#until bev and moonshine where he starts to learn he can be himself | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gideonthefirst · 5 years

Note

Naddpod fic suggestion: what no one tells you about saving the world

So this has turned into a three chapter exploration, the first chapter of which is now up here! Here it is, featuring Ulfgar and Hardwon:

They emerge from Hell triumphant. But it doesn’t feel triumphant, is the thing. Ulfgar Trueaxe walks with a limp, Thiala too spent to fully heal the leg that leaves bloody footsteps behind them, and he and Alanis are supporting her between them. He can feel Thiala’s hands shaking as she clutches onto both of their shoulders. They need to rest. Moradin above, they need to rest, but they’ve been in hell so long that Ulfgar’s lost track of the days and the sudden impact of sunlight is so startling that they stop moving, for a second, and look up into it.

“Pelor’s still watching us,” Alanis says, turning her head to Thiala, and Thiala lets out a noncommittal sigh, barely a response. She’s tired. It makes sense.

(read on AO3)

They keep walking until they find a cave by a lake so large Ulfgar can’t see the other side. Alanis can, probably, but he doesn’t ask. The cave will protect their backs and the lake will protect their fronts and Alanis doesn’t sleep these days, anyway, and Ulfgar and Thiala awaken to the slightest of sounds. Not that Ulfgar would ever admit it, but if this is what being a legendary hero is, he doesn’t fucking want it.

Alanis and Ulfgar lay Thiala down as gently as they can on the ground of the cave, but Ulfgar’s leg gives out as he bends down and he falls to his knee, barely able to support her. There’s something necrotic in the wound, and it hurts more than anything he’s ever felt. He notices Alanis looking at him, brow furrowed in concern, and shakes his head. Thiala’s got it worse, used all of her healing on him and Alanis and none on herself.

Thiala falls asleep almost immediately, and Ulfgar and Alanis retreat to the back of the cave, light a fire, heat up the last of their rations. They don’t speak more than necessary. They’ve both got two levels of exhaustion, at least, and making too much noise would mean they couldn’t hear Thiala’s quiet, quiet breathing as it stops, coughs, starts again, repeats. Eight hours. She just has to make it eight hours and then she can Heal the fuck out of all of them and Alanis can Teleport them home and he can just hang around and be useless, he guesses. There’s nothing he can do outside of a fight, and if he ever sees another fight again it’ll be an eternity too soon.

They eat. He sleeps, in the back of the cave where it’s darkest, and Alanis trances, towards the mouth where she can hear the rhythm of the lake lapping against its shores. When they awaken, it’s dark.

Thiala is still unsteady, but she Greater Restorations, Heals, Cures Wounds. Alanis sets up wards, and Ulfgar doesn’t know shit about magic, has never had any interest in learning, but he knows that you don’t ward a cave in the middle of nowhere that you’re planning on Teleporting away from.

“What are you doing?” he asks, as Alanis walks back towards him and Thiala, and Alanis blows a puff of smoke into the air, looking for all the world like it’s just another day. She’s always been the strongest of them, but Ulfgar knows walls when he sees them.

“What do you mean?”

“The…magic shit. Wards.”

“If this is going to be our base while we recover, it’s gotta be well protected. Woulda done it last night if I’d had anything more than a cantrip.”

Thiala looks up from her seat on the ground, leaning against a stalagmite. “Thanks, Alanis.” She sounds like she knows what Alanis is talking about.

“What the fuck are you talking about? We did it. We killed Asmodeus. We’re done. Let’s just go home. No one will ever know.” It was true.They’d killed Asmodeus, and they’d all made it out alive, which was more than could be said for anyone who’d come before them.

“Ilsed’s still down there,” Thiala says, and Ulfgar can’t tell if the strain in her voice is from pain or from anger. He goes to glance at her amulet for reassurance, as he always does, and doesn’t see it. Must be under her shirt or something. Whatever. Not the important thing right now.

“And someone else can deal with Ilsed! We made it out alive. Thiala barely made it out alive. Why is it our responsibility again?” Thiala pushes herself up into a sitting-up position, and Ulfgar lets out a harsh laugh. “Look at her! She’s blown most of her higher-level spells already this morning, and still can barely sit up. We’re in no shape to do anything!”

“I’ll be fine,” Thiala responds, but even Alanis looks skeptical.

“We’re the heroes, Ulfgar.” But Alanis has stopped her ritual casting, which is a win in his book. “Who’s going to do it if not us?”

“Someone else,” he says, and his leg gives out again, even though Thiala’s done all she can to heal it. From the ground, again – “Someone else.”

Hardwon Surefoot doesn’t give a shit about saving the world. It’s never been particularly kind to him, and it’s never treated anyone he cares about well, either. He knows this is ridiculous. He knows that, technically, the people he cares about are part of the world, but he doesn’t see why he can’t just save them, and not the rest of it. His mother, dead. His father, dead and probably a piece of shit. The only girl he’d ever loved, dead. His childhood hero, mind-controlled for years. It’s a litany of suffering that seems to target everyone around him. And –

He watches Moonshine trance, on the other side of the one big bed, Bev in between them and Balnor snoring on his chair. He knows he should sleep, but he’s still not used to his new body, to the way it feels when it’s dark and quiet and there’s nothing else to focus on. Bev is curled up next to him, one tiny hand on his chest, and Moonshine looks much more tired than she ever does when they’re awake. Her lips are pursed tight together and he can see the way her brow furrows, the way her shoulders tense. When they’re awake, she’s full of love and energy, always laughing, talking, flirting. Hardwon thinks his walls are strong, but he’s got nothing on Moonshine.

A strand of hair jumps up and down over her mouth as she breathes in and out, and Hardwon can’t help himself, he reaches out, careful not to wake Bev, and tucks it behind her ear as gently as he can. Before he can pull away again, Moonshine grabs his hand tight and presses it to her chest, her shoulders relaxing for a second before she releases it.

In the morning, before they head out, he and Bev do their squats. Hardwon does his best not to think about how different his body feels, and claps Bev on the back, says, “You’re getting there, kid!” The grin that splits Bev’s face in response seems almost improbable. After, when they’re sweaty and worn out (not that Hardwon would admit it), they sit side by side and Bev pulls out Ulfgar Goes Punch. Hardwon has it memorized by now, but he doesn’t say anything.

“This is an A, remember?” Bev says. “It sounds like ahh.”

Hardwon traces it with his finger absentmindedly as he looks across the tent at Moonshine listening in and Balnor packing the bag. “And this one?” he asks, even though he knows he’s asked a thousand times. Bev doesn’t get frustrated.

“That’s an H. The first letter of Hardwon.” Right. He knows that one. He knows that one.

“What about this?”

“That’s an E. The first letter of Elias.” Bev is so small leaning against him, patiently trying to teach him something he should have learned decades ago, and the acknowledgement of both of his names is so small, so unimportant, but who else has ever done that, besides these three? Who else has ever bothered to acknowledge him for long enough to learn one of his names, let alone two?

So, yeah, Hardwon Surefoot doesn’t give a shit about saving the world. But if that’s what they want to do, he’ll do it. Because he will die the death of a forgotten hero before he allows himself to let them down.

#naddpod #not another d&d podcast #not another dnd podcast #beverly toegold v #moonshine cybin #hardwon surefoot #thiala #alanis #Ulfgar trueaxe #my writing #naddpod fic #naddpod spoilers #asks #anonymous

49 notes · View notes