[Granblue Fantasy] Divine Intervention

[duckiesandlemons]

Title: Divine Intervention
Rating: G
Fandom: Granblue Fantasy
Character(s): Gran, Lyria, Sandalphon, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel
Summary: Gran wakes up housing the primarchs in his body, and life suddenly gets a bit more difficult for the Singularity.
Warning(s): None

His head is throbbing.

It’s also ringing.

Gran rolls over in bed, hands covering his eyes and groaning.  The light filtering in through his windows is suddenly too much, despite it being early morning, and he honestly just wants to go back to sleep.  He can’t, however.  There’s too much to do and he needs to discuss with Katalina about recent missions, talk to Rackam and Eugen about how the ship is doing, as well as go through request logs and--

The pain gets sharper, and he hisses.

Sorry, Captain, just bear with it a little longer, okay?

That forces him awake.  Gran’s been through a lot--several world ending events, fighting dragons that could eat him in one go, saving ruined kingdoms, and fighting primal beasts on the daily--but this is something entirely different.  Rarely has he had a voice in his head outside of dealing with primal beasts or other magically oriented people.  

I know it’s a little confusing, right now, but something happened and this is the best we can do to make sure everything stays stable.

What?  We’re not going to tell the Singularity anything at all?

Is there a problem with that?

Yeah, many!  I don’t think the boy knows us just by voice, after all!

Gran slowly blinks as he listens to the voices currently squabbling in his head.  They seem familiar enough, but--

Hey, Singularity.  Say something instead of being quiet--you don’t need to be dead right now.

That snappy voice is certainly familiar though.  “Sandalphon?” Gran asks.  “Weren’t you here just last night?”

There’s an irritated sigh.

I was.  Something happened that’s not allowing us to materialize our bodies--it’s causing the balance to become...weak, you could say.

“So that means...because I’m the singularity you guys decided to collectively gather in my body.  You--as in the primarchs?”

The following giggle that could only be Gabriel answers every question Gran had.

********

“I-is it true?   All the primarchs are in ya?  E-even Sandalphon?”  Vyrn’s voice is shaking.  He’s the first one to speak up after Gran gathered everyone to tell them, and the others are still quiet as they try to process this new information.  Rosetta’s gone to mumbling to herself, and Rackam’s defaulted to stone-faced impassiveness though Gran can tell he’s on edge considering he’s taking longer drags on his cigarette.

“Yeah,” is all Gran can really say.  They’ve been squabbling inside of his head ever since he got up, and Gran wouldn’t have even known it was allfive of them if Raphael hadn’t chimed in at one point to tell him that it won’t be a forever thing.

It already feels like a forever thing.

Katalina coughs, “Then...we should probably establish some ground rules?”

“Like?”

There’s an awkward silence, everyone staring intently at Katalina.  “Like...no possession,” she says.  “Or use of primarch powers.”

Everyone nods their heads at that.

“What else?” Io asks.  “Shouldn’t we try to figure out what’s going on?”

It’s probably that damn Belial again, Sandalphon growls.

“Sandalphon says it’s Belial’s fault,” Gran repeats.

There’s more awkward silence--born purely from the fact that no one wants to associate with Belial ever again if they could help it.

“Look at it this way!” the happiness in Lyria’s voice sounds a bit forced, despite it being genuine.  “If we ever need their help, they’re right there!”

It's barely a silver lining.

********

The rule about no possession lasts for about a half-day.  Contrary to everyone’s belief (everyone being the five primarchs inhabiting Gran’s body), it’s not Gabriel who breaks it but Michael.  

People don’t even catch it until it’s too late, the swing of Gran’s sword coming down a bit harder, faster, every single one of his openings suddenly sealed shut by a battle instinct honed through millennia of fighting to keep the peace.

“ Interesting! ” Michael’s voice booms from Gran, her amusement shining through.  “ You humans are so very interesting!  To experience it up close like this--it is no wonder you have all survived for so long! ”

A dumbfounded Percival rests at Gran’s feet, brought to his knees by a perhaps too enthusiastic Michael.

