IC Inbox: Daybreak

[shockingblue]

GUSTAV "GV" GUNVOLT
UN: AZURESTRIKER

STATUS: Student, Grade 9

ACCOLADES: 4 Year Member of the Rune Guild QUILL, active field agent and runic inscriptionist. Designed and implemented runic equipment for field use. Destroyed a small army of invading undead.

BIO: New to Daybreak Academy. I speak Japanese, German, French, and English. Japanese is a little rusty though. Interests include runic inscription, athletics, physics, and history. I like video games and computers too.

© TESSISAMESS

You've reached GV. If you need me for something, leave me a message, and I'll return it as soon as possible.

Comments

Closed, Shortly After the Battle of the Third Herald

[shockingblue]

After the whole battle, the injuries, and the stress put upon him, when Gunvolt got back to Daybreak, he felt like he needed to sleep for a week. He didn't, but he definitely cut back from his usual breakneck working pace. He only went out for classes, recreation, or a bit of physical therapy; exercise, mostly. Otherwise, he mostly stayed in with Desidera and Monarch. It wasn't a stretch to say by the end of it the poor kid was at his limit.

A few days after the event, Gunvolt was walking from class back toward his dorm when he heard a voice call out to him. Familiar, at that.

"Oi! GV! Wait up!"

The boy halted, and looked over his shoulder to the young man rushing over to greet him. Blinking a little, and feeling a little trepidation in his heart in seeing his face, Gunvolt nodded.

"Zeno? What are you doing here?"

"Not exactly a warm welcome, huh?"

GV frowned before replying. "...We can't pretend the whole thing with Asimov didn't happen. He was like family to all of us. I know we managed to keep from tearing each other apart and stayed cordial, but we haven't exactly talked anything out since then."

Zeno was quiet for a moment, looking away, for once a little lost for words. "...Yeah. It took a long time to process what happened. Turned out, Asimov was keeping a lot from us all. Between grieving, putting ourselves back together, reorganizing QUILL, and going over all of the intel... it took us months.

But that's why I came here, GV."

"You're sounding way too serious, and you're worrying me. What happened, Zeno?"

"...A lot. We went through all of Asimov's effects. His computers, anything he'd written, all of it. And everything in that suggests everything you and Daybreak reported was right. He... he really went off the deep end years ago. He pulled the wool over all of our eyes. Especially Moniqa. She couldn't believe it. It nearly broke her."

Gunvolt shifted uncomfortably, knowing something like that probably happened. However, given QUILL endured and even helped in the last battle, that told him enough to know she kept it together.

"Finding out the guy she loved was an genocidal maniac? Yeah. That'd do it. How is she now, though?"

"Exhausted, but carrying on. She decided that she cared about the cause she signed up for was still worth fighting for, even if she joined up on pretense of a lie. She's gonna make it the truth of QUILL, not the cover. ...It's why I stuck around. And why we've implemented a lot more transparency measures. The level of secrecy Asimov worked with isn't there anymore."

"...This sounds like a recruitment pitch."

"I guess it sort of is. Moniqa sent me down here for a couple of reasons. The first was... to tell you we know about Asimov, and that we know what you told us was verifiable truth now.

The second... both Moniqa and I... well. We wanted to say there's always a place for you and your friends in QUILL. If you want it. Even after everything that happened, you're still my friend, and I think Moniqa still thinks of you like her kid brother. ...Even if you're looking more and more like a man every time I see you. ...You've gotten taller, too."

Gunvolt lowered his eyes, a dark sadness dulling their bright blue hue. He hesitated before speaking.

"...I don't know if I'm ready for that, Z. I don't know if I can ever be ready to go back to QUILL. Asimov poisoned that well pretty deeply, even if I know you and Moniqa are cleaning it up." His fists balled at his sides. "...I still see his face in my nightmares. Both when he shot me, and when I killed him in revenge." He looked Zeno in the face and firmly stated: "I murdered him, Z. I didn't take justice into my hands that day. I wanted him dead for what he did to me and Monarch, and the pain he put Desi and my other friends through.

And what good did it do in the end? An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind."

"...I don't believe that was the only reason you did it. GV, you're my bro. And I know you well enough to know you put him down because it had to be done to protect the world. A lot of innocent lives. Yeah, sure, still murder, you're probably gonna say. That you're not that far off from him."

"I've asked myself that. In a sense, we're both weapons. Sumeragi used him, turned him into a Glaive Soldier. And he used me, with the intent to groom me to lead Candles everywhere, probably through violence and force."

"Moniqa said you'd probably say something like that. But you're not a weapon, a tool, or anyone's fool, GV. Not anymore. But you and Asimov aren't even in the same league. You are the better man. By far, even if you wanted revenge like he did. But the difference? You didn't take it out on the world, and you chose to do more, to help people instead of hurt them. ...And that's why we wanted to tell you, that you always have a place with us. You're still family to us. And always will be, even if you walk your own path away from QUILL."

"...Moniqa told you to say all of that, didn't she?"

"...A lot of it. The whole 'better man' thing was me," Zeno said, with a wry smile.

Gunvolt paused, shutting his eyes for a bit. He couldn't really look his old friend in the eyes. "...Thanks, Z. And thank Moniqa for me too, when you get back. But right now, my answer's still the same. I'm not ready. ...And..."

"...And you're building another life here. I know. You look... more at ease here at Daybreak than you ever were at QUILL. And that's okay. ...You just make sure you take care of the people you love here." Zeno stepped closer, a smile forming on his face as he slapped Gunvolt on the shoulder. "Especially Desi and Monarch! I'm jealous you live with two beautiful ladies! One of them my favorite idol, at that! Turns out you're a pretty lucky guy!"

Gunvolt's eyes shot open when Zeno slapped him on the shoulder, and he shot his friend a look that wasn't quite withering. "Zeno, please..."

"Too far? Ah, you're still no fun," the agent teased, his eyes sparkling in a nostalgic way. "But... that does bring me to the last thing Moniqa sent me here to do."

"What's that?"

The agent reached into his pocket and produced a flash drive, handing it over to GV. "We did more than digging into Asimov. We followed the breadcrumbs to Sumeragi. Xiao Wu helped us out a bunch into digging into Sumeragi's dirty laundry. We had a breakthrough, and found out a bunch of juicy stuff. We're going to hand it off to Daybreak as collab work tomorrow, but... Moniqa and I believed you deserved to know about all of this stuff personally." And in an instant, a lot of the joviality fell from his face. "...I'll be real with you, GV. You're not going to like what you read in there. It's... disturbing. And very personal. But you deserve to know the truth now that we found it. ...And it's information that you'll probably need to know to protect the people you love here. And this time, we really will have your back."

Gunvolt held the flash drive between two fingers, looking at it with a sense of dread and purpose.

"I see. ...Thanks, Zeno. And thank Moniqa for me too."

"The best way you can thank us is to keep living the best life you can. ...But don't be a stranger either. You can come back and visit us any time. ...And do think of stopping by for Christmas. It'd make Moniqa happy, and she really wants to meet Desidera too. Probably to do the big sis check to make sure her little brother has a good girlfriend." With that, Zeno turned and started walking away, giving a wave over his shoulder. "Hey, make sure to ask Monarch to brush up on her Christmas carols too, okay? See ya, GV."

"Bye, Zeno. See you soon!"

Of course, he was unsure if that were true. He looked at the flash drive one more time, before slipping it in his jacket pocket.

Seems there was a little more homework to do than he thought.