Zacharie x Reader: The Proxy (Chapter 2)

"Wake up, my dear proxy," the masked merchant urged you. He tugged you out of your fitful dreams and startled you as you were face to face to your boss. "It's time for us to move. The Batter is moving on." He pulled you to your wavering feet. "Soon, I'll be showing up in front of him, once more. And, you, my proxy, will be making new connections to get the things I need to provide him. Come, my little procurer. We must make haste. Being necessary for a game is not as easy if you have to live it, unfortunately."


You nod and grab your hooded sweatshirt and opted for your sneakers. You felt that there was going to be a lot of walking in your future. The knapsack that you were able to furbish out of some old, discarded Elsen shirts and ties. You felt eyes watching you and turned to find Zacharie with his hands stuck into his black pants. "You're such a resourceful little glitch," he commented warmly. You knew that the term wasn't really nice to place on a person, but the way he stated it seemed to re-assure you that the compliment was genuine.


"What does that mean?" you asked as you stood up and shifted the sling-strap across your chest, onto a shoulder. "I mean, glitch... I know that's not a nice term. You don't call me a character like anyone else in this 'game'. You call me anything but..."


"A glitch is the effect caused by an error in the coding or when coding doesn't go the way as the game creator expects," he answered, casually. He opened the door out of the back and into the 'hidden' hall for employee access to all of the rooms, except the maze segments of the mall. "You, my dear are unexpected. It just happens to be you don't cause things to go completely wrong, as I know of, you just change things ever so slightly, and in a pleasant way." He talked casually as he led you through winding corridors to the back exit of the mall. You hadn't gone this way before and wondered if you could keep up. Your eyes itched from the crud formed overnight. "You seem sluggish, (name)."


You froze at his utterance of your name. He had called you 'proxy', 'procurer', and other titled terms that you had begun to wonder if the merchant could even remember your proper name. Your expression was apparently a source of great amusement for him. You sighed and walked towards him, hating to feel like the butt of his joke. A punch-line, a source of enjoyment, or the whole joke itself... you hated that feeling. You walked past him, certain that path had to keep going straight, since nothing was on the side.


The merchant quickly ran up to catch up with you. He grabbed and held you close to his chest. His warm tones assured you that he meant no harm, but his words warned you about an eminent danger. "Stay silent, my proxy." He dropped his sack and pulled out a sword. "I'll protect you, chère." He placed you behind himself and drew the sword back to swing at a white, floating figure. The figure held its face skyward and held its tongue toward its bottom, jagged lip. You knew instantly that it was blind. The Xs' appearance over where eyes should be altered you of this disfigurement and disability. A quickly consuming pity filled your heart for the creature.


You pulled Zacharie back and yelled at him, "Don't even think of it! He's not harming anyone at the moment."


"He--- it knows we're here. It will attack us," he hissed and pointed the tip of his sword toward the blind spectre. "As much as I would love to believe I would not need to harm my fellow characters. It has to go."


He made it seem so inevitable. But, you knew it would be possible to continue on without harming the world's characters. "We don't have to fight; we can flee from him," you suggested with too much cheer for Zacharie's apparent taste.


"How do you suggest doing that, procurer?" he warmly asked, a hint of sarcasm lowered the tone of his voice.


"Give me a bat and I'll shoo him away," you answered, firmly.


Zacharie acted as though he was considering it before he answered, "You'll have to pay fifty credits as rental fee."


"I can work it off," you assured him and stole a bat from the bag and trotted up to the ghost. "Shoo, brother ghost," you called as you ushered the blind thing out of the way. You swung the bat, intentionally missing it, but disturb the air beside it. It lazily hissed and slipped through the wall. "Thank you," you whispered as you returned the bat.


Zacharie scoffed in awe as he slowly accepted the bat. "I didn't think that would work..." He chuckled his familiar chortle. The one that would often bring shivers down your spine, but you never wanted to admit it.


One thing that was known in your little Zone 2 world was that Zacharie had a girl, all the Elsen would mention it often in their idle talk times. Her name was Sucre (Sugar) or at least, that's what they said. You knew that Elsen rarely spoke in riddles or euphemisms. So, there was a girl who was had the merchant's heart, so it seemed. But at this was no time to be jealous, you were trying to save your own skin.


You hummed and motioned to him to lead the way. "You know the way, sir." He stuffed the seemingly magical bag as you spoke to him. How else could he be able to carry so much in the sack? "And, I believe we would have a better chance in surviving if you are the one leading, since you know what will happen."


"Perhaps, then again, you seem to have a great instinct in taking care of yourself as well," he answered and brushed against you as he began to lead the way. You shook your head sighing at the unnecessary contact from the merchant. You began to wonder if he wanted to have someone to tease before everyone died and that's why he wanted you around. You decided that you could make arrangements to not allow him to coax any reaction. "Are you coming, Proxy?"


"One moment, I have to say good-bye to the old place... it's going to die soon," you stated, half-unbelieving. He returned and bowed his head. Your heart sank at the somber expression on the usually extremely chipper man. "Do you want to say anything, Sir Silver-Tongue?" you offered. Your tongue felt dry and no coherent words seemed to wonder out of your mouth other than asking if he would offer the premature eulogy. You figured you would just follow into sobbing mess if you spoke


"I would, actually," he stated softly. You felt some cardiac muscles tearing. He offered his hand to you. "Please, Proxy. Let us place give a last prayer for the cursed Elsen in this zone..." You bowed your head and clasped hands with the man. He began speaking slowly, "My gracious Queen, most elegant, sweet, and haunting, I plea with you that you allow these citizens a peaceful transition into non-existence." Eerily, the warm tones comforted your soul enough that no more than a few tears leaked from your tear ducts. He continued, not even noticing your silent crying. "May they not suffer much longer in their background and plot driven lives. May they no longer crave and no longer worry." His voice grew softer as he choked on his last words. He gently squeezed your hand as he brought his prayer to a close. "Most of all, my merciful Monarch. Please, watch over my beloved and faithful. In your melodic name. A Hymn." He whispered into your ear, "Come on, Proxy-darling. We need to get moving. We know he will be moving on soon."