"Well, go on Eldric, tell me what got your panties so twisted earlier."
However, instead of an immediate response, Eldric's old and weathered figure started to slowly gather all the words jumbling in his skull into one neat sentence.
When he did, it was only then that Eldric raised his head to gaze up at Ricky's usual smile.
"First, I would like to offer an apology."
"Oh yeah?" Ricky laughed, pulling up a chair and getting a front row seat at what was in store for him while leaning back to enjoy.
"What are you apologizing for?" Ricky asked, not at all angry at Eldric but merely ready to hear his side of the story as a small puff of his cigar.
"I stepped out of line, in more ways than one tonight."
"I understand my actions led me here." Eldric first started, his voice calm and reasonable.
"You've given me a chance at answers I never thought I'd find. I should be grateful, instead, in my emotional state, I lashed out and injured my hand trying to punch you."
There was no bitterness in Eldric's tone, just quiet acceptance.
He spoke like a man who'd lived long enough to own his mistakes which was a rarity in this world that caught Ricky off guard.
Ricky glanced at Eldric's swollen knuckles, taking another puff of his cigar while contemplating the man before him.
He had fully expected Eldric's anger to come crashing down on him, maybe a bitter rant, maybe even some buried fury dressed up as a lecture about what a piece of sh*t he was.
Instead, what he got was clarity, unflinching atonement from a man willing to own his mistakes.
And somehow, that was even more disarming.
"So, the chick you spoke about earlier, Lady Gelicia-"
"Lady Angela-"
"Whatever her name is, what is she to you?" Ricky asked, scratching his chin since to him, she was as good as dead when he returned to New York.
"My daughter."
Then, with a snap of a finger, everything changed, both the situation and the reasoning behind it all.
But unlike before, when things had to be spelled out for him, Ricky had already pieced the threads together, guiding him straight to his next words.
"Holy sh*t, that's what Chester meant." Ricky laughed, actually remembering it clearly as he rubbed the smile off his face.
The growth in his intelligence didn't make him a genius, but it sharpened his comprehension and, just as importantly, helped him remember and understand things more clearly.
Ricky recalled the conversation with Chester from when he first encountered Merlyn's message.
Chester had been amazed by Merlyn's work and completely unable, at that moment, to grasp how someone could transform a person's very nature from the inside.
How someone could actually erase that part of you in your brain and replace it with something entirely new, entirely Lady Angela.
"I get what's happening." Ricky sighed, tapping his cigar at the side as the ashes so gently fell to the stone floor.
"Do you? Do you really?" Merlyn asked, completely mocking Ricky, who side-eyed him and then gestured at him with his finger.
BAM
Almost instantly, Merlyn slammed his head against the bars of the cell, jolting himself backward while Ricky laughed at his new jester.
"Yeah, yeah I do." Ricky mocked back, watching Merlyn clamp his mouth shut and turn away.
SIGH
A heavy sigh escaped Ricky's lips as he slicked back his hair and lowered his head, bracing himself for what he was about to tell Eldric.
Slowly, he stood up and Eldric watched silently as Ricky opened the cell door, pulled the chair inside, and plopped it down in front of him.
"Listen, Eldric, there ain't no easy way to say this, but I respect you enough to say it straight to your face," Ricky said from the heart, looking at Eldric not as the head of the Luciano family, nor even as Ricky 'Slick' Luciano.
But father to father.
"Your daughter's dead."
Ricky's words shattered Eldric's heart in an instant, the old man slowly shaking his head from side to side, lost in silent denial.
"N-No, she is just confused-" Eldric stammered, trying to convince himself he was wrong but Ricky only shook his head slowly.
"Eldric." Ricky said softly.
Though even as the word left his lips, a dreadful idea took root in his mind, sparked by the sight of the broken, vulnerable father sitting before him.
"I know a guy, his name is Chester." Ricky first started, gently steering the conversation in a particular direction.
"Crowsworth?" Eldric asked, already familiar with the name from the various documents he'd seen signed.
"Yeah, that's him," Ricky chuckled, finding it funnier not to mention that Chester was, quite literally, a crow.
"Listen, setting aside how freakishly good he is with paperwork, he also knows his way around anything to do with the mind," Ricky said, tapping his temple to drive the point home.
"He's the one who told me that whatever she was when he got ahold of her, Merlyn had already-" Ricky tried to continue, but every word felt like another dagger driving into Eldric's heart, until it was too much to bear.
"P-Please~" Eldric's voice turned hoarse, barely more than a whisper, as he almost pleaded, unable to hear the truth spoken from Ricky's lips.
"I can fix her, I can help her remember-"
"It's impossible," Merlyn said from the side, his words laced with condescension as he addressed Eldric.
"Whatever she was when I got ahold of her, she left as my successful experiment." Merelyn added, almost gloating and completely belittling them both with what he saw as an achievement beyond their ability to undo.
"Ricky-Slick, please." Eldric's voice trembled, slipping into formality as he used Ricky's nickname.
Not just out of habit, but as a gesture of respect, a last attempt to hold on to something familiar.
"Eldric, buddy, when I get back to New York I'm cleaning house." Ricky said, shaking his head like the decision had already been made, as if it was out of his hands now.
"You can't leave a single rat; it only takes one to cause an infestation." Ricky said, shrugging his shoulders, his gestures seemingly so absolute in his words.
But his eyes, Ricky's green eyes stayed locked on Eldric, seemingly waiting for something.
Something only a man with nothing left to lose could offer to make it worth his while.
"I'll do anything. I'LL DO ANYTHING, SLICK!" Eldric begged, pressing his forehead to the very ground Ricky was standing on.
Because in this cruel world, there are some things you should never do.
From taboo's all the way down to the simple do's and don'ts.
But above all, you should never, ever, give a blank check to a Luciano.
"Anything?" Ricky asked, leaning his head on his hand, clearly interested at finally getting what he wanted.
What happened in New York was something Ricky couldn't simply ignore.
Though the coven was run by Agatha, Ricky refused to let them off the hook, no matter how sexy the dominatrix was.
But despite his anger toward the Gold Cloaks and Merlyn's forces, he wasn't angry at the coven as a whole.
In fact, quite the opposite.
For a long time, Ricky had constantly rant about how the Luciano family could become a true powerhouse if they could bring more powerful individuals into the fold, teaching them the ways of the mob.
It was his dream to transform the Luciano family into a terrifying force that seeped into every corner of power that this world held.
