Chapter 9

The Apathy Wars. You don't remember those days, do you? Even if you were alive at the time, unless you felt that war's brutal fists first-hand, you can't remember it ever happening. Or perhaps you do remember some vague shadow of an event-- some distant echo that lost its meaning before it reached your ears. "Apathy Wars. What does that mean exactly?" you think to yourself upon hearing those seemingly ancient words.

The fault is not yours. No one can blame you for forgetting an event the very Universe wishes to conceal from the minds of all sentient life that dwells within it. Only those hearts filled with strong enough emotions that attach their very fiber of being to those dreadful events can remember what truly happened all those years ago. Many of those consider the memories a curse to hide from-- misery at its purest. Others consider the memories a blessing-- a reminder that life will prevail no matter what stands in its way.

Then there's Seryph Gibbons.

Do you think he knows what his true feelings are towards the very War in which he was the only true survivor? Perhaps that is the ultimate question in this story of ours...

---------- "I think its about damn time you came clean, Seryph."

Yushiro sake cup stood untouched the entire evening. The taste of alcohol would be far too bitter with Yushiro's current state of mind and would be an insult, both to the sake and to Yushiro.

"What in the HELL happened last night? I get a call from Tanin at three in the morning telling me to hurry over to your place, only to find an entire precinct of KPD officers at your house and a former classmate of mine decapitated on your living room floor. What's going on here, Seryph?"

Seryph began the night with a fresh bottle of bourbon. At this point the bottle was half full. Any other man would be in a drunken stupor by this point, and would be a willing partner to Yushiro's prodding. Seryph's unique nature allows him to enjoy his booze while still retaining his ability to perpeptuate a necessary lie.

"Like I said before, I didn't call you down here so you could interogate me. I had enough of that from the police today. Sure, it was clear-cut self-defense, but all that obnoxious red tape... don't be red tape, Yushiro. Not tonight."

Yushiro, with his frustration building up inside, insults the sake before him as it touches his lips.

"Look... I can understand you wanting to keep things to yourself. I can understand wanting to keep people out of harm's way. You don't want anyone else to end up like Tymora or even worse. But dammit, Seryph... what is so important that you can't even tell your own protigé the truth? I hate to be egotistical, but doesn't our friendship count for anything? I demand to know... at least part of the truth. Enough that things start to at least make some sense."

"Do you know what she told me?"

"Who?"

"Amanda. Do you know what she told me before I cleaved her head off? 'My hatred for the universe is surpassed only by my hatred for her.' Those are his words."

"Lovecraft's?"

"Yeah... him. It was what Lovecraft told me after... she died. Those were the words that he spoke to me as my blade rested in his black heart. The whole War... his whole attempt to destroy the universe... it was nothing compared to his hatred for the one woman I cared for the most. He was willing to sacrifice victory for the Void to see her die. That's why I push you away. This isn't your fight. This isn't Tanin's fight. This isn't even a fight. This is pure vengeance. This is a crusade against me. Lovecraft has drawn in pawns to do his dirty work for him. I would be no different than him if I asked for your help to fight back."

"So its your damn pride that's getting in the way? You don't want to feel like Lovecraft, so you allow the rest of us to stand in harm's way while we're attacked for, as far as we know, no good reason? What is it going to take for you to come out of your damn shell and see things how they really are? I don't give a damn if you're an avatar or not. Hell... look at Tanin. He's on the verge of being wiped from existence itself and he's asking for help from everyone he can. If your pride is all that's holding you back, I refuse to relent."

Seryph's gaze wanders away from Yushiro. His eyes wander around the Santa Fe Bar and Grill, as if looking for some reason to end this conversation without having to insult his old friend any further. His eyes found nothing of the sort.

"No... not again. I refuse to let it happen again?"

"What?! What do you refuse to let happen again?"

"Go away."

"No."

"GO AWAY, YUSHIRO! Now! For your own good. You don't want this, trust me. You don't want the truth."

