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Post by Alana Cortese on Nov 25, 2018 19:26:37 GMT -5
While Alana was waiting for Noland to come to her, she was talking with Drago. It seemed like the two of them had a meaningful conversation since she was bothering with it after getting whammied in a way. Drago was standing in his robed form beside the bed she was laying in. She was still looking straight up towards the ceiling though.
"Wow...so he felt that guilty about it..." Alana sighed. "After it happened, I would've been very happy to hear that. Now, I just feel bad... How does he live like that...?"
"The same way you've been living..." Drago responded. "But...that's just me speaking from the outside. Hydranoid let me off easy since he spent so much time trying to kill me before...but...I still can't imagine how things are going between you and Noland over this. You've both grown in power and as people from this situation, so it's not all bad. Still, I think now is when we need to settle where we all are. It has been a year of dodging and weaving. We have to confront one another over this. I will even take you to him if he dodges this time."
"...Drago...I don't know if I ever said this before, but...I forgive you... I mean it..."
"..."
"All of the things Lydia had us doing... It's starting to make total sense now... This gift exchange we're supposed to do made me realize that I never really hated any of you all along. I miss you both... I want to be happy with you two around again..."
"..." Drago turned to his right with a quick movement. He looked like he was surprised. "...He should hear that... He's coming right now..."
"...Wow..." Alana genuinely smiled at the idea of Noland coming to see her after all this time.
"I'll keep quiet for this one, but... I just want you to know. I missed you too...and it's good to be back."
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Post by Noland Hardy on Jan 7, 2022 18:25:22 GMT -5
While being directed towards Andrew's office by a female nurse, Noland quietly gasped around the time Alana forgave Drago, which implies that he heard what they were saying.
"Hey... You were serious about giving me an autograph, right?" the nurse suddenly asked him.
"Oh...uh, yeah," Noland answered while trying not to sound like he wasn't paying attention. "How's she doing?"
"...You sure you don't need to be here too? You asked me that at the front, remember?" she replied with a little chuckle.
"...Oh..." Noland sighed.
"I can tell this bothers you a lot. I read some gossip online. Hopefully, it's misleading, but if it's not...then I hope that whatever it is you're going through, you'll find peace," she expressed.
"...I hope so too..." Noland agreed.
Noland was led into Alana's room after some time. He poked his head inside and saw Drago have his back turned towards him while looking at the wall. It was odd, but Noland didn't question it. He slowly walked in. When he laid eyes on Alana, he nearly froze.
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Post by Alana Cortese on Jan 7, 2022 19:20:37 GMT -5
Alana didn't have to look at Noland's body language to see he was under a lot of pressure. Drago said enough about that already. What she was really interested in was not what he was feeling. She wanted to know what he was thinking.
"..." Both her and Noland stared at each other for a while. It was like they saw each other for the first time. Neither knew what they wanted to say. She was half sure that neither of them knew how to start a conversation at this point. How could anyone in this situation?
"...There's really no easy way for us to talk after everything that happened, so... I'm just gonna say that I know what you're feeling... Drago told me a lot about how you and him trained so hard so you wouldn't hurt anyone like you did me," Alana recounted. "I think all of this back-and-forth between us and the sessions with Lydia had me thinking about you... Specifically, what YOU were going through when everything happened instead of just focusing on me... So...I want you to help me understand how we got here. How could this have happened to us?"
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Post by Noland Hardy on Jan 7, 2022 19:58:13 GMT -5
"...It was mostly my fault," Noland answered with more honesty than he ever showed before. "After you returned to normal following our battle at nationals, I was conflicted. On one hand, I was the happiest I ever was seeing you back...for obvious reasons of course. On the other hand, at the time, I thought you caused my dad to disappear when there could've been another way. In my opinion, there was, but that wasn't fair in your case. I projected what I would've done in your situation to you. That wasn't right. I should've considered what a reasonable person would do versus what I thought was best. The two aren't really the same all the time, but I realized that too late. In the end, what you did wasn't unreasonable at all. I understand now, but I think my emotions made me unable to come to terms with it."
"So, up until the point where I did what I never should've done, I thought of you as an outsider. Every time I looked at you, you weren't the friend that I had feelings for a long time ago. You were the person who killed a scared girl and either killed my dad or made him go missing temporarily or forever. I wanted to like you, Alana...but I hated you, especially after you made the terrorism comment after I killed a bunch of law enforcement and military personnel. I thought things looked better when my dad came back, but...well, that hatred never disappeared it seems. In my own twisted way when I was influenced by the Hex Code, what happened between us..."
