Chapter Text
“Why are you blaming me for everything?!” Rocket was staring at the counselor sitting across the table from him.
Stupid fucking teachers. They got all riled up because I did something harmless. It wasn’t even my fault. She overreacted. I wasn’t going to hurt her! I made sure of it!
“Rocket, you were found in a very serious situation. Phighting on school grounds can lead to suspension.” They looked over to the other people in the room. The inphernal around Rocket’s age who wore a jacket that was so bright in color, it blinded him. Oh and unfortunately, her caretaker just got there. They were staring Rocket down.
“But, she was the one who started it! Didn’t you say we have a right to defend what we think is right.” He glared at the inphernal adjacent to him. “What she did definitely wasn't right!”
“I know, Rocket, and I’m glad you remember that but from accounts, I heard that you started it with a prank.”
“I wasn’t going to hurt her! I-”
“Liar!” She quickly cut Rocket off from saying anything else.
Her caretaker spoke up, directly targeting Rocket. “You allow behavior like this at school? To let this little brat hurt my daughter?” Her caretaker was there, defending the younger inphernal’s actions. It didn’t even make any sense. She was the one who started it, if she didn’t want any phights, then maybe she’d keep her horns to herself if she knew what’s good for her.
The counselor had their mouth open to try and keep the peace but Rocket took it in his own hands instead. “Sit your ass down old man! Screw you! You just pretend like it was okay for her to do that!” Rocket felt like hurling even more insults towards the two of them but he knew that’d get him in more trouble.
If Zuka was here, he’d defend him. Even if… Rocket wasn’t really in the right in this situation.
The rockeeter was just doing what he thought was right, just like what Zuka would’ve done. Do good when others aren’t. To make sure the other inphernal understood her lesson on speaking behind others back. There’s a point where talking doesn’t do anything anymore, actions could speak a thousand words.
And even then, some people refuse to listen in spite of everything else around them.
Speaking about Sword when he wasn’t even here to defend himself.
Of course he couldn’t just let it go.
…
Zuka and Darkheart were sitting in Zuka’s truck, driving. Well, Zuka was the one driving, Darkheart was vibing in Zuka’s shadow to avoid any unwanted attention even if passerbys couldn’t actually see inside his truck. The deity wouldn’t outright say it but Zuka’s music choice was quite entertaining. They’d give it eight stars out of ten with how relaxing it was. Mortals sure did have funny ways of making the mundane slightly less mundane.
Though, they still could’ve just taken the shortcut. The backdoors were a perfectly valid and much more superior way. But, atlas, Zuka didn’t want to, so that was that.
The streets around Crossroads were pretty simple to drive around. Not like many inphernals had a car anyways. Lucky for Zuka, he had one. Honestly, he didn’t know how he managed to make a life that others admired, at least to most people. A son, a business, a home. Food on the plate. A roof over their heads- a safe one at that. On the highest layer of Crossroads, no less.
Usually, Zuka could care less about the entire layer system of Crossroads. It was beyond his power to commentate about the divide between class that some inphernals faced. It was unfortunate but not something that he had much say over. Had it been a couple years ago perhaps he would’ve thought more about it. But now? Now he had other priorities.
Zuka wouldn’t have cared where he lived so long as it wasn’t in Blackrock.
It was a shame considering he had fond memories there…
Nevermind.
Crossroads was best for Rocket and safest so that answered any concerns that he had. Even if Rocket did decide to wander off with Sword to… who knows where. He’d be reassured that Rocket was safe. And anyways, Rocket could handle themselves just fine so Zuka didn’t really need to worry.
For a while, Zuka had no idea how to actually parent Rocket. He wanted to be as hands off as possible while still providing proper guidance. After all, that was what a caretaker like him should be doing, right? The inphernal had their doubts about how to treat Rocket. Obviously, he wasn’t going to do what Blackrock does to their newspawns but it always made him uneasy. Was he doing too much? Or too little? Does Rocket feel… loved?
Zuka definitely didn’t want to neglect Rocket that much but no one ever told him what a good balance looked like. It wasn’t like he could just take his own childhood into account.
…
At the very least, neither of them ever had to worry about money. That made everything much easier. Zuka was… lucky.
