riches to rags

Was he kind? Was he selfish? He couldn’t tell just yet. Right now, he knew that this man had helped him for reasons other than he had stated, reasons possibly being that he was a kind man, despite the way he carried himself.

It’s interesting, really.

A frustrated sigh left his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest, a brow raised as he stared down at this “offender” with the biggest stink-eye he could muster in the current moment.

“Who knows what I coulda done t’ya! Yer lucky I don’t smash yer head in more fer bein’ such a shithead ‘bout th’whole thing.  If anyone’s bein’ stupid, it’s you, y’goddamn turd.”  What eloquent language you have, Joseph.  It wasn’t exactly helping his point, yet that was a thing that he could hardly care about in that moment.

… Wait. He didn’t know either of those things? Mordor was reasonable, the book only came out a couple years ago, after all. But not knowing New York? Everyone and their mother knew about New York, which either meant this guy was from the most remote parts of Africa or some shit, or…

A wall of lies, to be quite honest.

If he's difficult to read, then more power to him. That's how he prefers it. Being an open book, especially in the military, is an easy way to get yourself killed on the battlefield. While his mentality serves him nothing but pain in social situations, it proves effective when squaring off against threats.

Dull silvers gave the stranger a stare.

Lucky. He isn't so sure about that. "I didn't hit you first," was all he stated. Flat, blunt, short and to the point. "Seriously. Are we done now? I'm having more and more trouble deciphering what you're saying with that thick accent of yours."

A pause. Now the big guy's going off on a tangent and asking where he's from. Levi's quick to spit out a response.

 It seemed Cas was right, or at least he thought he was. The smaller man’s hands were shaking with sadness he assumed. He must of had a great duty to his place and from the looks of it he appeared to be a soldier. Castiel knew that look too well, the look he had seen on so many other humans before. The man he was speaking to had obviously seen something and not something good, something awful.

 It wasn’t just his face that showed this. His words did too. Normally, from Cas’s experience, humans didn’t speak that rudely to one another unless well, something bad happened. And something did. He honestly was still a bit ticked at what had been said but he attempted to keep a kind demeanor.

"No, I don’t "get off" to it… I wasn’t aware you weren’t so keen on being spoken to.” That didn’t come out well, but he did try. He paused for a moment to let himself think of more polite words to use. Cas remembered what this man had been through. He calmed himself and looked at the other individual. ”I..apologize. I shouldn’t of acted so harshly.” There, wasn’t so hard was it?

"…I guess it was…in it’s own way. But…it couldn’t of been…shit…surely there…there was something there you loved." His expression changed to that of sadness. "It…did happen too fast. I’m sorry you had to go through that. Losing your planet I mean…"

He hasn't a thing to lose, but he also has no intention to gain.

He lost everything. He failed in the one mission he was supposed to carry out and complete. He failed. Levi Ackerman failed. Humanity's Strongest had failed. It's all so surreal, an illusion that felt all too painful to truly accept. Fortunately for him, the stranger could sympathize. Fortunately? Unfortunately? Shit, he doesn't know anymore. This whole premise is all too surreal for him. It just pissed him off the more he thought on it.

"I'm not. Especially not wannabe philosophers." Again with the harsh words. He honestly couldn't help it at this point-- years and years of toughening his shell made him unwilling to speak with kindness. 

A pause.

He isn't the only one to lose it all. This stranger isn't a longtime denizen of this shitty little district, is he? Levi's also never seen him in his life, concluding that he's an alien from another destroyed planet. Or something. No one said that Levi's the brains of the operation.

"Everyone I gave a shit about died way before the rest of humanity followed after." Bitterness. His words oozed with bitterness. His words were also lies. Even without personal bonds, he still cared for everyone. Levi Ackerman loved humanity.

With nothing to lose and nothing to hide from, Levi takes Castiel's words into consideration. He's offering sympathy. Sympathy he didn't ask for. He would be insulted if he were the prideful type.

No. The sympathy was something he unwittingly needed.

