Fandom Final Fantasy: The Age of Ophiuchus [Closed]

[Arcanist]

Sesario could only throw back a semi-apologetic look - hurtful as it was to see Hector upset by his ‘betrayal’. It was for his own good - all of theirs, he believed. Didymus knew too much about the Mist - even if everyone else couldn’t see it or ignored it. There was a convenient accident waiting to happen if he went with Reva or anyone else. At least with him, he could keep an eye on him.

And so he walked over to Didymus, flashing a knowing smile at him as he did so. He was pissed, and somehow, that made his smile all the wider. North it was.

Cleon indeed intended to pair himself with Reva - though with Sesario taking a sudden shine to Didymus, Hector decided instead to recruit the king to explore the deadlands. Cleon wasn't sure whether to look taken aback or not, but he supposed it made sense for the two to have been there to search it again. "Right. Good idea," he agreed. He supposed the two of them could join with Reva then--

"I'll come with you too," Kikiti stepped forward with a smile at the behest of Hector's silent request that she join them. She tried to ignore Cleon's rather despondent look, who had also turned his gaze to Reva. "I can't do much with just a staff, and I'm sure Hector would appreciate someone who can fight up close for us and keep us safe too," Kikiti tried to reassure him, reframing it in a different light. Give him something else to focus on.

She glanced back to where Didymus and Sesario stood. It would give her something else to focus on too, perhaps. She looked apologetic at not joining them, but that wasn’t to say they could speak together later again!

Cleon looked back then as Reva called for Cid to join her. He tried to appreciate Kikiti's kind words, even if he didn't quite deserve them. "Of course," he nodded. "I'll...do my best."

Cid sucked his teeth for a moment before he gave some sort of satisfied, if not accepting, nod. "Fine by me." He doubted anyone else would be running to have him on their team. It also eliminated having to babysit anyone - Reva had always been capable herself in a fight. Though, the fact she didn't cling to Cleon only told him he expected the worst.

And how he would have to handle it.

Oma was the last of the lot to be picked - not that she minded, for she already had Reva in mind. Oma's eyes moved to Reva when she finally offered for her to join her and Cid. She looked between the two before nodding, approaching Reva. Naturally, she would cling to one of the few strangers here that gave her a sense of comfort and familiarity.

Even if Cid was not one of them.

With the groups formed, and their directions decided, all they had to do was grab what they needed and set off.

“I assume we’ll meet back here whenever we’re finished,” Sesario stated.

Cleon nodded. “Say in a couple of hours,” he looked at Titania then. “Your help in this search is much appreciated, Your Majesty.”

Titania smiled, rather satisfied, before she chuckled to herself, “Of course. We’ll be sure to assist you where you need us.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Once everyone had gathered what they needed, and they met up near the exit, Diddy was prepared to walk off with a, “Well, let’s get going then,” only for a blinding flash of light to brighten everything up…and change their positions. As he found himself, Sesario, and a few fae in a new area, he couldn’t help the irritated groan that escaped his lips as he took in the surrounding area.

It wasn’t dead, at least.

It wasn’t covered in Mist, although there was a chill to it. ‘Well yeah, we were heading north.’ It got colder that way, yet Rozari still managed to be known for flowers and other bullshit. They probably found ways to make the frigid wastes of their kingdom pretty. Somehow. ‘So we just muck around and look for a magical spear or something, huh?’

He really…didn’t have better ideas. At least the land was drier. It didn’t cling or stick to his boots as he walked, nor did his boots sink in it. “Kay…,” he said it mostly to himself, “let’s find this stupid spear and be done with it,” although, as he started to walk, and to look around, he did look back to Sesario.

Partially because Sesario and he ought to stay close. The fae, too.

Mostly because, “Why did you partner with me?” he was annoyed. “Unless you’re trying to help me…,” get out of there, but he didn’t finish that. The fae probably wouldn’t appreciate one of the Zodiac running away, “I don’t get it.” He left Hector high and dry.

~***~

Hector didn’t appreciate the blinding light, or the way he was immediately assaulted with that pungent smell, which caused him to cough, before he covered his nose with his hands and exhaled angrily. Inhaled angrily.

