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Ky never thought that he would fall in love with a Gear. Let alone a Gear which was the daughter of the commander that he and his army fought in war.
Yet, when he was requested to investigate Dizzy, he found himself being suddenly attracted to her beauty and kind personality. A Gear who did not desire violence but yet, struggled with her powers and nature. He couldn’t help but want to protect her, to help her despite his past.
The feelings proved to be mutual. Before they knew it they were confessing their love, making out in the bed and doing stuff Ky never thought he would plan to do out of wedlock. While legal marriage was not a possibility, Ky still proposed and they secretly tied the knot. Soon enough, Dizzy was pregnant with their son.
Faust was kind enough to be their doctor, having met Dizzy in her past. He was an odd fellow, but he believed all patients deserved equal care no matter what. He even tried offering all of Dizzy’s pregnancy treatment to be paid on the house, though Ky always paid for treatment anyway. He guided them through the odd parts of the Gear reproduction and what to do-especially the whole oviparous part.
Ky followed his advice and took care of his wife, ensuring she had the best possible pregnancy. Every action he undertook was out of love for his wife, no not only that. It was out of love for both his wife and his future son which he knew was growing inside her.
On May 31st of that year, Sin was born.
— — — — —
“I’m sorry, Ky and Dizzy.”
Trips to Faust have become more and more frequent since Sin was born. Incidents with his magic going out of control was the main cause. Ky and Dizzy did not worry about the damage the incidents caused to them or their belongings. Rather, they were very concerned with how much they seemed to harm himself. Injuries were becoming more and more common with the child, becoming much worse and worse as he continued to grow. Eventually, figuring that it likely had something to do with his Gear cells, they decided to go to Faust just in case he could help. Thankfully, it seemed that he could help, however Sin’s condition wasn’t looking good.
“I fear the worst with your son. Both of you are very powerful in magical aptitudes. This, combined with Dizzy’s Gear genetics has brought your son great power. However, similar to Dizzy, he struggles to control it. Gear cells may be highly durable, but they do have their limits.”
Ky felt Dizzy’s grip around him tightening.
“At worse-and this seems to be looking more and more likely, Sin’s own abilities could very well kill him.”
Tears began to fall from the couple’s face. Ky attempted to console his wife despite struggling to hold in his emotions himself. The two embraced each other in a sad, tight hug.
The doctor approached them.
“I would, however, like to offer something which can function as a solution. It is risky, however, it could very well save Sin’s life.”
Ky jerked towards Faust. “Please, we’ll do anything to save our son.”
Faust nodded.
“From my analysis of Sin, I have determined that his magical power comes mainly from his eyes. It is very possible that if we swapped one overly magically powerful eye with a normal, human eye, the dangerous magical abilities will be, to an extent, neutralised due to a lack of Gear cells in said eye. The other eye could then be neutralised with a simple suppressant, such as a magically enhanced eyepatch. It very well could allow Sin to live a relatively normal life.”
Dizzy and Ky now both moved desperately towards the doctor.
“Please,” began the Gear mother, “We will do anything to save Sin.”
“I’m willing to do the transplant,” her husband added. “It would be ideal for Sin to still have somewhat genetically similar eyes, would it not? Meanwhile, I am sure that I would be able to handle the small amounts of cells that I am sure will enter my body. It’s risky, I know, but I am willing to do anything to save Sin. So please, swap our eyes.”
Dizzy looked back at her husband, tears further falling down her cheeks as she tugged him tighter. Ky was sure that she did fear the risks that both him and his son would face during this operation if Faust decided to go ahead with the operation. Ky hated seeing his wife sad, but he knew that if all went well, she would only have to cry tears of joy.
“Understood, Ky.” The doctor responded. “I know that in your stubbornness you are unlikely to change your mind, however I will go through general risk procedures either way. In the case you do not change your mind, we can very well do an emergency operation today.”
Some days later, Ky was eventually given the all clear to walk out of the hospital, now with a new eyepatch over his eye.
Looking back at the situation, Ky for sure knew that the transplant would affect his life. He didn’t know just how much it would affect him.