But most of all, he was greedy for the coven.
He wanted more witches and warlocks under his control, in his family, to better tighten his grip on New York.
But there was only one problem.
He couldn't get his hands on them all.
The only things he managed to get were a few runts Agatha tossed his way, mere breadcrumbs.
But with this justification, Ricky had an excuse to not only dissolve the coven.
But devour what was left.
"Eldric, I'm dissolving the coven," Ricky announced suddenly, his words hanging heavy in the air as Eldric's head jerked up in surprise.
"What-"
"After what happened, with Merlyn and all the rats, I can't just let it be." Ricky continued, taking a small puff of his cigar and exhaling smoke into the cell.
"It worked before because the coven was under my protection in exchange for cooperation, but that was built entirely on trust." Ricky said, lightly dabbing the cigar to the side as he spoke.
"I don't trust the coven as a whole anymore, and because of that, it's gotta go." Ricky said solemnly, slowly rising and walking toward the vulnerable Eldric.
Because the moment he heard that Cedric was the rat, he knew the coven couldn't be allowed to continue as it was.
"But we-"
"I gave you all so f*cking much." Ricky grabbed Eldric's cheek, cutting off his words as the injured elder faltered.
"I gave you a more or less secluded island, I gave your coven members jobs at Lucky Incorporated, and I gave you full sovereignty over your own people." Ricky listed, laying out all the special treatment he hadn't given to anyone else connected to his Luciano family.
"And what happened?" Ricky asked, watching Eldric's gaze falter just like the crumbling coven.
"You fell apart. Your whole structure was built on a lie and sure, there were only a few bad eggs, but they spoiled the entire batch." Ricky patted his cheek, shaking his head as he took another puff from his cigar.
"The coven proved it can't even be trusted to solve its own problems without my family's help," Ricky sighed, already guessing his men were in New York, cleaning up the mess the coven couldn't root out.
"You know how many guys I lost because of that f*cker's Gold Cloaks?" Ricky asked, gesturing at Merlyn with his thumb, his eyes locked on Eldric's.
"Too many good men, loyal men." Ricky emphasized the last part, because that was what truly mattered to him.
"I have to recoup my losses, Eldric." Ricky finally reached the climax of his monologue, pointing his cigar at Eldric, who immediately understood.
"Y-You don't mean-"
"I'm dissolving the coven, and then I'm going to absorb everything I want into the Luciano family," Ricky declared, his greedy smile trying to make up for all the losses he'd suffered because of them.
"More thorough background checks this time since I've got both Merlyn and Chester to help with that. They'll handle that on the side, but the main thing is: the coven is finished." Ricky said, spreading his arms toward Eldric as if emphasizing his next point.
"There is only the Lucaino way now, my way." Ricky laughed, his green eyes locked on the old man, who slowly began to grasp what he truly wanted.
"So Eldric, now you're gonna have to choose." Ricky said and as he spoke, Eldric slowly lifted his gaze to meet his.
"You wanna be a wise guy or you wanna be a warlock?"
Those words weren't merely a choice, they were an ultimatum.
If he chose the path of a mobster, Eldric understood what that meant: submission.
Loyalty chained to a code that demanded obedience above all else, obedience to Ricky.
He would be no more than a dog, a tool to be used and discarded when no longer useful.
His power, his identity as an elder, would be reduced to nothing but blind allegiance.
But to stay a warlock, free in title only, meant something else entirely.
Without the backing of the Luciano family, stripped of their protection and resources, he would become vulnerable.
However none of that mattered, not to Eldric.
"I know what you're thinking right now, but don't get confused cause if you choose to come under me, you'll be different from the rest." Ricky interrupted whatever Eldric was about to say, making his point clear so that he couldn't misunderstand.
"I'll own you."
"The others will be family, but you Eldric, you're gonna be my dog." Ricky said, pacing around the cell, as if he was frustrated at Eldric's own conditions.
"You'll only ever do what I want and nothing else, for the rest of your life."
But Eldric just sat there, silent and knowing, waiting for the bone Ricky was about to throw.
"But you'll have your daughter."
"Honestly, Eldric, putting aside everything I actually do respect you." Ricky said, patting his chest before sitting back down in the chair opposite the beaten old man.
"You don't really like me and I get it, I cater to a niche market." Ricky laughed at his own joke, wiping his nose before pointing at Eldric.
"But I'm giving you a chance, something none of these guys in this jail are gonna get. A way out." Ricky leaned forward, grabbing Eldric's face and really turning it towards his gaze.
"Walk away."
"Your daughter ain't your daughter anymore. And I'm going to make you do so many horrible things that you won't be able to sleep at night without hearing the screams of everyone you've killed at my orders." Ricky wasn't even selling the idea, he was completely dissuading the man before from taking it.
"People still don't understand that my way is the right way and cause of that, America is gonna bleed for it." Ricky shook his head, shaking Eldric's head to jar his brain to understand.
"Just walk away, Eldirc."
"Live your life."
Although Ricky genuinely respected Eldric to some degree, recognizing him as a man who had been relatively honest in his dealings and truly wanted to find his daughter, Ricky knew respect alone wasn't enough.
He had to be absolutely sure that Eldric was on his side, that he wasn't just another loose end or potential threat.
Ricky had a reputation within the coven, yes, but he wasn't truly one of them.
Not in the way that mattered.
But Eldric, he was everything Ricky wasn't.
He was someone with status in the coven, someone who had paid their dues, who had earned their respect through hard work and time.
Someone who could lend legitimacy to the hostile takeover he was about to orchestrate.
Because make no mistake, what Ricky was planning wasn't a simple negotiation or a smooth transition.
It was a full-on hostile takeover.
And he wasn't willing to move forward until he had at least one high-ranking figure within the coven firmly in his pocket.
However for Eldric, he didn't care about being a mobster or a warlock.
He didn't even care about his own life, because for any father, only one thing truly matters.
"My life became meaningless the day I lost her." Eldric began, lowering his head in grief as the weight of his miserable existence pressed down.
"Slick, I have nothing." Eldric sighed deeply, closing his eyes as a sad smile touched his lips.
"It's heartless, but now that I've found her, all I care about is my baby girl." Eldric sniffled, wiping his eyes and slowly returning his gaze to Ricky.
"And if it means seeing her smile again, I'm willing to do anything." Eldric thumped his chest, showing the genuine raw desperation coursing through him at this moment.
