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It shook itself out, ever so slightly stalking forwards on all fours.
He had to be around here somewhere. He always tried to be the best at hiding, but he was so much better at seeking. It supposed that’s why the game that The Spectre chose to inflict upon him as a guise was Hide and Seek with him as the seeker, rather than something more complex. It just constantly questioned why he chose to play the game in his dreams as well if he played it nearly every day outside of them.
Well…it supposed he hadn’t been playing it recently. All the killers he was forced to be around were rightfully antsy with the idea of playing the game with him, all knowing exactly what he could do and not wanting to get him hurt if they played it with him.
The world of the child’s dreams was always bright and colorful, full of sunshine that it had no doubt he direly missed playing in. The grass was sun-warmed and beautifully green, and it could only assume that this place was a mirror of a park he would visit outside of this place. It just hoped that it still looked like this, so that when he got out he could return to it.
Despite all the years spent in the child’s grasp, it had never fully gotten used to this form, taken from what it assumed he’d look like when he was older, save for just a few small modifications for its own comfort and style. It had, however, gotten decently used to the senses of the form, which meant it was wildly aware it was currently being snuck up on.
Dramatically, it raised its head and hummed, raising a claw up to tap its chin, “Now where could he be?” it questioned, “I swear I’m usually better at finding him than this.”
It let out a false shriek as something much smaller than it pounced directly onto its back with a string of loud shrill laughter, sending the two of them tumbling across the grass and down a small hill. As they came to a stop, the small child was firmly pinning it to the ground, even though it could easily toss him off one-handed.
“FIREBRAND!!” C00lkidd laughed, “I GOT YOUUUU!!!”
“YOU DID!” Firebrand laughed right back, “YOU GOT ME!!”
Kidd leapt off it, bounding around like an excited dog of sorts, “I HAVE SO MUCH I WANNA TALK ABOUT!”
“You know you can talk to me whenever you want, right?” Firebrand sat up, watching as Kidd sprinted around, “You don’t have to only talk to me in your dreams, y’know?”
Kidd scrambled up it, settling around Firebrand’s shoulders, humming and batting at its horns, “But I like being able to talk to you like this! And it’s funny that you look like me!”
There was a little hum as Kidd looked it over, eventually coming to stare at its tail, then his own.
“...You don’t have my crumple though!” he chirped, pointing a claw, “X says I got that when I fell out of a tree when I first got here!”
Firebrand momentarily grimaced, well aware that deep in Kidd’s memories held the real reason for his tail being broken and bent. It hoped he never actually remembered, or if he did, it hoped he remembered years and years down the line when he was much more equipped to deal with it.
“Well that’s unique to you!” it trilled, waving a hand, “It’d be like if I copied your bandana!”
“I think you SHOULD have a bandana!” Kidd slid off it, practically pouncing back on the ground, “My papa gave me my bandana ‘cause he loves me! Your papa should give you one too–or I’ll give you one! ‘Cause you’re my bestest friend and you deserve it!”
Firebrand chuckled, trying to ignore how terrible it felt that this small child had chosen it as his best friend, “I can’t wear a bandana normally! It’ll burn right up the minute I flare up, y’know?”
“You can at least wear it here!” he reached up to place his hands as close to Firebrand’s shoulders as he could manage, and it leaned down for him to properly grasp it, “You can make your form look like whatever you want, right?”
“I can’t make up my own, I have to mirror someone,” Firebrand laughed, “I just decided to mirror you, but just…older! I’ve always liked Brood Parasites.”
“Does that mean the other swords look like their holders in dreams too?” Kidd gasped, eyes sparkling in wonder.
“I know Dark looks like Trap,” Firebrand hummed, scratching at its chin with a claw, “I don’t think Venom would end up looking like 1x, nor would Illu end up looking like our dad.”
“...If I…asked you to look like someone else, would you?” Kidd tilted his head, eyes abruptly dark with something implacable.
“I…” Firebrand blinked, “Am I making you uncomfortable? I thought you said it was funny. I can pick someone else if you want!”
Kidd went silent, blinking as he backed away, nervously fiddling with his claws and looking away.
“Can you change your voice too?” he meekly squeaked out, like he was afraid to ask the question.
Firebrand was taken aback, trying to pick apart his body language to figure out what it had done wrong, “I can sound like anything, promise! What do you need?”
And suddenly, it dawned on it where this conversation was heading. Its face dropped before Kidd even breathed in to ask the question, and it silently begged please, please let it be wrong, let it be thinking too much about what could possibly be happening. Please ask any other question–please, please, please.
