highly as Tiir holds Lafra's opinion, he decides that now is a good time to ignore it.

And if Lafra knows him at all, he was probably expecting that. The lack of any real persuasion makes it clear that while Tiir might not like what he finds, he'll—

He'll what?

He'll manage?

He can only hope so.

He can't save Guriko if he goes crazy, he thinks—if he hasn't already. By this point, Tiir isn't entirely sure of the line between sanity and insanity, and he's fairly certain he hasn't been sure since the day he killed his mother.

(He eliminated that obstacle, so why couldn't he do the same here?)

So, for whatever reason that he should avoid this road—he'll simply have to face it.

—

It's far, far easier to think that kind of thing when one is ignorant.

Ignorance is bliss, after all. And while Tiir would hardly call the past events blissful, only having his sister taken away from him was better than both having his sister taken away from him and—

And seeing his brother's mangled corpse on the road.

"Walter..." Dimly, he hears Pueka's horrified voice. Lafra is silent.

Tiir might as well be shouting, for his lack of words perhaps better conveys his feelings more than anything else. His eyes say all the words they need to, as they stare and stare and stare as if further confirmation of the fact will somehow alter it.

His shoulders shake, his knees collapse—he falls into a pool of (Walter's) blood.

For a few moments, his mind is blank, unable to focus on anything but Walter's bloody and broken body.

Those moments are perhaps the closest thing Tiir will know of peace from now on—for when his mind starts thinking again, reality crashes down upon him.

He's kneeling in a pool of his baby's brother blood.

The silence ends, for he screams.

—

Asking his cousins to buy a shovel as he carries Walter's body is probably one of the more morbid things that Tiir has done, murdering his mother excluded.

(And that was what got Guriko taken away, wasn't it? Because he's a criminal, even though they still would've lost if he'd let that woman live—)

It's fine, though. He might be insane by now, after all, though he reassures himself that he's still rational, at least. Rational can save Guriko.

(He just hopes that when he does, she won't hate him too much for failing to protect their brother.)

There's a lake nearby that Walter liked (liked, not likes) to spend his time at, Tiir remembers. No one else ever visits it, which is half the reason Walter liked it. Not that it would've mattered much if anyone had passed, though. The worst they could do was accuse him of being the murderer, which, in Tiir's eyes, is accurate enough.

He couldn't protect Walter, despite what Lafra had said. In the end, he might as well have murdered him with his own hands.

The thought is almost enough to make Tiir collapses again, between that, his injuries, and fatigue. Still, summoning all of his remaining strength, he doesn't stop.

His brother deserves a burial—and Tiir knows that the rest of the world doesn't care enough to give him one.

—

Covered in blood, bruises, and dirt, Tiir looks like a mess and feels like even more of one inside.

Lafra and Pueka take him back home—if one can even call it that anymore, without the people who made it home. Tiir splashes water in his face in an attempt to keep himself awake, though even with exhaustion pulling at his eyes, he doesn't think he'd be able to fall asleep.

It's also done so that he can look a bit more respectable, for now that the shock is starting to wear off, Tiir realizes that he can't go around in his state. He can't get anything done if people won't talk to him—and they won't, as he looks like he's just slept on the streets.

His cousins offer to let him live with them. He almost rejects, as that's another city away and he can't possibly save Guriko or take revenge from there, before thinking it over. Lir will have his guard up, expecting a retaliation. Perhaps he'd even expect Tiir to lash out immediately in grief (which, admittedly, is very tempting).

He needs time to think, and he can't do that here. And so, he accepts. For now, at least.

He doesn't have much to pack. Clothes, a few necessities, and a quick trip to Walter and Guriko's rooms to grab a few trinkets. Worthless in practical use, but Tiir would rather hold onto the memories of them than give himself the chance to forget.

(He will never forget.)

Before leaving, though, there's one last thing he has to do.

"Pleae leave the house," he tells Lafra and Pueka. "You might want to stay far away, actually."

