Fracture

 I am not happy.

Very not happy. Enough to break radio silence just to say how I am as Not Amused as Queen Victoria.

I recently found out that Fracture had come into possession of Zero's sword. Naturally, I wanted to know why. For good or ill, it's a Runner item with a very long and storied history, and I didn't appreciate his magpie hands all over it. Konaa, I trusted to hold it, and hold it safely. Fracture, I distinctly do not.

I still had his number from the time I sent him attack drones. Seeing as I didn't want him noseying about my hideouts, I went into the Port Hills to call it. Back in WWII it was feared Japan would attack New Zealand shores, and bunkers were made to overlook the sea. Even with the one I was at now a grey concrete remnant, it had a fantastic view.

He appeared from nowhere behind me, as he does. I didn't bother with any preamble. I started yelling at him, what was he thinking, why did he think he had any right, etc etc. I believe the words 'cultural misappropriation' may have surfaced at some point.

You know the answer he gave me? His entire reason? That it was too dangerous for Runners to have, and that he was hiding it in a Loop to keep it safe. Like he was a dutiful mother taking a razorblade from a toddler. Like we were incapable of recognising and safely dealing with the danger ourselves. Like that was even his decision to make, or his right to carry out.

 I counted to ten. Loops are not foolproof. They can decay and collapse. More importantly, they can be pierced, and not by Runners. I do not want this passing hands between proxies. If he wanted it out of the ability of anyone to misuse it, there were safer and far more effective ways to do this, and they should be done by Runners. I told him of one such method, which I won't detail here because I still want cause to use it.

"For now, you just need to trust that its where it needs to be."

"And I don't trust you, Fracture. Get off your high horse. It may work for your underlings, but I am not one, so don't think you can give me vague platitudes and think I'll walk away satisfied. The sword is not yours. I have a better claim to it than you do. And you are not listening."

"If you were listening you might have this half way figured out. I'm not on my high horse. I'm doing my job. This isn't a matter of claims. Your job, my furious little sword, is to find a way to stand and fight. My job is to keep everyone alive. Our titles are very different. The kind of claim yours gives you over the sword will bring ruin."

"My job? And who do you think you are, my employer? The lack of any sort of pay could have fooled me. And trust me, I am fully aware of what happened the last time a Sage held that sword. So I won't hold it. I can get another to dispose of it. But it's not for proxy hands either, Fracture. And however you're hovering on the brink of becoming a runner, you're not one."

"I can't be a runner. That'd be suicide."

I shrugged. "Your Boss isn't pleased with you. You can't be a proxy and do runner things. That's equally as suicidal. Tip one way or the other, why don't you. But we're straying from the point. The sword. Relinquish it. I get what you're doing, Fracture, I really do. But it's not for you to do."

"It's something I have to do. I wish you could see the world like I do. The seas of possibilities. But that's my burden and so is the sword. I'm sorry kiddo, I really am. I'll make it up to you... probably."

And then he was gone in an instant, as he does, the dick, and I was standing alone in windblown tussock.

"Idiot." I kicked one. "Make it up to me, pfeh."

He'd said he was a Guardian, and that was why. But he forgets; a title only has as much power as others give it. He may have named me a Sage, but it was the ratification of the epithet by the Runner community that has truly made me one. You're not a Guardian for us, Fracture. That's not your burden, or your task, and you are so, so arrogant if you don't realise this.

There's no way this can end well. Maybe I can't see "seas of possibility", but that's something I can.