In which a hero and villain quickly learn why working together is… Difficult

Blanch stared in horror after the two assailants had left. “…Holy shit!” He squeaked.

“So you can curse,” Riaan commented dryly, brushing sand off of himself. “Good to know.”

“They-“
Blanch turned sharply at the remark. “Excuse me?! What does that have to do with the kidnapping that just happened?! We need to get help!”

“Right, help from who? People who could be as bad as those two? People who may not trust us and whatever we tell them?” Riaan retorted.
“People who may make our kidnappers on edge and hurt the already weakened hostage? Honestly, are you sure you’re a hero if you can’t think about this rationally?”

Flames burst from Blanch’s back as he bristled in anger.
Riaan looked much too unimpressed.

“Whose side are you even on?!” Blanch demanded. “Amity is wounded if not dying, we’re BOTH stuck in bodies we can’t use and we’re facing unknown enemies! We need help!”

“‘Whose side are you on’, he asks the criminal.” Riaan replied flatly. “And nonsense, we don’t need help if we can learn what our new bodies do and adapt. As the flames on your back clearly show, we have capabilities that are different from our usual ones. We simply have to learn our new powers.”

“We can’t just go in there like this! We’ll be defeated easily!” Blanch sputtered.

“Well, if we manage to stagger ourselves to the nearest town- if there’s even one nearby- first we have to find people willing to help us. Second, we have to hope they are strong enough to do so, and in the meantime, your friend is going to suffer hellishly as a result of her wounds and her kidnappers may get bored or impatient and be rid of her.”
Riaan said coldly.
“Let me put it another way- if we follow them, I imagine we can corner them. They won’t be able to go far lugging dead weight like that, even if the cave has some other way out. If we corner them, we can fight them. And I intend to make them pay for attacking and humiliating us. Either stay here and flail in your strange body, go try waddling off and try to plead to people and hope they’ll help you, or actually do something yourself.”

With that, the yellow mouse turned and began walking into the cave, sliding occasionally on the sand. He seemed disinterested in Blanch’s existence once he finished making his point.

Blanch turned in place a few times- there was a path in the opposite direction of the cave, but to Riaan’s point just walking off the beach sounded like a climb of its own….

A feeling roiled in Blanch’s gut. His face twisted and tensed with indignation.
He couldn’t believe how Riaan was handling this, how cold and arrogant he was! Someone as rational sounding as he was should know these things, but he was still going anyways?! 
It was like working with Chroma, if Chroma thought everyone was a bug to squish!
Blanch hated this feeling of helplessness, he hated how obscenely arrogant Riaan sounded but, most importantly….
He hated how Riaan was right, at least on some level.
He was a hero.
His friend was in trouble.
They didn’t have any guaranteed methods to get allies, no supplies…
Perhaps going off to find help was smart but he also knew people could take advantage of a penniless, weak… whatever he was. All it took was one wrong choice.

“….Oh, damn you, wait up!” Blanch finally squeaked, running and tripping briefly to catch up. The cave entrance was dim… and occasionally dripped water.

From what Blanch saw, he half expected the yellow rodent thing to be smirking at him, or offering some laugh or a “I told you so” but Riaan only looked vaguely surprised.
“Well, thank you.”

Blanch had to double take to be sure- no, Riaan didn’t seem to be mocking him in the slightest.

“I did mean what I said earlier- sticking together is the best idea. It’s part of why I’m insisting we enter the cave. We have no maps, no money, nothing to our name. Staggering off to try finding a town, defenseless and vulnerable, is the perfect way of ensuring unmarked graves on the side of a road, if we’re lucky.” He continued.

“But what if-” Blanch flinched as a drop hit his nose- it felt so cold.
“…What if there were people who could help us? They rush in here and save her and we’d be safe too!”

“Spoken like someone who had shelter he could run to.” Riaan replied acerbically.
“Think. You’re in a completely alien realm. What are the politics here? The social standards? Economic ladders?”

It was starting to get darker as they walked- Blanch almost tripped but recovered, a first since he came here. “Uhhh…”

“Precisely. For all you know perhaps how we look denotes us as royalty or the scum of the earth. Some people wouldn’t trust the idea of a lone stranger babbling about a kidnapped girl, or if they do they assume you’re the one at fault for it. To your credit, it’s entirely possible that people nearby are kind hearted and willing to help- but we can’t trust blindly here. Our first encounter with this new world is an attempted mugging, assault, kidnapping and ransom demand.” Riaan said dryly. “Clearly this world isn’t sunshine and rainbows.”