"Even if it means that I have to give up my life for hers, I don't care." Eldric hissed, willing to bleed for Isabella if Ricky asked him to at this moment.
"A father puts his daughter before everything, even his life." Eldric's answer was clear, and it was then that Ricky understood it without question.
SIGH
Ricky let out a heavy sigh as he stared at Eldric for a long, unreadable moment.
Then, without a word, he slowly rose to his feet and opened a portal with a flick of his hand.
A swirling green vortex hissed to life behind him, casting an eerie green light that shimmered off the dungeon's stone walls.
Eldric turned his head towards it, however when he did, his hands shot up to cover his mouth, stifling a sound that was equal parts gasp and sob.
There she was, Lady Angela.
Bound, gagged, and shackled within the depths of another dungeon, Eldric saw that she was still alive.
She hadn't been killed, not by Agatha.
Not after it became clear she was no more than a puppet, her strings pulled at someone else's will.
Because Agatah believed that death was too merciful for a puppet of the Ordo Dracium.
The members she killed were tallies to the Ordo Dracium, but to Agatha, they were real breathing people.
So for every life they took, Agatha wanted to hear Lady Angela scream in pain.
Since the day Ricky first walked away from that dungeon, Lady Angela had been subjected to relentless torment and it was her body that told the whole story.
Bruises littered her skin in deep purples and sickly yellows, a grotesque tapestry of pain layered across her body.
Her limbs had been broken and mended time and time again, bound under the magical restaurants that continued to heal her.
It's why Lady Angela had no old wounds; instead she had mental scars, phantom pains beneath the fresh lacerations that oozed with her current suffering.
But it wasn't the bruises or even the torture that struck Eldric hardest.
It was her eyes, her swollen, hollow eyes that stared back at him with no recognition at all.
Just the emptiness of someone who had been broken, not just in body, but in spirit.
Eldric collapsed to his knees just as fast as he rose, teetering on whether to cry or to hug her after all these years.
"Go on." Ricky said, ushering Eldric forward, giving him a slight little push.
"This is what you paid for." Ricky's words forced Eldric to his feet, slowly taking one foot after another.
Every step he took, Eldric shed everything he was before he entered that cell.
The elder of the coven, a man who had survived countless battles, decades of bloodshed and burden, had thrown it all away for a chance to reunite with his barely living daughter.
Eldric would become a father once more but as that realization settled in, it was as if a chain slowly coiled around his neck, a reminder that even love came with its own collar.
HIC
"You're alright now, daddy's here~" Eldric whispered through trembling sobs, clutching his thrashing daughter tighter, as if his embrace alone could pull her back from the depths she'd been cast into.
But then, someone appeared at his side.
Merlyn stepped forward, his presence casting a long shadow over the moment as Eldric flinched instinctively, putting himself in front of Angela's battered form like a shield.
But Merlyn just scoffed at his useless gesture.
SNAP
Merlyn snapped his fingers, the sound crisp enough to resonate a little charm he had left in the young lady's mind.
Lady Angela went limp in Eldric's arms, her thrashing ceasing at once.
Her head slumped limply against his shoulder as though the spark of life had been snuffed out all over again.
"I've given her sentience back." Merlyn said, almost bored at their little reunion.
"Long before I sent her to Agatha, I turned her into nothing more than a messenger, a puppet with a purpose." Merlyn glanced down at her motionless form without remorse, then back to Eldric.
Eldric's hands trembled as they gently traced the contours of her bruised face, lingering on every feature as if trying to find the remnants of Isabella.
Without hesitation, he moved to the restraints, fingers fumbling but determined, unlocking them one by one.
Ricky stood silently, watching as the elder freed the woman who was supposed to be his appetizer for his meal later.
"Thank you-" Eldric whispered from the side, casting a glance toward Ricky.
"Don't thank me yet, 'cause I've got your first job." Ricky said, shaking his head while lifting his hand to cut off the outpour of gratitude before it could start.
"Operation: Convince every warlock and witch here to give up their beliefs and join my Luciano family." Ricky said, laying out Eldric's first mission without a shred of hesitation, just the beginning of a long list yet to come.
"But she needs me-"
"But I need you first, and you belong to me." Ricky said, pointing at Eldric before curling his finger back toward himself, seemingly holding the metaphorical chains that had wrapped around his neck.
"Y-Yes, Boss," Eldric replied, his tone shifting once more as he bowed his head, then slowly lifted it with reluctant acceptance.
"Alright, you're free to go, you start tomorrow." Ricky revealed, taking a puff of his cigar and shooing him away.
"And try to keep that lunatic outta trouble, will ya?" Ricky called after Eldric's retreating figure, watching him disappear into another portal with his daughter finally returned to his arms.
"You do understand that retrieving even a slither of what she was is impossible-" Merlyn added from the side but was quickly interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're a f*cking genius, we get it." Ricky rolled his eyes, standing up and dragging his chair out of the cell.
"Now, let's move on to the next course." Ricky laughed, turning to face the prisoners gathered around.
"You know what? I think we should keep up with the mushy emotional stuff." Ricky said suddenly, pausing to look at the round table knights and Cedric before turning around.
"Ain't that right, Merlyn?" Ricky chuckled, slinging his arm around Merlyn's shoulder while gesturing toward Lady Roma way off into the distance of the dungeon.
Forcing the undead to reunite with his beautiful daughter curled up into a ball and tucked in the corner of the cell.
The gesture was enough to lift Lady Roma's gaze, her mascara-streaked cheeks bearing the marks of tears that had been shed and wiped away countless times.
"Oh man, you don't even know how excited I am for this conversation." Ricky whispered into Merlyn's ears, shaking his shoulder slightly to ready him for what was to come.
"And Lady Roma, don't worry, I won't let Merlyn lie!" Ricky yelled, turning his gaze to Lady Roma in the distance who scrunched up her features at his words.
"You're a horrible, disgusting, vile-" Lady Roma hissed, firing off every hateful word she could muster as Ricky cut her off with a smirk.
"Lustful, annoying, talkative, idiot, I've heard it all, and I've even been called crepuscular." Ricky continued for her, ushering Merlyn forward towards the next part of the show as he stopped at her cell.
"Whatever that means."
Clap
Clap
"Well, enough of that, let's start the show." Ricky clapped his hands and pulled his seat right up next to the cell, positioning himself at the side with a perfect front-row view.
