Trust

• Based off of a quote from Tower of God; “You gotta trust trustworthy people.”

Characters: Eckhart, Mikhail. || Side: Hawkeye.
Word Count: 2228.
Warnings: Character death, implied suicide (actual suicide really but)

Ever since he was a child, there was one phrase that his family punched into him.

“People will trust you. Do not trust them.”

And of course, because he was but a child, he followed that pretty easily. He didn’t trust anyone – not even his own family. The only one he had ever trusted was his mother – a sweet woman by the name of Alexandria. He always thought that she didn’t belong in this cruel hierarchy of corruption …

He was anguished when she died, but as he looked back on it now – he’s happy she’s dead, that she’s within Rhinne’s arms. That she didn’t have to deal with the cruel world that was Perion twenty years ago …

It was good that he left Perion when he did, and became a thief in Kerning. But even then, even after the Dark Lord offered him a home, he did not trust him. Not even his son, Jin, who was barely a few years older than him. Not even Syl, who had been so nice to him … He went through life easily – working alone, only coming home to sleep and eat, and check up on others.

And ever so often, coming home to advance forward.

It was when he was a Night Lord, just after he had been blessed by Hellin, that the spirit approached him. Its name, Umbra. Umbra foretold of his future – a legacy of greatness and happiness working for the Empress. All he had to do was join the Cygnus Knights.

Eckhart didn’t trust him. A spirit, especially one of darkness, could only spell out misfortune and trouble for him. So, he tried to ignore Umbra’s existence, his being, but he found that as he moved forward … this blatant denial of what he was destined for, led to his defeat.

It was Leafre. A hoard of dragons had surrounded him, and he was already tired from having trained for hours. He had fallen onto his knees – but he struggled to force himself to his feet, and swallow down a pill from Ludibrium. It didn’t abate his fatigue, and as they grew closer to him, a hoard of spectral bats rose from the ground and attacked them, knocking them onto the ground.

He saw an opportunity when it presented itself, so he launched stars at the mass of dragons, slaying them in a matter of minutes. When he looked around for the culprit, he found the same spirit floating, watching over him. Eckhart frowned, staring at the spirit.

“I thought you had left,” he commented.

Umbra floated gently, although somehow, Eckhart felt like he was laughing. “I sensed you were in trouble. I came to save you.”

“Why?” It was a simple question – but something that held much more than that.

“Because you are my master. Eckhart, we were destined to be partners, to fight together. If you do not believe me, travel to Ereve and meet with Shinsoo.” It was akin to a favor – Umbra had ended up saving his life. He decided that he could at least visit this Ereve…

He did end up visiting, and it was a very … homely place. Peaceful, calm, and nice … An orange haired pirate, and a blond haired warrior were eyeing him, but he ignored them in favor of drifting towards the large bird in the center. For once, the Empress was not with him …

He was surprised when the bird raised his head – like he had sensed him there.

“Ah…” the bird spoke, his voice light and dreamy. “You are Eckhart, of the Solas family. So Umbra succeeded in bringing you here… That is good…”

“You are … Shinsoo. The Empress’s divine companion…” His voice was mixed with a bit of interest and wonder. “Ah- yes, I agreed to come here…”

Shinsoo would have smiled if he was human. “Come here, young one… To my head …”

Eckhart furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but he walked closer to the massive bird … “Yes…?”

He raised his head to touch Eckhart’s hand, and there was a blast of power around them. The area around them shined with a light purple-white color, and the wind swirled around them. Shinsoo’s wings outstretched around the black haired man, and the small purple spirit appeared in front of him. There was a bright flash of light, and Eckhart had to close his eyes, but when everything had subsided, he dropped to the ground, onto his knees.

“My…” Shinsoo spoke, bringing his wings back to his sides and placing his head down. “You have much potential … I await your prowess, Eckhart Solas.”

The black haired man pressed a hand to his head, grimacing at the sudden headache. “It’s… just Eckhart now…”

“Mm… Either way, Eckhart… Welcome to the Cygnus Knights… You will grow much here…” He spoke in return, closing his eyes.

Eckhart took that as the cue to leave – he frowned as he walked around the island. A Cygnus Knight? Last he checked, he was a Night Lord… Eckhart sighed at the thought, running a hand through his hair. He was perhaps a bit too recognizable at this point – his adventurer clothing made it a bit obvious. Plus, he really needed to cut his hair…

A noise startled him out of his thoughts, and he turned on his heel. Narrowing his eyes, he found a pair of men in the bushes. “Who are you?” He asked cautiously …

The blond one shoved out of the bushes, smiling. “My name is Mikhail. I- er, I’m sorry for following you, but…” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. At least he had the gall to be sorry…

The orange haired one butted in. “You’re the new Chief, aren’t you?” Eckhart raised an eyebrow at his words. “You know, the new Chief Night Walker? Shinsoo did that fer all o’ us too.”

Mikhail elbowed Hawkeye in the side. “That’s Hawkeye. Er, well, yes, we were wondering if you were the new Chief. Since Sid’s retirement, we’ve been looking for one … Sid always said there would be one coming soon, that was more skilled than him, so we just, well, assumed it was you!”

Perhaps that was flattering somehow. But, Eckhart simply blinked at them. “I’ve literally been here for two seconds – I don’t think I’m any sort of qualified to be a chief of anything…”

Hawkeye opened his mouth to say something, but Mikhail apologized and dragged him away before he could.