Blanch winced as another water drop hit him- it felt so cold.
“I, uh…”

Riaan stopped and held a chubby arm to pause Blanch.
“…It’s growing dark. We’ll need light to see. You can make flames, and I made electricity earlier. Do you think you can light our path?”

Blanch shrugged. “…I… don’t know. I don’t know how to, and the water is really cold, I can see it breaking my concentration.”

“It’s certainly damp, but that’s why I’d like to avoid the electricity use if I can help it. We don’t need to be fried on top of everything else.”

Blanch shivered. “Agreed…”

“As for your flame issue- do you remember what it felt like when it flared the first couple of times?”

Blanch shrugged. “I’m not sure… it was almost so instinctive I don’t know how.”

“Then don’t think and try. Relax and imagine a flame.”

Blanch paused and sighed. He had no clue how to do this….
And when he heard a sound of something scratching on rock, any ideas of relaxing were flung full force out the window.
It kept going and his heart started performing a drum solo.

“What was that?”

Riaan’s ears flattened as the scratching increased and he growled. “It probably sees better than we do.”

Blanch tried to generate flames so he could see, so they could both see as the scratching grew louder still. It smelled like smoke as Blanch failed to light the flames and it only got worse as Blanch saw the glowing red eyes in the dark.
“Riaan??” He squeaked.

Riaan growled louder and to his credit the creature with large red eyes shuffled back.
Electricity sparked off of Riaan’s cheeks, perhaps involuntarily, but it allowed them to see what had to be the largest and scariest horseshoe crab Blanch had ever seen, a big brown shell with a pitch black underbelly.
The red eyes appeared to be of the abyss itself.

Blanch couldn’t help but whimper but Riaan grunted.
“Fine. I’ll handle this, focus on generating any kind of flame!”

Before Blanch could protest, Riaan ran forward, suddenly switching to all fours and moving a lot quicker than his earlier toddling.
The light from the electricity swung wildly from Riaan’s movements as he slammed against the creature in an attempt to topple it over. When it didn’t work the crab thing swatted him away with a yellow claw and Blanch squeaked, trying desperately to make flames.  It wasn’t working, it was still mostly dark and Blanch’s throat grew scratchy. He coughed and the creature saw him, starting to charge at him and swing-

And in a panic, Blanch coughed smoke into its face, making it miss entirely.
The crab shrieked in confusion as the smoke hit it in the eyes, and Riaan took that opportunity to tackle it again, making it tip over uselessly, wobbling madly on its shell.
Riaan’s whole body tensed as the electricity grew stronger and proceeded to fry the animal as it shrieked.
The smell of burnt flesh hit Blanch in the nose…
The creature’s claws… twitched. But then it went still…

Riaan stomped on the belly experimentally- outside of some gross noise, there was no reaction.
“…Finally.” he grunted.

Blanch gagged at the smell, trying not to barf.

“The carapace of this creature seems rather strong- I think we should use it as a potential weapon or shield.” Riaan continued, as if Blanch wasn’t this ready to puke more than just smoke.

When Blanch didn’t reply for fear of actually barfing, Riaan looked over, looking vaguely annoyed.

“…I hope you can handle the smells that come from combat here.” He said dryly.
“If we have fire and electricity powers, chances are everything will smell cooked well done.”

Blanch gagged again at the analogy.

“I admit that may have been needlessly cold.” Riaan admitted with a sigh. “Try taking deep breaths, if you can.”

Blanch tried inhaling and the smell was sickly sweet but he somehow didn’t throw up… so he exhaled and it vaguely helped.

“…Why don’t I take the back?” Riaan asked politely. “If I’m carrying this thing, the burnt smell hopefully won’t be wafting in your face every ten seconds.”

“…Do we really have to carry that with us?” Blanch asked miserably.

Riaan knocked on the shell experimentally. “This shell seems to be adequate protection. I really do think it will help us with our next fight. Unless… I should rip it off of the corpse?”

Blanch shuddered, the image not helping his nausea. “No! No no, please don’t.”

“Very well.”
Still sparking electricity, Riaan grunted and somehow lifted the entire corpse up above his head.

“Take the lead.”

Blanch nodded uneasily as he walked forward- thankfully Riaan was right as a bit of distance made the scent a bit less vivid, but Blanch still tried not to pass out from fear.

The light behind him cast his shadow and he couldn’t help but stare at his odd new shape… it felt like a dream. Like he’d pass out and wake up in bed, in his superpowered but normal human body.
He even pinched himself to be sure, but…
Nope.
Odd turquoise body.
…that made fire, apparently.

