daffodil (a fairy tail origins au)

chapter six | a difference

; tws // mention of a wound/bleeding

[third pov]

one of the first things that ritchie noticed about devin now was his eyes, because how could he not? those were the eyes that he stared into every night before they fell asleep together, those were the eyes that he watched light up when he talked about something he was passionate about, those were the eyes that shone with worry and compassion for someone like ritchie. those beautiful, wonderful eyes that weren't red anymore, and, to be honest, it would've even been kind of comforting if devin came out of that portal with one eye red and the other a bright teal, smug smirk on his lips like everything was fine because it was just eden being eden (as much as he hated to admit that). he wished and hoped and prayed to any god that listened to him that he would wake up one day and this all would just be some elaborate dream that his brain decided to torture him with. but ritchie never got what he wanted, that was a known fact, so why was this any different? and why was looking into cold and tired purple eyes more painful than getting physically hurt? he didn't know, and for some reason, he didn't want an answer to that. he soon zoned back in, and he was in the present, staring into the eyes of his beloved, everyone else still in shocked silence. it didn't take long for the future version of ritchie to speak, manic look on his face with a wide, smug smile to match. it made the pit in ritchie's stomach become deeper. he hadn't blinked ever since his eyes landed on devin.

"what's the matter? you were so.. eager before, boy. did the fight just drain out of you?"

the self proclaimed demon king spoke, pulling devin closer to himself by his hand, his other arm going around his waist. that made ritchie finally move, taking a step forward as he felt his whole body tense up at once. he raised an arm, to do who knows what, maybe launch an attack? maybe try and reach for devin? he wasn't sure, because ritchie wasn't sure of most things anymore, not since the love of his life was taken. the future version of himself just seemed to tighten his hold around devin, the shorter smiled as he brought his free hand up to rest against future ritchie's chest as he looked up at him with nothing but love and adoration on his face and that was what broke ritchie. the only thing keeping him from going over there and slaughtering that son of a bitch was david's heavy hand on his shoulder that squeezed it once. ritchie glanced back at his friend, david's face was hardened, looking just as angry as ritchie felt. it made him feel better that he wasn't the only that was feeling this way. he slowly turned back, looking up at the two, he grit his teeth, before speaking.

"what the hell did you do to him? what kind of fucking brainwashing did you use to make him like that, huh?"

he spat, feeling his heart continue to beat wildly in his chest that was quickly rising and falling, teeth clenched so hard that he was sure that they'd break if he clenched his jaw any harder. all future ritchie did was roll his eyes, like all ritchie was was just a small fly buzzing in his ear. it made his blood boil more than it ever has before, and ritchie's gotten angry over plenty of things before. he was angry at everything right now, future ritchie, this situation, himself.. it was all just adding up to this. future ritchie removed the hand from devin's waist to wave his hand.

"i did nothing, really, he did this all on his own. all i did was save him from himself, not like you guys were any help with that, leaving him to die, and all."

this time, david jumped to respond, keeping a hand on ritchie's shoulder, the other going to point at the demon king, face full of nothing but anger and hatred as he pulled his guild leader behind him.