The title speaks for itself.
It does not have to be fantasy and/or science-fiction related either. It can be other fiction genres too.
Bonus Question:
How did the main character react upon the betrayal?
Did the MC try to get back at the character who betrayed them?
What incident lead to the sudden betrayal?
Has the MC moved on? Did the betrayer get what they deserved in the end?
How did the MC break away from the toxic relationship before things got worse?
Does the MC get revenge on the toxic person or moved on completely leaving that person and life behind?
Scenario Time:
It has been several years since your MC was betrayed by that one person whom they’ve trusted with their lives or has made them a victim in a toxic relationship. The MC has moved on and started living for themselves and the people who’ve truly cared about them.
But the betrayer and the toxic friend or lover has entered the MC’s life once again. What would your MC do differently now as oppose to back then?
So, what you’re is these two characters will always be at each other’s throats regardless of how much millennia has passed after the incident that ended their relationship?
Hmmm, from the time he was born? Okay maybe not that far back…
I have a character Cabal who is born to a vampire mother and his father is human (thus he’s a dhampir.)
Through his early life, his mother truly, dearly loved him. But then a nuclear accident happens which sets them adrift in the detritus of civilization. It becomes apparent as Cabal gets older that his mother is pretty mentally unstable, and she becomes obsessed on getting Cabal’s father back (who was turned the night Cabal was conceived), I mean make him love her.
It comes to a head when she attacks him one night and starts to blame him, her son, for all the wrong in her life. While Cabal didn’t want to, he was forced to defend himself - kill her - in order to survive.
It’s an event that’s haunted him his whole life. Since then he’s feared treading the same path to insanity that took his mother.
The ultimate betrayal, abandonment by a parent who obviously loved him at one point in his life.
The first time Jack felt betrayed was when his best childhood friend broke their promise (a blood pact, to be exact) and completely destroyed his life (although he’s also kind of at fault for this happening).
Jack went on revenge mode and uh…un-alived him.
The betrayal was caused by the friend becoming greedy, basically.
From Jack’s perspective, Jack’s entire life is a lie thanks to that friend. Jack never truly moved on from what happened. It scarred him and left him unable to trust people easily.
Jack thinks the friend got what they deserved
To answer your scenario, a similar thing actually does happen to Jack. Another toxic friend, who was a mutual friend with the betrayer, returns. Jack, who has moved on from that toxic relationship, must revisit his past. What does he do? Well, he goes on a chase to meet that toxic friend in combat and tries to un-alive him
I bookmarked this topic a few days ago because it interested me and I wanted to reply, but I was too emotionally drained at the time to respond. I’m a little late, but here are my thoughts and answers. It’s a long ride, so, like… buckle up. Keep in mind that my MC, Errol, is an unseelie faerie that was swapped out with a human child, making him a changeling. He also has clinical psychopathy with low empathy, which makes him struggle with having strong morals and also makes it difficult for him to form genuine emotional connections with others, but not impossible.
Main Question:
When was the very first time your MC felt betrayed or became the victim of a toxic relationship?
Errol was betrayed when he was just a child, about ten years old, when his human ‘parents’ couldn’t handle his breathtakingly horrid behavioral issues, so, led him into the forest and left him there to die because he was such a little menace to society that he was literally a danger to other children and adults alike.
Bonus Questions:
How did the MC react upon the betrayal?
At first he panicked and threw a massive temper tantrum. He was only a child after all. He cried and screamed for a bit, but then he slowly came to the realization that if his ‘parents’ could lie and manipulate him like that, he could do the same to get what he wanted. So, even though he was lost in the woods, he started trying to find his way back home and managed to wind up back on his ‘parent’s’ doorstep a few days later, a little worse for wear and a bit malnourished, but otherwise fine. He begged them to take him back and promised to behave and be a good son to them. They ended up feeling guilty and taking him back in.
Did the MC try to get back at the character who betrayed them?