The cave opened up into a large room with 2 branching corridors, Riaan’s electricity providing some light.
Blanch shuddered. It was so damp and so cold… wasn’t Riaan uncomfortable? Then again, the man just murdered a large crab creature and had no issue hefting the corpse around.
“Uh, which- which way? Up, or to the left…”

Riaan hummed in thought, shifting his posture with his burnt cargo. “…let’s go straight, and backtrack after a while. We need to focus on finding our rather smelly assailants.”

Blanch nodded and kept going, his heart pounding furiously as he expected some new creature to attack…
He squeaked when water hit him again and Riaan sighed pointedly.

“You do realize it’s just water, yes? It’s a mere annoyance.”

Blanch faltered, feeling extremely guilty. “I- sorry, it’s… it’s really cold… it… it stings a bit, and I’m not used to that.”

It took a moment for Blanch to realize that Riaan had stopped until he realized the light wasn’t moving.
He looked back nervously to see a contemplating look on Riaans face.
“…It physically hurts you?”

“Well, well uh…” Blanch hesitated. “I mean- it’s- it’s really cold but it’s not the worst ever, it’s just, uh… it’s really uncomfortable!” He added hastily.

At this Riaan’s expression only grew more concerned, his eyes narrowing as he replied. 
“…The water isn’t that cold to me. At best, it’s a bit cooler than room temperature.”

“….Oh.” Blanch said finally, feeling a pit in his stomach.

“But if water droplets are that concerning for you, we’ll have all the more reason to move quickly- last thing we need is you getting sick or collapsing on top of Amity’s poison…”

“Right…” Blanch nodded nervously.

They kept moving and saw another large room- a pink round thing with a powder blue underbelly and odd branch shapes coming off of it was sleeping by a blue berry…
And there appeared to be a set of stairs.

“Why is there a set of stairs in what looks like a completely natural cave???” Riaan hissed incredulously.

“For when people want to go to its basement.” Blanch said with conviction.

The look Riaan gave him was too confused and stunned for words, almost pricelessly thrown.

“Anyways, I’ll deal with that before we go- don’t want it to sneak up on us.”

Blanch watched the mouse’s eyes flick over the form, muttering under his breath and Blanch realized with some horror this man was already dissecting the best way to slay this thing in his head.
“Uh, wait!” Blanch said, but it was too late.

Riaan staggered over, still hefting the corpse above him and the creature opened its beady eyes in time to see him slam the corpse into it, sending it flying against the wall as Blanch shrieked in horror.

Somehow, it still stood and looked beat up but now it was angry, sending a beam of water out that Riaan quickly ducked behind the new weapon to avoid- the force pushed him back slightly, but it was scary watching him use it so effortlessly.

The pink creature hissed only for Riaan to once again throw the corpse, knocking the creature off balance and Riaan took that chance to grab the strange coral looking thing and slam it against the wall repeatedly, horrible cracking noises ensuing.
He added a final jolt of lightning for good measure, but unlike the crab there was no vivid burnt smell.

This time, Blanch did throw up- there wasn’t really anything to hurl but he still did.

He heard another cracking sound and looked to see that Riaan had broken off a spine from the now dead pink creature, examining it like one examines a blade.

“What are you?!” Blanch demanded. “That thing was sleeping, we could have left it be and tried to sneak past!’

Riaan poked himself with the end of the spine experimentally, not enough to draw blood.
“Right, and if it heard us you could have been blasted by a stream of water that would guarantee hypothermia if not potential internal damage.” He said flatly. “Besides, the branches are quite useful.”

“Didn’t you say we shouldn’t waste time?! What if it slept peacefully and we could just move-“

A pink needle was pointed close to his face and he flinched.
It was at that point Blanch finally saw the bloody gash on Riaan’s side.

“Shut up for two seconds.” Riaan growled. “Don’t you get it? This isn’t a setting of heroes or villains, of kindness and malice, right now we are facing creatures likely out for our blood. We have no resources, ergo we must make those resources. We are hunters. We must be hunters. And outside of your- admittedly genius, but accidental moment with a puff of smoke, I don’t see you fending off these creatures at all. If all you have to offer when up against those idiots is compassion, friendship, and a smoking asthma attack, then stay out of my way or fight like you’re supposed to. You’re a hero. You’re trained to fight. Put your bleeding heart away before it becomes infected, damn you!”

Sneering, he took the branch away and turned back to the now pile of corpses he was amassing. He knelt by the shelled crab, and, after a brief dirty look to Blanch, began to slowly saw the shell from the rest of the body, a bit sloppily but apparently it was sharp enough to do so.

Blanch had to look away, feeling nothing but shame and guilt and fear… and he didn’t want to see Riaan working on that.
“I’m sorry.” He said quietly. He sort of hoped Riaan wouldn’t hear him over his work.