Most of the time, during the drive, they went slowly due to road laws and all that. Crossroads was a big city so driving fast would get him pulled over by the police. Even Zuka wasn’t above the law.
Since it was the middle of the day, there weren't that many other inphernals. Zuka saw probably one or two who were minding their own business out on the street.
A sly thought came to Darkheart. It probably wouldn’t cause too much of a scandal to appear here. After all, Darkheart was a deity, anyone who saw them would freeze up in fear.
Who’d punish Darkheart for mingling with mortals? Ban Hammer? Ha- good joke.
Had it been outside in a crowded area, the deity would obviously care about Zuka’s opinion on that, considering he’d get crazy looks for weeks if other inphernals found out Zuka had a deity trailing them around. Also, to appear in a crowd could cause a riot and as fun as that’d be, Darkheart had to restrain themselves. Zuka being a part of all that didn’t really appeal to them anyways.
But! They were bored, so they crawled up from the shadows and sat right beside Zuka in the passenger seat. It was quite a tight fit but the deity made it work, somehow.
As that was happening, Zuka looked away from the road to Darkheart. The face that he made was filled with utter confusion and concern. Not for himself but anyone who managed to look through the truck windows. At this point, Zuka didn’t even need to say anything as he shut his eyes for a moment before focusing his attention towards the inphernals that were passing them.
…
Yep, he could guarantee one was staring in shock.
…
Was that inphernal starting to cry?
Holy fuck.
Today was awful. Nothing went Zuka’s way.
And the source of it all was one person.
One deity.
What made it worse was that the deity didn’t even hurt him. Not once did Darkheart put a finger upon Zuka to harm him. At this rate, he’d rather the deity challenge him to a duel, gear at his throat. One that’d kill him, but at this rate? Bleeding out, losing their mind, it was the same at this point.
Now that he thought about it, who was he fooling? Darkheart would never physically harm Zuka even if Zuka wanted him to.
Just mentally. To throw his mind into a pit where he stopped knowing where right was from wrong. To be belittled, demeaned, condescended. To always be reassured that Darkheart had all the power over him and any demands, concerns, or any mortal thought he could ever have didn’t matter to a deity like them.
…
He’d rather be beaten down. At least then, the wounds could physically heal.
“Darkheart! What do you even want with me.”
The deity gave a deep laugh. “Wasn’t it obvious by now? We want you. What else could we want?”
“Me-” Zuka almost felt like doing a I’m not angry just disappointed face. “You expect that I’m the same person, huh? Fun fact! I’m not the same person I was a couple years ago and definitely not the same one twenty years ago.”
“But-”
“But, what!? Darkheart you keep trying to force whatever this was between us; I said I was done and I meant it.” Zuka felt frustrated. Was it not clear that Zuka didn’t want to see Darkheart? No words, no actions, nothing would make Zuka feel any different to Darkheart. He was a fair inphernal, he saw the goodness in everyone. But not for Darkheart. Never again. “If you have any respect at all, then you can respect that.”
But when someone who he trusted broke his heart-
No.
His trust, he just couldn’t. Sometimes people do things that are unforgivable, even if they spent their entire lifetime trying to make up for whatever it was they did. To accept it was one thing. To ever expect forgiveness was another.
And it almost made Zuka laugh! Darkheart was a deity. They had an eternity to ask for forgiveness. Jokes on them, unlike Darkheart, Zuka was mortal. He couldn’t live forever. The only time limit to fix this was upon the mortal’s life span, not the deity’s.
Darkheart gave a small hmm to think for a moment. “Could’ve sworn you almost kissed us just a couple of minutes ago.”
Zuka took a deep breath in. “It was a mistake… See? Admitting to your mistakes. You know, the mature thing to do. . Oh- I’m sorry, I forgot, I’m the only adult here, aren’t I?”
“Bitey-”
“The only thing I’d want to bite is your mouth off.” Each word Zuka said was filled with spite. “The day you’re good is the day the Inpherno discovers a life without violence.”
“Good?” That reminded Darkheart of Zuka’s mindset back then. “You realize mortals are wired for violence before peace, right? Though, Zuka, you were a surprising exception, we might say. Part of us kind of likes that about you… it’s quite rare.”