“They could warn us!” He raged at the fae near enough, but they spread out quickly. Likely not because of his anger, but because the area was wretched and they wanted to put as much distance between the area and themselves. Hector glowered, but looked at the tree after expressing his anger.

‘Sorry, Kikiti.’

He’d forgotten he wretched smell.

There were several trees, but there was one that stood out. It was larger, but just as broken and dead. Hollowed out. More than that, literally no other tree was around it for a good 30 meters. It might not be the answer, but it was as good a place to start as any. “Okay. We need to search that tree. Maybe destroy it,” Hector dictated, pointing towards it.

Did he have a way to do this? Well…no, he didn’t have much in the way of explosives on him, unfortunately.

Or magic.

Hopefully Cleon or Kikiti would have some ideas.

~***~

Reva was also less than pleased, but not as surprised as some were likely to be by Titania’s decision. For one, Reva had seen the movement Titania made. Two, this was just…typical fae. Even the fae with them wasn’t unusual – they’d be used to teleport them around, after all, once they’d scoured the area they were given to look over.

Which was murky, sticky, but blessedly still full of life. The scent was wet, but not putrid – earthy, with a bit of floral scents, evidence enough by some of the blooms in the area. Cucu likely didn’t come through this area as often, yet.

Reva nodded, “Let us stay within sight of each other,” she noted, “but spread out as we search. I shall stay center. Cid, you can seek more to the left, and Oma, to the right. We will go forward,” she gestured to what ‘forward’ meant in this case.

To Oma, she asked, “You are more aware of this situation. Is there more we ought to know of this spear,” she began to walk, “for how it looks, or how it may be hidden, by a Cucu who still had his mind?”

Oma hadn’t found it, obviously, but now she would have many eyes looking for it.

 

[Arcanist]

Sesario had been sure he heard Didymus speak from one direction, though, with the blinding flash, he found himself standing on the opposite side of Didymus when he heard him speak again. He turned, taking in the new surroundings of where they had to search. He too noted the chill, a reminder of just where his home edged along the periphery of. He asked his grandfather about it once.

‘“Magic, naiadu. Magic runs through the heart of Rozari. Why do you think our fauna bloom so brightly?”’

Then again, his grandfather liked to test his childish gullibility. Who knew why their flowers were so pretty?

Sesario glanced at Didymus as he mumbled, who did look to him to follow along. He wouldn’t have been far behind on following anyway, so he started walking. He heard the fae whispering behind him, teetering close behind his neck. He felt the hairs start to rise on the back of his neck, unsettled by their closeness, but continued on regardless.

Sesario noted that he had no idea what their spear looked like, and how exactly to look for it as they walked. He was looking for anything out of the ordinary as they passed some bushes before Didymus had inevitably asked why he chose to be with him.

“Hector gets tetchy,” as if that wasn’t obvious enough to any of them. “And more so now given how much he knows about you. Thought it was best to keep the two of you separated before he flipped his lid and spilled.” He couldn’t have the atmosphere become more unstable than it already was. Didymus was a flight risk too. Though, Ses had always been one too. Somehow, even with who Didymus was, he pitied that.

Sesario continued to keep an eye out, catching the back of his neck when he felt something brush against it. There was a giggle behind him, but again, he ignored it. “That, and you know an awful lot about this Mist, and what harm it might bring to others.” Reva, without making it so explicit around the fae. “Guess I’m being selfish in choosing you as a partner because I want to know what other interesting things you know.”

~***~

The sudden flash of light and movement to the deadlands was jarring, though, the smell was enough to bring them out of their shock. Cleon himself had also forgotten the smell, clasping his hand over his nose and mouth. He wasn't sure how one could forget such a thing, and yet simultaneously remember it all at once.

Kikiti gagged. Even as Hector raged at the fae, who split as quickly as they came, she tried to catch her breath again. She had none of it to try and calm Hector, unfortunately. A warning would have been very nice, she then thought bitterly. Though, she supposed the state of the land had been mentioned before. Not quite enough, she thought with some annoyance.