“I can only handle laws in a lawless world for so long.” Riaan snipped.
“Until we’re in a more civilized setting, I don’t need to be preached to about killing creatures in self defense.”

There was a beat of silence as he kept sawing, Blanch’s heart still pounding.

“…My earlier theory is correct.” Riaan said after a moment.
“The shell is more than an adequate shield. And this branch-” he grunted as he seemed to have a moment of trouble.
“If it holds up during this- could make a good weapon.”

Blanch nodded, feeling much like a scolded child- which he basically was.

“Should… should I take that berry? Do we know what it does?” Blanch asked hesitantly.

“Do we know how I can make electricity come out of my cheeks? No? Then no, I don’t know what it does.” He replied sarcastically.

He paused what he was doing, picked it up, and gave it a sniff, examining it.
He tore off a small piece and ate it before Blanch could stop him.
Miraculously he didn’t shrivel up and die or vomit, but instead shuddered and looked at himself- his gash had healed. There was still blood on his fur, but no open injury.

“… Apparently it can heal people.” He said in amazement after a moment. “That will be highly useful. Hold this.”

He handed Blanch the dripping berry and Blanch took it wordlessly, the juice making his hands feel tacky.

“I don’t think these guys will take a half eaten berry, a shell and a branch as ransom…” Blanch said nervously.

“They’ll be taking their lives not ending as ransom and be happy for it.” Riaan replied calmly, not missing a beat. He hefted the newly freed shield, slick with bits of viscera and Blanch couldn’t help but keep staring at the morbid warrior in front of him.

“We shouldn’t eat the meat raw, and I’m not particularly hungry. Unless you object, we’ll leave it elsewhere. Perhaps other creatures will stay away as we leave once they find it.”

Blanch nodded. The occasional drop of juice rolled off his stiff hands, feeling almost numb from shock.
“…Yeah. sure. I…. if it’s ok with you, I just wanna wait here.”

“…Are you sure?”

“You’re the one killing these things, not me.” Blanch spat. “Nothing’s coming here except through that hall, and I’m assuming you’ll only take a second. I’m not helping you, right?”

Riaan paused and shrugged. “Very well. Let’s yell if something happens.”

Blanch nodded as Riaan scooped up the mush to drag back down the hall to some other room.

Nothing happened, although Blanch did adjust holding the berry to lick some juice off his left hand. It was mildly sweet. He’d need both hands if they found something else, or perhaps if Riaan fashioned a gun out of the next monster they saw.

The yellow rodent walked back and Blanch couldn’t help but notice how completely exhausted he looked already.

“Are… are you ok?” Blanch asked. “I mean, you just killed two… two whatever they are, but…”

“I’ll be fine. Better now that we have things to use against these monsters consistently. Do you want the shell or the branch? I imagine you’ll need one of them.”

Blanch doubted that Riaan would be fine seeing as how he leapt onto these creatures recklessly and ruthlessly, but he didn’t comment and said “I’ll… I’ll take the branch. You… seem to know what you’re doing with the shell.”
He didn’t want to admit that the shell still having bits of gore on it unnerved him.

Riaan obligingly handed Blanch his new weapon and the teen felt the anxiety, the low level tenseness he always felt when holding a knife… even if it was to cut food.
He became so aware of how he moved with it, how sharp it was, and the edges of this weren’t sharp, it had no edge- perhaps a baseball bat with nails was a better analogy.
But it felt so terrifying to be in a situation like this, a body and world unfamiliar while trying not to anger what had to be the most ruthless man he’d ever met.

“Should… should we head down or is there anything else?” Blanch asked nervously.

“No. Let’s keep moving.”

They descended the stairs and Blanch noted a vague tremble in Riaan’s arms- it likely wasn’t fear, he was the thing scaring everything else. But Blanch had wondered how such a small body could do all those feats of strength…

“Are you… sure you’re ok? Your arms are shaking.” Blanch pressed.

Riaan paused briefly.
“…This body isn’t used to the exertion I’m asking of it. That’s all. If I need rest, I’ll say so.”

Blanch wasn’t sure if he should be worried at how calm Riaan was at the idea or worried because his first instinct was to bodily throw and swing these creatures around.

It was both.

Definitely both.

Blanch chewed his lip- Riaan wouldn’t have the stamina to do every fight, no matter how insane he performed in them. Blanch would need to help and soon… although smacking something with a stick seemed like a good start.

When they touched the second floor the room was empty, no objects or creatures to be found, but Blanch froze.
“…It’s dry.”

Riaan paused and looked back. “Pardon?”