Merlyn hovered closer to the cell, unable to control himself as he stood before Lady Roma, her cheeks still stained with tears he had caused.
If there was one thing Merlyn feared more than anything, it was facing his daughter with his true self laid bare.
And it was only then that Merlyn realized exactly how Ricky planned to get to him.
"Go on Lady Roma, you can ask him anything you like." Ricky signaled with his cigar, ready to take in the very start of Merlyn's endless life of torture.
"I won't let him lie."
But the moment Ricky spoke those five words, Shadow Broker finally emerged from the darkness of his user's shadow.
It hovered beside Ricky, unfolding a briefcase that seemed to materialize from the shadows themselves.
However, the shadows didn't simply dissipate, they coalesced neatly into a table as the Stand carefully opened the briefcase and pulled out a single sheet of paper from the stack inside.
With that, Ricky set his grand plan into motion.
RIP
"Why?" Lady Roma couldn't hold back, her eyes scrunching up as tears welled before she hastily wiped them away.
Sniff
"Why-"
"I did what I thought-" Merlyn interrupted, but before he could finish, Shadow Broker tore a page sharply, igniting something fierce inside Lady Roma.
RIP
"LET ME FINISH!" Lady Roma suddenly screamed, and Ricky found himself witnessing a side of her he never knew existed.
"You always do that, you always push away my feelings to protect your own!" Lady Roma sniffled, wobbling to her feet and stepping closer to the cell.
"And I've let you, time and time again, push aside my own feelings for your ambitions because I loved you." Lady Roma said tearfully, her gaze fixed on the broken remnants of the man she once called father.
"I adored you, I wanted to be you." Lady Roma's lips quivered as she spoke, her shattered eyes locking onto the broken gaze of her father.
"But did you ever love me, truly love me?" Lady Roma whispered, clutching the cell bars as if grasping for something, anything, in Merlyn's rotted eyes.
"No." Merlyn surprisingly said, the 'yes' immediately being turned into a 'no' at the demands of one man, currently enjoying the show at the side with a smile.
'The only thing that mattered was the promised king.'
"The only thing that mattered was the promised king." Merlyn forcefully confessed, his words fracturing Lady Roma's heart even more.
'Part of me wants to have had that connection with you but like the others, I sacrificed what I loved most for my mission, nothing more nothing less.'
"Part of me wants to have had that connection with you but like the others, I sacrificed what I loved most for my mission, nothing more nothing less." Merlyn continued, confirming all the doubts in Lady Roma's mind that Shadow Broker unearthed.
Ricky did his best impression of Merlyn, his words not as complex, but the blunt truth never needed sophistication to cut deep, it only needed to feel real.
SNIFF
HIC
Lady Roma's world finally crumbled, falling to her knees as her hands slowly slid down, her forehead resting against the cold iron bars as her sobs continued.
'I'm gonna f*ck your daughter, Merlyn.' Ricky words pulsed in his undead skull, the lich unable to even scream, much less twitch.
'And I'm going to make you help me.' Ricky laughed in Merlyn's mind, using the heartfelt moment as nothing more than something to complete a mission.
Because although Ricky had set his sights on the gorgeous Lady Roma, he didn't even have a mission to go off of, he had never made direct contact with her.
DING
Until now, when he touched her hand clenching the jail bars that kept her from falling into the pit of her own wailing.
[Mission Received: Lady Roma]
Difficulty: Hard
Character Sheet: S+
Description: The former Vice-Head of the Starlight Citadel and the only daughter of Merlyn, Lady Roma is widely regarded as one of the most formidable sorceresses and brilliant scientists in this multiversal cluster. Yet, her greatest strength isn't her magic or intellect, it's her innate gift for leadership. But with her world crumbling around her, there is finally an opening.
Objective: Help medicate Merlyn's daughter, someone suffering from a severe case of daddy issues, with your cock.
Reward: 750,000 IP
Main Mission:
Impregnante Once(Incomplete):
Rewards: 10 Legendary Gacha, 20 Epic Gacha, and 50 regular Gacha Or Lady Roma's Powers
Impregnate Twice:
Rewards: ?????????
Additional Missions:
Take the place within her heart that Merlyn used to reside in:
Rewards: Mythic Coupon
Take Lady Roma's virginity in the vicinity of Merlyn:
Reward: +10 Intelligence
Impregnate Lady Roma in the Starlight Citadel:
Reward: 5 Legendary item coupons
Bonus Missions:
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???????????????????
???????????????????
???????????????????
???????????????????]
[Would you-
'Oh, I would.' Ricky interrupted, accepting the mission while patting Lady Roma's hand.
"We'll talk later, when you've properly grieved." Ricky sighed, knowing that she needed to be isolated a little longer until she'd ripened enough.
SNAP
Ricky snapped his fingers, encasing her cell in a psychic veil, an isolated structure that didn't restrain or harm, merely severing her from the sights and sounds of the outside world.
A curtain of silence, designed to leave her utterly alone.
Lady Roma collapsed, her body folding to the cold floor as uncontrollable sobs wracked her frame.
And Merlyn, bound in his undead stillness, could only watch as his daughter shattered before his lifeless eyes.
Forced to witness her agony through the one-way psychic glass Ricky had thoughtfully crafted.
Meanwhile, Ricky finally rose from his seat, dragging it over to his next victims.
"Is that chivalry I hear?" Ricky asked suddenly, cupping his hand to his ear as he mocked the gagged, hateful round table knights struggling to spit out insults.
"Ha~" Ricky laughed, barely interested at the idea of turning them all into legendary undead.
"What am I gonna do about all of you, huh?" Ricky sighed, leaning against the cell holding the gagged and chained Sir Bors.
He stood there for a long moment, wrestling with what to do with the knights.
Then, as his thoughts settled on what he truly wanted, a slow, cruel smile spread across his face just as horror washed over Sir Bors.
"I mean, all of you could become legendary undead, but when I look inside myself, I see something more for you all." Ricky grabbed the bars, locking his gaze on Sir Bors who wrestled fiercely to free himself.
"Not forgiveness or any of that crap, I mean it literally," Ricky said, looking through his system and slowly pulling a jar out of thin air.
"Ever heard of the carrot and stick method?" Ricky wondered aloud, tapping the jar against the cell bars, the clinking sound echoing through the halls.
"Forcing my undead to do what I want is nice, but having undead that act in my interests like Chuck, now that's what I want." Ricky said, knowing that Chuck was one of the reasons his children ended up safe that long night.
