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Rain poured down. Tord's black overcoat was getting drenched, but he didn't mind. The rain wasn't important. Edd was. He wanted him back.
After taking over the world he was able to find Tom and Matt easily. But he honestly didn't care for them much, and capturing them was all in effort to try to lure Edd to him. Like how he banned cola for the public, trying to get Edd to come to his base to get more. But Edd never showed up. Not once.
Tord ws fed up. None of his plans worked, and he didn't want to scare Edd by sending a soldier after him. He was frustrated, and beginning to worry about his old friend. So he decided to find Edd himself. To his surprise, it didn't take long befpre he found the short brown haired man crying softly, hugging his knees in a dirty alleyway.
Tord felt his heart jump a bit. He smiled widely from the sight, touching his red helmet just to make sure it was still there to hide his emotion.
"Hello, old friend." He said, his voice flat, careful to not show too much excitement.
Edd looked at him in dismay. It was hard to comprehend this psychotic war criminal was his childhood best friend that he loved oh so dearly.
"T- Tord...?" He squeaked out, trembling. He's seen this man slaughter innocents and abuse his own soldiers in public before his own eyes/ But maybe... maybe this wasn't him. This couldn't be him. Red Leader always wore a helmet, a mask, so maybe-
"That's right!" Tord said gleefully, forgetting to contain it. Edd's heart sand. How could he do this? What happened to the sweet, awkward Norwegian boy he once knew...?
"Come on, Edd. Let's go to my base."
"No." Edd said simply and quietly. He didn't want to be around Tord. He could barely look at him.
Tord was too happy to care much about Edd's refusal. He had expected it anyway. Tord grabbed his pistol and pointed it at Edd's face. The safety was on, and the thing wasn't even loaded. Of course he didn't want to scare Edd, but yet, he couldn't help quietly chuckling to himself, seeing Edd's face full of fear at the harmless thing in his hands. "Edd. Come." He said sternly.
Edd hesitantly stood, his hands slightly in the air. Water dripped from his drenched brown hair and green hoodie as more poured onto him from the rain. "I- Sorry! Sorry! Please don't shoot! Don't hurt me..."
"Follow me." Tord commanded, Edd nodding quickly as he walked to his side. Tord held the gun right to his head. He didn't want to hurt Edd, so if he tried to run he'd probably get away. Tord wanted Edd to think it would be suicide to try.
As Tord slowly walked, Edd began to follow but stopped after a few steps. "T- Tord... I... Ringo?" He stuttered, pointing back to the alleyway.
"... You still have the cat." Tord said with obvious annoyance. Edd nodded.
"Please... I can't leave her here! She could starve or- or get hit by one of the bombs...!" Edd begged desperatly. Tord probably wouldn't have agreed if Edd hadn't described exactly how Tord felt about leaving Edd in this post-apocolypse world. Feeling a bit of sympathy for the man, he grudgingly agreed.
"... Fine. Go grab her and we can bring her to the base."
Edd's eyes lit up with hope. "Ringo!" He called out. Tord watched as the striped gray cat stepped out from the shadows and approached Edd, whom picked her up quickly and held her tight. She was much skinnier than Tord remembered. His eyes narrowed with jealousy as Edd held her close, petting her head. He despised that cat.
"That's enough, let's go now." Tord said. Edd could sense the anger in Tord's voice and it made him shiver. He held Ringo tighter and followed him as he walked.