“Hello, sexy..! Wanna come play with us? There are drinks and fun for the whole night!”
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrgh!!!"
Reynolds screamed with all his guts after seeing two faceless ladies. "Son of a bitch! You want me to play to you?"
"But why?"
"You're a fucking ghost!"
Now I don't know where you took me, but you have to send me back to my crew.
He told the ladies. But at the back of his mind, he knew he just pop right back in. He wanted to do it with a twist though. He drew his sword and held it in reversed grip. After that, he pointed the sword at the two ladies before he poke his right thigh to see if he would feel any pain.
And he fucking did.
"Awww!"
You see that? I am alive.
"Bye!"
Many years ago, Reynolds was an assassin hired by rich people. He is one of the very few who never fail on his mission. He knew his craft and above all, it's like he knew almost everything. He also knows that he is a character written by Gambit. An NPC.
When they were in Merveille, he again showcased this ability. He said.
"B-b-but, I thought we came here to gather information about the beasts?", Reynolds butted in.
"Why didn't we just kill one of the two a while ago and return to the base? It is the same principle. Don't ya tell me that you have to defeat one of the NPCs on this island in order to do that?"
Gambit thought to himself, This guy is weird. From the moment he first spoke, he has been weird.
And then he recalled the very first thing Reynolds asked him back in the Laughing Archipelago. "So Gambit! I heard that you leveled up too quickly. What's your current stat now?". The prince only shook his head, astonished at the head of the sniper team.
But other than that, his origin has always been a mystery. It's like, he just appeared out of nowhere when T-Bag and Gambit finally made a pact and created a guild of assassins of which all the commanding officers of the Silver Vampirates are part. That happened all at once in Poker Island in North Blue. The birth of the Knights of Nights.
He immediately managed to get back from the scene and saw how he almost ended up being drowned in the lake. He turned to T-Bag and poke him, too.
"Oy! Get back to your senses, stupid jerk!"
“Daddy! Daddy! Come play with me!”
"Romeo?! My son! It's been a while. I am so happy to see you again."
These are the words he spoke after hearing his son once again. How many years had it been since then?
“Come, dear. I made lunch for us!”
"My Danica! I am so glad to see you again. You haven't aged. You are still as beautiful as the sun and mountain."
He would hug them both tight. Tight as he could as if he was crushing their bones. And he wept. His tears fell down his cheeks as the breeze of the countryside blew past them. The scent of the farm and the newly cut grass added weight to his memory.
Several years ago. T-Bag and his family lived on a certain island in North Blue. He was a farmer and a ranch owner. They sold beef, cow's milk, dairy, and even canned corned beef, lesser the price than anyone across the market. He loved to assist people and promote financial support to everyone who came to his aid. He had a then-pregnant wife and a 4-year-old son:
Danica and Romeo. On a certain evening, after they finished all their daily routines, and delivered the products they manufactured, a certain group of pirates conquered their place. These people started by burning the ranch and all the farm animals there. T-Bag rose from his sleep and gathered his things, his cowboy rope, and his pistol. He also summoned his slaves, 2 dozens of armed men to welcome their guests.
"My dear Danica, you stay here with Romeo.", he told his wife. Then he turned to his son, Romeo.
"My boy, be strong. Whatever happens here, I love you more than my life..", he left the room with a kiss on their forehead.
"Boys! Let's go!", ordered his men.
Outside their house, the fire was beginning to spread out really quickly because of the straws and hays across the farm. The houses of his men were also engulfed with flames as they were made from light materials.
"Waaaaaaaaaaa!!!", a scream coming from the townhouse.
"Papaaaaaaaaa! Heeeeeeeeeelp!!", a louder sequence of the massacre was heard somewhere.
"Noooooooooo!!!!", and that's the last of the scream they heard from that area.
"Oh my god! Oh my god! Nooo!" Someone from his men sobered... The other whimpered in agony. A scream without a sound...
Most of them were frozen with what they saw and so... His men stampeded towards the burnt area, all of them holstering their guns...
"Noo! Wait!", T-Bag tried to stop them but they were all desperate to attack back... He followed... Several seconds later and just as before he caught up with them, he heard a series of gunshots.
*Batatatatatatatatatatat....*
"Whaaaaaa"
*Booooom... Boooooom. Batatatatatatatatatatat..*
And afterward, a shadow of a winged man emerged from the flare, swiping off the lake of flames with his wing. A man from the past appeared in front of him, grabbing one of his men, and sinking his fang into the neck of his man.