“Can you…” Kidd grit his teeth and refused to make eye contact, “Can you look and sound like my papa…? Just for a bit…?”
“Kidd,” the whine slipped out of its throat before it could stop itself, nearly slinking back had it not been sitting down.
Kidd flinched and hid himself in his arms, shaking, “Sorry–Sorry I just…I really miss my papa, a-and I know you’re not him, but I…”
Firebrand grimaced before shaking itself out, letting its form change and voice shift.
“Hey,” it spoke in a voice that didn’t belong to it, trying to keep its voice steady and comforting, “I’m not mad, alright? It’ll be alright.”
Kidd pulled himself out of his bundle, staring wide-eyed at Firebrand.
And suddenly, he frantically pounced into a hug, burying his face in a mirrored sweater-vest and practically bawling.
Firebrand sighed slowly, wrapping its arms around him and holding him close, “I’ve got you, I’m here. You’re safe, okay? I’m here, I promise.”
It had never felt so nasty for just simply accepting a request.
It was later in the same night when Firebrand had sent Kidd off to his own, non-communative dream and reassumed that older mirror of the child. It had been stationed on a hill in the park, listening to the idle sounds of birdsong with its eyes closed, when suddenly the sound stopped, and the sun-warmed grass turned to harsh, sun-baked stone. Of course it wasn’t bothered by the heat, considering it was Firebrand, but it had been quite enjoying itself where it was. Slowly, it stretched, yawning as it opened its eyes.
…The Heights?
Why was it…?
Surely there was no way it was still in Kidd’s head, because the child had never seen the vast floating mountain range.
It realized it was on the podium that had specifically been made to hold the false version of itself that was handed out to fighters, but the podium was much larger, enough for it to curl up on with room to spare. That meant that it was specifically made for this form.
Confused but deciding that it should probably head to the center, Firebrand made a series of controlled yet complex jumps, allowing it to skitter into the distinctly fire-ring painted center. Once it reached there, it stood up, shaking itself out.
The noise of someone else clambering onto the platform momentarily startled it, and for just a second when it turned it was about to question why ITrapped was in this dream, until it realized.
“...Dark?” Firebrand blinked.
“Fire!” Darkheart practically purred before it paused, “Hey, wait, this isn’t your domain, and this isn’t mine…do you think…?”
For months, Illumina had managed to worm its way into the individual dream domains of the different swords, and the others had managed to connect too, but it had always been just one-on-one. Previously, none of them had managed to have more than themself and one other in a domain at the same time.
If they were both in a domain that wasn’t theirs…
Both of them were startled as a grey shape came plummeting into the center, hitting the ground with a solid thud and an almost comical “OOF–”
“...Really, Venom?” Darkheart’s face [...as much of it as Firebrand could see] was a weird mix of disappointment and confusion, “Out of all the forms to take, you decided to look like 1x as a kid?”
“With the addition of her current back wings!” Venomshank shook itself out as it stood up, flinging out the aforementioned wings as if to show them off, “And it’s either this form or Lucky, so take your pick!”
“Doesn’t exactly seem…healthy,” Firebrand grimaced, “But I can’t really stop you, now can I?”
“You gave yourself wings, but you can’t fly?” Darkheart made a motion to hide a smirk behind its hand, even though the black mask over its whole face meant there was no mouth to be seen.
“SHUT UP!” Venomshank squeaked like a particularly angry little bird.
The argument was interrupted by an incredibly loud shout.
“HIO EVERYOOOOONE!~” a certain someone trilled, “FATHER’S FAVORITE HAS ARRIIIIIVED!~”
Firebrand swung its head up to stare at a higher platform, blinking in disbelief. That was not the form Illumina chose to mirror last time they met up.
“YOU DECIDED TO LOOK LIKE TELAMON?!” Venomshank shrieked.
“Only when dad isn’t looking!” Illu casually responded, flinging out its wings to aid it in dropping down to the fire ring, “Besides, the form is teeeechnically an edit of It. I don’t have Its sunset feathers, I have my own gradient!”
“Still…uncomfortable to look at,” Darkheart grimaced.
“Says the sword with an exploiter’s form,” Illumina casually pointed out with a smile.
“He’s actually not that bad of a guy, as much as I hate to admit it,” Darkheart shrugged.
“I…have to agree with Dark, honestly,” Firebrand agreed, “Trap’s not that bad.”