“ Why do you stay silent?  Come, pick up your blade!  Let us-- ”

“M-Michael!  Please calm down!” Lyria’s rushing across the deck, her hands latching on to Gran’s arm.  “Remember what we said!  No possessing!”

Gran’s face visibly drops, his usual brown eyes now red thanks to the archangel possessing him.  “ Forgive me, Lyria ,” she says.

It’s unnerving to hear Michael’s voice from Gran’s mouth.

“ I simply got too excited.  This is a rare chance for me to fight with you skydwellers without fear of harming you. ”

“Ahaha, it’s fine, I can understand!  But...perhaps you should ask Gran for permission first?” Lyria tactfully keeps mum on the fact that Michael, with her skill combined with Gran’s strength, can still bring about incredible harm just not on as grand a scale.

“ I see...yes, that is right.  I will apologize to the Singularity once I am in the safety of his mind.  Well then… ”

There’s a brief second, and when Gran blinks his eyes are back to their gentle brown.  Though panic seems to set in when he turns around to help Percival up, apologizing profusely for everything that happened.

“Captain,” Percival’s voice is even, “as your Lord, what have I told you?”

“Not to keep secrets?  To ask for your help?”

Percival nods.

Another impromptu meeting is held, with the added stipulation that the rest of the crew knows what’s going on with their Captain lest another incident occurs similar to the Michael one.

********

Uriel is next.

There’s barely any change in Gran’s eye color besides going a shade darker, which is what makes it so hard to catch.  The only reason people were able to catch it was due to Gran’s sudden adamancy that he was “ older than any of you skydwellers ” when Soriz, Eugen, and Jin turned down his request to join them for a drink.

“This isn’t working out,” Rackam whispers to Katalina, watching as Vyrn and Lyria try to do damage control once more.

“You think,” she whispers back.  “We specifically told them no possession.  What do you think goes on in their--er, Gran’s head?”

Rackam shrugs, “Only Gran knows.”

At this point, Uriel’s foregone his attempts at wheedling alcohol out of them and down to old fashioned arm wrestling.  His words boast of strength that Gran’s body could never hope to achieve, and his actions...backed them up entirely.  Gran holds his own against Soriz, both struggling against each other in a hot blooded match.

“We should probably put a stop to this before Uriel tries to arm wrestle everyone on board,” Rackam sighs, forehead throbbing with an acute headache, “what happens when he gets to Vaseraga?”

“Vaseraga won’t do it, it’s Ghandaghoza I’m worried about.”

Their decision made, both go to pluck Uriel right up from where he sits, citing Gran’s bedtime of exactly 9:30 p.m. and enlisting Ladiva’s help to haul him off.

********

Raphael appears during a strategy meeting.

Gran blinks once, and suddenly his eyes are a piercing shade of green that causes everyone to freeze when he stares at them.  “S-so,” Altair coughs, pushing up his glasses in an attempt to regain his composure, “we should do a flanking maneuver, coming in from the east as a surprise unit--they won’t be expecting the enemy to hire a skyfarer crew--”

“ And what if they have? ” Raphael’s voice cuts in, Gran’s finger pointing to another location on map not too far from where Altair has marked as their starting point.  “ Would they not set up someone here to intercept us? ”

“Yes, that is true,” Altair hums, “but, say, if we did this…”

The pieces on the map are moved, and Raphael counters once more.  It’s an engaging display of wit, and the strategy meeting eventual devolves into an impromptu battle simulation that leaves Vyrn yawning and everyone else staring in rapt attention.

It’s Io who breaks it a few minutes later when she exclaims, indignantly, “I thought we said no possessing!”

“I wholeheartedly have to disagree for once, these are fascinating counters that he has brought up and--”

“No one asked you!” Io whines, sticking her tongue out at a very flustered Altair.

********

Gabriel is the only one who asks.

Captain, if I may?  I’d like to see what you all do during your free time.