"Who the hell are you?! And what have you done to our place? What do you want from me?!"
As soon as he finished his questions, a gust of wind blew into his face and a piercing pain registered in his flesh; he passed out. The next thing he saw, he was already inside his room, tied up on the floor using his own rope... He saw his child, dropped on the floor, his head broken,
"Romeo... Noo! Romeo!!! Aaaaaaah-ha-ha-ha.. Romeo...", he would continue to whimper until he saw his wife, grabbed by the neck, lifted up into the air, she was bitten in her neck, killing her instantly. And the beast dropped her body before stomping on the head of his dead son. He closed his eyes, and wouldn't open them up for a few seconds. When he opened it, the beast is no more present.
Until he returned to his sanity. He looked at his son's eyes while holding his shoulders as he crouched. "I love you, my son. It was ingrained in me through eternity. But."
He turned to his wife.
"It isn't time yet for us to be together again. But in time, we will. I love you."
T-Bag regained his consciousness and revert from paradise to hell. When he got back, he saw Gambit staring out the space. He knew he was in trouble. Gambit of all the strongest people is also the weakest in almost everything. And it has been his mission to always be by his side.
"Pretty! Fucking wake up!" He yelled as he punched the prince's face so hard it would wake him up. He did this before in Merveille and other places. It never fails.
Landayan Morrow was just talking to his crew a few seconds ago but after they were held by the wandering, creepy lake ghosts, he was sent to another realm.
He was lying down on the sanctuary of grass and Chamomile and he looked back a couple of decades back and freely smile. Closing his eyes and he heard the chirps and whirrs of the birds and bugs hovering over his ears.
“Oh... Landayan! Where have you been!”
The motherly voice would speak, smiling as she would start to walk away in a very noble, ladylike manner, befitting of nobility.
“Come my dear boy we have much to talk about! I missed you so much!”
"Mother!", the prince greeted his queen at the top of his lungs. It has been 17 years since they last saw each other.
"You haven't aged a bit Your Majesty. Still dashing and elegant."
"These endearing dancing leaves are countless!", he responded to
Queen Lira Ninquelótë - Gambit's adopted mother, Queen of Hiraya.
"Can't you see just how they love to witness, those butterflies and dragonflies? How wondrous they are meeting your very eyes. It had always been a festival of bluish blossoms, emerging wildly in the entirety of the valley. It had always been a parade of purple columns, scattered in the platform of the eastern sanctuary."
Her mother just smiled back at him. And for once, this is the first time Gambit would be poetic after years of infamy. Perhaps, the remaining nobility in him was reserved only for the only person who endeared him in his solitude.
"And I always believed that dandelions are fairies. Just like you, Mother. Resting them all in our palms, whispering your wish. Sending them all to the skies while you wave goodbye. And hold your playmate's hand while you two attempt to fly. I am truly for leaving Hiraya. I need to find who I truly am."
"But every time I opened my eyes and sigh. I always returned to reality. I don't know where I belong. I didn't. But now, it seems everything is making sense."
Gambit faced the afternoon sky so calm and pretty. And how lovely those clouds are. They are Supernatural! But he couldn't see just how lonely those clouds are. Is this natural?
'Tis the beauty of the meadow that was never elusive. For it emanates a fragrance which never tried to leave. But where are these feathers that used to linger in the vast grassland of flowers and dreamers?
"Gone are the days when nature and mankind are one. Has Gaea been cursed or we were the ones cursed? The nature of nature is beyond its true nature. What else can we share with the seeds of the future?", her mother asked him.
"In this little garden of mine, around me are trees in silver color with glasses as their trunk. There is no grass but a variety of junk. Butterflies went smaller and black, resting in the isle of scrap. We used to call it to flower from way way back..."
"What do you mean, Your Majesty?", a clueless Gambit. Besides, her mother had always been the more poetic, metaphoric, symbolic, and insightful one.
"It means, you have to wake up and go back. The world is waiting for you. Change it. From there, you will find who you are. In time, we will meet again."
"I always love you, my Landayan."
Suddenly, Gambit felt a sturdy force that rammed his right cheek. A formidable one. It was T-Bag. He looked at his commander and quickly, he saw the ghost luring them into the depths of the realm of death.
"Get back to the center of the boat. And don't let them touch you once more."
Mother, I always love you, too.