23rd metal . CTS spam

[godsays]

[ It's after Cassel's announcement that Zane can be found in the CTS.

The scene is medieval - or, ancient, anyway. Armor, swords, horses. A battle. As the door out of the CTS closes behind him, they surround him, weapons braced. He blinks back anguished emotion, and tosses back a vial of metals, and touches steel, pewter.

He launches into the air, and the fight begins.

There are hundreds of them, and only one of him: and yet. He slaughters them. He uses the metal they carry to Push and Pull himself; he is always faster, always stronger, and he is the utter picture of grace.

He kills them all.

And when they are dead, the bright green hill of a battlefield strewn with corpses, he goes into the forest. Braces himself against one tree and flings metal at another, a thud-thud of swords, knives, shields whipping and burying themselves into the bark. He Pushes, and Pushes, until finally the tree splinters and collapses, crashing slowly and mightily into the ground.

He keeps destroying the trees, over and over, until someone interrupts - or another army shows up. ]

Comments

[godsays]

Ask my father, and he'd say a weapon. Ask my mother... I don't know.

But I think, [ And he swings the sword, a roll around his hand, testing the weight ] that something happens when a child is born. There's something more there, that didn't come from either of the parents. Life.

And that's what you take away when you kill.

[youwillgotohell]

Life is exactly what our parents give us. It's our opportunities that they take away.

[The only warning she gives is physical; she swings her sword up at him, certain he'll block it.]

I made myself a killer.

[fridgetothefire]

[She wants, very suddenly, to flick his nose. She never did manage to get Pietro. She resists the urge. Straight-faced, in the most reasonable tone she can manage,]

By that logic, every mistborn is equally worthy. Same ten powers, right? No more, no less.

[godsays]

[Here, he does draw back. Uncertain.]

...eighteen.

[He hasn't said this aloud to anyone yet. It's just been a thought. Lingering in the back of his mind.]

I think there might be eighteen.

[fridgetothefire]

That's super enigmatic and kind of cool if you're right, but, what, if you figure them out, you'll deserve love more?

Because that's fucked up.

[godsays]

Mistborn are worth more to me.

[ He clarifies: ] Automatically. Before knowing them. Because we have something in common.

And - maybe I would be. [ He's thinking of Kelsier. If Kelsier would pay more attention to him because of this. ]

[fridgetothefire]

[He pulled back, which is convenient, because it allows her to thwack his forehead smartly with her own, already too close to dodge, hard enough to hurt them both, a little, though not enough to bruise.]

No, you idiot. You realize you're basically telling me that my father was the most worthwhile person I've ever met?

[She's not angry - or, she's angry, because the corollary is and I'm worth nothing, you hypocrite, but she isn't venting it, isn't giving it any expression in her, keeps it in a box on a shelf because this isn't about her and being angry at him won't help him be less stupid.]

You wouldn't be worth one jot more. You'd just have more tools. What you do with them - all the rest of you, in other words, cleverness and empathy and bravery and your lousy attitude, all of that - that's what matters.

...and you did a good job with Creed, by the way.

[She knows other people have told him, but she hasn't, and she - ought to. Fair's fair.]

[godsays]

[ He pulls back more, now, shooting her a glare, rubbing exaggeratedly at the forehead that barely even stings. ]

No. That's not - You don't think I believe Creed is worth more than you or Chris or - Lua. Do you?

[ He doesn't, truly. But he struggles with this.

He drops his hand, abandoning the glare, too. ]

But maybe if I found more, if I showed I could be smarter and more powerful... [ A hiss of air. ] I still think this way, Anya, even when I try not to. How can I stop assuming that other people will do the same?

[fridgetothefire]

I don't think you think it straight out to yourself. But I think that's what some of the things you believe in mean, if you pay attention to the consequences. You get away with having it both ways in your head by never facing what you're actually saying about everyone else, when you say that about yourself.

[This is solemn, even gentle. Anya knows something about holding incompatible thoughts out of emotional necessity. But she also thinks he needs to jettison this, like, yesterday.]

Do you remember the powerswap flood? I was a telepath for a while. Stronger and faster and everything felt effortless. And I almost killed Erik by accident. I wasn't any better or worse or more worthy or less. I was still me, and I hurt someone because I made a reckless mistake.

