Uneasy Alliance (A Roleslaying with Roman story)

The Lost and Found

Youngblood looked around worriedly. By the time the sun had come up, he had started calling out, trying to find Roman without caring about his own stealth anymore. He had gone back to the cave a few times throughout the night, hoping that Noise had already found him, but he ended up going back out every time, disappointed and more worried than before.

Eventually, around midday, he found Roman out in a clearing a few miles away from the cave. He sighed with relief and let out a short, broken chuckle.

"Fuck, Roman.."

He paused when he heard a sniffle from where Roman was sitting on a rock, his knees curled to his chest. Youngblood hesitated, then sat beside Roman, trying to meet his gaze.

"...Roman..? You alright..? Noise and I were so worried..."

"I-I'm fine..." Roman mumbled, sitting up and wiping his eyes. He sniffled again and didn't make eye contact with Youngblood. Youngblood rubbed his back comfortingly.

"..do you want to talk about it?"

"...no.. I can't..."

Youngblood looks at him for a few more seconds, then nods and pulls Roman to his side. "It'll be alright. If you ever do need to talk about it, Noise and I are here for you."

Roman nodded and leaned on him. "Thank you..."

"Of course, kid."

"..we're the same age.."

"Yeah, but traveling with you is like raising a child."

"Hey! Besides, I see you more as my brother anyway."

"Your big brother."

"Only by a few months!"

Youngblood laughs and ruffles Roman's hair. He stands and stretches. "Alright, let's go home. I'm exhausted... Noise must be worried.."

"No, I'm alright," Noise said, coming out from behind a tree. Youngblood jolted and whipped around to face him.

"Fuck! You know not to scare me like that!"

"S-sorry..." Noise mumbled, seeming to act more shy than usual and not looking into his eyes. Youngblood narrowed his eyes at him and walked towards him. Noise stepped back a bit and Youngblood quickly grabbed his wrist, putting his sword to his throat.

"Who are you? Where is Noise?!"

Roman looked at him in alarm and stepped forward. "Youngblood! What are you doing?!"

What they thought was Noise looked up at them both, its eye a much darker blue than the real Noise's. It shrunk down and a girl dressed in all blues with half a butterfly mask pulled away from Youngblood's blade.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't want to, Tempo made me!" Arpeggio cried.

Youngblood quickly let her go when he recognized her. "Arpeggio? What are you doing? What do you mean-..."

His eye widened and his heart sank again. Roman looked at Arpeggio, realizing what happened.

"...where's Noise?" Youngblood asked, less angrily, but much more worry present in his voice.

Arpeggio looked away and sighed. "I'm sorry... Tempo was fixated on capturing all of the guards again after they escaped, and they came after Noise first because he was partially responsible for letting all of the others escape..."

"Shit..." Youngblood ran his hands through his own hair, pacing stressfully. Roman knelt down in front of Arpeggio and looked at her kindly.

"Okay, can you take us to him? We can't really.. function without Noise anymore..."

Arpeggio sighed and nodded a bit, rubbing her arm. "I... I can... Tempo won't like it, though..."

"That's alright, I'm sure we can reason with them."

She nodded again and started to lead the two into a thicker part of the forest. Youngblood follows her quickly, the air around him heating up rapidly as they went. Roman moved away from him a bit, sweating bullets as the grass below Youngblood's feet scorched and died. He only calmed when he noticed both Roman and Arpeggio looking at him worriedly. He sheathed his sword and crossed his arms worriedly. His vision went out a bit as he started to get lost in his thoughts. The familiar worry and fear he felt when Noise wasn't around was slowly settling into him again as he drifted back into the dark part of his imagination.