"Do you know what it's like to get a second chance, only to completely fuck it up? You spend your whole life fighting, fighting, fighting for what you believe in. Fighting a looming threat-- no, two goddamn threats at the same time, in hopes that you can make some sort of difference and help progress humanity into prospering like it should? But that can't happen anymore."

His hands would eventually fall, though, along with his expression as he realized that this guy found him to be the least funny thing on the planet, or he just didn’t get the joke.  What an asshole!!  The dull stare that had been granted to him would be returned in kind.  Here was Joseph Joestar, a 6’4” beast who had just slammed this guy’s head into a wall, and managed to fix up most of the damage from it with his awesome superpower, and now he’s just asking him if he’s done?

While curiosity did kill the cat, Joseph couldn’t help but feel just a bit offendeed that this guy wasn’t even asking about what he had done.  Offended, yet also… grateful?  Kind of?  It was a little refreshing not to have the Ripple be the source of interest about him, yet…

"C’mon, don’t be a dick.  I coulda just left ya there t’bleed out or whatever, but I didn’t, n’now yer actin’ like yer done with me.  C’mon!  All that was a joke, by th’way, dunno if y’ever heard o’that yer from, but goddamn.  I ain’t actually from Mordor.  More like New York,"  He sighed, pausing to hold his hand out for a proper greeting.

But here's a behemoth of a man who had just finished bashing his skull into the wall only to help him out with that strange power of his. Was it even worth questioning him at this point? It's not like he'll be meeting with him anytime in the future, so he figures.

Or so he wishes.

"I'm not being a dick," Levi simply spits out. "You're being annoying. I'm not gonna bleed out from a blow to the back of my head. Don't be stupid."

     Tyrion, unfazed by this stranger’s onslaught, offered nothing but a mere smile.

In a way, he can easily relate to a king dethroned-- Humanity's Strongest has no meaning any longer.

 Castiel wandered about his new “home”, or should he even call it that? No, this wasn’t home. It wasn’t Heaven or Earth, it was something else entirely and it was something he didn’t like. It might of been because of the lack of familiarity with the place. However, it was more likely that two boys were missing from it. The two people he risked everything for, the two people he loved most in the world were just…gone. Just like that. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been in this situation before, lost and lonely, but something was different this time. There was a greater feeling of loss and complete emptiness that he felt build up inside himself. He had never felt this the other times he was alone and he knew why he did now.

 He continued to walk along the road, not paying much attention to his surroundings, thinking only about what he had been told. All of Earth and Heaven was gone. Everything his father had worked for just disappeared. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He didn’t want to wrap his mind around it. Unfortunately, it was all he could think about. Such a beautiful and miraculous place wasted. What really troubled him was the millions of questions he had. Why was Earth destroyed? What happened to his fallen brothers and sisters? Were Sam and Dean alive or were they really dead? But most of all…

Why was he brought back?

There were other people far more qualified to be saved. People who hadn’t made the same mistakes he had. People who could teach and help others become better. Someone more like Sam or Dean. He felt his heart drop. They really were all gone, weren’t they? Cas could feel his stomach knot up at the thought of this. He stopped, clutching onto his stomach and looking up to the sky. Was it really all gone? The one thing that Cas had learned to love, gone? Surely there were some humans who had gotten saved. There had to be. If he was saved it was impossible that there wasn’t any humans or other angels around.

 Castiel’s head began to ache with all the new information and thoughts circulating through his mind. He needed to find somewhere quiet to sit. Looking about the area he found a bench not to far from where he stood, however there was someone sitting there already. Squinting his eyes he noticed the person sitting appeared to be humanoid. This was good, some humans were saved at the very least. Even if it wasn’t the humans he had wanted to see specifically, it was good.

 He calmly approached the bench, letting himself sit next to the other person. Giving a quick look up and down, he decided that they looked kind enough. He looked back across the street at the small garden of orange poppies. He was silent for a while to allow his headache to subside but after he had calmed himself down a bit he let out a thoughtful sigh.

"It’s strange, how a world can just..disappear in only a matter of seconds. Everything you…built up, everyone you knew, loved…" He paused, "…just gone." He stopped for a few more seconds and then turned his head to the person next to him. "Don’t you think so?"