Zuka briefly shook his head to ignore whatever nonsense the deity was trying to say to him. “So what? It’s better than you. You’re wired to cause chaos yet here you are trying to recover bits and pieces of what we had. Spoiler alert! You won’t find what you’re looking for.”
“Chaos isn’t just explosions and destruction, Zuka…” Darkheart smiled at the inphernal. “And anyways that wasn't our goal today.”
“You wanna give me a lesson on poetry? I’ll make my own goddamn conclusions, thank you.” Zuka scoffed at the inphernal. His leg pushed down on the gas pedal a little harder than he needed to. Lucky they weren’t driving in the wild, he might’ve lost it at that point and started taking the car for a joyride. Something that Rocket was… a bit too into.
“We’re just saying that we’re here strictly for positive purposes! Isn’t that a good thing?” The tone in Darkheart’s voice made Zuka want to grumble.
“You scare me over Rocket, you threaten Sword’s sibling, you harass me, you intrude in my home? What reality would that be positive… you wanna say that to my face again?” His head turned to Darkheart who looked uncomfortable in the small seat.
“Well- we apologized for those, didn’t we?”
“... Did you just forget what I just talked about?!” Darkheart wanted this! They were the one who told Zuka that they couldn’t-... How dense could a deity be?! Zuka groaned as he rubbed his eyes. “You realize my life isn't a story from a fairytale you’ve read, right? If you even have the comprehension to read. That doesn’t mean all the wrong someone- YOU- do magically disappears once you apologize. I have the right to never forgive someone for anything they did- so does Rocket- so does everyone else in the Inpherno.”
“Why should we care about what anyone else thinks?” Darkheart continued to smile in their seat.
“What?! You look at me and say that you don’t care what people think when all you’ve done is try and get me to admit- what? That I care for you? I did care about you, Darkheart, DID. I… I don’t even know anymore. Happy?” Before Darkheart could respond, Zuka added onto his rant. “You just said you wanted a ‘positive experience’ ” The tone of that made Darkheart chuckle. “How stubborn are you-...! I don’t care if you lie to me, just stop lying to yourself, Darkheart.”
“...” The deity turned their head in curiosity.
And that made Zuka even more confused. “Darkheart you realize I know you’re hiding something. God, it’s like some love struck school aged inphernal can communicate their feelings better than you can.”
“Rude.”
“Whatever.” Zuka looked away from Darkheart and back onto the road. Inphernals passing by during the stop lights probably heard the entire argument. If anyone didn’t know any better, it sounded like two couples bickering.
“Zuka- We enjoyed the moments we had in the past.”
“The past. That’s not who I am now. You said you wanted to spend time with me-” Zuka put a hand on his own chest. “I said I wanted nothing to do with you anymore. Still holds true, doesn’t it? God, you’re the most condescending, narcissistic, sociopathic, manipulative inphernal I’ve seen.” If he could even call Darkheart a normal “inphernal”.
“We’re not that narcissistic.” Darkheart crossed their arms and gave a hmph towards Zuka.
“That’s the point you’re worried about?”
“You’re asking a lot from us, Zuka. To make us believe that we care for you more than we should- we feel a bit of deja vu. What was between us would never work any more than just for fun.” Darkheart always said that. It couldn’t ever be a proper explanation, could it?
Not like Zuka wanted one anyways. They were done talking about anything that could have been.
“Past me thought it could.” Zuka wanted to believe that it could work. And… he did. Did. But he should’ve known all the deities only care about themselves and whatever messed up fantasies they wanted to live their lives in.
“Yes, we believe you said that.”
“And you remember what you said?” And Zuka knew it. He knew what Darkheart was thinking. Every time, Zuka predicted what Darkheart said to him. Yet, every time, he faced away from the truth. It was so clear to him that he only had himself to blame. Or perhaps he was so messed up he wanted to feel like that?
For a moment, Darkheart frowned. A rare occasion for the deity that found fun in almost everything: the misfortune, the chaos, the insanity.
“Something about me being entertaining, wasn't it?” Zuka shook his head. “A plaything.” The amount of spite while he said that was quite apparent. “I’ve gotten over it. Don’t worry your silly little head about it, Darkheart.”
