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The bitter draft of the spacious hallway was starting to weigh horribly on The Vigilante. The cheeseslime cursed under his breath as his body started to crystallize. He was being hunted and he needed to find a way to either run or hide. He heard footsteps, but couldn't figure out where they were coming from.
"Sh-show yourself, coward!" He choked out in his shivering as he readied his revolver.
There was only silence as the castle creaked and the wind howled.
Vigilante grumbled as he tried to keep moving, ice slowly creeping up his body. His heart pounded in his chest as he exerted all the strength he could in his search for the rest of his party. It wasn't a large castle but it was big enough to require the party to split up to find the ice wizard. Splitting up never works.
Just as he was about to reach the stairs that led down to the foyer, a shard of ice whipped past his face, grazing him just under his eye. He yelped at the stinging cold, which left behind a line of small crystals.
"Caught you." A sinister voice echoed from the hall. It was the ice wizard.
Vigilante pointed his gun in the wizard's general direction, but his shivering made aiming impossible.
"Just look at you,” the wizard snickered, “the so-called scariest mercenary shaking in his boots and succumbing to my bitter cold. Guess you're not what they say! Ha!"
"Don't sell me short, wizard! You caught me at my worst!"
"Oh? Because I snatched this pretty little thing?" The wizard mocked as they waved around the shining blue feather that kept Vigilante from crystallizing in ice.
"G-Give it back!"
The wizard chuckled, "Or what? Not like you can do much abo-"
BANG! The wizard's smug monologue was cut short by Vigilante pulling the trigger, but he missed and hit a window. The wizard ran away cackling darkly as Vigilante cursed to himself for wasting a bullet. He had only four rounds left and that could spell death for him if he couldn't make them count. On guard, Vigilante lifted himself and grabbed hold of anything to help him walk to the stairway. He hoped he could find his party in time before he froze solid.
"Where the hell could they be? Think, Vigert, think…" He grumbled and shivered as he finally reached the foyer and headed into the hallway where he last saw Pepperman and Noise, thinking they could still be around the general area.
"Phil? Th-Theodore? Where are you?" He called out, "I'm havin’ some trouble over here!"
No response. Just the eerie silence. He called out to them again, barely hiding the fear in his voice that he had tried to choke down. The thought of dying alone with the chance of never being found nearly suffocated him.
From the corner of his eye, an open door off to the side gave him a glimpse of a lit fireplace. The others must be in there! He scrambled to the door, the sweet, warm adrenaline strengthening him once again.
"Guys!" He shouted upon entering the empty but otherwise warm room. Damn! Where did they go? Vigilante had to keep tracking them. However, he needed to warm up. He hobbled to the fire. Just as he could finally breathe normally again, he felt a distant but ominous presence approaching the room. Damn, it was likely the wizard. His hope-driven strength had been depleted, almost forcing him into a crawl as he fled the room.
He was halfway into the hallway when he was stopped by the wizard.
"Going somewhere?" They grinned with an agonizingly sing-song tone.
Vigilante had had enough of that vicious clown. He readied his gun and glared straight into the ice-cold bastard's eyes.
"I've had just about enough of your mouth, wizard!" Vigilante yelled as he was finally warm enough to aim for the wizard's chest.
He pulled the trigger.
…Nothing. He found that his fingers weren't working anymore.
"Is that your best shot? Well! Let me show you mine!" The wizard cackled as they blasted the gun out of Vigilante's hand with a shard of ice, shattering his fingertips. Vigilante shouted from the pain as he gripped his hand.
"How pathetic. It gets a little chilly and the big bad gunslinger can't bring the heat!" The wizard laughed before kicking Vigilante across the floor with an inhuman launch.
Vigilante coughed and groaned as he tried to get back up. The cold did nothing to dull the pain.
"You're just a useless lump of cheese!" The wizard approached him again. "I’d wager you were just as useless to protect your grandfather…"
Vigilante could only stare into the wizard's eyes as they stood over him once more.
"Oh, but you were just a kid, right? You can’t possibly have any blame!" they laughed as they towered over Vigilante.
"How the hell do you know-" Vigilante choked out before the wizard stood on his wrist, pinning it to the floor. He couldn't pull away, as the rest of his cheesy surface stiffened. He looked up at the wizard, terrified.
"L-Let me go…!"
"Hmmm… I suppose I could show a little mercy..."
They stomped on Vigilante's wrist, breaking it through the middle. Vigilante screamed in agony. "But this is much more entertaining!"