Attention turned to the lone tree - the same one Cleon and Hector had come across the night before. At the time it wasn’t questioned, but now, he wondered how this tree could stand alone, away from so many others. Not for long with what Hector was suggesting.

Or rather demanding.

As Cleon’s eyes set upon the tree, just wondering what benefit or demise that could bring them, Kikiti turned to Cleon.

“What about your sword, Cleon?” She suggested. “You could use the…uh…dark wave thingy. It cut through that…” She hummed, unsure. Could it-he have been considered a man still? Or an unfathomable creature? She didn’t want Hector to think they were always so vicious. Before…well.

“You know, that thing when you used it.”

Cleon instinctively looked to the sword on his hip. "But I…" He swallowed, his thoughts turning back to the first time he discovered the blade's power. "I don't…really know how to use it." His hand went to the opposite arm, resting just below where he earned that mysterious wound. It would not be as prominent now, though, he was sure it could just as easily reopen again. Or perhaps he would open a new one.

He looked at Hector, oblivious to what they spoke of, he was sure, and explained, “My sword, it…has this darkness to it. When I swung at this…creature, like Kikiti said, it sent out this dark wave. I don’t really know how it happened. And then it wounded me as if…I don’t know. Like I used it wrong.” Was such a sword meant to be kept out of a mortal’s hands? But it wouldn’t make sense for Asura to give it. Supposedly, if the stories were even true.

Kikiti frowned a little during the exchange. She wouldn’t have asked this of him if she didn’t think it would be useful. Though, watching the hesitance in him, she feared he wouldn’t try it again. What other options did they have?

“Remember I’m still here,” Kikiti reminded him with a smile, glancing at Hector in between her reassurances for some assistance, “so if you’re worried about getting hurt, I’ll be there to patch you up like I always have. Easy-peasy!”

~***~

Cid was far from used to being teleported, even if he had come to expect it. It was disorienting, and only by planting his feet firmly on the ground did he manage not to lose his balance. He was almost envious of the fae’s wild woman, who had already squatted down to inspect a still vibrant flower.

The sooner this was all over, the better, Cid had reasoned.

And with Reva taking charge, it would be. She gave their marching orders, and Cid and Oma fell into their positions without protest. As they walked in step with Reva, her thoughts remained on the spear with her questions on what the spear they were searching for actually looked like were directed to Oma.

Oma pondered for a moment, not on how the spear looked, or where Cucu could have left it, but the words she needed to answer with. “Silver pointy bit. Thorns and flowers wrapped near pointy bit. This big,” Oma tried to indicate the size with her hands. Not quite the size of her fae friends - if anything, it was the size of a spear any human would use.

“But it could be smaller when he used it,” Moss, the faerie they had met on their early excursion, explained. “Magic, and all that. You know, it was made from the spine of a voracious swamp monster he gutted agessss ago!”

“Big,” Oma added, though assumed it had to be a large swamp monster. He crafted it long before any human thought to trespass here.

A boney shaft with lots of thorns and flowers. That shouldn’t have been hard to find. Then again, it hadn’t turned up yet. Cid asked again, “Anything else we need to know about it? How he might have hidden it?”

Oma was silent. Then frowned, thoughtful as she scratched her head. “In tree, rock…ground?” She shrugged. She couldn’t be sure. He wouldn’t just abandon such a valuable spear in plain sight. Otherwise, she would have found it by now.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘Yeah, no shit, I kind of wonder how you stand him.’ Didymus did not say that, which was probably a blessing. He didn’t really need to hear Sesario preach about the good qualities of Hector, because he probably would go off, to defend his tastes in partners, and because, well, Didymus was likely to use anything negative said against him. No doubt about it, really, with the way Hector was acting.

He supposed he did appreciate the logic. He didn’t want to spend another second around Hector.

He was angry that Kikiti did. ‘Well, at least she’ll have him when I leave….’ Sooner than later. “I know a lot of good food recipes,” Didymus said dryly, “and I know how to make a lot of useful bombs. What I don’t know how to make, that the Empire does, is Mist Bombs.” He pointed out, “I was given one when this started out to use against Reva.”