— — — — —
Ky was still dealing with the aftermath of Baptisma-13. A disaster all around. Politics after politics, both with the invasion of Illyria and his statements about Gear-Human peace.
However, the biggest issue he felt that he continued to have was the relationship with his family.
Dizzy was trapped in time due to his own incompetence with his spell to save her. Now, they had no idea as to whether she would be safe or not. Dr Paradigm worked tirelessly to attempt to find a way in which Dizzy could be freed from her prison, which Ky could never thank him enough for. His son too stayed in Illyria as he waited for Dizzy to awaken. The first time in years that the two had begun to communicate regularly again. Except for a major issue between the two.
Sin hated him.
It only made sense that he did. Ky’s guilt from his actions in the Crusades in comparison to how he was acting now, with his new Gear family. Then there was the situation of the United Nations forcing him to become High King out of the fear of them killing Dizzy and the tough decision to leave Sin to Sol in hopes he could live a life free from the harsh politics Ky found himself in.
The guilt of all this overwhelmed him. He couldn’t even look at his son because he would be completely overcome with guilt. He ended up neglecting Sin. Never talked to him, never really took care of him, never gave him the love that a father should give his son.
Only now had Ky realised just how unhealthy and horrible this behaviour was. It made perfect sense that he despised Ky for his actions. Ky never expected he could ever be forgiven for what he did, nor did he ask to be forgiven.
He didn’t deserve forgiveness.
“Hey uh, Ky? I’m sorry. ‘Bout calling you a shitty king.”
Ky jolted out of shock. His neglected son being the sorry one?
“Why are you apologising?”
“Didn’t I just say it? Here, again. Sorry for calling you a shitty-”
“No, I don’t know why you should apologise to me. I am the one who neglected you as a kid. I am the one who got your mother trapped possibly forever in time. I am not only a shitty king, but also a shitty father. I know you hate me and I believe it makes sense you do and-”
“Hey, Ky. I don’t hate you.”
Ky looked towards his son, shocked at the statement. He felt something wet on his cheek. Was he crying?
“Listen, yeah you really have not been the best in the past. But, you said it during Baptisma 13, didn’t you? You want to fix things. You want to protect Mum, and I want to protect Mum too.”
His cheeks felt even wetter. He was definitely crying.
“I stayed in Illyria not only to wait for Mum to wake up but cause I feel it’s so draining to be actively disliking someone. You agree it’s nicer to be close than apart right? I can see it in your actions to make things better between the two of us.”
“Sin, I…Thank you so much. This is the very least I can ask you to do”
The two sat in content silence for a bit before Sin spoke up.
“Ugh, that was way too much of a passionate speech that I gave. Is that part of you rubbing off on me? Oh boy.”
Despite everything that had happened between the two of them, they both found themselves laughing together.
— — — — —
Ky wondered if being sealed by That Man brings side effects. Because, if it did, it sure would explain whatever the hell he had been experiencing as of late.
For one, he body had grown quite a bit more muscular recently. He had figured that simply his exercise and healthy living choices had paid off, despite his body tending to not be that much of a muscular type, even during the Crusades in which he was constantly in battle.
Then, Ky swore he heard a lot more stuff than what he used too. Wasn’t your hearing supposed to get worse as you got older? Yet, suddenly, Ky started hearing discussions from the next door room despite Illyria castle having rather soundproof and thick walls. Communicator static had begun making him squirm, with him feeling he could hear every single bit of noise. Though, having more muscles and better hearing were by all means good things, so he didn’t really do much about it and simply let it happen.
Other things were more odd and somewhat annoying though. Like a sudden craving for raw meat that he couldn’t quite explain, how he had begun eating a lot more than he used to, and a more possessive feeling over those he deeply cared for to name a few.
Then, there was whatever in Illyria’s name was going on with his hair.
Ky had always kept his hair short, the most long it was prior to this whole situation being shoulder length. His hair travelled down the base of his neck and no further.
At least until it just refused to stop growing.
Ky would cut his hair more often as he more and more frequently noticed it arriving at his shoulders. It was getting highly irritating at this point. After cutting it for the second time that day, Ky knew that he went to bed with his hair at a preferred length.