"Y'know, if you think about it, a good undead is like a good woman." Ricky started to ramble, really taking his time to build the fear currently blossoming in Sir Bors eyes.
"But instead of weird strength, it's big knockers and a nice ass." Ricky explained, highlighting the difference between a good undead and a good woman.
"Now, stay with me here, what's more important: quality or quantity?" Ricky asked, tossing out a tried-and-true question philosophers had debated for centuries.
"For as long as I've been around, it's always been quantity." Ricky gestured, loving the quantity he was blessed with, be it woman and undead.
"But I think it's time I focus on quality, to really get the most bang for my buck." Ricky exaggerated the last part, chuckling while making his way towards the cell door.
"I want more quality undead. More Chucks. Maybe even a Boney." Ricky shrugged, slowly opening the door to Sir Bors muffled shouts.
"But not everyone wants to follow my lead after being trapped in their own rotting flesh, weird right?" Ricky seemingly asked, almost surprised himself that people didn't want to become his undead.
"So instead of killing you all and handing you off to one of my kids as guards, I'm going to try something different." Ricky revealed, standing before Sir Bors with a gentle smile.
"And speaking of Boney."
Meanwhile in the outskirts of Camelot,
"So, that's when I grabbed the human and devoured his soul-" Boney was explaining to the same ghoul who kept hauling Chimera corpses in and out of a portal, but his words suddenly cut off.
His undead head jerked to the side and without hesitation, he bolted toward the opening portal and dove through it to find his master waiting on the other side.
"Hey, Boney," Ricky greeted, watching the undead wraith knight face plant onto the ground before him.
"Master, it's been so long!" Boney raised his skull, excitement sparking in his hollow eyes at finally being called by Ricky.
"Yeah, I missed you too. But first, I need to check if you still have a soul," Ricky said, more a statement than a question as Boney simply tilted his head in response.
"Okay-" Boney agreed instantly, rising to his feet just as Ricky pressed the jar against his chest.
CLINK
His bones rattled against the floor as Ricky opened the jar and carefully positioned it right over Boney's heart.
Boney's soul slammed into the glass, the sunction getting to him as a blue orb hovered in the glass.
Boney's soul slammed into the glass, drawn in by a powerful suction, until a glowing blue orb hovered inside.
Because this wasn't just any jar, it was the soul jar Ricky had acquired from boning Morgana.
(Legendary Item) Soul Jar: The Soul Jar is an ancient, intricately designed vessel that possesses the powerful ability to trap and store a single soul. Crafted from an unknown, almost indestructible material, the jar's exterior is adorned with runic inscriptions that glow faintly in the presence of souls. Though it can only hold one soul at a time, the jar offers the ability to transfer the soul from one species and transport it into another of the same species.
"Freaky~" Ricky whispered, tapping the glass lightly before slowly turning his gaze to Sir Bors.
HUFF
HUFF
Sir Bors began to hyperventilate, his eyes wide with panic as Ricky seemed to slither through the cell and stand right before him.
The round table knight struggled desperately to break free from his chains, but to no avail, as Ricky slowly pressed the jar against his chest.
"Now, let's see what happens."
GASP
Sir Bors gasped, writhing in pain as Ricky pressed the glass against his chest and with nowhere else to go.
Boney's soul shot into Sir Bors.
Then, to the horror of the other Round Table knights and with Ricky's eyes widening in surprise, Boney's soul forced its way in so violently that it actually pushed Sir Bors out.
"No. F*cking. Way." Ricky whispered, punctuating each word as he stared at the golden soul glowing inside the jar.
Turning his gaze back down to Sir Bors' body, Ricky raised an eyebrow and slowly undid the gag.
"Boney?" Ricky asked, unsure if what he saw was real until a dumbfounded expression spread across Sir Bors' face.
"Master?" Boney's voice came from Sir Bors, as he looked down at the unfamiliar flesh, swirling uneasily inside another man's skin.
Ricky waved his hand, conjuring a key that slid into the restraints and unlocked the bindings.
"I feel weird, Master," Boney said, patting his new flesh and pinching the skin that now covered his bones.
"Hey, Boney."
"Yeah Master."
"Do you want to hit yourself in the face?" Ricky suddenly wondered, thinking of something that would forever change how he viewed powerless people in powerful positions.
"Uh, no master-"
SLAP
"NO F*CKING WAY!" Ricky cackled, clapping his hands and doing a little victory lap around the cell as he commanded Boney to slap himself in the face.
"Stand up."
"Now stand down."
"Oh my god, I can still control you." Ricky realized, holding his head at this marvelous revelation.
What made Ricky's necromancy truly unique was that he didn't merely command the bodies of the undead, he also controlled the souls inhabiting them.
Some undead, like the Chimera, lacked that luxury, but for the special few Ricky managed to enchain, he also bound their souls.
However, Ricky had discovered a loophole in his own power: when he turned an undead with an existing soul, both body and soul fell under his control.
And when he separated and rearranged them like toys, he still maintained command over what he considered his undead.
Even now, Boney's huskless form slowly rose to his feet at Ricky's command, as the body could not refuse.
GASP
Placing the jar onto Boney's form, Sir Bors gasped to life, startled as he backed away from Ricky.
Only to realize something was very wrong.
"M-My body, WHY AM I NOT IN MY-"
"Hit yourself," Ricky interrupted Sir Bors' out-of-body experience with a simple command.
BAM
Sir Bors clocked himself in the face, his skull rotating fully on his spine as he turned to Ricky with an even more confused gaze.
"This is it." Ricky laughed, holding the jar like it was some ancient relic.
So many possibilities raced through his mind, but above all, he understood this was how he'd handle anyone who disagreed with his methods but still needed them in their positions.
Taking the jar, he placed it back onto Boney's chest, reclaiming Sir Bors' soul while causing Boney's bones to clatter against the ground.
"Boney, put yourself back in the restraints." Ricky said quickly, turning to see Boney had already complied.
"Master, I-I don't like being in this body-"
"Don't worry buddy, I gotcha." Ricky reassured him, watching relief wash over Boney's face as he closed his eyes, ready to reunite with his bones.
GASP
Sir Bors gasped back to life inside his own body, eyes darting around until he caught sight of Ricky placing the jar onto Boney's chest.
"CHUCK!" Ricky suddenly yelled, his voice snapping Chuck, who was idling with a device in Castle Le Fey, into attention as he jerked his head to the side.