“Sure, as long as you don’t cause too much trouble,” and Gran, really, had been so thankful that Gabriel asked he didn’t really think too much on the consequence that it was...well...Gabriel.  Not until people had walked in on Gran pinching the cheeks of a very irate, very embarrassed Ayer who could do nothing in the face of Gran’s...doting.

Gran’s very uncharacteristic doting.

People had always known Gran to be bold, to say things and do things that outright would have gotten a lesser human killed.

This, however--

“S-Seriously, what’s gotten into you!?” Ayer gets out, hands trying to futilely pry away Gran’s.

“ But you’re just so adorable, trying to keep up such a tough attitude when you just want to be pampered! ” Gran coos.

Or, Gabriel, because when Lyria gets close she notices the bright blue of Gran’s eyes.

“Gabriel, Gabriel uhm...Ayer doesn’t really like being touched much!” she insists, once again trying to put out the fire before it spreads.

“ Oh, really ,” Gabriel lets go of Ayer’s cheeks.  “ He didn’t really protest much, and he’s so cute-- ”

“You--!”

“You, too, Ayer!  Remember, we said that Gran is currently housing the primarchs!”

Gabriel just laughs, voice light and airy, decorated in amusement.

********

It’s been almost two weeks, Lyria thinks as she shuffles sleepily into the kitchen, since the primarchs have taken residence inside Gran.  Two weeks of them possessing his body at will and two weeks of the crew in disarray because they can’t tell which primarch is in the body of their captain.  It’s gotten to the point that most people who are, for lack of better words, extremely attached to Gran have gone on what Rackam’s dubbed “Captain Detail.”

Gran can barely go five minutes without someone there, constantly watching him to make sure that a repeat of the Ayer incident doesn't happen and that they know which primarch is possessing him at all times. It even escalated to the point that Lyria had feared a full on brawl after Jamil and Percival butted heads when they tried to take the same shift to keep an eye on him, both staring the other down and neither backing off.

(“I think you’ve been spending too much time around Master.”

“He’s my vassal, I need to make sure he’s okay.”)

“I hope we can figure this out soon,” her hands grip at her dress, exhaustion and worry seeping into her bones.  She’s seen Gran when the primarchs aren’t possessing him, his eyes tired and smile forced.

“Me too,” Lyria jumps, looking up to see Gran sitting at the table.  His chin is propped up by his hand, his free one holding a half-empty cup of coffee.

“S-Sandalphon?” Lyria hesitates.  

“Tch, no, I’m Gabriel,” but the sarcasm is Sandalphon, and the sharp glint of his eyes (gold, and Lyria finally notices that Gran’s eye color changes on the element of the primarch possessing him at the time) is Sandalphon, and for some reason it’s the most reassuring thing that’s happened these two weeks.

“Did you ask Gran, too?” Lyria takes the seat across from him, gladly taking the full mug that he had sitting next to him.  She wisely doesn’t comment on it, instead keeping it clasped in her hands so she can savor its warmth.

“No,” Sandalphon takes another sip from his cup, “I forcibly took over--the others are being absolute fools about all this and the Singularity was close to collapsing if he didn’t get rest.”

“...so you took his body over and...slept?”

The deadpan look Sandalphon gives her is answer enough.  

Lyria sips at her coffee.

A few more minutes of silence pass by until Gran blinks once more and--

“Lyria?” he asks, looking confused.  “When did?”

Leave it to Sandalphon to let Gran take over again when he didn't want to answer a question.  The fact that he did all of that out of worry for Gran's health makes her smile--he really could be dishonest.

“Sandalphon really cares even though he doesn’t want to admit it--isn’t it funny?” she giggles.  “He noticed you were tired so he forced you to sleep!”

And Gran looks well rested, a far cry from what he had looked like yesterday.  He also looks a bit sheepish, scratching at the back of his head.  He’s most likely having a conversation with Sandalphon and the others right now.

“...they’ll be more careful from now on,” Gran says.  “So, what do you want to do today?”

“Oh!  Let’s go to Lumacie and have some of their apple sweets with Vyrn!”

It only takes another week before chaos erupts once more.