Moonlark Turned Evil

Inktober Special: Wander

Featuring drunk sophie

Kinda turned into angst lmao this was supposed to be comedy-

Also the stuff i described in Kagurazaka aren't listed in order, like they would be when you're coming down the hill, cuz my memory is not that good- but they all exist, and I've seen them and walked past them and stuff

Definitely not me watching The Untamed behind the scenes clips to motivate myself😃

Not long after the situation with the Sea Dragon Guild, Pixel decided to take his troubled, traumatized children out for a drink in the Forbidden Cities. While he might be a good person, he was one of the leaders of a rebel group. How could he not be rebellious once in a while?

If it was obvious that all three kids were underage (which it kinda was, since maturity could only take you so far) no one commented.

"I'm copying you now, Alvar," Pixel chuckled as he waved a bunch of money under the bartender's nose, distracting him from the fact that he was about to serve alcohol to children.

The Vanisher gave him a look.

Alvar had grown up quite a bit from the drunk twelve year old he'd been when he stumbled into Pixel's office. He was fifteen years old now, and had even returned to Everglen in the Lost Cities. He hadn't really told any of them the details, but it seemed like Alden and Della had covered for him the entire time he had been away, and he was able to integrate back into elvin society.

His siblings seemed to be a sore spot, though.

The other three were much younger—Sophie was nine, Glimmer was ten, and Ruy had just turned eleven.

The kids fired off some random orders. Aside from Alvar, none of them had really come into contact with human alcohol. They probably had no idea what they were doing.

Pixel asked for something light. He had to supervise once they got drunk, after all.

It really didn't take long before Ruy was slurring his words and Glimmer was fast asleep on the counter. Alvar and Sophie remained mostly sober, talking quietly to each other about various abstract theories regarding manifesting special abilities and the genetics behind it. The bartender clearly thought that it was a wonderful fictional world the children were talking about and paid it no heed. Pixel, on the other hand, was marvelling over how wonderfully smart they were. When he was their age, he would've been struggling over his studies in Foxfire and skipping classes with his friends.

And there they were—children, drinking at a bar, with more on their shoulders than anyone their age should have.

If only he could whisk them away to somewhere safe, Pixel thought mournfully. If only the thought of blood still worried them, and if only the knowledge of battles to come was a fear to them.

They are unafraid of anything, and I cannot call them naive, because they know what they should be afraid of and what they will face and still do not bow before it.

He was drunk.

Alcohol made him overthink things.

Alvar had switched seats with Sophie so that he could move closer to Ruy and prevent the drunk Psionipath from destroying anything. Glimmer was on Ruy's other side, still fast asleep, her hands cushioning her cheek. It couldn't have been a very comfortable position.

All of a sudden, Sophie got to her feet. She walked over to the door and stepped out into the busy street without a word.

Pixel and Alvar exchanged a look.

Alvar pushed aside his drink, silently telling the older man that he wouldn't drink anymore, and that the younger two would be safe with him. Pixel nodded to him, and followed Sophie outside.

He caught up to hear easily, since she was walking relatively slowly.

She didn't look like she was drunk.

Lights swam around them, dim and faded and melting into each other. Why was it that Pixel always ended up in Kagurazaka at night? He hadn't even planned to come to Japan, he'd just snatched up one of the crystals that led to a city at random.

Sophie made her way down the sloping hill, past the shops, past the noodle store with the giant sign featuring a bowl of ramen out the front. She walked past the street that led to the Italian restaurant, Tante Buone, the one that was run by that friendly lady who always remembered him even when he didn't go for months on end.

"Sophie," Pixel said.

She turned to look at him, but didn't stop walking.

The lady behind the counter at the confectionary shop nodded a greeting.

"Sophie," he tried again. "Where are you going?"

She replied, this time—replied in a voice so quiet and fragile he wondered if drunken actions truly were the reflection of the sober mind. He wondered if Sophie was always like this underneath her smile and her confidence and her blank, emotionless face.

"I'm going wandering."

"Can I go with you?" Can I walk by your side and protect you from the Black Swan, from the Council, from the preying eyes and the barbed whispers? Or are Fintan and Gethen the only ones who have that right?

She stopped right in front of the train station. The steps led down into a well lit corridor, yellow lines snaking across the ground to mark which side was for people ascending the steps and which side was for those who were descending.

"How long will you walk with me?"

"As far as it takes for you to sober up and decide to go home."

Sophie seemed so vulnerable among the swimming lights of Kagurazaka. Her brown eyes reflected those lights like a mirror, glowing an almost-gold as she stared up at him.

"Will you leave me behind?" Her eyes strayed in the direction they'd come, towards Alvar, towards her teammates who were still sitting in that bar, waiting for them to come back. As if she was afraid that when she returned they would no longer be there.

"No, Sophie," Pixel said softly. Impulsively, he added on, "I cannot speak for Alvar, Ruy and Glimmer. They may leave you if things get too hard. But I will stay by your side."

I will stay by your side because I cannot rescue you from the future that has already been laid out for you as the Moonlark. I'd do it if I could. I would run away with you. But that wouldn't solve anything, and I'm sure you know it. That's why you don't run, ever.

He paused his own thoughts, realizing how drunk he must be to think such things, but his brain added on anyway, I hate that you know it.

He wished he could give her peace.

He wished the whole of elvin society would not turn to stare at her if she ever wished to join them.

He wished he didn't know that the Black Swan would surely try to shape her into their own weapon, bring her back to them, after realizing that she'd survived the car crash—if they hadn't realized already.

And he wished she didn't know all of these things.

But Pixel had wished upon the stars, every single one of them, a long time ago. Wished he could run, wished he could hide or disappear or even die. He'd wished for an end, for a relief, for something other than the lights of Kagurazaka as night fell and the human world wrapped him up in warmth and comfort as false as flowers made of tissue paper, as if he were not an alien existence within its streets.

Sophie turned away, started wandering again, and Pixel didn't know what he could do except follow her.