The deity turned their head away. Zuka couldn’t see what emotions were going through their face. They probably deserve it though.
“We… didn’t… mean to…” Darkheart didn’t know what to say. The deity knew that deep down, they did mean it. Every single word they said to Zuka all those years ago was true to what Darkheart felt.
If that was truly the case, why was it so difficult to stop caring? Who cared what a mortal thought.
Zuka was a mortal like any other, right?
No, that’s not true. It can’t be true. Darkheart didn’t sleep in the same bed as other mortals. No one ever had the privilege of that except… Zuka.
So… Zuka wasn’t normal.
They weren’t like any other inphernal.
When Zuka was sad, Darkheart didn’t like that. When he was happy, Darkheart felt entertained… no it wasn’t that.
Darkheart felt joyed. It felt as good- even better than watching chaos unfold.
Zuka was the fuel to a fire.
How could that be?
This was the opposite of chaos.
In Darkheart’s eyes, Zuka was special.
To see the smile on a face that Darkheart always loved seeing.
…
Love?
Darkheart loved when Zuka was happy.
His smile.
His smirk.
The way his eyes always squint whenever Zuka thinks he’s saying something witty.
Well… Darkheart figured sometimes his one liners were good.
…
“I’m done talking, Darkheart. Whatever it is you’re trying to do- whatever past you’re trying to bring back…” Zuka softly got the words out of his mouth. A pang of shame spread through his body as he thought about the past.
“-it won’t ever happen again.”
Zuka looked up and saw Rocket’s school approaching. “I’m… really tired.”
That was an easy question to answer. At least Darkheart thought it’d be. “Take a break.”
…
A tear formed on Zuka’s eye. “Not while you’re here.”
And that was that. The both of them sat there in silence as Zuka parked near the school.
…
After the insult Rocket hurled at the caretaker, they looked really furious… not that Rocket really minded. They deserved it for all he could care.
“Kid, you want to speak to me like that again?”
The rocketeer was so over this caretaker. How up their own ass are they to call him a brat, no less blame it all on Rocket. “Oh- fuck yeah? What? You too spoiled to ever expect someone my age to disrespect you? Surprise! I sure as hell won’t have respect for the caretaker or someone who lets their daughter say whatever she wants.”
“Rocket! That’s not the proper language to use in this office.” The caretaker stared down at Rocket.
The inphernal, in return, rolled his head. “You haven’t seen bad language yet you bit-”
Before Rocket could say something that truly would have gotten him suspended, a knock on the door was heard.
Dad. Finally. You took your sweet time.
Rocket knew that Zuka wouldn’t really punish him. After all, Rocket did get practically any freedom to do whatever he wanted so long as it wasn’t illegal. Yes, even after Rocket begged him to let him do something off the books. It wasn’t ever going to harm anyone, just a bit of fun.
Although Zuka never said it to him, they did sometimes get into a mood knowing that Rocket was interested in phighting with other kids. Whether for fun or for sport. Because Rocket was such a good son, and for other reasons, the rocketeer started to follow in his parent’s footsteps. Hence, his urge to phight with others decreased week after week.
Well, almost always. If someone forced his hand then nothing would stop him from doing so. If he had the opportunity to protect the people who were worth protecting, he would always take it. To protect the people he loves.
The counselor in front of Rocket scowled at Rocket for a moment before smiling back at the door. “The doors open.”
Zuka came in looking more tired than usual. His eyes scanned the room staring at Rocket’s counselor, then to the inphernal who Rocket “pranked”, then their caretaker, then finally back onto Rocket. “I apologize for being late, this was quite last minute…” Zuka’s eyes were firmly kept on the rocketeer who felt a little intimidated by the glare. After all, who would want their caretaker walking in on a situation like this? Rocket certainly didn’t.
“No worries Miss Zuka, you’re just in time.”
For a moment, the inphernal cringed at the title. “Zuka is fine.” He walked over to Rocket and stood behind his seat. “So… what’s this about?”
“Your fucking kid here-” The caretaker was shushed by the counselors gesture.
“Please- we’re all adults here, keep it civil for the children.”
“... Whatever.”
Zuka raised an eyebrow from all that.