The sight of his hand in pieces made him feel sick, his head spun as he choked on the rising acid bubbling up from his stomach, "Let me go!"
The wizard stomped down on the shivering mercenary's remaining limb, this time further up his arm. Another scream almost blasted his throat out as the pain shot through him like a bullet. His vision blurred and the room spun faster.
"Stop…" he coughed.
"You're right, maybe it's time we go our separate ways!" The wizard pretended to yawn as they slowly walked away, “As much as I’d love to finish you off, I think you should sit in that corner and think about what you've done!”
Shivering, Vigilante tried to lift himself up in his dizzy state. It was useless.
Useless.
Useless.
That word. That damned word. It kept echoing in Vigilante’s mind like a broken record.
Was it really my fault…?
He could barely make out the remains of his limbs and the damaged revolver. This was just bad luck, right? Yeah, he was just unlucky. He made sure he was extra prepared. He never once let himself be so vulnerable again, ever since that… that…
---
It was late at night, he and his grandpa were still awake. Talking and acting goofy out of sleep deprivation. Then a loud bang startled the two followed by pounding at the door.
“W-What’s goin’ on, Grandpap!?” A young Vigert cried as he clung to his grandfather.
“I don’t know… But it doesn’t sound friendly!”
His grandpa quickly picked Vigert up and stuffed him in a large chest in the sitting room.
“Stay in here, Vigert! Don’t make a sound and don’t come out no matter what you hear, OK!?”
Vigert nodded tearily as his grandfather shut the chest carefully.
He never really knew what happened after that. All he can remember was hearing the door fly open with a bang, a short exchange of words, the sound of his grandfather struggling, and then… a soul shattering silence. The scene the intruder left behind still haunts him to this day.
---
Peppino ran down a hallway looking for Vigilante as he had heard his screaming earlier. He called out to him a few times before turning and running in another direction. Eventually he heard sobbing and followed it. As he got closer to the source of the sobbing, a pit grew in his stomach. Something didn't feel right and he prayed to God he wasn't too late.
"Peppino!" a voice called from behind, it was Pepperman and Noise.
“Did you two find the wizard?” Peppino asked.
"We did, but they turned tail and ditched the castle as soon as we found them!" Noise grumbled as he crossed his arms. "This has got to be the most spineless wizard I've ever met!".
"... Cazzo! " Peppino growled, putting his face into his hands. "Fine. Did you at least get the other thing we were asked to grab?"
"We did!" Pepperman nodded as he held up a scroll.
OK, good. They didn't catch the wizard but they did get their secrets. Close enough! Now back to the problem at hand.
"Have you two seen Vigilante? I thought I heard him scream." Peppino asked.
"Yeah, we heard it too!" Pepperman replied.
A sudden chill ran down everyone's spine as more sobbing filled the air. The party ran off to continue the search for Vigilante.
Peppino was the first to find Vigilante but the sight he was greeted with was just as he feared.
The Vigilante was almost completely frozen, small ice crystals starting to form on his tear stained face, pieces of his limbs scattered around him. He looked as if his body had finally given out.
Peppino tried to suppress a shocked scream but his already rising fear made it difficult.
“What!? What happened!?” Pepperman froze when he caught up with Peppino and saw what he was looking at. "H-Holy…"
Noise stared at Vigilante in horror as he slowly and cautiously walked toward him.
"V-Vigi…? Hey! Are you alive…?" He shakily asked as he gave him a hard, quick tap.
Vigilante jolted up at the touch. He weakly lifted his head to look up at Noise and made an attempt to crawl towards him.
“H-Help me…”, he said weakly, his voice hoarse.
"He's alive!"
Peppino quickly picked Vigilante up and gathered up the pieces of him, “We need to leave, now!”
Pepperman and Noise nodded, they got what they came for and Vigilante looked like he was about to die. They ran out of the castle to look for the closest tavern.
---
Peppino glanced over at Vigilante, who was now in front of a fireplace on a couch bundled up in a thick wool blanket. The ice had started to melt but he was still feeling physically sick. He stared a thousand miles into the fire with a solemn look on his face.
"This is so unlike him…" Pepperman said quietly, "Hasn't moved or said a word since we came here."
"Guy just went through Hell, that's why!" Noise shot back.
"Just went through Hell" was an understatement. A frozen Hell was still Hell, as far as Vigilante was concerned. Peppino couldn't even begin to imagine how painful it had to have been.
"This has to be the cruelest thing I have ever seen before or since!" Pepperman growled.