Yushiro didn't mind being told to go away. He knows Seryph is acting out of frustration. Yushiro also didn't mind Seryph making decisions for him. Seryph is his sensei, and he knows his position. But those last few words... "You don't want the truth." Yushiro was being brushed off with a damn cliché. Yushiro leaves his money on the bar and quietly charges out of the restaurant.

"It's not often that I see you two argue like that." Susan calmly interjects as she walks down to Seryph's end of the bar. Susan makes it a point not to listen in on the conversations Seryph and Yushiro have when they come into her bar. With the other customers, she lets her ears tune in to their troubles and their worries, but with those two, from the first day they set foot in her bar, she knew that her penchant for gossip would serve no good. Call it a mix of quiet respect and an instictual fear of the unknown. Susan knew Seryph and Yushiro were different, even amongst the masses of oddities that float about the Nexus of All Realities. But tonight... tonight was different. Susan knew something was wrong the instant the two of them sat down at the bar. She allowed her ear to wander tonight.

"Destiny can be a real hassle like that. Sometimes you have to push away what is right in favor of what is meant to be."

Susan smiles. "Such big talk for something so simple. I hate it when you intellectual types try to pretty-up things that can best be understood when dirty and ugly."

"I never wanted to be an intellectual. I'm almost ashamed of it. It just sort of... happend. It was meant to be, even if it wasn't right. I used to be such a down-to-earth sort of guy..."

"Yes." A voice responds from next to Seryph. "One is truly 'down-to-earth' when they are capable of killing another creature of their species. Such natural brutality is honesty at its peak."

Seryph looks to his side as a man in khakis and a black polo shirt sits down in the seat recently vacated by Yushiro.

"I guess you read the newspaper this morning, stranger." Seryph responds as he returns his focus away from the new arrival. "You make it sound like I should be proud of having to kill in self-defense."

"So is that what they call it nowadays." the stranger says with a smirk. "'Self defense.' Curious how 20 years ago it was called 'murder' in most parts of the universe."

"A lot changes in 20 years. People grow wiser... or at least most do."

"'Change isn't dynamic enough. Only through direct action does the world truly grow. But then again... do we want the world to be different than what it is today?'"

Seryph's hand slowly reaches towards his katana. "'The wise only care that the world is as kind to their children as it was to themselves during their lifetime.'"

"She never was much for grammar."

"She didn't have to be. She never was a stickler for detail like you, Alexander."

All Susan was able to see was Seryph's sword returning to his side. She had only blinked out or surprise when she saw the blade begin to rise out of its sheath, but before she realized what was going on, the blade had returned to its rightful place, and the man sitting next to Seryph began to slump in his seat.

"Exactly the reaction I would expect from my old friend." The man's neck begins to tilt to the side at an unnatural angle. It was the same swordstroke Seryph had used on Amanda not even 24 hours previous to this. Despite his head slowly sliding out of place, and despite a rancid black cloud of swirling gas escaping from the hole in his neck, Alexander Lovecraft continues to speak. "Never the... hospitable... type..." Lovecraft's body begins to melt into an amorphous, colorless ooze. "But I'm... happy.... th...at my... prey is... sss...till so lively."

"And I'm happy to see that my prey is still a cowardly bastard that can't face his enemies face to face." Seryph retorts as he kicks Alexander's barstool to the ground.

The false Lovecraft attempts to laugh, but the molten form merely bubbles and gurgles before becoming nothing more than a noxious puddle on the floor. The homunculus' form continues to dissipate, evaporating into a fine mist of pure Void aether that slowly begins to fill the room. Seryph leaps over the bar and shoves Susan to the floor, covering her mouth and nose to keep the lethal, corrupting fumes from entering her body. The Void cloud quickly vanishes back to whence it came, unable to retain its form for long after Seryph's brutal attack.

"So." Susan asks in a direct, matter-of-fact tone, "What now?"

Seryph forces a smile and extends his hand to Susan. "The name's Seryph Gibbons. Avatar of the Universe. Survivor of the most devastating war no one knows about. Master swordsman and reluctant savior of life as we know it. Nice to meet you."

Susan returns Seryph's smile with a genuine one and shakes his hand.