"...was what I wanted..." Saying that noticeably disturbed Noland. He didn't like that he basically just admitted to willful murder, but it is what it is. Alana wanted to know why they were in this situation. This was it...
"That's why I never made the excuse that it was the Hex Code doing all of the work. It was my emotions that led to me losing control. It was my own feelings that got amplified to push me to where I'd consider taking your life. You were right when you blew up at me. All you wanted to have was normalcy after being in the Doom Dimension. I gave you hell on Earth instead. I was cruel to you. I killed you. There's no way I could ever give you what you wanted after everything I've done to you. The only thing that made sense to me was to better myself both in power and spirit. Maybe you'll be happier getting what you desired, and then maybe I'd learn to be more understanding of people and to never hurt anyone like I did you...just as you said."
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Post by Alana Cortese on Jan 7, 2022 21:02:02 GMT -5
"..." Saying that was a lot was an understatement. Noland really came clean with everything. It was only fair that she does the same now.
"...That terrorism comment... I stupidly said that out of spite... You made me think I was this bad person that, when I saw you do something out of character, it gave me the perfect opportunity to say that... That was so horrible to find some joy out of one of the worst things to happen to you...to us really," Alana admitted. "...We were really horrible to each other... And...maybe we shouldn't ever be in the same room with each other. Maybe we shouldn't even be talking, but I'll say this. You're right that I want to have some normalcy after going through all of that. There's something that I've been meaning to say to you, but never really knew how this was going to get resolved..."
"...This rift between us isn't apart of that normalcy I want... Us being friends at the very least is what I consider normal. It's what I knew before the Gundalians came... It's what I love... I clung to that despite everything that happened," Alana expressed. "I know what I said aboard the Alternative. Yeah, I meant it in the moment, but it's not how I feel now. Hopefully, I'm not wrong when I say this, but I think that we want the same thing: just to go back to normal, like how things used to be... We were happy..."
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Post by Noland Hardy on Jan 7, 2022 21:36:22 GMT -5
"You're not wrong," Noland confirmed. "How could we be friends again though? This went beyond us saying whatever we said to each other. I killed you... That's a line no one else can say they've crossed and the person they killed was resurrected. All I feel when I look at you now is shame for what I've done. We're both going to therapy just trying to exist alongside each other..."
"...I dunno, Alana... I just... I know that trying to forgive myself or something along those lines would be good for my mental health, but...I can't... I just can't do it," Noland surrendered. "I mean, knowing all of this and hearing me admit that I did this intentionally, how have you not kicked me out already?"
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Post by Alana Cortese on Jan 17, 2022 6:51:18 GMT -5
"Because you're not the same person who took my life. Right now...you're the Noland I've always known," Alana quickly answered. "You reflected on what happened enough to say all of that to me, and then you drove yourself crazy to get stronger just to make sure it never happened again. You even went out of your way to save me..."
"But, even more important than those things, I saw how Tracy dealt with Markus after what he did. I was able to see people for more than just their past actions. That's when I began to warm up to seeing you. I'm not trying to excuse anything that happened, but I totally understand - or, I should say I have a better idea - of what you were going through. You were never a monster who wanted to cause chaos just for kicks. You were a righteous soul who lost control of a power none of us understands, experienced one loss after another from failures in battles, and - worst of all - you were being persecuted for being born a race you didn't choose to be apart of."
"I don't want you to take this as me making excuses for you. I'm just saying that there's a difference between you and a murderer on the street who kills without a care in the world. You're not a monster. You're my friend...or, you're supposed to be."
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Post by Noland Hardy on Jan 24, 2022 16:45:31 GMT -5
"..." From hearing Alana chew him out on the Alternative to now hearing her say that he's her friend, Noland was more than shocked. He was almost too shocked to respond.
After spending 10 seconds being silent, he finally spoke up saying, "I...uh..." That wasn't much to talk about. He was still having trouble processing all of this.
"...I really don't know what to say," Noland replied. He suddenly became sure a few seconds later. "...Do you really believe what you're saying? I'm your friend?"
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Post by Alana Cortese on Jan 24, 2022 17:05:22 GMT -5
"Mhm," Alana confirmed. "I...hope you feel the same about me too. Even if we never go back to where we were before all of this happened, I want you to know that I forgive you. Also, it would really make me feel better about today if you could start to forgive yourself. Regardless of what you choose to do about us, I want that for you. I know you're not gonna be able to do that instantly, but - if its okay with you - maybe we can talk more about it later. Maybe even with Lydia's sessions if she allows it."