Waking up the next day, everything was normal at first. Getting out of bed, Ky placed a hand down to support him only to feel a sharp pain.
“Wha-”
Ky looked down, to see his hand on his hair. Wait, how was his hair long enough to be caught by his hand-
He gazed at the strand as it went in between his fingers, which his hair was never long enough before to do such. Going into his bathroom and looking at his reflection, he could confirm that his hair, somehow, had grown to waist length overnight.
“How in the-”
Yeah, he was sure now that That Man’s seal had some sort of weird side effects and this was one of them. His hair probably wasn’t going to stop growing anytime soon. May as well give up on cutting it
Sighing, Ky managed to make a piece of cloth into a hair tie which matched with his armour. The ponytail looked quite nice actually. Which was good, given he was going to have to get used to this. Ky decided that for the many people that were sure to question his sudden new hairstyle, he could explain that he had used some sort of spell to make it grow and that he wanted to try out a longer hairstyle. Yeah, that would work.
As Ky would realise embarrassingly much later, all of the oddities he was experiencing were not side effects of being sealed, but rather side effects of Gear cells running rampant in one’s body.
— — — — —
Ky couldn’t lose.
Dizzy was free from her seal, the Kiske family had been reunited again after years of being apart and Sin had called him dad . For the first time in a long while, Ky felt he had a future waiting for him with his family, a future he couldn’t lose.
Except now the future was not going to happen. A stray gunshot, followed up by three more. He fell to the ground, hair and blood going all in his face.
Axus stared down at him, the weak fool who wasn’t prepared to be shot in the back. He could hear him vaguely making a speech about his objectives and motives, though he couldn’t understand the words with his ears ringing and his brain focusing on just how much pain he was in. Ky made an attempt to get back up, to fight back, only to be shot once more, collapsing to the floor.
This was going to be the way he died.
He knew from the moment that he joined the Holy Order that someday it was likely that he would die in battle, that he would mess up and a stray attack would cause his ultimate tragedy. He knew all this and yet, it still hurt. Hurt to imagine a future that he now had no part of.
As he was dying, a voice ringed in his head:
“Do you really want this to be the end?”
Well, of course he didn’t, but it wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter.
“You want to survive this, don’t you?”
Yeah, he did, but once more-
“You know this isn’t going to be where you die. Get up.”
All of a sudden, Ky somehow felt even more pain. Pain that was much different from what he felt before. Pain that felt as if something was growing-no, as if something was reconstructing, like having stitches except the stitches are 20 times stronger and more painful than usual and you don’t have any form of anaesthesia to null it.
Then, after that hell, he found himself slowly but surely getting up and grabbing his hair tie, preparing to face Axus once more. He barely recognised half of what was going on at the time, pure energy seemingly taking over him. He could make out a shocked reaction from Axus and knew he was making some sort of speech to him.
Then, as he looked up, he recognised one quote from Axus:
“Crimson…? No…no! Impossible! How could you be—?!”
The next moments were even more of a blur. He recognised motions of a Rising Force, except somehow even stronger and far less exhausting then it usually was.
Axus almost immediately dropped dead.
Suddenly, all that happened in the past few moments caught up to Ky. The whole crimson part Axus said-he caught a brief gaze of his left eye in his sword and there it was, glaring at him. Pain still shot up with him, except he couldn’t fully focus on it because he became aware of why he was here again: to help Leo out and prevent the Conclave from reviving Justice. Even as he ran to assist Leo, the thoughts still ran rapid in his head and he seemed to realise just more and more about what was happening to him.
“Holy shit.”
— — — — —
After the whole crisis with the Conclave and St Elmo’s Fire, questions and concerns arose surrounding the state of Ky’s armour. Suspicious circle shaped holes, hair sticky with blood, tears and rips in his clothes and yet, the skin remained perfectly clean. Ky didn’t even require basic first aid.
Ky, of course, did not mention the whole truth about the situation. He did not mention the bullets from Axus’ gun, piercing his skin, him lying on the floor, bleeding out, dying. The fact he got up, tied his hair perfectly fine moments later as his eye turned crimson. A single swipe, killing Axus instantly. Power that he knew a human should not have under any circumstances. When it was all done and dusted, Ky pretended as if everything was fine, as if nothing had happened. Except something had happened, because Ky realised just how and why the odd muscle growth, the sounds he couldn’t hear before and the hair that had gone from neck length to waist length overnight were all happening to him.