Sure, there were some fairies around, but Didymus was already eying ways out, and not really looking for the spear anymore. It wouldn’t be too hard to escape Sesario, would it? Definitely not. And when he split, he’d be safe from the retribution. He didn’t have Phoenix. When Cleon cleaved him in two, he would just be fucking dead.

His hand anxiously reached for the bracelet anyways, and twisted it around his wrist.

“Maybe the Empire dropped all this Mist here!” One of the fae said, clearly missing the point that Didymus knew this about the Empire, which was fine by him. They probably didn’t even really know what an Empire was. Or what the current one was, for that matter, even if they knew what the term meant.

“I have ideas of how its gathered. I did some poking at it,” not enough to make it explode, obviously, and be wasted. “highly magical which, not a fucking surprise with Lixue in charge of this shit. The Mist itself also responds to magic. Empowers. Mutates it. Lixue’s words – mutates it. And when Lixue says weird shit like that, you listen. He’s Zari’s like…head scientist, and definitely her top advisor.” Should he be casual and say Zari? Absolutely the fuck not. Was he doing it anyways? Apparently. It was somehow…freeing, even if it spoke of all the shackles around him, that wove him to Zariel.

And the amount of fucks he was starting to lose, which was not always a good thing, as they trembled the wind with his increasing desire to flee.

Like a whisper. ‘Run.’ The wind whispered. ‘Run and I’ll carry you. Just decide.’

But it could only tremble with his wavering, bound to Kikiti, bound even to Cleon, afraid of the emotional cleaving. He’d almost rather be cleaved in two by Cleon’s sword over cleaving through Cleon’s heart like that. Kikiti’s. Reva’s.

Hell, even Yarrow, who he hoped was still with the fae. “I didn’t want to find out what that meant. Still don’t. Definitely explains why Mist is in a place like this.”

Magic and Mist had a weird relationship together.

~***~

Apparently, Cleon’s sword was magical. Somehow, this wasn’t a surprise to Hector, although he’d seen no real evidence of it doing things like that, yet. Magical weapons and heirs to kingdoms just…went together, in that storybook way he could accept, considering he was now living in a storybook fantasy where he was a hero chosen by a God.

Only he didn’t have any magical weapons.

Yet? Yet. The ruins whispered in his mind again, and he considered what could be in them, if they were, indeed, for the Zodiacs to uncover.

Now wasn’t the time for such wonderings, though. Now was the time for action, and Cleon didn’t know how to use his sword, so he was useless. Even Kikiti’s promise of healing didn’t seem to be too inspiring, and Hector looked to the fae, which were…quite a ways out. He grumbled a complaint, and looked to Cleon.

“Look, if you can’t do it,” he wouldn’t say won’t, although that’s what he felt, “we can see if one of the fae can burn it down. They’re magical, one of them has got to know a basic fire spell, or they can get someone who does. But before it burns, we should at least search it – and before you cut it down.”

Maybe time to think would be enough for Cleon to get his act together. “So let’s go search around it, in it, and on it,” Hector said, and marched right for the tree, looking for any holes, hollows, or strange things around it.

There wasn’t really anything that stood out as a spear, but Hector’s fingers still found a strange trail along the trunk of the tree. It was less like bark, and more like a spine – as if the tree was some creature pretending to be a tree, with its spine too tight against its false, bark skin. He didn’t think much of it, except to leave his fingers on it, and let his eyes trail upwards along its path, as it seemed to wrap into a branch.

The branch continued that bumpy pattern, though the pattern shifted.

Fossilized plants seemed to rest on the branch, flowering things. ‘Fossilized? Is that the right word?’ Hector frowned, and assumed the spine was also some oddity of a long dead creature who had the misfortune to die against the tree and end up somewhat engulfed by it.

He found a low enough branch to try and climb up into the tree, but he wasn’t exactly a tree-climber. He didn’t get far up before he decided he had done enough, and didn’t see anything at the top of it.

That, and the tree felt…very not sturdy. Brittle.

‘Hollow.’