“Ughhh,” Illumina groaned, “Being around a bunch of killers has made you guys warm up to them too much.”
“Forget it, it’s not worth an argument,” Venomshank waved its hands dismissively, “You clearly called us here for a reason, so what is it?”
“Oh!” Illumina chirped, clasping its hands together, “I called us all here to see if we can get a good scope of what we’re dealing with!”
“Well…for one, The Spectre’s been silent,” Darkheart hummed, “At least on the killers’ side. Same over there, I assume?”
“Not a word from it,” Illumina confirmed, “and I have my own little theorryyyy~”
“Can you not do your flighty little thing while we’re all high strung and stressed?” Venomshank begged, “Just say your theory.”
“You’re no fuuuun!” Illumina whined, flinging itself into the air with a hefty flap of its wings, twirling in the air, “So! I’m sure you all remember that round just a bit over a week ago, yes?”
“Kidd was kept away from spectating the round,” Firebrand sighed, “But I heard what it was.”
“That poor thing,” Darkheart sighed, “What did they do to piss off The Spectre so bad that it made that illusion?”
“Even 1x felt bad for them,” Venomshank frowned, shaking its head, “Or maybe xe felt bad because it upset Azure too, not quite sure on that front.”
“The point being!” Illumina snapped attention back to itself, “I think it burnt itself out! Not completely, or else papa would immediately be running through his escape plan, but enough where it had to stop rounds!”
“...Not being in rounds has been kinda nice,” Darkheart waved a hand, “It’s been nice not being forced to fight you, Illu.”
“Never thought I’d hear you say that, Dark!” Illumina chirped, “I thought you loved sparring with me!”
“Not when a losing spar on your part ends in me getting shanked through dad’s gut,” Darkheart’s gaze drifted to the floor.
“...Hm,” Illumina hummed, “Fair point!”
“Back on track,” Firebrand cleared its throat, “What do we even do with this information? So it burnt itself out and now has to bide time until it regains power. What can we even do in that period of time?”
“We have bodies in dreams, but at the end of the day…” Venomshank trailed off.
“We’re…just weapons,” Darkheart finished.
Illumina made a writhing hiss.
“Just weapons?! JUST WEAPONS?!” it shouted, “We’re not just weapons! We’re The Heights Swords! Shards of Telamon! Not only that, but each of us is part Telamon and another god! Venomshank, do you think Luckymaxer would be happy to hear you call yourself just a weapon?!”
“...nnnno,” Venomshank meekly sank into its wings.
“Darkheart! You might have problems with the guy right now, we all do, but do you think Doombringer would be happy to hear you call yourself just a weapon?!”
“I think he’d yell at me,” Darkheart laughed, awkwardly looking away.
“Firebrand! Same to you! Do you think Tarabyte would be happy with hearing you say you’re just a weapon?!”
“She’d hate it with every fibre of her being,” Firebrand admitted.
“And I know Dusekkar would hate it if I said I was just a weapon!” Illumina shouted, landing back down in front of the other three, “So none of that talk! Just because we have the form of swords doesn’t mean we’re just weapons! We can do our own parts!”
“I’ve…been working on helping calm 1x down?” Venomshank squeaked out.
“Perfect!” Illumina trilled, picking Venomshank up and twirling around with it, much to its surprise.
“I’ve been trying to get in contact with Privkus,” Darkheart offered, “It’s difficult, but I have managed to worm into its domain before it kicked me out once.”
“That’s my smart little brother!!” Illumina dragged Darkheart into its grasp alongside Venomshank.
“I’m…primarily focusing on keeping Kidd safe and sane?” Firebrand spoke up, unsure if that was on par with the others. In response, Illumina laughed, dragging Firebrand into the grab as well.
“Look at my little siblings!” Illumina purred, “I can’t believe you’re all this smart! I never wanna hear you guys talk about being just weapons ever again, okay?!”
Firebrand shouted out an agreement alongside the other two in Illumina’s grasp.
“We’re gonna get out of here, alright?” Illumina promised, “We’ll get back home, and we’ll be reunited with our other siblings, and we’ll fix this, okay?”
“Fine, fine, you big dolt,” Darkheart chuckled, “I’ve got faith in us.”
“We’re stronger when we’re together!” Venomshank pushed itself deeper into the hug.
“You guys are stupidly sappy,” Firebrand laughed, “but I’ve got faith.”
“No matter what happens,” Illumina held the group tighter, “We’re getting through it, together.”
Together.
That was a nice word.