He knew Gears weren’t the monsters he killed in the war, knew that from his lovely wife, his son that slept so peacefully through the night, the once bitter rival that is now one of his closest comrades. Yet he was scared. Scared of this power, scared his future, scared of losing his humanity.
It was awfully ironic, Ky thought to himself, that now over ten years after the Crusades, he had taken up praying in the church, asking for apologies and guidance from God. Prayers that were from him only. Because even though he was sure the people close to him would still appreciate and love him all the same, there was still that fear within himself of admitting it.
The fact that slowly but surely, the Crusades’ Holy Order Commander was becoming a Gear.
— — — — —
It seemed to be one crisis after another. Turns out the Ariels, leader of practically the entire world, was planning on destroying the entire world. She was barely stopped.
Then a more personal crisis came when Ky realised just how fucked his family had become. Turns out, by technicality, Sol-pain-in-the-ass-Badguy is his father-in-law. Needless to say, the two were not keen to talk about the whole situation.
Of course, the “Oh shit, I am a Gear” crisis still remained. Sometimes, he felt the unnatural instincts creep up even more when he was around Sol. Perhaps it was because now, in comparison to before, he felt a lot more similar and closer to Sol. Similar to wolves in a pack. That makes him wonder, do Gears have packs or something similar?
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Sol. He was trying to rile up Ky, he could tell.
“A being unaffected by emotion, huh?”
Sol discussed the days of the Crusades, just how powerful Ky was as a killing machine of Gears. Thinking about what he was like brought up horrible memories of blood, death and regret. Even the bare mention of the Crusades caused Ky to be swimming in guilt about how he killed hundreds of thousands of various Gears, and yet here he was now, with the cells going all through his body. Ky had been trying to ignore his past experiences of the Crusades for these reasons, but Sol seemed to be keen to bring it up. He wanted to see Ky’s power for whatever reason.
Ky tried to brush Sol off, he wasn’t like that anymore. Even when Sol said he was a monster, a monster he should kill, Ky didn’t dare fight him. He wouldn’t fight Sol with that power.
Then Sol called Dizzy a monster.
Anger fueled Ky, the whole “I won’t fight you” going completely out of the window. Lighting shocked Sol as Ky delivered a curb stomp to him, knocking him down to the ground. A crater began to form in the ground from all the power that was coming out from Ky. He didn’t even give Sol a chance to use Dragon Install.
Ky knew that he very well could’ve gone further. However, that would involve killing rage and even if Sol called Dizzy a monster, he still couldn’t kill the man.
Even so, there was also another aspect of his power that he had never felt before. It was something he felt underneath his skin, something he felt wanting to break free, something in his cells. It was something that he almost knew what it was while also being something that he would rather ignore than admit.
After the battle, Ky realised Sol’s motivation behind fighting him. He wanted to face That Man himself. And he needed to know how to face him. It meant he would be battling Sol a lot more.
Ky felt anxious at the thought of it.
— — — — —
It was during one of those battles that everything came to a head.
Sol fought with everything he had, clearly in his desire to train in order to beat That Man, to be stronger than he ever could be. It overwhelmed Ky, feeling as if he was constantly having to block again and again and again. Lighting and fire filling an empty battlefield, the sound of swords clashing against each other echoing all around.
A blow to his side, knocking Ky down to the ground.
“Tch. You could’ve easily dodged that one,” Sol remarked at him.
Looking back on the movement, he realised that yes, in fact, he could very easily have dodged him.
“Do I really need to rile you up again by insulting your woman? Or ya just gonna keep on holding back?”
Was he holding back? He presumed he was. It was a subconscious action that he undertook, not wanting to harm Sol. Yet, Sol wanted him to harm him, for him to train and become stronger.
“You know just what you can give him.”
Red flared in his mind.
“He wants you to use all your power against him. Why not go all out?”