Through and through.

He hopped off, the branch breaking under him as he did so, and landed roughly with the branch clattering hollow to the ground behind him…and it wasn’t a small branch, either. It should have easily held against that jump-off.

“Yeah…this thing will go up in smoke quick.”

Cleon might not even need to use the magic of the sword to cut through it!

~***~

Magic would indeed make hiding such a thing easier. If it could shift its size, why not its shape, as well? Not to mention, with Mist in place, much could be impacted, and fae were known for illusions and lies. Hiding a spear in plain sight would somehow be easy for them, and that realization bothered her as she looked over the flowers, and wondered if somehow, one of them was a flower upon that spear.

Wondered if some tree root that stuck up from the ground was the point of a spear.

She huffed out an exasperated breath as she recognized the futility of it, her imagination easily considering ways this could be hidden. There were ways to dispel magic, of course. Intricate ways, and quick ways. She knew floors and rooms could be warded to prevent the casting of magic in an area, but those things would not help here, and she did not know how to dispel magic herself.

‘Leviathan, I need your aid.’

But He would.

Leviathan formed as Reva stopped moving, beads of water first appearing in the air, before the large form of the serpentine dragon manifested. The fae who had not already been witness to him gasped in awe – and some fled quickly. “Leviathan, I need you to dispel the magic in the area, and to continue to do so. We must find a spear, and quickly. It may be hidden in plain sight.”

Leviathan did not even question it, and began – only to have a fae rush forward, “No, no, no, no!” it shrieked as the glyph began to appear, “You can’t, you can’t!”

Leviathan hesitated, as Reva canted her head, “Explain.”

“We have so many wards here!”

“They can be reapplied.” Reva said flatly. “Is finding this spear and removing Cucu not of the utmost importance to all of your futures?”

A fae buzzed around, “Our future depends on not being found! If the wards are broken, there is time for humans to get in here and map the ways to us, even with our illusions and magic!” The fae protested.

 

[Arcanist]

Ses scoffed. He should have expected an answer like that. Men never parted with answers easily, not unless there was something in it for them. Diddy did, however, at least part with more knowledge of the Empire’s new toy, one that Diddy had seemed reluctant to use against Reva. Or didn’t find the appropriate time to use it, if he viewed it more objectively.

“I don’t doubt it...” Sesario murmured in response to the fae, but he did not take in their words or their meaning. He watched Didymus’s fingers hook onto his bracelet as he twisted it, eyes on him rather than on looking for the spear. He didn’t believe the spear was there any longer, as much as he would have been hopeful it was.
It would have solved a lot of problems, and that seemed too easy for them right now.

Didymus did at least know a bit about the Mist, through his own discovery. “And definitely explains Cucu’s poor state then.” And definitely explained why it lingered here. Too much magic, and things got a little too fucky. He was surprised the other Fae hadn’t imploded or mutated themselves, though he was sure they ensured some protection for themselves, or Cucu had sacrificed enough of himself to take it in.

They didn’t know enough to say for sure, but that was close enough.

But this Lixue did. He thought back to his conversation with Zariel – Zari, perhaps he’d use that now for his own amusement as Didymus did – and those who she spoke of who were already marked. “Lord Virys.” He did not need to ask it. He didn’t imagine the Empress kept company with any old noble, especially those who did not prove useful to her.

And being marked wasn’t just going to cut it. Not if Lixue was her head scientist, the man whispering in her ear.

Gah, how could Didymus not want to know more? He wanted to know more about the Mist, which he supposed he would soon enough. Sesario always had some craving for knowing things, even if he wasted his time on life's truly mortal pleasantries. The Empire knew things they did not.

But still, something in him said he could not trust them completely. And Diddy was wavering. He needed to convince him to stay, somehow. He wasn’t sure how he would do it.

“You said you never used that bomb against Reva,” Sesario circled back again, looking at Didymus. “I know you can’t now, obviously, but anyone else would have jumped on that chance, especially in your position. What changed your mind?”