The counselor then explained the entire situation in a more civil manner. “Rocket spray painted his classmate’s entire desk then proceeded to make a contraption that spray painted her as well when she saw it.”
Zuka’s eyes were emotionless as he absorbed the information. “Uh-huh. And?”
“And…” They grabbed the paper filled with details of the entire situation. “She proceeded to tackle Rocket where the two of them fought with their gears causing the entire classroom to become scorched…” The counselor was trying their best to try and not instigate a phight between the two caretakers. They were trying to be careful with their words to prevent the caretakers from thinking that the counselor was taking sides. They weren’t. They simply just wanted to clear this unusual situation up… well kind of.
Rocket was known for doing quite mischievous things. Zuka knew of them but since they were always harmless and not illegal, he allowed it. It was better than anything actually destructive. The inphernal convinced himself it was a good outlet for a teenager.
“From the sounds of it-” Zuka put his hand onto Rocket’s seat to reassure him. “It’s not Rocket’s fault.”
The counselor smiled. “Well- that may be true but-”
“He embarrassed me in front of the entire class, of course it’s his fault!” The victim of this entire situation continued to cry her way out of it. Or tried to, the counselor didn’t look too convinced at her entire act. Was she the victim or was she the culprit. Maybe both.
Zuka could care less but Darkheart definitely was enjoying this. Rocket probably knew too but that was a conversation for the two of them later. Rocket and Zuka weren’t enjoying this as much, unfortunately.
Even if inphernals are beings who phight, schools are the one place where people expect peace. If that peace was broken… then the staff there would get quite disciplinary on both the student and the caretaker or caretakers watching over them. Or in other circumstances, just the student themselves if they had none.
Any inphernals who’d defy that rule would be… disciplined accordingly. Usually suspended. As much as Zuka didn’t care, he really didn’t want Rocket having a suspension hanging over them.
Rocket decided to speak in to defend himself. “What? But you were the one who started the entire thing-”
Her caretaker then interrupted him. “My child was retaliating with proper force.” They stared at the counselor. “Like any other inphernal would in this situation.”
“I only did it because she spoke badly of one of my friends! She literally called him a naive loser!”
“Well it’s true!”
“Fuck you.” No one could ever speak about Sword like that. He wasn’t even allowed to go to school in the first place.
The admin couldn’t even be mad at this display. “Settle down…”
The counselors just sighed as they put a hand on their head. Their decision was already made up as soon as they knew about the situation. Rocket wasn’t a bad kid. Not exactly a role model but compared to other inphernals, he was good. Especially for someone with a background like his, they thought they’d be more trouble but his caretaker seemed to raise them up well. Well, they guessed they could ignore the moment Rocket tried to insult them. Considering the situation, it was a fair response.
But… they both still broke the rules. Rocket was involved in a phight, even if he wasn’t the one who initiated it. And the other inphernal? Well, she could’ve easily reported Rocket. They were both in the wrong but these were teenagers. What did they expect? That both of them would behave better than adults could? To swallow one's emotions and do the right thing instead of acting upon it? The counselor doubted it.
“How about this? As written in the student handbook, phighting on school grounds warrants suspension. From my determination, and to keep in fairness with the written school rules, both of you,” they looked between the two students. “-are both suspended for the rest of the week.”
After hearing that, Zuka glared at the counselor then back to Rocket.
“... What?!” Rocket leaned his head on his hand. Guess both of them were over today. “Sorry, dad.”
“...We can talk later.” Zuka looked back up and saw the other inphernals arguing with the counselor who looked fed up with both of them.
They looked at Zuka and Rocket. “You’re both dismissed. Rocket, you’ll get an email about your missing schoolwork. Just next time- If you want to phight keep it off campus next time.”
The two nodded as Zuka waited for Rocket to get up from his seat. They both left the office and made their way to Zuka’s truck. As they were leaving, it looked like Rocket’s counselor was in for a long complaint from the other two inphernals in that room but it looked like everything that concerned them was a done deal.
Rocket wanted to open his mouth to say something. But nothing could come out. The look on Zuka’s face when both of them left worried him. It wasn’t an angry one but it wasn’t good either. It was nothing.
Weird.