Ky’s veins began vibrating.
“You want it too, don’t you?”
Ky’s left eye turned crimson.
He charged at Sol, catching him off-guard with a Stun Edge at speeds he could not anticipate. Following up the attack was a Stun Dipper and a Foundre Arc. Sol attempted to counter with a Volcanic Viper, which Ky dodged and countered himself with a Dire Eclat.
“Heh, this just got interesting.”
Only interesting.
He could go further.
Create a tough fight for Sol, show what he truly is made of. Show him the power he desires, show him his future fight between him and That Man, show him, show him-
“Wait, your eye-”
Sol’s voice became muffled as Ky attacked with another Stun Edge into Stun Dipper. Ky saw Sol’s face. There was shock on it, but was it enough?
He could still give Sol more.
His veins began pumping wickedly, a sensation that felt as if they were vibrating electricity. Suddenly, said sensation overwhelmed his body, feeling like an electric shock. Pain shot through him as he covered the left side of the face, skin seemingly tearing off and revealing something deep down underneath. A scratch was induced by suddenly way too long nails, healing up instantly as his arm strengthened, growing much more muscular than what his body would allow prior. Colours shifting, veins becoming visible, sharp claws ready to attack.
This. Now this is what he could give Sol.
Dire Eclat. Another Dire Eclat. Stun Edge, Foundre Arc, Stun Edge, Dire Eclat, Stun Dipper, more and more-
Sol was now struggling against him, tables turning with him being well and truly overwhelmed by Ky’s attacks. Ky almost laughed to himself. He was holding back for what? The aderlaline, the power, giving both him and Sol what they wanted-
“OI KISKE! SNAP OUTTA IT! CAN YOU HEAR ME? KY!”
…Huh?
Ky paused at the seemingly desperate and fearful cries of Sol. His face was wide eyed, scared.
The aderlaline began to wear off and Ky suddenly became aware of the situation he was in. He noticed a glance of his arm and oh god.
His sword acted as a sort of mirror and with eyesight that Ky felt was way too detailed and vibrant, allowing Ky to gain a full scope on what had happened.
Black scaly skin that should offer no light, except there were veins that connected to a crimson eye, causing parts of the skin to glow instead. The left half of his always blonde hair was now a neon blue. Shocked, Ky pulled up his left arm in disbelief, only to find a huge, gaping, muscular and hulking mess, with claws that may very well be sharper than knives. Top it off, there was an odd symbol that laid on the backside of a palm.
He realised that symbol was her symbol.
Ky ran, a right hand hiding the monstrous half off his face and a blue mess of an arm hidden in his jacket. He ignored the cries of Sol, hell, he couldn’t hear anything except for a yelling in his head that was screaming a question:
What have I become?
— — — — —
|||
Having battled in one of the castle’s sparring grounds, it did not take long for Ky to get to the privacy of his room. Hyperventilating, he shut the door and hoped that nobody had saw his state, nobody had saw what a monster he was-
“Ky?”
Dizzy.
Dizzy would see. She was here, she couldn’t know-
“I’m coming in.”
“NO!” He screamed, his back flying to the door in a desperate attempt to try to ensure that she wouldn't see him.
“Ky?! Please, tell me what’s wrong-Father?”
Oh. That meant Sol was here.
Oh. Oh no.
Sol practically forced open the door with all his strength. Ky jolted to the back of the room, not wanting to be seen, trying to hide-
“Ky-”
“Don’t look at me!” He screamed. “Go away, go away, GO AWAY!”
“Kiske, we’re trying to HELP you here.”
“NO! Why, why are you trying to help me!! I’m-just look at me! I’m a monster! A freak! A brutal, ugly and dangerous mess of a MONSTER. A-”
“Ky,” his wife approached him, “You wouldn’t consider me and Sol monsters, right?”
“No, no, of course not! I’m the only monster here!”
“But, if we’re not monsters, why are you a monster?”
“Because, I, I-”
“Your wife has a point, boy scout,” said Sol. “You told me back in our first spar after the Universal Will crisis, that I wasn’t a monster. You particularly destroyed me when I called Dizzy over here a monster to rile you up. So what’s the exception here for you huh?”
