wc: 1848

"I don't know what to write," Grian complained, leaning back in a chair and covering his face with his hands.

Joel frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be the glorified leader?"

"Doesn't mean I wanted to be," Grian grumbled, picking up the pen and staring at the empty paper. "I don't think the people will appreciate me telling them that 'everything's gonna be okay', right?"

"It's a little cheesy," Joel replied, wrinkling his nose.

It had turned out that this little base tucked underneath a mountain was where much of communications were run. Newspapers, messages, Gemstone Cavern seemed to house all of it.

"It's a mountain, so if we pop an antenna up there, we'll have signals for miles," Joel had said with a smirk.

While most of the Listeners that had escaped the main base and its battle were off training for war, Grian was stuck in a little room with Joel, writing an inspirational article.

"Okay, how about I go train, for a few hours, and be back after lunch!" Grian tried. Joel shot him an icy glare.

"You are pathetic," he said jokingly, shutting the door and leaning against it. "You're not leaving until you have at least a paragraph."

"..I need to use the bathroom."

"Pee yourself for all I care."

Grian glared at the paper. Words did not magically appear, to his chagrin. "If it's short and sweet, the people might like that better."

"Depends how short you define that to be," Joel replied.

Grian wrote down a sentence, scratched it out, and threw the pen across the room. "Don't you guys have article writers?" he complained. "This is not a job for me."

"We're not going to lie," Joel told him, poking the back of his head and getting his hand swatted away. "Just come up with something and sign it."

"Okay, okay," Grian muttered. He thought for a moment, then wrote something down and handed it to Joel. "How about this?"

Joel took the paper and brought it closer to read. "The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. What does this mean?"

"It's what's written on the Staff," Grian replied, summoning the staff to his hand and tapping the carved symbols on the end. Joel's eyes widened.

"Oh," Joel breathed. "You're- You're the-"

"Yeah," Grian said, closing his fist and letting the Staff disappear. "I don't know if, uh, corporate up there is gonna let me share that, though."

Joel huffed. "I'll go ask Xerion. You make sure the people understand what this is saying, and we'll go from there. If he says no, have backups." With that, he left the room.

Grian glanced down at the galactic symbols on the paper, thinking, before finally writing "This is what the Staff has to say. Today we begin to conquer fear.

So poetic, Grian thought amusedly.

When Joel returned with approval from Xerion, he seemed to think so too, although not as enthusiastically.

"It's even cheesier," Joel told him with a giggle. "People are going to write songs with this as the lyrics and stuff. Gosh, this is perfect."

The sudden approval at the end made Grian's eyebrows raise. "You like it?"

"No, I hate everything and anything that you would ever do," Joel replied easily.

"I could fry you like a potato right here," Grian told him with a grin.

"You wouldn't dare," Joel said, giving him a cheeky smile. "I would completely destroy you. It's not even a question."

Grian poked him in the back of the head and he yelped. "Come train with us later," he suggested. "We'll see who'll really win."

"Oh, you're so dead," Joel told him with a cackle, and they continued to bicker as they left the room.

~~~

"I gave some people your message," Joel told him as they set up to duel. "One person started crying. Well done."

Grian laughed. "That was not the intention." He shrugged off his coat and stepped up onto the mat, motioning for Joel to follow. "Are you ready to get beat up? No magic, no weapons, good ol' fist to fist."

"You're literally gonna die," Joel said with a deadpanned expression. Grian grinned and darted at him.

Joel was quite the opponent, Grian noticed, ducking a jab and nearly getting clobbered in the jaw. Perhaps even better than X. Grian threw an experimental punch and Joel caught the fist, twisting in a way that would send most people flying. Grian's eyebrows flew up, and his grin blossomed.

"This is fun," Grian said with exhileration, blocking a hit. Joel's mouth was set in a hard grimace as they traded blows, sweat trickling down his brow.

Grian was strong, but when it came to hand to hand, he wasn't nearly as powerful. As the two fought, Grian found himself facing a formidable opponent. He couldn't help the smile on his face as he kicked Joel, who ducked out of the way. Grian jumped over a sweeping leg, hand moving to jab Joel in the stomach.

He stumbled backwards when the cold metal of a tiny dagger pressed against his skin. "Thought we said no weapons?" he accused with a grin, watching Joel twirl the small weapon in his fingers.

"I don't follow rules," Joel told him cockiliy, lunging forward.

"Neither do I," Grian replied, brandishing his staff and moving to meet him.

"There is no way that is fair," Joel huffed as Grian quickly knocked the tiny knife out of his hands with a few twirls of his staff.

Grian swung his staff to point at Joel's neck. "You started it."

Joel tackled Grian, who laughed in response. The two wrestled on the floor for a while, Grian getting on top and drawing his fist back for a punch. Joel managed to roll away, but Grian grabbed his collar.

"What is going on in here?"

Grian and Joel froze and turned to look at the doorway. A very confused looking Stress stood there, watching them with a quirked eyebrow. "I didn't realize training was supposed to be so unosphisticated." Her gaze turned stern. "And Grian, you're not supposed to be training anyhow."

"I wasn't using magic," Grian protested. She glared at him anyway, and he obediently stood up. "What do you need?"

"Come to the conference room once you clean up," she said, turning and closing the door.

"Well, looks like I gotta go," Grian said with a sigh, turning and offering Joel a hand. Joel took it, standing up. "That was probably the most fun I've had in a while."

Joel raised an eyebrow. "..You must not have a lot of fun, then."

Grian shrugged. He'd spent the past months very stressed.

"Y'know, when I heard the infamous Xelqua was coming-" Grian winced at the name. "-I expected a much more dignified person." Joel tossed the training knife he'd been using into a bin. "I'm glad you're not like that, though. If the future of this nation rested in the hands of someone who didn't know what fun meant, I'd probably abandon this revolution." He paused for a second. "I'm joking, of course."

"Surprised I have a personality, hm?" Grian said with a smirk, nudging Joel. His smile faltered. "I just got... really, really unlucky."

There was a moment of silence before Joel clapped Grian on the back. "Well, I'm glad you're kind of fun."