“... Dad, you- you’re not mad, right?”
Zuka approached the truck. “Huh? Mad? Why would I be mad?”
“You got that look.”
“Kid, I’ve been dealing with a lot today so… just get in.” Zuka sighed as he unlocked the doors. The loud engine of the startup filled the car before it went quiet. It was silent. Way too silent. There wasn’t even any music playing in the background.
…
“Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“You realize you have that look of I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed, right?” Rocket usually didn’t care for others opinions but from Zuka it meant a lot. Especially since Zuka was so chill on so many occasions about anything the rocketeer did wrong.
“I said before I wasn’t so I’m not.”
“Then why are you so…” Rocket tried to gesture at Zuka’s figure, “like that.”
“I’m not… There's nothing wrong, Rocket. You just got suspended, of course I’m a bit on edge but that doesn’t mean I’m angry at you.”
Rocket looked out the window. He was unconvinced. “Well obviously there’s something wrong.”
Rocket was allowed to do anything he wanted. That was the deal they made and Zuka would stick to that no matter what happened. To do everything that Blackrock couldn’t.
But there was always an exception that they both knew about. One that bothered Zuka. He’d never brought it up with Rocket because he simply didn’t want to force them to live life a certain way.
“Kid… I just don’t like it when you get into phights.”
“But… it wasn’t even my fault, you saw what they said, they were the one who started it in the first place!”
“And I agree with that but that prank had put you at risk, I just… don’t like that.”
That was unfair. “I can handle myself! And even then she was insulting Sword. I can’t just let that go.”
“I know but you have to realize that even if what you did was harmless, people won’t react in the way you’re thinking.”
It really sounded like Zuka blamed Rocket, didn’t he. “Oh- so you think I’m just dumb for not realizing it then. I don’t initiate phights dad, you know that!” Never since the rocketeer had started living with Zuka. He wanted to believe in the values Zuka had, he really did. And for the most part, his everyday life revolved around those ideals. Rocket promised himself that he would never attack anyone unless they struck first.
But that wasn’t what Zuka wanted, did he? He wanted Rocket to stay out of trouble. To always try to be better and avoid phighting in the first place. It was impossible. He would never, ever let anyone walk over them and the people they love. Never again.
“Rocket, that’s not what I meant.” Zuka let out a breath he didn’t know he held. “You’re free to believe in anything you want, don’t let me stop you.” The inphernal meant it. Rocket deserved the freedom to grow into their own person. Something that Zuka really valued. At least Zuka wished he could’ve had it while growing up. “And anyway, what’s up with this, I’m always on your side, remember?”
“You’re the one who's acting all cold and stuff.”
Zuka shook his head. “It’s not like I’m having a particularly good day today, kid.”
“You don’t have to be sarcastic about it.”
“Rocket. You know that’s not what I’m-” he was cut off by Rocket. Zuka was starting to get worried. Had he said something wrong?
“I get suspended and you have nothing to say about it?!”
“Is that what this is about?”
“No! But how can you be so calm about this!”
“Seriously? Rocket I don’t…” Zuka needed to focus on the road, he couldn’t worry about trying to figure out what was going through Rocket’s mind. “I do care but what do you want me to do about it?”
“I dunno! Be mad?! Any normal person would be. Zuka, I fucked up, how can you say nothing about this?”
“Why would I be-... You did mess up Rocket but it’s not- that’s not- I’m not trying to-”
“You are disappointed! Concerned?! Tell me!”
“Rocket, please, I just wanted-” Zuka was at a loss for words. The inphernal didn’t do anything. Zuka wasn’t disappointed, sad, happy… he wasn’t anything. All he wanted to do was be there for Rocket.
“God! I don’t understand you. Why can’t you just look at me and tell me that I did something wrong! Why are you just hiding your emotions! Weren’t you the one who told me it was good to vent my anger?!” Rocket crossed his arms as he stared out the window.
Zuka didn’t know what he did wrong. Was he too distant? He just wanted to… Zuka took a glance at Rocket with sorrowful eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“...tch whatever.”
And that was it for the rest of their ride.
…
…
…
Were they forgetting someone?
Hidden in the shadows. Eyes can be seen. No more smiles though.