~***~

No, he couldn’t do it. Cleon couldn’t do a lot of things lately, bar sulk and wallow in regret. He loathed it, but wanted nothing more than to give into it. But he couldn’t, and he wouldn’t do it here, most certainly not in front of Hector and Kikiti, who were at least trying to push things along and stay positive through it all.

So he muttered a, “Fine,” and followed suit to the tree. Kikiti took one side. He moved to the back of it, brushing aside dirt and gods knew what else while Hector had focused on the other side. A silly idea perhaps, but there was nothing to say that Cucu didn’t bury his precious spear.

Why he thought Fae would bury it baffled even him, but he needed some excuse for what he was doing.

Kikiti had come round from the tree as she heard Hector’s rustling and watched as he broke through what she believed should have been a sturdy branch. She knocked against the bark of the tree. The knock was loud, almost clear, certainly not muffled like knocking against any other tree would be. Appearances really were deceiving. “Yeah, you’re right...thin as walls,” Kikiti hummed, looking around at Cleon to see if he found anything.

Cleon had pulled some of the dirt back with his sword. Downgraded to a spade...though, it seemed sturdy enough to be one, unlike this tree. He pulled it back far enough to notice there was nothing beneath the ground, beneath the tree. “No roots either,” he said. A sorry excuse for a tree. But that was only to look like one. Never to be like one.

He stepped away, looking to the fae who lingered far from them. “Are one of you able to light this on fire for us?”

A few hesitated, the very thought of going anywhere further into the rotting deadlands unimaginable. Before Cleon could ask again, one faerie, with flowers tightly coiled in a braid, appeared from the group, though barely separating themselves from the group. “Me,” she had made that obvious, “I’ll throw something at it. Stand back please!”

Cleon did as he was advised, and Kikiti followed. Once they were all well out of harm’s way, a spark of flame appeared in the fae’s hands, enough to do the job, and she pointed it towards the tree as it sped to it.

And as soon as it connected, the tree was engulfed in not an orange flame, but a bright green one. It seemed to lick greedily at it as fast as it had engulfed it, whatever that tree had been made from clashing with another force entirely.

Before anyone could perceive the flame, the tree had been and gone as if it never was in the first place. The flame still remained, continuing to burn bright, another shape having taken form inside it.

Eventually, after shielding their eyes from the encompassing flame, it died, and among the few ashes, there remained something stuck deep in the ground. Something thorned, the smallest budding flower peeking from its sharp edges.

~***~

Oma glanced back to Reva, who considered the things she explained to her, and looked around her. She was unsure, she recognised the same look on Titania’s face sometimes.

But it wasn’t long before beads of water hung in the air, and Leviathan appeared before them again. Oma had been intimidated the first time, though stood in awe now. Cid hadn’t quite gotten used to the sporadic appearances of the gods, and it was clear in the way he backed off, and quickly.

But Oma could not stand in awe of the serpentine dragon for long. Not when Reva had suggested dispelling all magic in the area. A flurry of protests followed from the fae, naturally, who feared for their home.

Oma feared the same. She had been guiding or running people out of this forest for years now. Scaring them off in one direction with the beasts that roamed the fae’s land and dragging punished sleeping souls who stepped on wards to safe exits. Some simply made the mistake of wandering in, and Oma insisted they never be punished too hard. These were only a few of the things that Oma had done to ensure not only her fae family’s safety, but the sanity and safety of those unfortunate enough – or perhaps malevolent enough – to enter such sacred lands.

Titania would be angry if humans could get in – properly get in.

“Your swamps are falling apart,” Cid was less than patient with them. “There won’t be anything to ward and protect if you keep letting that thing lull around. It’ll kill everything from the inside out.”

“Typical human who knows nothing!” Another fae shrilled, stamping their feet mid-air. “I bet he’s been plotting to pluck off our wings!”

Cid shifted his body, as if to make a point he would do so if they didn’t back off.

Oma clutched at his arm with a growl of, “No, no.” She did not hold on for long as she let go before Cid could shake her off. She curled and uncurled her fists, not looking at anyone, thinking. She didn’t want Cucu here any longer. But she didn’t want to lose her home. She could lose it either way.

