Soul Trade AU

Bureaucats Part 1: The Heartbeat

Scar teleported downstairs, and tiredly grabbed a piece of toast. His empath abilities were giving him a rough time today, it seemed. He stood there, toast in hand and staring blankly into space for a good minute or two before the 135th Cubfan broke him out of it.

Cub bounced lightly on the tips of his toes, brimming with nervous energy as he came in. He stopped when he saw Scar- at least he had tact- and cautiously approached the other Vex. Scar soon felt the almost comforting buzz of Cub's shield go up around him. His day got just a little bit better.

Suddenly, the door went flying across the room. Cub and Scar leapt up, drawing their weapons in perfect unison. Three Demons came in: the ones that weren't Tango. Cub fired a blast of magic at them in an attempt to halt their advance, and it seemed to. But then the blue one drew her now and nocked two arrows at once, clearly aiming for Cub's heart.

Cub dropped his sword, raising his hands in a motion of surrender. Or, rather, "surrender", seeing as as soon as the blue demon moved her aim away from his heart Cub fired another blast of Vex magic at her, knocking her bow out of her hands. She shrugged, and fired a blast of magic at him, which he narrowly dodged.

Scar, who was still holding his sword, made to rush the three demons. But, as he took the first stride, the yellow one bent down and picked something up- a cat. Jellie. Scar stopped dead in his tracks.

"You wouldn't hurt her, would you?" The demon hissed, grinning.

"Put her down."

"Or what?"

"Or this."

What ensued was madness. Magic was flying everywhere, axe met sword met bow met trident. To an outside observer (and there was one) you couldn't tell what was going on. So nobody noticed a red figure sneak in from behind, ruby-adorned iron sword drawn and ready. In fact, the fighting only stopped when there was a scream from Scar, quickly silenced.

Scar was being held in a headlock by Tango, mouth covered. The demons didn't seem surprised at all at their fourth member's presence, however. Tango nodded at Azin, and he picked Jellie back up.

"Lovely seeing you, Cubby." Tango laughed. "I'm sorry I have to do this, but you're the heartbeat of the resistance."

And with that, all four demons released a cloud of magic, causing the air to crackle and spark with energy. Cub waved it away with - you guessed it - more magic, but the demons were gone. What's worse, they had taken Jellie and Scar with them. Cub was alone. Well and truly alone.

"Scar! Scar! Scar..." Cub screamed at the spot where Tango and Scar had vanished from. Cub sank to the ground, staring at the empty space where his oldest (and first real) friend had been mere seconds before then. Cub was, for a moment there, overwhelmed by an unfamiliar emotion. In the briefest of feelings, Cub felt something in him crack.

As he sat there, something began to sting in his left eye. It brimmed for a moment, and then, for the first time in his life, Cub cried a tear that wasn't associated with laughter. Was... Was this sadness? Was this how Scar felt most of the time? Cub didn't really like it. He guessed he wasn't supposed to.

Oops plot is happening. Didn't mean to do that, forgive me.
So yeah. Last arc of Act I. Enjoy, I suppose. Sub-arc coming Thursday.
OdalRune, signing off from the past!