That thought in and of itself was a sick joke, Levi thought. Humoring the possibility that everyone he came to grow fond of, his squad his soldiers his... friends? Were they friends? It doesn't matter, now. They're all dead now.

All of them. Every last one of them.

The air around Levi felt cold, an unfamiliar chill he hasn't felt since so long ago. It's supposedly warm outside today, but all Levi felt was frigid air brushing along his skin. He remains gridlocked in his own thoughts and laments, a sense of guilt draining ever slowly in his nerves. There were so many others who were more fity to be the sole survivors of humanity. Hange. Erwin. Eren.

They're.

                                                   All.

                                                                                            Dead.

Those more qualified to succeed where the legion had failed were all dead. For the first time in years, Levi felt alone.

His thoughts interrupted by the stranger's voice, his presence long ignored in favor of his own mental reprimanding. Silver eyes trailed to the side, to get a partial glimpse of his newfound company-- company that shared the very same thoughts as he.

Levi was silent, allowing Castiel's words to sink in. Everything he had worked so hard to preserve and rebuild: gone. Just like that. He's right. It all happened so quickly that the soldier had nary a second to process anything.

His features darkened.

"Do you get off on talking to strangers?" His words carried with them a venom not unlike the potency he so typically carried. A pause would mark a resuming of the ravenet's train of thought. "The world was already shit before everything just fucked everyone over. Whatever "everything" was."

It was then when Levi realized that, in all honestly, he had no idea what exactly crashed the world into ruin. Hands on his lap, fingers balled into small trembling fists. His head turned, better facing the stranger that addressed him initially.

"Just shut up n’lemme do it," he’d mumble in response to Levi’s questioning.  With his Ripple manipulating the nerves and blood around the site of the wound, Joseph couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment.  If he could use the Ripple now to help this man’s little booboo, why couldn’t he be good enough at it to save the world?  Wasn’t he trained enough?  Or was it just him?  Dammit.

Those thoughts would be broken at the sudden movement from the soldier, Joseph’s eyes widening as his hands lingered in the air, the light taking a sharp glow that mirrored his own surprise and a soft ringing resounding around them, his hands being the source of such a noise.  Pausing like that for just a couple moments, Joseph couldn’t help but grin at how shocked the smaller male seemed to be.  That’s right, this guy probably couldn’t even dream of anything like the Ripple existing.  Quite frankly, Joseph would prefer it that way.  The less people who knew about this mess, the less people would die, he learned.

The glow would vanish from Joseph’s hands, before he crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head at the elder.  Did he want to go into details, or…

The pain had subsided, and the power that Joseph had presented to him was nothing short of astounding. Should he ask more about it? Probably not. There's little point in him becoming curious. 

Even now, for that brief time window, the lingering sparks remain in clear view to Levi. Magic. A freakish ability. Something completely inhuman altogether. Possibilities surged through Levi's mind, and just as quickly as they came, they were also dismissed on a lack of curiosity. Quite frankly, as freakish as these abilities presented to him were, Levi couldn't care any less. There's no reason to. There isn't a doubt in his mind that these two would never cross paths again. Or maybe they will. Even then he really doesn't care to ask.

Curiosity killed the cat.

His gaze only dulled further as Joseph claimed himself to be a wizard. Whatever those were. Probably something ridiculous. The way Joseph carried himself as he made these claims only caused Levi to take him less seriously.

Unfortunately, he was “blessed” with the family temperament, just to counter that sense of good within him.  With this an tugging his arm away, he was thoroughly surprised by the amount of strength that this little guy had in him.  As Joseph listened, it would be his words that would impact him even more than that, however.

There was a contradiction that Joseph picked up right away.  This man claimed that he could have done what he did just for the sake of feeling good about himself, yet he showed the traits of a man who did it as a genuine act.  Who the hell wouldn’t take back their money after the first punch?  It was that realization alone that had Joseph pulling his arm away, moving to instead put a hand on his shoulder and turn him around.