A couple moments later,
"MASTER! MASTER, I'M HERE!" Chuck yelled, hovering swiftly through the halls as he rushed to Ricky's side.
"You see this?" Ricky gestured, holding the jar before Chuck who quickly memorized everything about it.
"Yes master."
"It's a jar that lets me take souls from one person and put them into another." Ricky explained, shattering Chuck's assumptions as the skeleton slowly grasped the truth.
"Does that mean-"
"Yeah, I can put you guys into other humans." Ricky gestured, as Sir Bors sagged his head in resignation while Chuck marveled at such a fascinating object.
"By the time we get to New York, I need you to make a list of all the people I should use this on-"
"I understand, I completely understand master!" Chuck said excitedly, practically giddy like a schoolgirl spotting her crush.
"Great, good, and merlyn!" Ricky gave him the thumbs up, turning his gaze to Merlyn who was finally free from the torment of watching his daughter cry.
"Can you like, hold these guys in-"
"Yes, I can put their bodies in stasis with a time freeze spell." Merlyn interrupted Ricky, his hateful eyes staring at him though the latter didn't even care.
"Perfect."
"And guys, look on the bright side, at least you get to live on in one way." Ricky said, gesturing toward the round table knights and raising the jar like a toast.
"Also, Chuck, spread the word through my undead," Ricky added, stopping Chuck before he could leave as the skeleton simply smiled in response.
"I was already on it, Master." Chuck bowed gracefully, more excited to carry out his masters plans.
"You did good, Boney. Now go help Chuck." Ricky patted Boney on the shoulder, then ushered him toward Chuck.
"YES, MASTER!" Boney exclaimed enthusiastically, while Chuck rolled his eyes at the buffoon rushing toward him.
"Now, for the grand finale," Ricky declared dramatically, slipping the jar back into his inventory and banging the cell bars like a drum to build anticipation.
"GIVE IT UP FOR THE MAIN EVENT!"Ricky shouted, hoisting his chair high and kicking open one of the cell doors with flair.
BAM
"CEDRIC HAWKEEEEEEEEE!" Ricky bellowed like a WWE announcer hyping a cage match, slamming a chair down hard in front of the bound and gagged Cedric.
"Wow, no applause?" Ricky asked, his eyes narrowing as he met pure hatred instead of the fear he'd expected from Cedric.
"Oh my god, how could I forget?" Ricky chuckled to himself, as if he had missed it.
There was a reason Cedric wasn't afraid and why he kept glancing around, like something crucial was missing for the fear to truly set in.
"Ohhhhhhhhhh, Merlyn~" Ricky sang softly, his voice dripping with dark amusement as it echoed toward his bloodied instruments of torment.
A sudden clatter rang in Cedric's ears, the wheels rattling harshly against the uneven stone floor.
He turned his head in horror, eyes wide and frozen, taking in the nightmarish sight before him.
Before him sprawled a grotesque arsenal of torture instruments, metal contraptions and cruel devices designed to pierce, bind, and tear flesh.
Each piece was more nightmarish than the last, crafted with a sinister precision that defied reason within the human body.
Some of the trinkets seemed impossible to even fit inside of humans and yet, engineered to burrow inside the human body itself.
Cedric's pupils dilated, his breath catching violently in his throat as his gaze flickered from one device to another as it was slowly pushed into the cell by Merlyn.
"You know, there's a price." Ricky mused, his voice barely audible beneath the harsh clatter of the cart, so low and quiet that only someone truly focused could catch it.
But these words weren't meant for anyone else, they were meant for Ricky alone.
"For everything, whether it's currency or something else, everything has a price." Ricky settled into his chair, tapping the stubborn cigar that still refused to die at his side.
"But do you know what your single greatest mistake was?" Ricky asked, taking a small puff of the cigar as Merlyn readied himself at the side.
"When you looked at that price, you didn't have the means to pay it." Ricky revealed with a chuckle, taking another slow puff of his cigar as the smoke curled upward.
"So, what do you do?"
"You borrow. You go into debt," Ricky answered for him, his green eyes glowing with an eerie light that shimmered across Cedric's tense form.
"But you borrowed your power from Merlyn and then he failed." Ricky said, laying bare Cedric's greatest mistake, the one all men make when they realize they've backed the losing side.
"And now, everything Merlyn ever owned, even his own life, belongs to me. And because of that, your debt belongs to me too." Ricky laughed, spreading out his arms at the one thing you should never do in this life.
"You're indebted to me, Cedric."
"Your'e indebted to me for the blood I've gotten on my hands restoring order to the untidiness that you created." Ricky said, his voice growing quieter as the weight of it all settled in.
"And that debt is Frank Costello's life."
Cedric struggled in his chains, desperation overtaking him as his body writhed and twisted in protest, metal links clanking with each frantic jerk.
But Ricky simply continued
"And I'm angry, I'm just f*cking furious." Ricky seethed, his eyes radiating with such force that Cedric lowered his head involuntarily,
"But that's not why I'm emotional, not really." Ricky suddenly stood, his hand clamping down on Cedric's shoulder as he yanked him upright, forcing him to meet the full weight of his furious gaze.
"I'm not emotional about your sh*tty reasoning." Ricky began, holding the cigar inches from Cedric's face.
The glowing embers cast flickering light across his features, revealing the raw fear blooming in his eyes.
"I am not even emotional about the snitching." Ricky laughed, seemingly surprised at himself at that fact.
"No, I am emotional because you went after my child.." Ricky whispered, his voice falling into something low and trembling.
The despair he'd buried since Merlyn showed him that cursed reel finally clawed its way to the surface.
"MY CHILD!" Ricky roared with his unbridled rage, his pupils flaring with seething green sparks.
It was then that his emotions bled into power, manifesting his sovereign aura that pulsed outward, trembling with the weight of his spiraling emotions.
The very air trembled under it, pressing down on everyone from the proudest of Round Table knights to the shackled Cedric, crushed beneath the sheer force of Ricky's pure rage made manifest.
"Do you know who Bianca Costello is?"
Ricky ripped the gag from Cedric's mouth at his question, wanting to hear the answer for himself as he began to pace slowly within the cell.
"Please-" Cedric tried to plead, words choking in his throat, but Ricky couldn't hear a thing over the roaring in his ears.