“The floor is dry… somehow.”
Blanch only noticed because the damp floor had been chilly- probably not for Riaan, which is why Blanch had noticed the contrast so sharply.

Riaan paused and looked down, kneeling to examine it.
“Fascinating. It’s been nothing but dripping water, and suddenly this floor is dry?”

“I don’t like it.” Blanch admitted. “With everything else going on…”

“The ceiling is still dripping water…” Riaan noted. “But the floor is dry…”

As if to prove their fears, they heard a wet sound dragging down the hallway…

“Shit.” Blanch squeaked.

The creature that slithered down appeared to be a pink and white slug with a round face and big yellow eyes.

“It’s… kinda cute…” Blanch said slowly.

And then it shot bubbles in his direction.
Blanch yelped and barely jumped out of the way.

“Beautiful sense of caution!” Riaan yelled flatly as he ran to attack.

Once again using the shield to block another stream of water- the water it fired seemed to float back into itself! The droplets from the ceiling likewise swerved onto the slug, as if it were some kind of water vacuum.

“Water absorption explains why the floor is dry!” Riaan cried.
His observation made, he bashed it on the head with the shell, as he was wont to do.
It wobbled wildly but before Riaan could make another attack, the slime the slug secreted mixed with the dirt floor and it slapped mud into his eyes.

He howled in pain as he clutched his face, a sound that shook Blanch to his core.
Riaan cursed and blinked rapidly, wincing in pain as his vision didn’t seem to clear. Blanch saw the slug creature take aim again and his limbs finally moved, smacking it across the head with the branch he was given several times over. In one particularly desperate smack, the pink slug smacked against the cave wall with a snapping sound and lay still…
Blanch stared in horror and shock, trying to catch his breath, his heart racing, waiting for it to twitch, for it to get back up, something…
Anything.
When it didn’t and when he heard Riaan curse in pain again, he turned back, trying not to think of it too hard.
“Riaan! Are you ok? Uh, uh, here, why don’t you sit down…?”

He helped Riaan to a wall and the man leaned back with a tired and pained sigh. “Damn it, the mud is burning to the touch…” he hissed. Even wiping his face, being careful to avoid his eyes, revealed angry red burns, like the slug had slapped acid onto him. His eyes were watering and Blanch set his weapon aside- he still held the berry in his other hand. “I- uh- I don’t have anything to help flush the mud out, but why don’t you eat more of that berry??” He offered, a bit desperately. “It- it’ll at least help the burns… I hope..”

“It won’t hurt anymore than this, I’d imagine.” Riaan said with a sigh. He tried another piece of berry, bigger than the last and Blanch saw with some relief that the burn marks were healing. Riaan could crack his eyes more properly this time, but Blanch internally winced at the still pained look on his face.
“…As you said. It doesn’t help the actual mud. As long as I let my tears flush it out, I’ll be fine, but in the meantime, I doubt I’ll be much help. I can’t see well like this.”

“I- do you need to rest??” Blanch asked, worried.

To his shock Riaan stood up again, adjusting his grip on the shield. “No. We don’t have time to do that. I’ll merely take the defensive, I can see to an extent. But you’ll have to fend off any more monsters, or we could both die. Do you understand?”

Blanch shuddered at the idea. “I… yes. If there’s a way to avoid a fight, I will.”

“I don’t care, as long as we make.more progress…” Riaan muttered.

Blanch nodded. “…Right. I’ll… we’ll go slow.” He said nervously.

Blanch led them down the next hallway and thankfully the next set of stairs was there. He was about to go down when Riaan asked “Theres some round yellow thing in the corner- what is it?”

At first, Blanch whipped around, terrified some creature was gonna get the drop on them, but it appeared to be a surprisingly large seed.

“…Oh. Uh- it- it looks like a seed of some kind? It’s pretty big…”

Riaan grunted. “Nothing important then, at least for now. Our healing berry seems to be the most important object currently and I believe our hands are full. We shouldn’t weigh ourselves down.”

Blanch nodded. “Right… There’s- there’s more stairs or whatever, do you think you’ll need help?”

Riaan scoffed briefly. “Stairs in a cave like this… no, I should be fine. But let me take the lead. If I fall, I can use the shell to take the impact. If I trip behind you, we’ll   go down.”

Blanch shuddered. “Uh, right… let me know if you- you need help.. or something.”

“Or something.” Riaan agreed, walking to the stairs and beginning a slower but steady descent.

Blanch felt like the quiet was still too awkward, too tense, so he spoke up.
“…Were you… you came from the wastelands, huh?”

“How could you tell?” He asked sarcastically. “I’d hate to meet someone like me who hadn’t come from that hell.”

