13th installment of the VGNU.
Dragons and Broadswords,
Mystery and Adventure,
Final Fantasy has them all!
The beginning of Phase 2 for the Video Game Novel Universe.
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"Hold on!" Emily forced herself between everyone, ensuring no one was aiming anything at anyone. "I'm... sure Conner has a good reason--"
"Nope," Conner shook his head. "Before all this I was no better than that Captain Bikke."
It took everything Bruce had to hold himself back. "So all that talk... was bullshit."
"No," Conner sat down on the stairs. "What I said, I said with the best of intentions, I swear."
"We could die any day," Ava said. "Don't waste time."
"No time like the present," Benjamin agreed. "You gave us a chance, here's yours."
Conner motioned for the others to take a seat as well. They didn't. "Okay, well, I'll start from the beginning...
"When I was a kid I grew up hearing of soldiers who defended the city from monsters. Always wanted to be like them. All my life though, I was met with wall after wall, people keeping me out of any opportunity that would get me where I wanted to be. It was like I was somehow blacklisted across the whole city, never did learn how or why, it was just like no one trusted me. Either way, twenty years of smashing my head into a wall, 'waiting my turn,' as they said, I gave up. I was gonna walk away, try somewhere else, but I heard of these guys getting together to take what they wanted. I figured I could piggyback off them. We stole whatever we felt like stealing, and you know what? No one bothered to stop us. Not a single person cared what we were up to. The whole city was so... lethargic, passive, and apathetic, that we could get away with anything. Willful ignorance, that's what Fynn became. You could sell snake oil, call it snake oil, and the bastards would still buy it, so that's what we did... I hated it.
"Finally I'd had enough. All I'd wanted was to be a hero, but clearly the world didn't want heroes. It wanted to complain, and put down anyone who tried to fix their problems. But the moment I got my chance?... Something big attacked the city. I had to make a choice... go in, and save a group of innocent civilians from getting crushed or drowned, or save the King... The King was shouting at everyone to save him and let the people die. He had his soldiers and tin men guarding him and trying to drag his fat ass through the streets, all while stopping anyone from saving anyone else. Except, the civilians didn't care. The whole of Fynn went under and I didn't hear so much as a scream from anyone but the worthless King... I kicked him, after he sacrificed the last of his knights to save himself, I killed him by sending him back into the waters... Then I stood by and watched... I didn't end up helping anyone... I stopped caring too... This armor isn't even mine, just washed up on shore afterwards.
"Then the strangest thing happened. This crystal showed up in my hands, right outta thin air. A bit of travel and I heard stories of a prophesy originating in Cornelia. That's when I met you guys. That's when I realized I had a second chance. Like I said, I lied, but with the best of intentions. I finally had the chance to be the hero. Not sure why, but suddenly people trusted me, all cause I held this rock. That was something I'd never had before, trust. Problem was, none of you trusted each other. I figured clear the air between all of you and we'd get along. It worked, for the most part. Aside from the occasional argument. I'd honestly meant to say all this sooner though too, it just... I didn't want to risk us falling apart. This mission is still important, and I swear I'm doing this with the intent to save the world..."
