imagine if they had taken a different route with 'evil jay.' imagine jay participating in training with ras and being beat so badly that ras kicks a wolf mask to him, and with a bloodied, beat hand he inches towards it, even though it's repulsive to him, disgusting even - but he has to if he wants to live. The mask shatters his soul and the power heals him. He needs to live, but he doesn't want to shatter his soul - but it's the only option presented to him, and he has to take it. eventually he forgets he never wanted to.
anon i love you this is Exactly What I Needed
(i kind of went off, all fic like so umm have this i guess??)
i imagine walker would avoid anything that directly tied him to the wolves. after everything that admin put him through he couldn't take another faction taking any more pieces of what little identity he had left - even if it did make him stronger. i imagine he stayed with ras not just because of his lies - the story of how great of a warrior hes been sounded just a tad too good to be true, more like an example from a manipulation textbook rather than anyones actual life, not in this century. but he did stay, because he wanted to destroy the administration - whether from revenge or to free everyone in there, he didnt know.
i imagine when ras found him he quite literally saved his life - after gods know how long walker had to survive on his own in the realm of madness and wylderness he found his way to where ras was. ras brought him in, patched his wounds, gave him food and shelter.
even weeks after being saved by ras walker was still in fight or flight response. he was scared. still somewhat of his power, but the pain was unbearable. remember post merge hes probably never actually been in a fight except when he struggled for survival after admin.
but his power remembered how to ease the pain. make it more bearable. take more of it. until walker cannot stand up back again, and everyone smells death coming.
for a moment no one moves. not jordana, not cinder who was meant to be next, even nokt who was his opponent steps back. no one expected walker to take that much damage. no one expected him to not get up. all these weeks, no matter the punches and the slashes, walker always got back up in the end. all the terrible scars, the eye patch too, proved this wasnt a new development. it was ingrained into walker as much as his lightning.
it takes ten ragged, difficult, wheezy breaths for anyone to move.
ras stands up slowly. no one speaks as the boss kicks the wolf mask towards walker.
at first, the only response is a twitch of fingers and brow.
until a strike of lightning runs across walkers arm and, struggling, he grabs the mask. he doesnt properly put it on just kind of throws his arm, trusting proportions of it to land it vaguely on his face.
whatever anyone says, ras did not run to strike the gong, almost forgetting his own hammer. to say so would be to assume he cared about the master of lightning. which would be ridiculous. he was just a simple tool for others to use. of course there was no fondness, and absolutely, not at all, walker never managed to make any of them smile. that never happened, of course.
and as no one cared for walkers wellbeing, there wasn't a collective sigh of relief and a chuckle of joy as the wounds on walkers body started closing, red energy of shattering weaving his organs back together. of course no one was relieved. not at all.
nokt smirked as ras helped walker to sit up, laying the wolf mask on his lap.
walker gasped in a shaky breath, elemental energy trying to cope with the shattering.
"so, warm up's over, i take it?"
and at that there was chuckling, with nokt bursting with laughter.