"She is the matriarch of the Costello family, mother of Frank Costello, grandmother to Eddy and Frank Jr.!" Ricky's voice thundered, each word hammering down on a woman Cedric had never even met.
"Ricky, please-"
"One remarkable woman I've met only once before, at her grandson Eddy's funeral!" Ricky yelled, veins bulging in his neck as the sheer rage he'd carried since watching Frank take his last breath surged to the surface.
"SO NOW, AS A FATHER, I'VE GOT TO LOOK THIS WOMAN IN THE EYE AND TELL HER THAT HER SON-" Ricky roared, his sovereign aura shaking the very foundation of the dungeon as cracks spiderwebbed across the walls around them.
Then, voice raw with pain and fury, he continued.
"FRANK COSTELLO, CONSIGLIERE OF THE LUCIANO FAMILY, MY LEFT HAND, MY UNCLE, MY FRIEND, AND MY GODFATHER, IS DEAD! HOW DO YOU THINK THAT MAKES ME FEEL?!" Ricky's voice cracked as his fury spiraled uncontrollably but only when Cedric coughed up blood from, did his daze finally snap.
HUFF
HUFF
Huff
Huff
Frank Costello was gone.
Ricky knew it, and Cedric was made painfully aware of it too.
That didn't erase the gaping hole in Ricky's heart; the loss of someone who truly mattered left a wound no truth could heal, only scar.
"No one ever knew that, the fact that Frank was my godfather." Ricky's voice quieted down, a hollow laugh slipping from his lips as he started circling Cedric, like a shark stalking prey in blood-infested waters.
"I only learned it recently, before I left for this sh*t can." Ricky revealed, his eyes staring off into the distance at what Lucky told him.
"He told my pops he 'didn't want to bring any shame onto the family' and begged him not to tell me because 'a Cabrini like him won't do his credit no good.'" Ricky continued, the laughter fading slowly until it sounded hollow and bitter.
"Can you believe it?" Ricky asked, his voice almost pleading for some kind of response.
"Me? The guy who got him killed, the guy who left his son crippled, the guy who couldn't even bother to ask how he was doing. And yet, he was ashamed of himself." Ricky stopped pacing, the room falling into a heavy silence as he stood frozen, lost in his thoughts.
"Ricky, listen to me." Cedric pleaded, but his words barely pierced the ringing in Ricky's ears, powerless against what was to come.
"Frank was ashamed because of me." Ricky muttered, the fierce aura dissipating as he sank slowly into his seat before Cedric.
"He died feeling worthless, never knowing how much I truly appreciated him." Ricky's voice grew hoarse, the hollow despair giving way to a burning rage.
Because everything has a price, and now Cedric suddenly found himself with no choice but to pay it.
"And for that Cedric, I want a pound of flesh."
Then, finally, the full weight of desperation and fear settled into Cedric's mind as his gaze locked onto the debt collector who had come to claim what was owed.
"But Frost-"
"Samuel's gonna get his, don't worry." Ricky interrupted sharply, raising his cigar to cut off any protest since no one was slipping past his wrath.
"It's just that he's the dessert." Ricky revealed, his grin twisting with dark intent, knowing exactly what he had planned for Samuel Frost.
But that was a story for later.
"And I was gonna have an appetizer before coming here, but plans changed." Ricky sighed, dabbing his cigar to the side.
"So now, you're the entire course," Ricky said, puffing on his cigar as he settled in, ready for a feast meant only for watching.
"And by God, am I starving."
The words acted as a signal, finally giving Merlyn the go-ahead to start the session Ricky had planned for him.
"It's why I'm going to savor every piece Merlyn takes off of you."
"Begin." Ricky commanded, gesturing Merlyn forward.
He settled back into his chair and conjured a shimmering dome around them, sealing the space off since this was a private show.
"PLEASE, RICKY, SLICK, WAIT, I CAN-NO-NO-STO-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Cedric's desperate screams tore through the chamber, his voice breaking as he pleaded with every shred of his being.
But his cries were drowned out as Merlyn methodically lowered the cold, bio-organic device onto his face, sealing his fate with a merciless finality.
The tentacle mechanism slithered down his face, sliding into his nostrils, creeping beneath his eyelids, and curling deep inside his mouth.
It started to wrap tightly around every nerve and muscle, snaking further until it coiled insidiously around his brain.
Suddenly, Cedric's body betrayed him; he lost all control, trapped within his own flesh as a helpless spectator to the invasive presence now puppeteering his every move.
All he could do was watch, hear, feel, and scream, nothing more and nothing less.
"Another guy I knew, Profaci, warned me about guys like you, told me that 'someone you trust will betray you'." Ricky reminisced quietly, taking a slow drag from his cigar as the smoke curled and drifted from his lips.
"And I trusted you with my baby girl." Ricky said, his voice low but heavy, recalling every moment he'd held Zatanna in his rat-clawed hands.
"How many times did you hold my baby in your arms while already planning to go after her, huh?" Ricky asked, his voice thick with disgust as his features twisted, the bitter taste of his betrayal souring his mouth.
"ARG-AHH-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Cedric's screams tore through the air, his uvula clawing at the edges of his throat, only to be cut off each time Merlyn methodically sawed into his arm.
Measured, like dissecting a creature, specific pieces of flesh were removed, blood dripping and splattering near Ricky's polished shoes.
Unfazed, Ricky sat across from him, taking long drags from his cigar, the smoke curling lazily as he continued his conversation while talking in between Cedric's screams.
"I'm sickened Cedric."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Sickened to my goddamn stomach while thinking about it."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"And I can't get the taste out no matter how hard I try."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"I mean, I just keep thinking back to how I missed it, how I had the power to find out, and I still missed it, because I trusted you."
"PLEA-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Trusted too easily."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Trust."
Ricky stared ahead, his words trailing out as he looked at Cedric, being dissected slowly before him.
Ricky watched intently as Cedric felt every cut, every trickle of blood tracing its path down his skin, and every searing spike of pain that erupted into his anguished screams.
Ricky fell silent, leaning back as piece after piece of Cedric's flesh was methodically severed and discarded.
Merlyn's precision was surgical, avoiding blood vessels and any fatal damage that might grant Cedric a swift death.
Meanwhile, the relentless ringing in Ricky's ears drowned out everything else, pulling him deeper into a haze where the last remnants of his high slipped away, and the haunting visions washed over him once more.
How did he miss it?
The question churned relentlessly in his mind, pulling him deeper inward until he drifted into the abyss of his own consciousness.