It seemed pretty obvious that Riaan had come from the wilder side of the world, in retrospect. The world, but the wastelands in particular, was plagued with feral parasites called Darklings. It tended to breed lawless or more violent individuals, because those who weren’t typically didn’t survive.

“Were… were you born there? Or just lived there a long time?”

Riaan was quiet.
“…Born. I reached the barrier, the safety and luxury of an intact city, by the point I wouldn’t take it for granted.”

Blanch wasn’t sure what to say.
“….I’m s-“

“Don’t.” Riaan said firmly. His tone was surprisingly gentle. “The only difference between us in this instance is where we were born. You would do the same thing in my place, even if it broke your heart to do so. Because you had to. I don’t pity myself for it. If anything, I take it as an honor. Because I lived.”

Now it was Blanch’s turn to be quiet, because he knew he could never do that. He would freeze up, hesitate, panic, try to run and fail.
There was so much more that was different between them and either Riaan hadn’t seen that, or, more likely, he was lying outright. The encounter with the slug was desperation and luck, nothing more.

“What about you?” Riaan’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Eh- what?”

“What about you?” Riaan repeated, testing a step with his foot before moving down it.
“You said you’re a hero- I imagine you have a story of your own.”

Blanch was about to protest that his story really wasn’t all that interesting, but in a way, yes it was.

“I’m… not comfortable telling you everything.”

“I didn’t tell you my life story, omit whatever you please.” Riaan replied simply.
“I won’t push it if you prefer to remain quiet, but if we have to work together for now it’s important we know more about each other.”

Blanch nodded. “…Right. well, uh…”
Honestly, Riaan sounded surprisingly vulnerable admitting he was from the wastelands. He wasn’t sure he felt that vulnerable yet but he didn’t want to leave Riaan without any information. It was only fair.

“…Do you know Chroma Spectras?” He said slowly.

“Who doesn’t?” Riaan replied. “Well, perhaps quite a few people, but yes, I’ve heard of the prodigal son or whatever. Quite an arrogant brat, but his reputation is deserved.”

“I, uh… he’s my coworker. We team up a lot.”

“I don’t know if I should admire your skills for being able to keep up with him, or pity you due to his disposition.” Riaan replied simply.

“He’s not that bad!” Blanch protested.
“He has his flaws like everyone else, but he’s a great guy!”

“Right, which is why he’s under the Aerugo sector of heroes.” The rodent replied sarcastically.

“Being an Aerugo doesn’t make you bad!” Flames sputtered a bit from Blanch’s back again. 
“Besides, you’re one to talk about arrogance and disposition! You’re a criminal and have been harsh and callous basically the whole time you’ve been here!” He snapped.

“True, but I don’t turn to a life of crime to spite my mommy issues and drag everyone down with my alcoholism and lack of healthy communication skills, either.” Riaan replied calmly.

Blanch stopped, feeling his ears ring slightly.

“…How the hell do you know all that?” He demanded.

He could hear Riaan barely check a sigh as he, too, paused and turned.
“Why do you say that like it’s surprising?” Riaan asked instead.

“No, don’t deflect, how do you know that?? How do you know something that’s that personal I’ll about him?!”

“I’m not deflecting, how is this surprising?” Riaan demanded again. 
“He made a point of announcing his intentions to defy his parents by becoming some master thief, and I don’t think his love of drink is a secret. Besides,” he went on before Blanch could protest.
“You’ve watched me, can you honestly say I don’t study my opponents? Why would the adult son of a gold rank hero, who made such a fuss in the news, be any different?”

“His… emotional state. How do you know that? He makes such a point of being cocky and arrogant in public. So how would you know his issues?!” Blanch pressed, bristling.

“A better strategy is to claim that I don’t know what I’m talking about, because all you’re doing is already validating information I have.”
Here, Riaan shrugged. 
“Either way though, I would still tell you that I have my own methods of information gathering. Weaknesses, whether on hero or villain sides, pay, after all. Everyone’s out for the chink in the armor. I know people good at finding those chinks, that’s all. Don’t sound surprised when I tell you things we both happen to know.”

Blanch felt his tiny hands clench into fists.
“…I don’t know who the hell you are, outside of what you’ve told me. And what you’ve told me sounds terrible, frankly.” He said coldly. “So the fact you know so much doesn’t give me a reason to trust you.”

“Really? I made a point of being candid with you. You decided to trust me. I’ve made it clear I’m someone who doesn’t go in unprepared. I’m more surprised you didn’t say anything until now. You didn’t seem to mind my blunt and analytical nature until now…”
Riaan’s gaze frosted over with intensity, and he leaned in in a way that made Blanch want to step back.

