𓆩✉𓆪 ㅤㅤ⤑ㅤㅤㅤprompted by @endweapon
if it were up to me, you would’ve been dead a long time ago. ❜ (the politest of exchanges with rufus)
ㅤㅤ𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃 crumbled and forgotten in a pile of debris. a legacy lost, fallen from grace ; a future taken and utterly destroyed. with each passing month, more ground gets recovered, each piece of metal another resource for the newly built city ( he's added a few more plans to the current pile reeve has on his desk ) beneath those ruins, monsters - dressed like men - creep, hidden for years and only now being free to roam gaia. it is those monsters that hunt the night, and prowl along streets. even rufus hadn't been aware of what his father had unknowingly funded, unknowingly approved — or had he ?
it is amidst ashes that the promised heir meets man-made creature, he's instantly aware that this is another one that has hojo's signature all over it. they all have the same likeness, they radiate danger. and it seems they know exactly who he is as well, despite the sickness having taken so much of him. he's revalidating, slowly, maddingly slow.
❛❛ if it were up to me, you would've been dead a long time ago. ❜❜
a quirk of mouth, despite the tight feeling in his chest. he casts a glance to his cane, lifts it slightly and truly, rufus knows he shouldn't provoke yet pride is his very cor -, nature allowed him to live. it has been months since the last mention of jenova, the last sighting of embodiments from scorned hero. the haunting had stopped and the nightmares hadn't been as frequent ever since the lifestream laid dormant, ever since they were freed of geostigma. yet, were they truly free when they still suffered from consequences ? rufus half-blind, crippled : the people traumatised, hating him and whatever he embodies in their minds. ❛❛ you aren't the first to try. ❜❜ he was made to attract danger, forced to practice kidnappings and other trials of potential what-if's , and they all had been useful it seems except when it came to supernatural and scientifically experimented creatures. fallen prince looks around, in search of silhouettes of his turks ; are they keeping an eye on the both of them ? ❛❛ neither are you the only one, i'd say join the queue. ❜❜