They shoot him worried looks that he ignores, but they comply. Tiir counts to three full minutes before deciding that they've had enough time to put enough space between them and the house—that they should be far away enough so that they won't get hurt.

It doesn't take him long to get what he needs and to set everything up. He took care of this house, he knows exactly what to do to keep it standing—and what not to do.

The former was important, once upon a time. The latter is all that matters now.

—

As they head for the bus to Lafra and Pueka's town, Tiir stops to watch the flames dance and the smoke rise, as sirens ring in the distance.

—

Days turn into weeks that turn into months, and yet Tiir never forgets. The thought of his siblings is on his mind every day—a pain that Lafra and Pueka, for all their love and hospitality and kindness, cannot erase. They know this as well, and though Tiir is thankful for everything they've done for him, it's not enough to make him happy.

He has more time than he has ever had in his life. School is as far out of his reach as ever, and Lafra and Pueka make no complaints on how he freeloads off of them. It's strange not doing anything to support the family, and for that, Tiir is apologetic. However, he also makes no attempts to find a job, as he puts his spare time to much better use than one ever could.

Information is hard to come by, but Tiir is nothing if not "uselessly stubborn", as was said—though perhaps not so useless now. Lir Orla has two siblings: a twin and a younger sister (around Guriko's age, Tiir notes with quiet fury). Sure enough, he works for the government, so at the very least, he's not a liar—merely a man who destroyed his life.

No amount of research, of course, can shed light on Walter's death. He's realized by now that it was a hit-and-run, so the possibilities are infinite. He's not too concerned, though, as that girl—Fenimore—might have a lead once he finds a way to contact her.

(And for her sake, she better not have had anything to do with it.)

He can't find out where Guriko has ended up, though he figures that he'll find out some way or another. His plan, admittedly, is not very well thought out yet, but the odds are completely against him. A foolproof plan simply doesn't exist.

Lafra and Pueka never question him. Pueka, presumably, has no idea. Tiir wouldn't be surprised if Lafra knew, though. However, it seems that his cousin has accepted Tiir's descent into vengeance (madness?). Still, the two discuss him from time to time, when they think he can't hear them.

Pueka is worried that he seems to be handling things too well, obsession with his research aside. Lafra points out that that's always been how Tiir deals with things—grief in the moment of things, a strange sense of being 'okay' in the long run.

A very, very strange sense of being okay, since Tiir is further convinced that he no longer knows the difference between insanity and sanity and finds it harder each day to care.

(If Lafra has had any visions about the path that Tiir has chosen, he hasn't mentioned them.)

—

They don't ask when he suddenly gets a job and starts saving up money.

They don't argue when he tells them that he intends to "go back" in a few days.

They simply stare at him sadly, which tells him more than Lafra's dreams ever could.

—

For all Tiir knows, he might be a wanted man when he returns. He doesn't know exactly what Lir meant by giving him the slip—whether that meant only that he wasn't going to arrest him then or that he wasn't going to be put behind bars the moment someone recognized him.

Fortunately, as Tiir moves through the city like a shadow, it seems to be the latter. He notices a few familiar faces, who notice him in return, but the lack of authority figures coming to put him in handcuffs is a relief.

Getting arrested would be a severe setback in his revenge.

He's cold and tired by the time he reaches his destination, with the sun setting in the sky. His breath is visible as he breathes—a reminder that he's still alive.

(When Walter isn't.)

He's cold and tired, and yet more alive than he's ever been.

He stares up at the house that he hasn't seen in a while, hoping that its residents haven't moved. That they won't turn him away.

If there's anyone who'll know where Guriko is, it's Rinne. Once that's done, Fenimore is next, to finally learn the circumstances behind Walter's death.

"Better luck next time, matricide."

Tiir doesn't know where he's headed, but there's that thrill of starting a journey—of starting a hunt. It flares within him, reminding him of a girl struggling against her captor and a bloody body.

"Make this a fun game of chase, all right?"

His mouth twitches upward into a smirk.

Tiir knows that now, there's no turning back.

Lir Orla is about to find out that a desperate man makes a rather frightening predator indeed.