It was difficult to adjust – no one really trusted him, mostly because everyone over twenty knew about the Solas family, and about their black sheep son. That, and to think that a thief from Kerning City had become the new Chief Knight of Darkness was … a bit farfetched.

His students warmed up to him eventually, and he became an exceptional teacher, with a bit of help from Orson, a man almost ten years his senior. Where Eckhart had been seen as a cold-hearted, untrustworthy individual, talking to him revealed him to be a man with a large heart, albeit a bit socially awkward. And soon, people began to put their trust in him.

He had been a chief for four years before everything went to hell.

No one really knows where it started. Where Eckhart started being distant, silent even. Where he had reverted back to the silent, authoritative man that he had once was. Even if you asked Mikhail, his best friend, he couldn’t really tell you the answer.

But, perhaps it was when his mother’s spirit showed up in Lionheart Castle.

Eckhart had been sent to deal with an issue there, and it was rather easy for him to finish. He should have left as soon as he had finished it, but… His judgement lost to his curiosity, and he explored the castle more.

And this, this small room near the back of the castle, is where he found the ghost of his beloved mother.

He almost broke down in tears at that point – being able to see his mother again … Even if she was still dead, even if she was colorless and lifeless, her smile carried through, and he had to believe it. This was his mother. She told him of how she had appeared here one day, of how she waited to see him, but could not leave due to the field around the castle. He promised he’d come back, and left the castle.

Unbeknownst to him, the spirit of his mother was a simple illusion cast by the Black Mage… and that his contact with her had corrupted him slightly.

He kept visiting her in secret, during the night. And he never really noticed Umbra’s voice becoming muted inside of him, never heeded the warnings. Corrupt thoughts entered his mind rather easily, whispers of destruction and demise…

Eckhart had always seemed different after that. Distant, quiet, distracted … Not even his students could break him out of it. So maybe that’s where Mikhail should have paid attention to the black haired man. Maybe he should have talked to him.

Maybe he could have prevented this.

Mikhail looked around at the carnage that surrounded them – at the dead bodies littered around them. He saw beautiful green hair stained with blood, a small girl’s broken body, and a tanned face frozen in shock. And he had the decency to wince, as he turned his eyes onto the culprit.

Eckhart didn’t look the same. His hair was white, pure despite his corruption. His eyes were dark red, the same as the Black Mage’s. Between his thin and slim fingers were a multitude of stars, and his cape fluttered behind him in the wind. Mikhail looked at him with a sad look, pitying the poor man.

Time stood still between them. It was tense – Mikhail heard his heart beating in his ears, his ragged breathing, the pain in his chest from the betrayal. And yet, his hands clenched around his sword, mustering the strength to face his toughest enemy yet.

His best friend.

Eckhart leapt before Mikhail could recognize, and it was only a movement to the right that stopped the blade from lodging into his heart. It dug into his left bicep, and Mikhail grimaced, but he hit Eckhart away with the flat side of his sword. With his right hand, he wrenched the dagger out, and it clattered to the ground.

The black – now white haired man stumbled to the side, and his eyes flashed from red, to gold, to red … before settling back onto gold. And when those gold eyes, beautiful like the sun, had laid their eyes on the scene …

He began to cry.

Mikhail wasn’t sure what to do about the tears streaming from the other man’s eyes. Eckhart didn’t make any noises while he cried, nor did he seem pitiful, but seeing the older man so upset made him hurt, and he drew closer to the man, only to have a blade slammed into his heart. Mikhail’s eyes widened in surprise, and he stumbled back coughing, seeing the other man’s hard gold eyes up at him, and secretly he wondered if Eckhart had always been this way. And when the white haired man stood above his fallen form, laughing, he thought.

‘This isn’t Eckhart.’

Eckhart’s laugh sounded bitter to himself. Because it was. Because he had let himself trust people, to care, and now they were all strewn about around him, dead and unmoving. Even his best friend, his closest friend, was now dying at his feet…

And he laughed. A maniacal, broken, insane laugh. But Mikhail, with his fading sight, saw the glimmer of something rolling down the man’s cheeks, and he realized that Eckhart had been crying this entire time.

“Mikhail,” came the white haired man’s voice, both tired and malevolent. It was faint, although that was probably because he was dying, and he strained to listen. “You gotta trust trustworthy people.” Mikhail managed to frown, but when he raised his hand to reach for the other man, Eckhart watched it fall down lifelessly to his side.

And when Mikhail was dead, and he knew it to be so, he dropped to his knees and screamed out a hoarse cry. He had killed essentially everyone he cared about – they had seem him kill them, with his hands. He knew that they would forgive him in the end – they were too kind not to, but … He didn’t deserve that kind of forgiveness. Not after the events of today – of the last few months.

So, when he lifted up a dagger from the ground, a simple one with a blade tinted blue, he thought to himself. He wasn’t trustworthy. He never was. In his hands, his shaking, bloodstained and pale hands, he raised the dagger, and idly tought to himself.

‘Will I get to meet them again?’

And when the dagger came down, into his heart, the same way he had killed Mikhail, he laughed a bitter, sorrowful laugh – more like a sob, really. And he decided, no. He wouldn’t.

Because they deserved so much better than him.