Ky couldn’t think of a comeback, resorting instead to heavy breathing. His head felt light and fuzzy, tears crawling down his cheeks. Yet, Dizzy still hugged him, patting his head and playing with his hair in order to get him to calm down.
“Shhh, shhh, it’s okay, you’re okay.”
Sol moved closer in an attempt to help out. Everyone in the room, including the man himself, were aware that he was not the most comforting person, yet he did his best to make sure Ky was alright.
|||
After what felt like ages, the inhuman parts of his body still remained. But now, he was calm enough to talk with Dizzy and Sol.
“Alright Kiske, so now that you’re calm, ya gonna explain what’s going on here or are ya not comfortable?”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll explain to you guys.” Ky responded to Sol.
“Are you sure honey? You don’t have to-”
“Like I said Dizzy, it’s fine.” He gave a smile to his wife before continuing. “Dizzy will remember this, but when we first had Sin he was almost too powerful for his own good,” he could see Dizzy slightly hesitating at the statement, presumably bringing back bad memories for her. “In fact, after consulting our doctor, he feared that his own power could very well kill Sin. But, with the analyses he did, we found that a lot of his power came from his eyes. So, in order to neutralise his power, we put an eyepatch on his right eye and swapped his left eye with mine.”
Sol looked up, seemingly in some sort of realisation.
“We believed that it was only a little bit of Gear cells that would enter my body and therefore, I’d be completely fine and able to deal with them no problem, no loss of humanity but, as I’m sure you can see now…”
Dizzy hugged Ky even closer. Sol paused for a moment, before responding.
“Yeah, not how they work. Don’t really blame you for thinking that way though. But Gear cells are incredibly dominant genes. You get them in your system and before you know it, you’re getting all those weird Gear instincts and stuff.”
Ky nodded. “So I guess this really does mean I’m…a…”
Why were tears falling down his face? There was nothing wrong with this, nothing at all, nothing.
“Sorry, I’m sure I shouldn’t be crying, I know I shouldn’t have hidden this from you, offended you-”
“Honey, I’m not offended at all.” His wife interrupted and it appeared as if she was crying as well. “I personally don’t really know what emotions you’re going through, Father probably knows more about it. What I know however, is that no matter what happens, I will be there for you.”
“First of all, you really do not have to call me Father, like at all.” Ky couldn’t help but let out a laugh from Sol’s remarks. “Secondly, fair enough you feel this way. It was like this for me for the first few years and I can say, you’re handing this miles better than I ever did. You and your damn strong stuboness. And finally, you were literally the Holy Order’s golden boy known for murdering what you are now, so I would presume you’re feeling some sort of guilt. I think at least.”
“I guess I am.” The Crusades did cause more painful memories than they used too after realising the conversion was occuring, after all. “Still, after talking to you two, the negative emotions don’t feel as overwhelming. So, thank you.”
Dizzy smiled softly at him, while Sol offered a simple grunt.
“Though, one question: is there a way to get out of this form?”
“Oh, that.” Dizzy began to speak. “Well, I’m quite used to being able to shift forms, and usually I just…think about it? I don’t know if it’ll be the same for you dear, but try thinking about your human apperance.”
Ky began focusing on what he looked like this morning before…everything happened. After what was probably quite a while, he felt a sudden pain of claws retracted and skin growing back over scales.
“Ah, thank goodness. It’s the same for you too.”
“Look boy scout,” Sol began, “if things ever get anything worse I can always make you a suppressant headband, glove, eyepatch, whatever the hell you want the design to be. Might even do it on the house if I feel nice enough.”
“Oh please, as if you’re ever nice to me.” Ky responded.
“I’d be quite happy if you were nice to my husband, Father.”
“And I’d be quite happy if you stopped calling me that.”
Even though there was a tough road probably ahead now, Ky still found himself ignoring all that. Instead, he laughed and joked with Sol and Dizzy, realising just how much he treasured the bonds with everyone he very well could call family. Because today he also realised that no matter what, the people who truly care for him will always be with him.
And he knew that, even if it wasn’t going to be easy, that he would always be himself whether he was a human or a Gear.