You told me, what, five minutes ago that I should stop manipulating people, and the people who stick around are the ones who like me for me, right? Zane, you were powerless, as you told me emphatically and repeatedly.

We all still cared about you, and you did not make it easy. I'm not going to lie. There are people who'll think you're worth more for it. But you're a what instead of a who to them, even if that what isn't necessarily a tool, and they aren't your real friends.

[godsays]

But what about - Cassel? He and I learned to understand each other because we both have powers, because we've both been used for them. Part of why he's important to me is that. Maybe even most of it.

[fridgetothefire]

You aren't listening. This is an empirical question, the barge did the experiment, he did not abandon you.

If Cassel lost his powers, forever, would you love him less? Would he deserve less?

[You blockhead.]

We learned to understand each other because our fathers are awful. Our lives are part of us. History matters. Connection matters. But it's about how you felt and how you survive and how you are still kind enough to care that someone else suffered as you suffered.

My father - he knew what it was, to be treated as -

[Subhuman is, and is not, the word she wants.]

-as less, as an animal, as something to be disposed of. And then he turned around and did it to other people. Some people take things like that and when they have the chance to stand under their own strength, deal them right back out. And some people struggle to stand against them.

[With a very small smile, sad and sharp and deep,]

That's what makes you amazing, to me. You believe some of what you've always been told but you're still trying so hard, to be something different. To go through all of that and come out and still be moved by what happened to Cassel, instead of callous to it, because hey, you survived, didn't you? That's how the world goes, isn't it? That's what matters, not...power and circumstance.

[godsays]

[ He does block the swing, strong and easy. If he stopped burning pewter, they might be more or less on even ground, especially considering how tired he is. He considers it. ]

Do you like being that way?

[youwillgotohell]

[When she was younger, she'd sparred with Arthur. It was how she learned the sword. The upper hand she'd had on him then was having the speed to match his strength. He blocks, and she lets her sword slide off, sweeping it around lower, at his middle.

It's easier to think about thrust and parry rather than being a monster. It's easier to let answers slip out, too.]

No. I don't - I don't know. It's better than being nothing.

[godsays]

[ This time, a dodge, a smooth and swift step back. It isn't as perfect as it might be with atium, which would let him see the future, but it's effective nonetheless. This time, he angles in to attack. ]

I know how you feel.

[youwillgotohell]

[She takes the sword in both hands, raises it across her body and meets his attack with a parry. He's stronger, and she's prepared to give ground. She's prepared to use magic if he's too strong.]

I know you do.

I thought if I embraced it, nothing could hurt me anymore.

[godsays]

[ He wonders what she will do if he's too fast, so he does two quick strikes, moving with the fast grace of a dancer, a snake. ]

[youwillgotohell]

[She steps, blocks, sees the second strike coming and knows she won't stop it in time.

There's the smallest flare of fear - no mortal blade can kill me, and the sharpness of an immortal blade - and her eyes glow.]

Scildan.

[The sword glances off of - air, of of an invisible shield, and she presses her attack. Better than letting her discomfort settle.]

[godsays]

[ And part of his mind still insists that Mistborn are more. Mistborn are the only ones who can feel the perfection of the night, see the stars. But that would mean Vin and Kelsier are his only equals here, and he doesn't feel even remotely equal to them. He feels more equal to Anya. Cassel. Morgana. And Cassel and Morgana have power.

He's sending himself in circles. ]

...it is how the world goes. How my world goes.

I didn't know there was something different until here.

[fridgetothefire]

[Oh honey.]

Zaychek, your world was wrong about almost everything.

[godsays]

Zaychek?

[She's right. He knows she is. He's turned away from almost everything his world represents - except one thing. Allomancy.]

[fridgetothefire]

[She did say almost. It's not bad. It's just not the most important thing about him, either. She blushes slightly, glances away.]

...it's just a word.

[godsays]

In your language?

[fridgetothefire]

...in the third of my eight languages, yes.

[godsays]

Eight.

[He's impressed.]

[godsays]

[ He smiles, and he retreats a little, defends himself without attacking. ]

You would make a good Mistborn.