Absolutely. The night after he returned and convinced his ‘parents’ to keep him, he murdered them in their sleep, slitting their throats with his ‘father’s’ hunting knife. He then stole whatever money or valuables he could find and left the village to go to the city, never looking back. He lived on the streets for a while, practicing his lying and manipulation skills until a rich family with several kids of their own found him and he charmed them into adopting him.
What incident lead to the sudden betrayal?
Errol’s human ‘parents’ always struggled real bad with his behavior, but it crossed a line when he nearly drowned one of the other village kids in the well by pushing them in. The kid survived and was pulled out, but had a broken arm and water in their lungs, and Errol didn’t seem remorseful at all and even said he would do it again if given the chance, so they knew he was capable of murder, even as a child. They had to do something…
Has the MC moved on? Did the betrayer get what they deserved in the end? How did the MC break away from the toxic relationship before it got worse? Does the MC get revenge on the toxic person or moved on completely leaving that person and life behind? combining those questions because the answers are linked
Well… Errol thought he had moved on. He was still a little trouble causer, but was skilled enough at gaslighting, manipulating, and flat out lying, that he was able to divert the blame for anything bad that happened off of himself and convince his adoptive family that he was an innocent angel that could do no wrong. But when Errol turned 16, that’s when he officially grew into his faerie nature and found out what he was. His magic became stronger and unstable because he didn’t know how to use it or control it because he was raised by humans instead of other fae, and his wings appeared, no longer disguised by the glamour spell he’d had hiding them as a child. Unfortunately for him, his adoptive family witnessed this and freaked out when they found out what he was, after all, faeries were known to be dangerous. It didn’t help that the eldest sibling had suspected that there was something seriously wrong with him all along and had been trying to convince her family of it from day one. He’d always managed to sway them to his side in the past, but now the elder sibling had evidence against him. His adoptive family no longer trusted him and started to realize all the horrible things that had happened since he’d been brought into their home were actually his fault. His older ‘sister’ wanted to kill him right then and there when she found out, but Errol’s ‘parents’ convinced her to wait until morning and then just kick him out of the house, sending him out into the world on his own with nothing but a meal in a rucksack and a few coins. Errol didn’t like the idea of living on the streets again, and the idea of being killed even less. He felt betrayed all over again. So, he waited until his ‘family’ were all asleep, then stole any money and valuables he could find and burned the cottage down with them inside of it. The older sister managed to make it out and survive, because she had a hunch he would try something anyways and didn’t sleep like the rest of them did that night. She dedicated her life to revenge and started deep diving into dark magic in order to hunt him down and stay alive as long as he did so she could make sure he would die by her hands. With the eternal youth of the fae, Errol had plenty of time to learn how to control his magic and sharpen his skills so he could evade her. He now is a significantly powerful unseelie faerie, living in the modern U.S. despite having been born in the medieval U.K. because he’s still on the run from his ‘sister’.
Scenario Time:
It has been several years since your MC was betrayed by that one person whom they’ve trusted with their lives or has made them a victim in a toxic relationship. The MC has moved on and started living for themselves and the people who’ve truly cared about them.
But the betrayer and the toxic friend or lover has entered the MC’s life once again. What would your MC do differently now as oppose to back then?
So, at the start of my story, Errol is actually still on the run from his ‘sister’, Nattaleah. He recently left the U.K. and is now in the U.S. trying to get away from her so he can move on and start living his life, at least for a while before she finds him again, because he knows she is dedicated and the chase will never end until one or both of them is dead. However, in the very first chapter, she does show up again, still trying to kill him. They get in a scuffle and Errol actually manages to knock her unconscious. He has every opportunity to kill her and put an end to their centuries long feud… But he doesn’t. He realizes that he enjoys the game of cat and mouse they have going on and it’s the only thing that’s kept him thoroughly entertained in the long run of things. For Errol, boredom is worse than death. So, he keeps her alive and simply starts running again, waiting eagerly for her to catch up and keep him on his toes. He doesn’t want her dead like he once did, despite the fact that he knows full well that she does want him dead.
