Summer fic challenge, part 4.
Sep. 20th, 2013 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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volieredeatoriIt always catches me very off-guard when fic decides it has to flow from my fingers at top typing speed. :|a
Everyone, in their own way, had a very different opinion of Richter.
To Marta, he was the ultimate enemy, to be avoided at all costs. Nothing had convinced her yet to give him even the smallest bit of trust, and nothing ever would; she might have given in eventually if Emil had only pushed long enough, but worse still than the multiple efforts to kill her and take Ratatosk's false core was what he had done to her father - what he had forced her to do while Brute was under the influence of Solum's core - and that warped her opinion of him irreparably. No, she would never forgive him, never let herself even think about trusting such a detestable man.
To Tenebrae, he was an adversary, an obstacle, but also the source of a very strange sort of happiness for Emil, and those two differing opinions tended to clash in his thoughts more than he wanted to admit. Just as Marta, he too would never forgive or even trust Richter, but he would allow a grudging acceptance simply for the fact that it would please Emil. After all, as a Centurion, he existed to serve Ratatosk, and his meek and mild cover personality was just another facet to bow down to...even if that personality had some of the strangest ideas about other people.
To Aqua, he was a master, a friend, and perhaps in the deepest depths of her most secret thoughts, a lover. True, she had only begun to serve him out of sheer disgust at Ratatosk, but somewhere along the way, she had found herself becoming genuinely and deeply attached to the enigmatic man. She wanted to make him happy and fulfill his every wish, and if she could not do that...well, she didn't even want to think about it. She would just continue protecting and aiding him with all her heart, and distantly hoping that he might someday realize her feelings.
To the former heroes of World Regeneration, he was many different things all at the same time. Zelos found him irritating and detested him openly; Sheena privately thought him a bit gullible while disliking his arrogant ways; Raine and Genis could not help but sympathize as fellow half-elves but still would not trust him; Colette wasn't entirely sure what to think of him, torn between everyone's viewpoints as she tried to keep an open mind; Regal preferred to hold no open opinion, alluding to neither hate nor compassion; Presea was much the same, though for very different reasons; Lloyd could only despise him for what he'd done and what he continued trying to do. Yet between them all, they shared one common thread, a thought exactly the same: he was their foe.
To Ratatosk, he was an entity to be both despised and feared. Arrogant enough to confront him in the Ginnungagap and powerful enough to reduce him to a core, Richter was a man to be watched - no, to be observed as closely as possible, his power and his drive far too dangerous to be left alone. It was quite convenient that Emil seemed to want to follow Richter everywhere, and perhaps he would even secretly prod the boy into being courageous enough to do so. After all, it was hard to keep an eye on someone while hiding in nervous apprehension.
But to Emil, no matter how many different emotions and thoughts would swirl through his mind, not a one would be settled on as being right. Each one would be sorted through and then quickly discarded, some small element ringing hollow or false, and for a while it had genuinely bothered him but he'd eventually given up caring. If he couldn't think of the perfect appellation, then there was only one thing to do, and that was to simply put it out of his mind and wait for a suitable descriptor to come to him on its own.
Finally, it did, and he had to admit it really was the most perfect of all.
To Emil, Richter was simply...just Richter.
Everyone, in their own way, had a very different opinion of Richter.
To Marta, he was the ultimate enemy, to be avoided at all costs. Nothing had convinced her yet to give him even the smallest bit of trust, and nothing ever would; she might have given in eventually if Emil had only pushed long enough, but worse still than the multiple efforts to kill her and take Ratatosk's false core was what he had done to her father - what he had forced her to do while Brute was under the influence of Solum's core - and that warped her opinion of him irreparably. No, she would never forgive him, never let herself even think about trusting such a detestable man.
To Tenebrae, he was an adversary, an obstacle, but also the source of a very strange sort of happiness for Emil, and those two differing opinions tended to clash in his thoughts more than he wanted to admit. Just as Marta, he too would never forgive or even trust Richter, but he would allow a grudging acceptance simply for the fact that it would please Emil. After all, as a Centurion, he existed to serve Ratatosk, and his meek and mild cover personality was just another facet to bow down to...even if that personality had some of the strangest ideas about other people.
To Aqua, he was a master, a friend, and perhaps in the deepest depths of her most secret thoughts, a lover. True, she had only begun to serve him out of sheer disgust at Ratatosk, but somewhere along the way, she had found herself becoming genuinely and deeply attached to the enigmatic man. She wanted to make him happy and fulfill his every wish, and if she could not do that...well, she didn't even want to think about it. She would just continue protecting and aiding him with all her heart, and distantly hoping that he might someday realize her feelings.
To the former heroes of World Regeneration, he was many different things all at the same time. Zelos found him irritating and detested him openly; Sheena privately thought him a bit gullible while disliking his arrogant ways; Raine and Genis could not help but sympathize as fellow half-elves but still would not trust him; Colette wasn't entirely sure what to think of him, torn between everyone's viewpoints as she tried to keep an open mind; Regal preferred to hold no open opinion, alluding to neither hate nor compassion; Presea was much the same, though for very different reasons; Lloyd could only despise him for what he'd done and what he continued trying to do. Yet between them all, they shared one common thread, a thought exactly the same: he was their foe.
To Ratatosk, he was an entity to be both despised and feared. Arrogant enough to confront him in the Ginnungagap and powerful enough to reduce him to a core, Richter was a man to be watched - no, to be observed as closely as possible, his power and his drive far too dangerous to be left alone. It was quite convenient that Emil seemed to want to follow Richter everywhere, and perhaps he would even secretly prod the boy into being courageous enough to do so. After all, it was hard to keep an eye on someone while hiding in nervous apprehension.
But to Emil, no matter how many different emotions and thoughts would swirl through his mind, not a one would be settled on as being right. Each one would be sorted through and then quickly discarded, some small element ringing hollow or false, and for a while it had genuinely bothered him but he'd eventually given up caring. If he couldn't think of the perfect appellation, then there was only one thing to do, and that was to simply put it out of his mind and wait for a suitable descriptor to come to him on its own.
Finally, it did, and he had to admit it really was the most perfect of all.
To Emil, Richter was simply...just Richter.