Looking at himself, really looking, Ricky realized that deep down, this rage, this emotional state, wasn't just about Frank.
It was something more.
He was angry at himself.
Frustrated at the part of him that had been so close to the truth, so near to a solution, yet still had failed to grasp it in time.
Frustrated at that final, stubborn piece of himself that dragged him down, holding him back from greatness.
Time stretched on in the cold jail cell, the brief flickers of excitement and relief dissolving quickly into a hollow void.
He knew, just as Asterion did, what he needed to do.
He sensed it earlier, even at the party.
He saw it clearly when Merlyn showed him the film of his family's suffering.
Ricky realized what that last piece of himself truly was.
So when he closed his eyes, he opened them to a sunset so vivid, so still, it looked frozen in time.
A breathtaking sky stretched above, painted in hues of gold and fire, casting a gentle warmth over everything.
And in front of it all, like the centerpiece of a painting, stood a bench.
Sitting upon it was Ricky's subconscious, wearing the happiest smile a superficial being could muster.
"Do you remember this sunset?" His subconscious asked, its eyes still fixed on the horizon, reflecting that marvelous beauty Ricky hadn't forgotten, but chose not to remember.
"It was after the trial, when you ran away from your mother." His subconscious closed its eyes, as if replaying every step that led him here.
"You ran and ran, wandering for hours with no direction, just moving, until you ended up here." His subconscious said, gesturing towards a younger Ricky at the side, curled up at the edge of the scene, knees to chest, spine hunched.
A child trying to shield himself from how cruel the world could be.
"Isn't it poetic?" His subconscious mused, voice tinged with irony while gesturing toward the sky.
"That something so beautiful can only bring complete sadness?"
It let the thought linger, the kind of truth that is only revealed when it's too late.
"How funny, that you can remember such beauty and yet only associate it with so much pain." His subconscious wondered out loud, unable to believe this breathtaking sight was never remembered fondly.
But through all his subconscious probing, Ricky said nothing, he simply watched from behind, until he slowly stepped closer.
"You slept here, right here," His subconscious said softly, lowering its gaze to a weathered newspaper held gently in its lap.
"Used this to cover yourself, to find some kind of comfort, any at all, to get through the night." His subconscious chuckled sadly, tracing the edges of the page until they reached a particular section.
"There was a story on the front of your make-shift blanket, a flood in Wales but you didn't read it all, just scanned it, but your mind still registered the details." His subconscious filled in the gaps of his memory, its thumb moving over the black, frozen print.
"A boy got his foot caught in a grate and the water kept rising, rising, all while they tried to save him." His subconscious filled him in, summarizing the saddening story that was prominent when he was younger.
"But in the end, he drowned." His subconscious gave a soft laugh, not cruel, but knowing, as he tapped the page stuck in this suspended moment.
"I always laugh, because I know, if it were you stuck in that grate, you'd have cut your foot off." His subconscious gave another soft, knowing laugh, not cruel, just tired.
It laid the newspaper at its side but still refused to turn around because there was a reason Ricky was here.
A reason his subconscious had brought him back to this moment, to this memory.
Because this was the first time Ricky had truly become broken.
Here, in this forgotten corner of the world, under a fire-streaked sky, something inside him had splintered.
This was the first time his innocent form had cracked into pieces, the first domino into the broken man he would grow up into.
The boy curled up to the side had thought it was the end, thought he was alone, forgotten, and directionless.
He wrapped himself in newspaper-like armor, trying to shield himself from the cold, from the silence, from the truth.
From everything.
Because a breaking point isn't just where things collapse, it's where they change.
Then, slowly, before Ricky's eyes, his subconscious began to shift as the tailored mobster attire faded.
Until all that was left was a boy, Ricky's inner child.
"You've carried that boy with you for a long time." His inner child sniffled, keeping his smile while looking forward as Ricky's eyes grew more resolute with every passing second.
"Let him rest."
This wasn't just a subconscious, this was the first son, the boy Ricky had been before the world broke him into what he became.
And for the first time, Ricky truly saw him, himself, not as a weakness, not as something to hide, but as someone who had done the best he could.
Someone who survived.
Because every man carries a boy within him, that first son, the one who dreamed before the world told him he was something else.
He is still there.
Even when life told him to bury his tenderness beneath steel, to hide his wounds behind armor, he is still here.
But strength doesn't come from forgetting that boy, it comes from carrying him forward.
He falters, he bleeds, but again and again, he stands.
Because we remember the boy who still dreams, still hopes to be seen.
And though the world tells us to suppress him, the world needs men like this, men who show their inner son they are not forgotten.
We carry both the dreams and the wounds of the boys we once were.
But survival isn't the same as living.
That boy, this boy Ricky carried with him, had been afraid.
Clung to rage because grief was too much.
Wore pride like a crown because insignificance felt like death.
He stalled, he circled his own potential like a drain, afraid that letting go of the pain would mean letting go of what happened.
But Ricky would not become the man the world needed, he would become the man his family needed.
He wasn't perfect, he was flawed, cracked, and brutal when he had to be.
But he knew one thing:
If he wanted to grow, to become undeniably powerful, he couldn't have anything weighing him down.
Click
The sound of a barrel clicking into place resounded in this moment frozen in time but his subconscious sat still, already knowing what was coming.
In truth, Ricky was drowning in the stagnant water of himself.
Not gasping, not thrashing, just sinking in such a quiet and slow manner, the kind of drowning that didn't feel like death until it was too late.
For too long, he had lived in that murky stillness; complacent, crowned in borrowed power, and waiting for meaning to catch up to him.
But now, something stirred.
A ripple in that dead water.
A dream, a memory, a glimpse that cracked open something inside him.
But through all of this, his subconscious simply stared into the sky.
It didn't resist, didn't run away, it accepted.
"Remember, don't forget to remember," His inner child said through tears, still smiling toward the fading light.
"I won't."
Bang
Author's Note: I hope you liked the reveal, I'm gonna wrap the arc up with a couple chapters after this but this was the final itteration of when Ricky looked back into himself and it's been in the making for a while and I'm glad I finally closed that chapter of his life, I hoped you all enjoyed. shout out to wildernesssofman for the insperation.
Author's Note 2: Just added another tidbit on chap 200 with Asteron and Ricky's conv, thought about Icarus and was kicking myself for not adding it so if ya want to read it, it's like a couple of lines.