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Post by Noland Hardy on Jan 24, 2022 17:17:20 GMT -5
After much thought in his head while hearing Alana talk, Noland finally decided that this was probably the best way forward for him. Whether or not his relationship with Alana improves was a mystery to him, but he knew he was on a path to destruction. He'll burn out if he keeps getting stronger solely to ensure nothing like this happens again. Obviously, it's a noble pursuit of power, but it won't last forever. Noland knew this, but didn't see any other way out for him. Maybe he should try to move past this with Alana's permission just to see what happens. If he fails, at least he tried.
"Okay... As long as you're fine with this, I'll try," Noland declared. He walked to Alana's right side and tried to shake her hand. He thought since they were essentially starting over, a handshake was the only gesture that wouldn't be awkward.
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Post by Alana Cortese on Jan 24, 2022 17:33:24 GMT -5
Alana paid no attention to the proposed handshake. Instead, she spread her arms and invited the poor Gundalian over for a hug. He eventually complied and gave her one. When he did, Alana buried his face into her breasts.
"This better not happen again, 'kay?" Alana warned him before letting Noland go. She briefly gave him a devilish smile upon seeing him gasping for air, but it quickly turned into a gleeful one. "Since that's settled, could you bring Allen here? I heard he fought an Army General just to protect me."
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Post by Allen Silva on Jan 24, 2022 17:41:03 GMT -5
As if he was standing outside the entire time - he probably was - Allen walked inside of the room when he heard his name called. "Don't worry. I totally wasn't standing outside and listening for the entire time..." Allen paused to look at Noland coughing as he was trying to breathe normally again.
"I don't know what happened to you, but as for that Sargon guy, you're both welcome," Allen started off. "I might have told the media that the military was trying to kill a civilian, so that should keep him off of our backs for a while. Anyway, Alana, feeling any better?"
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Post by Alana Cortese on Feb 9, 2022 4:20:39 GMT -5
"Mhm," Alana gleefully hummed. She opened her arms to welcome a hug from Allen. He complied and they embraced, but she didn't suffocate him like she did Noland. "I wish neither of you had to go against the military just to save me... I'll make it up to you two somehow... Don't know how I'll do that, but I'll try!"
Alana then turned her attention to Noland who just started breathing normally again. "Um...I don't know if it's too soon for us, but...if you're not busy, I wouldn't mind catching up with you if you're up for it."
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Post by Noland Hardy on Feb 9, 2022 5:01:37 GMT -5
That sounded like a good idea in Noland's head, but he had another priority. "...Give me a minute..." Noland disappeared from the room out of thin air - likely due to his use of Hyper Motion - and appeared in front of Petra as she was leaving the gym. Before he could get a word out, she did what an angry woman would do: calmly tell the man that he's in trouble.
"You're alive! Thanks for telling me earlier before Lydia told me everything. I wasn't worried or anything like that. I mean, why would I? It's not like you could've died or anything," Petra said with a fake smile on her face.
"...Here we go..." Noland knew he was in trouble. He was bracing himself for it...
"If you two would've told us what was going on, we could've made it so that the military wouldn't have gotten as far as they did. Granted, they did a whole lot of nothing, but that's not the point. Fighting a Maverick is dangerous. Fighting a Resistor infected with one by yourself is beyond ridiculous, even for you," Leon reminded Noland who should've been aware of this.
"...I know you're both upset... Let's just calm down and we can talk about this..." Noland said to try and calm them down.
"Oh really? And what will that do, 'Mr. Strongest Mortal'? You'll do it again, won't you? You knew what was happening way before I did...but you didn't care. Just because you're so strong now doesn't mean that other people don't have jobs to do or concerns about what's going on."
"There was something else I had to take care of before I could come tell you," Noland claimed.
"Right. Take Alana to the hospital or wherever you put her. For someone that can just 'warp' around or whatever you do, you sure took a long time to get back to me. You were much faster when you dropped me off at a random place and just went about your merry way when you heard me talking to you."
"...So...I'm...sorry...?"
"Eh...sure you are." Petra waved him off and walked right past him.
"...I am..." Noland then 'warped' back to Alana's room when it looked like he wasn't going to get in Petra's good graces for today.
"Welp, I'm not busy anymore, so... What do you both have in mind?" Noland inquired.
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Post by Allen Silva on Feb 9, 2022 5:05:05 GMT -5
Allen had an idea that Noland went to go see Petra. He had the look of a man who was in trouble with his lady.
"We could talk about it later tonight, brother," Allen offered. "I'm not sure what you did, but...we'll figure out how to get you out of trouble. In exchange, you help me out with explaining to my parents why I fought an Army General in the middle of the street."
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