"I ain’t no good at this, but hold still," he murmured, hands running through Levi’s hair— ah.  Blood.  ”Shit, hold on.”  And with that, the man’s hands were aglow once again, fingertips running over the wound as his natural ability would stop that bleeding, and also give relief to whatever pain he felt.  "I was never good at usin’ it like this, plus th’fuckers did somethin’ t’it that makes it weaker, I think, plus this is th’last time I can use it t’day.  They fucked with it, but… y’know." He only hoped that this stranger would take his freaky superpowers the right way.

Fortunately for him, no such thing erupted past the whole smashing into the brick wall ordeal. The back of his skull had begun to bleed from that ordeal, however Levi was able to grit his teeth through the pain. It's nothing he hasn't handled before, after all. With his violent verbal outburst, he had expected a similar retort. Wrong. 

The smaller male was turned around, but not without a barked-out "what are you doing?!" in response.

What was once a vicious stinging had lessened considerably into a dull drone. How did... what did he do?

Was that what those sparks were for? No. They're just a type of use. Joseph just said that he wasn't used to using this ability of his in such a manner. Quickly he pulled himself away, a quick step to the side and his back no longer faces the larger male. Curiously, he felt the wound on the back of his head. It's still there, but it didn't hurt as much anymore.

Silvers cast a surprised stare in Joseph's direction. He made a good call in paying for him. If he's not an alien, then he's probably a target for government experimentation if things get out of hand.

The way Levi spoke to him, Joseph felt… like he was being talked down upon.  Like this man thought him to be some sort of barbarian who knew nothing.  Of course that’s why he did it, to feel some stupid fuzzy feeling after helping someone who was supposedly more stupid than the stranger could ever hope to be.

Perhaps it was the stress of this entire situation, on top of the planetary move that gave Joseph Joestar a wave of impulse, but before he could take his next breath, he lashed out a hand covering the stranger’s mouth and moving to bash his skull into the brick behind them.

"I didn’t fuckin’ ask fer yer help, stop actin’ so fuckin’ high n’mighty just ‘cause y’helped some kid out, n’then brush it off as nothin’.  What’s th’deal, y’gonna drop some debt over m’head?”  As he spoke, he couldn’t help the sparks that traveled into the palm of his hand.  Dammit, what happened to that control he had learned?  If Lisa Lisa were here…

Dammit.

There was no Caesar to pull him off of the stranger and tell him what a tool he was being.  No Lisa Lisa to scold him, and give him the cold shoulder as punishment.  She was gone.  Caesar, too.  All of them… gone.  His teeth grit, the sparks only intensifying at his emotional state.  Luckily enough, there was something stopping his system from creating a Ripple that was strong as it could be.

Levi, whose world was already in shambles because of a titanic threat, learning that not only has he completely failed as a soldier, but he's most likely the only survivor of the entire ordeal-- that would leave any man dubbed as Humanity's Strongest riddled with bitterness. By surviving, he has shouldered the death of hundreds of what he believed to be the world's sole population of humans. They're all dead.

Likewise are the titans.

But everyone else has gone with them.

If he had respected these alien laws enough he wouldn't fight violence with violence. As a matter of fact, he felt all the more threatened by this stranger than the harsh rules set on this planet as to combat violence. His face would feel as though it's hitting the first stage of numbness-- pins and needles. This isn't natural.

Instinctively, both hands held a tight grip on the other's wrist, a forceful tug made as if to loosen or alleviate the current position he was in. It wasn't until those actions were made did the pain register, and an agitated hiss left him.

"I can see why no one bothers giving you kindness since you're so quick to question it." Did he really want to question Mr. Lightning Bolts? Or provoke him further? Titans were Levi's specialty, and while Joseph is twice his height and can count towards being titanic, those streaks of yellow posed a concern for him. He didn't know what those were. What they did. Why his face felt so tingly. The concussion made him a little dizzy, but that was it. All else is a mystery to him.

"Calm the fuck down before I leave you with the alien freakshows and take back my 15. I don't want your damn money. I just want peace. If you want to fight, then be my guest. We'll take it somewhere else. I don't care, I'd rather die where no one else is eavesdropping while eating their pasta or whatever. I'm not about that life."