He spoke much too quietly.
“…Am I hitting a nerve, revealing how much I know when you don’t?”

“It’s- it’s definitely unfair.” Blanch replied, trying to hold firm. “I think anyone would get uncomfortable with it. For example you say you’re a criminal but I know nothing of your crimes- but you’re clearly a killer.”

Riaan inclined his head in a vague nod. Blanch’s heart was beating much too fast, every instinct made him want to run, but he somehow didn’t.
“I should hope you took that information away from our interactions thus far.”

Blanch didn’t reply and Riaan tilted his head again.
“…You don’t mind when I seem to insult you.” He commented. “But bring up Chroma, your friend and co-worker, and then you get angry… do you matter so little to yourself?”

“Wh- no!” Blanch protested. 
“I- you having that kind of information is a lot more private and personal than calling me an idiot! The info you have on Chroma is more dangerous!”

“And I’m not a danger to you?” Riaan quirked an eyebrow. 
“I could leave you for dead. I could kill you right now, if I wanted to. Your friend Chroma isn’t even here for me to harm, but you’re right next to me. You’ve seen me slaughter these monsters first hand. You, on the other hand, appear to have little to no backbone at all… until someone you care about is endangered.”

His beady black eyes narrowed.
“But the fact that you don’t get angry unless it’s someone else involved suggests that you don’t care for yourself. Is it that I’m not a danger to you, or is it that, on some level, you think yourself so unimportant that the idea of my targeting you or harming you is not a concern?”

Blanch felt stunned.
“I… it’s….”
Some part of Blanch screamed to slap this man. Slap him, yell at him or even just stop putting up with this nonsense and leave him be.
“It’s… it’s not like that.” He protested weakly.

Riaan looked completely unconvinced.
“…Do you want my help, or not? Because I can’t have you throwing fits at everything I do or happen to know.”

Something about that sparked Blanch’s emotional vigor again.
“Wh-! I’m sorry, but honestly this is stressful and crazy and you make me seriously uneasy! I don’t trust you!”

“You don’t have to trust someone to work together, but you also can’t waste time demanding answers and moral re-evaluations from them every few minutes, either!” Riaan snapped, his cheeks sparking wildly.
“If I anger you that badly, if you hate my methodology so much, why not leave me here?? I can clearly handle myself and you want nothing to do with me, when I’ve been trying to be patient and work with you!”

“I- I’m not going-”

“Why not, Blanch?!” He demanded in a bark and at that Blanch did step back, flinching involuntarily.
“If you can’t bring yourself to abandon an enemy, then don’t torture them by weighing them down with your lectures and whining! Learn to put your stupid need to chastise aside for the greater good!”

Riaan huffed and the electricity died down.
The air felt colder as the light dimmed, but Blanch wasn’t sure if that was from emotions or descending into the cave.
“Your friend is dying, not mine, and I have no real skin in this except for vengeance. If you don’t learn to cooperate, your chances of saving her will be much more slim. Remember that.”
Riaan turned back around to keep walking and Blanch, after making sure he stopped trembling for fear of tripping, walked behind.

Despite Blanch’s best efforts, his eyes watered and surprisingly warm tears ran down his face that he worked to scrub away. This wasn’t the time, he couldn’t cry right now.
If Riaan heard him sniffling, the older man gave no indications of it.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs and no enemies were present, Riaan spoke up again.

“Some things I will tell you now, and if you can’t accept them then you really should leave.” Riaan said coldly, turning to face Blanch properly.
“I’m used to a setting where you fight to kill, because your opponent won’t give you any other options. If they can be reasoned with or even threatened into backing down, I will. I don’t usually kill mindlessly. Second, I can and will omit or bend the truth if it benefits me. I can’t say I’ve ever outright lied, but don’t be surprised to see the magic carpet have a rig attached to the ceiling, or the contract to have fine print.
Third, yes, I know information I shouldn’t. I’m in the habit of keeping tabs on my opponents and if that means knowing dirty secrets or cheating, I will do it. Before you ask, I didn’t know you by name, much less anything about you before, but I can place you now- you were a pale boy in the red and gold beanie, yes?”

Blanch sniffled and tried to sound normal, but he knew how pathetic he sounded.
“I- I… yes.”

Riaan nodded slightly.
“I’ve caught footage, but only bits and pieces- frankly you and Chroma haven’t been a concern for me, so I haven’t bothered keeping many tabs on you.”

“… We’re hunting down criminals.” Blanch said uneasily. His voice still shook from emotion. 
“You- you’re gonna be caught too, so why aren’t you worried? Or- or did you not know that?”

