aren't we friends?

ch. 3 - change for the worse.

A/N: im sorry i haven't updated in a while, ive been struggling with ideas. but here i am :)

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"oh, this is wonderful!" tord exclaimed, excitedly rushing to edd who stood silently, his face showing no emotion or expression at all.

"all these years of planning and hard work, tracking you down for days, monitoring every single move you made, it all finally paid off." tord grinned proudly as if edd was some sort of difficult experiment he'd finally perfected.

"all those times you somehow slipped out of my grasp, all of that running, and now; now i have you. now i finally have you. exactly how i dreamed it'd be for all these years," tord went on, gazing upon edd in pride. edd still said nothing, a blank emotionless expression still over his face. he didn't protest, didn't argue, he didn't say a word. it was like he was a whole new person, a whole different man from who he was just moments before. no snappy remarks, no complaints, nothing. he didn't have a single ounce of emotion, not a single thought in his mind besides the need to serve under tord. that was all that was in his head. this wasn't edd, at least, not anymore.

"excellent work, sir." one of the men behind tord spoke, "im sure he will be a very powerful contribute to the army."

"oh i know he will," tord agreed, glaring at the injured soldier on the ground then back at edd, who just stared forward. tord made edd look up at him, a prideful grin still plastered on his face.

"you will do amazing things for this army, edd." tord spoke, his voice promising and almost welcoming. "it's wonderful to have you back."

~time skip to a couple weeks later~

ever since edd first got his powers back, tord had forced him into nonstop training to perfect and strengthen them. he was definitely pushing the limits of edds abilities and strength, but he didn't care. he needed him to be as strong as he could possibly be if he was going to be part of this army. even if it wasn't by choice.

tord found out soon enough that once edd would reach the limit of his powers, they would backfire on him. radiation would begin to pour out of his eyes like tears, and he'd begin to cough it up like blood. once that happened, he would have to wait at least a day before even thinking about using his powers again.

what did tord do to 'fix' this? give edd more radiation, of course! while this didn't erase edds strange side affects, it did strengthen his powers and extend the amount of time he could use them. but this only meant the side affects became worse. but this didn't stop tord from pushing the limits of edds powers even more.

due to the honestly concerning amounts of radiation tord would inject into him, edds physical appearance began to change. of course, due to the nonstop training, his build was much more muscular. nothing outrageous, but it was definitely a difference from what he was before. he had so much radiation coursing through his veins, sometimes you could see his veins glowing green under his skin. when he bled, his blood would have traces of glowing green radiation in it. his eyes were no longer his normal brown eyes, either. they were all black, but his irises we're now a bright green color that glowed when his powers were in use. his mentality changed as well. he was much more literal, more cynical and cold. he no longer made his dumb jokes, he didn't smile that bright smile that could light up a room. hell, he barely talked at all. his face never showed any emotion, he always stared off blankly at whatever he was doing or whoever was talking to him. he didn't think about anything but becoming stronger, bettering himself so he could serve tord the best he could. he was a completely different person from who he once was. this wasn't edd anymore.

due to his marvelous improvement, tord had made edd his bodyguard. he was to keep watch over tord and make sure nothing could happen to him. edd didn't protest this, didn't argue at all. he silently followed tord around on his daily tasks, watching over him. tord would try to make small talk with him like old times, but edd would either give a shallow response or would respond at all. this triggered a small voice in the back of tords mind, questioning if this was really a good thing. but everytime it would cross his mind, he would bury it with excuses. of course he did the right thing, he finally had edd back and he was working for him just like the others. it's exactly what he wanted, all four of them finally together again. just like old times! just without the jokes or adventures, or the charm or light the group had when they were together. but hey, what's the difference? they were together, that's all that mattered. that's all he cared about was finally having the group together again, just another step closer to fixing the mess he'd made.

though, that little voice never really went away. it questioned if what tord was doing was really a good thing, if it was really what he'd wanted. sure, the group was back together, but it wasn't the same. far from it, actually. there were no more jokes, no more adventures, only side glances and commands. this wasnt like old times at all, and it was beginning to get bothersome. was this really fixing anything? were things even worth fixing anymore? better yet, can anything be fixed? what if it was all for nothing? all of the work and effort into building the army and bringing the four back together and forcing them not to hate each other while also working for tord as whatever he wanted; does that sound like it's fixing anything? the purpose of all of this was to bring the group together again, to have things just like how they used to be. but this, whatever it was, was not like how they used to be at all. nothing was the same, nothing felt like it was changing for the better. in fact, things felt worse than how they did before. over and over the voice in tords mind would question,

is it really worth it?

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