~~~

"Stress?" Grian poked his head into the conference room. The faerie was sat on top of the table, surrounded by books and papers. She glanced up.

"There you are," she said, patting the spot on the table next to her. "I... need to talk to you."

"What's up?" Grian said, climbing onto the table. "I'm not dying, I hope."

Stress laughed. "No, don't worry. It's about your magic."

"Go on?" Grian replied, interested.

Stress took a breath. "How much do you know about healing faeries?"

Grian frowned. "What? Uh... not too much. I know you guys are the most powerful, and are kept in check by only being able to use magic for healing."

Stress nodded. "Healing faeries are of the sun, which obviously creates a lot of energy. Faes like Scar come from trees, some like Tango are of lava and fire, and more." She picked up a paper from next to her, depicting winged faeries bowing before a statue. "Do you know what this is?"

Grian shook his head.

"Sun faeries, as we call ourselves, take worship very seriously," Stress explained. She opened a mythology book to a page labelled Sun God. "We know things that others don't." Her warm brown eyes fixed on Grian's. "So you promise not to tell anyone what I've told you today?"

"I promise," Grian said, swallowing thickly.

"The way the gods work," Stress began with her voice lowered, "Is that they aren't really gods. Yes, that's what we call them, and how we should call them, but they're more like deities. They used to be humans, and while their powers transcend mortal abilities, they still think like us."

Grian raised an eyebrow. "And we know this how?"

"The sun god or goddess talks to us," she explained. "I've been to the ceremonies." She shivered. "It's... scary, but also amazing. But anyway. Whoever is the god... it changes. The god will want to let his or her soul rest, understandably, and they'll choose whoever they believe is worthy to take their place." On the paper there was a picture of a figure in long, draping robes and bright wings.

"Why are you telling me this?" Grian said, expression flat. How does this help me? All this does is tell me that there are real gods that think like me, and they're purposefully making me suffer.

"I am working with a third of what our congress has promised" -your author, a hamilton stan

"Show me your magic," Stress commanded.

Grian made a face but obeyed, summoning a little bit of light into his palm. Stress stared at it.

"It's weird," she muttered. "I've seen magic this color before." Grian perked up, closing his fist.

"Where? Who?" Maybe I can find someone to help me.

"At the annual sacrificial ceremony," Stress replied, eyes flicking up into Grian's. "When the Goddess of Sun, bless her, came down to accept the offering." Grian's heart began to thump. "I only dared to look at her hands, but... they glowed the exact same shade."

Grian jolted. "...I'm certainly not a god."

"Of course not," Stress said, shaking her head. "I'm just wondering... if maybe... the gods have their eye on you. If you're blessed, or something. I've been looking through these books-" She waved her hand at the textbooks and studies around them. "-But I haven't found anything like what's happening to you." She slid off the table, taking a few books with her. "I don't know what's going on, but I suggest you pray to the Goddess of Sun and think about it."

Stress opened the door, then paused. "It might mean the difference between life or death."

The door shut behind her, leaving behind a speechless Grian.

i just love joel so much, can't wait to keep writing with him as a real character :D golden grian may have some more lore attached to it hmmmm

next update may be a bit slower cuz of midterms... but hopefully not beyond a week!

thank you so much for reading! have a good day or night, wherever you are!

-Ete