"It is pretty cruel…" Peppino shivered.
A low growl came from Noise's stomach.
"Uuugh… I’m going to go eat. Maybe get a drink too…" Noise groaned.
"Hmmm… Yeah, now that you mention it, I'm running on empty myself." Pepperman nodded.
"You two go ahead, I'll catch up in a bit." Peppino said as he glanced back at Vigilante.
The two got up and out of the room. After they left, Peppino opened his mouth to speak but couldn't figure out what to say. There was silence for a bit. The crackling of burning wood filled the air.
"Hey… How are you holding up?"
…
"You, uh… You need to talk about it?"
…
Peppino sighed, maybe he needed to give him a little space. He got up and headed towards the door to catch up with Pepperman and Noise.
"...I should’ve been able to stop the wizard myself." Vigilante spoke after what seemed like hours, voice still hoarse.
Peppino stopped at the door.
"Peppino… Am I useless?"
"No!" Peppino shouted in shock, "That wasn't your fault!"
...
"What's all this about?"
"...Can you sit with me? I-I don't want to be alone right now…"
Peppino went wide eyed for a moment, this was a little concerning. Vigilante was usually the one to lonewolf his feelings away when something bothered him. He didn't like it but never said anything about it. He had to admit, seeing this vulnerable side of him broke his heart.
“S-Sure...” Peppino replied as he sat down next to Vigilante as he was reattaching his arm to his body. His fingers were still slightly frozen but he was starting to gain some feeling back.
"What's wrong?" Peppino gently asked.
Vigilante took a deep breath to try and regain his composure but Peppino could easily tell he was on the brink of crying again. He went on to tell the tale of the night his grandfather was killed by a still unknown intruder and what the wizard said to him back in the castle. As he went on, Peppino felt a mixture of shock and anger towards the wizard. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Poor guy was already traumatized and the wizard took no shame in reopening his old wounds, all while rubbing salt in them. He swore to himself that he was going kill that wizard if they ever showed their ugly face again.
"They said that!?" Peppino growled, trying to keep his voice down.
Vigilante nodded.
"I'm startin’ to wonder if they're right…" Vigilante lamented as he buried his face into his hands, "I should have just died back there…"
Peppino felt his stomach turn hearing Vigilante even say things like that.
"If I couldn't protect Grandpap who's to say I'll be just as useless to protect my party?"
With that, Vigilante finally broke down and sobbed loudly.
"It's my fault! It was all my fault!"
Peppino couldn’t figure out what to say. It hurt him to see the normally well put together cowboy fall apart. In an act of showing his support, he scooted closer to Vigilante and put his arm around him, pulling him close. This gesture surprised him a bit. Peppino wasn't the first person he'd think to show physical assurance like that. Something about it made him feel safe. A fuzzy, comforting warmth was starting to swell in his chest and heat up his cheeks. They stayed like that for what felt like hours until…
"...Your grandpa wouldn’t have wanted that for you." Peppino softly said.
Upon hearing those words, Vigilante suddenly hugged Peppino and cried into his chest. Peppino was startled but didn't pull away. It looked like he really needed that after trying to be a rock for so long. He hugged him back, rubbing his back to comfort him.
"I-I'm sorry for cryin’ on you like this…" Vigilante sniffled, "I just, ya know, didn't know much I needed to hear that and-"
"It's OK." Peppino replied in a soft, warm tone.
Vigilante looked up at Peppino and opened his mouth to speak, but he found himself unable to take his eyes off of his. It was…
It was what? Vigilante suddenly found it hard to describe what he was feeling. Warmth? Comfort? His throat went dry and he couldn’t speak. He looked into Peppino’s eyes, they had a soft, warm gaze that he barely even noticed he got lost in.
“Vigert?” Peppino cocked his head.
Vigilante snapped back from his daze, feeling his face heat up even more.
“S-Sorry I lost my train of thought…”
The two then realized they were still caught in an embrace. They broke away and had a bit of a laugh together, caught up in how silly this looked. Vigilante’s eyes shifted back and forth in embarrassment, he almost didn’t want to admit that it actually felt kinda nice to be hugged like that.
“Hey, Peppino…”
“Hm?”
"Can… Can we stay like that? Just a little longer?"
It was Peppino’s turn to feel heat rising to his face as he shuddered a bit, eyes going a little wide. He hesitated a bit, slowly putting his arms around Vigilante again.
Vigilante relaxed against Peppino, savoring the warmth.
“...Thanks for talkin’ sense into me.”