News With The Neverseen

Episode 12

Gethen's POV

"Welcome back! You are watching News With the Neverseen." I announced.

"As we were previously saying, we have more of the scoop on the Black Swan and Cassius Sencen's involvement." Alvar said smoothly. "Let's get right into it."

"According to our sources, the Black Swan has recently healed Prentice of his broken mind." I said.

"This poses a major threat to the entirety of society. As most know, before his memory break, Prentice had been lying to the authorities about his location. What could he have been doing during that time?" Alvar said mysteriously.

"Onto our suspicions about Cassius Sencen," I carried on. "It seems that he lived with his wife and son until recently, when he cut off all communication with them. Their names are not known. Recently, he was sighted walking into a Black Swan hideout, attempting to cover his face so onlookers would not know his identity." [A/N: Since this is an AU, there is no Registry. Also, I'm speculating a little bit on what Lord Cassius does when he walks into a Black Swan hideout. You never know! (Some/most of this is not canon.)]

"Wow, Gethen. That's quite a lot to take in. What can citizens do to stay safe during these uncertain times?" Alvar wondered.

"Make sure to keep an eye out for suspicious activity. Never say the words Black Swan unless in extreme emergencies–it might catch their attention. And make sure to only go to places with other witnesses nearby."

"Thanks, Gethen." Alvar smiled at the camera. "Onto everyone's favorite segment... Q&A! Even though this does not replace game segments, it is still something to look forward to!"

I faked a laugh. I was still bitter about the game segments getting canceled. One day, I would petition to bring that back. But now was not the time. There was too much to worry about at the moment. Gisela's job... My job... I hadn't forgotten what Fintan had said about the owners of our company not being happy about my passing out on camera. I needed to make a real impression.

"Please send in questions so I can answer them!" I prompted. [A/N: I had people on Fandom send in questions, but I didn't want to use their usernames on another platform without their permission. So, I changed the names. :)]

"Here's the first one!" Alvar announced. "GethenMyLuv124 asks Gethen: 'What's your favorite song' and 'do you like rubber ducks?'"

"Hm... I'm a big fan of Sorry not Sorry by ITZY." I began to sing it, and was almost to the rap part before Alvar slapped me. "As for the rubber ducks..." I scratched my chin. "I'd say so."

"Up next is another question for Gethen. QuestionMaker52 asks, 'I've heard rumors about a dream you had a few months ago regarding evil Tootsie Rolls. Can you confirm or deny this?'"

I paled. Or turned red. Or both, I wasn't sure. How did this get leaked?

"Uh..." I managed, my voice wavering. "I can't confirm or deny. Next?"

"This one is for–ooh! Me! 630AlvarandGethen asks, 'Gethen is often admired by many, do you ever feel jealous at the attention he gets?' Hm... Absolutely."

I patted him on the back. "Don't worry, buddy. You're popular, too."

I don't know why, but Trix snorted from behind the camera.

"Next up are two questions–one for Gethen, and one for me. MagicMoonlight asks: "For Gethen: if you could trade lives with any fictional character, who would it be and why?"

I thought for a moment. Fintan and I actually had an intense debate about this a while back. Who did we settle on again? Ah.

"Napoleon from Animal Farm," I announced. "I've always wanted to be him."

Alvar nodded his approval. "'For Alvar'," he continued, "'if you could have any superpower related to food, what would it be and how would you use it?' That's a good question. I would choose to never be hungry, so I can keep my fit physique."

"Last two questions!" Alvar proclaimed. "AGethenFollower asked, 'what's Gethen's ideal type?"

"Awesomeness," I replied. It was easy.

"And, last but not least, SingleCastle, with the question: 'what is Gethen's secret to success?'"

"That's a good one!" I racked my brain for an answer. "I use all my best traits to be an awesome news anchor."

"And that's all for the Q&A!" His voice sounded sad. His face said, thank goodness. I decided that I would apologize for getting most of the attention–as usual–later. That couldn't be easy on Alvar, living in my shadow like that.

"You're watching News With the Neverseen," I told our viewers. "We will be back tonight."

The credits rolled and the newscast ended. I gathered my mug and got ready to go to the makeup room when Alvar stopped me.

"Gethen," he said, "you should really see this."

I followed him to his computer. The submitted Q&A questions were still on his computer screen.

"What is it?" I asked.

He pointed to a question on the screen. It was from UmberRocksNWNSux. The question read: Better watch your back, Gethen. I'm coming for you. -Umber.

I stared at it for a minute. Then Alvar spoke.

"Came in just now," he said grimly.

"It's not quite a question." I noted.

Alvar didn't seem to hear me. "

You need to tell Fintan," he said.

That was when it actually hit me that Alvar thought I was in danger. Me. Gethen Ondsinn. I almost laughed.

"Look, Alvar," I told him. "I'm flattered and all that you care about me. But I hope you don't actually think I'm in danger. That's ridiculous! Plus, I have other things to talk to Fintan about."

Alvar looked at me suspiciously. "You mean Gisela?"

I swallowed. "How could you tell?"

Alvar laughed sharply. "Gethen, I don't really want to be all up in your business. But just do one thing for me and tell Fintan about Umber's threat."

"Fiiine." I grumbled. "I'll go talk to him."

Then I stormed out of there. I needed to know what happened during that meeting. Since when was I at risk for getting fired? And, more importantly, what was Gisela's sentence? I almost didn't want to know.