For their eyes were filled with the same shame that the mortal felt… the inphernal felt.
That’s not normal.
Empathy- was it?
For a mortal.
For an inphernal.
For Zuka.
That’s not normal.
…
Zuka opened the door and got out, hearing Rocket do the same. There wasn’t a lot that Zuka really could talk about- it wasn’t like the mood was there for the both of them to talk either.
As he opened the door to their home, he tried to say something. “It’s almost dinner so we can…” Zuka looked back and saw Rocket glaring at him. “Kid?”
“I don’t wanna do this tonight,” Rocket simply stated before turning and walking the other direction.
“Rocket?” Zuka just watched as he walked away. “Where are you going?”
“Somewhere.”
“Please- whatever happened we can talk-”
“No. I’ll be back tomorrow… I’ll be… fine.”
And as quickly as they got there, Rocket left. Zuka wanted to say something. Anything.
“... I- I…” His eyes felt wet. Did he do something wrong? Was this his fault? He shook away the tears before any sense of sadness could come back. “I’m sorry, Rocket,” he whispered. Only to himself. Rocket wasn’t even in sight anymore.
…
Zuka turned around and opened the door, closing it right after.
He didn’t know what to feel.
…
He didn’t feel like opening the store for the rest of the day.
He needed a shower.
Maybe a bath.
Yeah, a bath sounded nice.
…
As he reached the top of the stairs, his eyes glanced at the bathroom before staring down at his shadow. “Darkheart, don’t even think about it.”
“... Don’t worry, we won’t invade your privacy.”
“As you should.” He watched as Darkheart appeared at the bottom of the stairs, sitting there like they were some kind of house cat. Zuka went the other direction to get a well deserved bath. It was definitely needed after the day he had.
…
Then there was the deity. Honestly, it was quite peaceful being all alone in a small yet cozy house. Reminded them of their fishing trips.
Darkheart looked around at the pictures of Rocket and Zuka. They’re both super happy. One of them was even a fishing trip.
Huh. That’s cute.
But even after looking at everything, they didn’t feel joyful. Definitely not the whimsical fun they’d have anytime something chaotic happens. Especially this kind of chaos. Family drama? Front seat windows? It was the deity’s dream come true. Then, why wasn’t it?
When they thought about it, a certain inphernal kept popping up in their mind. The moments they were happy. The moments they were condemning them. The moments where they felt uncomfortable.
Darkheart only felt good whenever they were happy. Zuka was happy all those years ago, Darkheart definitely saw it in his eyes.
Yet, the only thing that happened today was anything but that. For a while, Darkheart tried to get the same feeling back. To feel the same thing that he felt all those years ago.
It wasn’t the same.
And they were scared to realize why that was the case.
…
This wasn’t normal.
Darkheart should just leave. Zuka would be happy. Rocket would come back. They’d live their life as he wanted. As both of them wanted.
But… if Darkheart left now, then it’d leave the entire day on a sour note. Was that really what they wanted?
Then after that, they’d leave. It was obvious they weren’t finding what they were looking for anyways. Zuka had made that clear.
What was it Darkheart wanted anyways? Even the deity didn’t really know.
Was that really the case?
Doesn’t matter now- time was ticking. Not a minute to waste. What was that phrase Venomshank’s little child always said?
The day is ours.
How naive. Wait until he finds out there are inphernals whose days involve cutting short the days of other inphernals.
Eh, death and murder was a different type of fun. Not usually Darkheart’s favored way.
It reminded them. If Darkheart was bored, they could just always sit down, relax, and watch a certain Blackrock mercenary take a bunch of missteps on their journey towards finding themselves.
Off topic, Darkheart, we have to focus now, don’t we.
First things first, cheer up Zuka.
…
Darkheart walked up the stairs and took a look towards the bathroom door.
Well that’d be a bit hard, they were currently in the bath.
Nothing the deity hasn’t seen before have they?
Does Zuka still look like that under all his…
Focus. They need to figure out how to regain Zuka’s trust… actually scratch that- help Zuka relax. Trust was… a touchy spot for Zuka. Then it was off to Rocket for a bit of mother son bonding if Rocket allowed it himself.
What an amazing plan!
Does that mean we get to be focused on?!