“Who said we operate in the same areas?” Riaan replied. 
“I keep tabs on a multitude of places, in dozens of heroes. Your hunt isn’t anywhere close, and if it was I don’t think even the most hardened criminals know me by name. I’m not Salak. You’ll have to truly find me to catch me.”

Blanch paused to process that. Salak Mandus was a showboat of a criminal, the villainous equivalent of a colorful gender reveal party that poisoned a water supply.
“You- you know Salak? Wait, no no- does he know you?”

Riaan’s face looked a bit bemused. “Finally asking the proper questions. Yes, we know each other quite well.”

“But most criminals don’t know you? When Salak does?” 
It seemed… odd for Salak to not announce his minions or co-workers to the world. most criminals knew each other somehow, and many made points of tattling on others, throwing under the bus to save their skins.

“I make a point of not signing my work or announcing intentions, unlike most people. Knowledge is power, I won’t give it up easily.”

“…Then why are you answering my questions right? Why even say you’re a criminal at all?” Blanch asked skeptically.

“I don’t think you’ll find me at all even with the information I’m giving you- Salak wouldn’t betray me and his co-workers don’t know me. Even if they did, they don’t know anything about what I do or what I plan. I told you I’m from the wastelands but I never said I’m still there. You don’t know anything about my powers or what my line of work even is. You don’t have anything to go off of, while I know what you look like and can learn about you from there.”

Blanch tensed again- what had he done? How could he have been that stupid??

“On the other hand, if we don’t get back home, I meant what I said- I could start a new life here. If I do, this information doesn’t matter to me.”

He regarded Blanch coolly. “Just because I have information doesn’t mean I will use it. We may become enemies one day- in fact, I expect it- but until that point I see no reason to harm you.

“Uh….”
At this rate Blanch felt confused and at a loss. 
“…Thank you, I guess?”

Riaan shrugged. “I don’t require thanks,  but it’s appreciated.”

Both of them bristled as they heard two different sounds this time, coming down both of the hallways. One sounded like the scratching from earlier and the other was an odd light clunking noise.

“Riaan?” Blanch squeaked. “How- how are your eyes doing?”

“Not enough to handle two different opponents, if that’s what you’re asking. Look down the halls and tell me what’s coming.”

“What?! What if they spot me??”

“Then look quicker.” Riaan growled.

Blanch decided to peek down the hall at the clunking sound, since he could guess what the scratching was.
He tried to make some flame to help see, trying to remember what it felt like when Riaan kept pissing him off, but he only got brief sputters and bursts.
It was still enough to see what looked like a large clam shell with a protruding tongue and bulging eyes rocking from side to side to slowly clunk down the hallway. Honestly… They could probably handle the other monster before this clam waddled its way down.

It hadn’t spotted him so he peeked down and he saw the familiar red eyes from the abyss from before.
If it saw him it wasn’t speeding up, but it definitely would reach them faster than the clam.

“Ok, uh- there’s- on the left there’s a large purple clam thing with a big tongue and large eyes bulging out!”

Riaan’s eyebrows shot up.
“Go on….”

“The right has one of those crabs- the thing we made our shield from.”

“Let’s take the left. And hand me the spike, if you please.”

Blanch handed it over reluctantly. “Are you sure? Are your eyes ok enough for-”

“You just described the evolutionary equivalent of a man with his legs spread asking you to kick him, because his defense skills are impenetrable.” Riaan said flatly.
“It’s got a weak point for a face, and trust me, I doubt you’ll like what I do to it. Wait here.”

Despite Riaan’s request, Blanch’s curiosity won out as he peered down, watching as Riaan marched down, shield in front of the clam. It tried to lunge and tackle him, but he barely dodged out of the way and grabbed the clam’s tongue with one hand and aimed the spike with his other.

By the point that Blanch realized Riaan was about to stab it in the eye, he barely managed to turn away, trying to ignore the shrieking and squishing sounds. He shook violently at the noises and the rancid smell of blood in the air, knowing this would haunt him for quite some time.

“Clear.”

Blanch risked a look and saw Riaan coated in a disgusting amount of blood, looking disturbingly wild eyed for a moment- Blanch let his eyes wander to avoid the gaze and saw the body, the blood, the-

“Don’t look.” Riaan commanded. “It’ll scar you for life if you look for too long. Let’s move.”

“It can’t scar me much more than hearing it happen…” Blanch mumbled.

“Sure, be snarky about it if it distracts you.” Riaan said with a nod.

Blanch stole one more morbid glance as they walked on.
Then he looked back at Riaan, already covered in dirt and blood and scrapes, versus himself who was unharmed and clean.
It was probably a stupid feeling, but he couldn’t help feeling like it was an omen.