But not when she was here.

Oma looked at Leviathan, then Reva, and said, “Do. I keep Swamps safe. Make humans go away.”

There was an outcry from the surrounding fae.

“But you can’t do it by yourself, Oma!”

“They’ll steal and they’ll plunder and the nasty humans will take you away from us!!”

 

[Lucyfer]

“What, you think they’d keep me around if I used it? They’re not that forgiving,” Didymus huffed a laugh as Sesario circled back to the point that he hadn’t used the bomb. No, he hadn’t. There was never a good opportunity, and then there was Kikiti, and Cleon, and there was no way he’d ever manage to take Cleon on in a fight – he’d have to poison Cleon, or catch him asleep, and really, how was he supposed to transport Cleon a long distance?

It got more impractical every minute.

The fact he also liked them didn’t help. He was a thief, not a kidnapper!

“There was never a chance,” he said softly, more to convince himself than Sesario, “The further we got from Ucantis, the further from Imperial outposts, and Cleon can handle his own in a fight – not just against unarmed women.” Unarmed women who came back from the dead with a vengeance.

He was so fucking dead.

Or worse, a toy for Lixue – the longer he stayed, the more likely it was Zariel wouldn’t forgive him for his presence. She could forgive him if he separated sooner, if he had no idea it was going to happen, but the longer he stayed, the more he agreed with it.

“And I…don’t hate them. Or even think they’re wrong, really. This whole situation is fucked.” Something Sesario likely agreed with, considering he tried to resolve it peacefully and failed terribly. “I don’t think anyone’s right here. Or wrong.” That was that indecisive wavering. That terrible part of him that could see it all, and not decide what was best.

“You’re lucky you at least get some guidance from Bahamut. I get fuck all from Garuda.”

~***~

The tree was not a tree. Hector was sure of that, which meant it really could be a clue to where this spear was. Cleon had a good idea, remembering this tree – Hector would give him that, as a fairy volunteered themselves to help light it on fire. Hector also moved away, and watched as the tree was engulfed in the flames. It went up fast.

The flame was bright – and not orange. Hector also shielded his eyes, but still squinted, trying to see through the flames. When it died down enough that he could see, there was something in the ground – a thorny flower. Hector approached it, knelt down as if to study it, not believing this mere flower survived the flames without being something other than what it was.

Or else it was a very magical flower.

He looked back at the fairy who still hovered close, “Is this a native flower?”

She hesitated in flying closer, and swirled around it, “I don’t know it,” she answered. “But it looks familiar.” That was good enough for Hector, and he tried to find a place to wrap his hands around it. The problem was, it really was covered in thorns, and while his hands weren’t large, they were still, well, larger than the job required.

He tried to wrap a few fingers around, but realized his error when he nicked himself on a thorn.

“Kikiti?” she probably had the smallest hands, right? “Can you come look at this? I can’t get my hands around it, but the stem feels sturdy.” Sturdier than the tree, at any rate.

~***~

‘Do. I keep swamps safe. Make humans go away.’

Reva realized that Oma wasn’t told yet. No one told her what her future was, and she felt a pang of guilt as she gave a pausing gesture to Leviathan before approaching Oma. She wasn’t a ‘nasty human’, so perhaps it would be better if she broke it to her.

“Oma, you will not be staying here.” Perhaps these fae didn’t understand, because there was an indignant shriek.

“You can’t take her away! You can’t steal her away!”

Reva leveled her red gaze on the fairy until it fell silent, before looking again at Oma, “You are marked. Like us. I do not know what is ahead, but I know you must leave this world behind, as I had to leave my world behind.” Would she have done so without the mark? She did not know. She was always curious, she always ventured – but her world had been her forest, until the fateful day Leviathan revealed himself to her.

Until she understood, truly understood, the world was larger, and full of mysteries. She had not known what answer she sought in the story of the falling stars and fading constellations, but she had known it would come for her, whether she stayed or not.

And she preferred to leave, to find answers, and protect her home by finding those. That she had to go back, to give them the answers…it troubled her deeply.

“I will leave the wards in place,” although that meant calling forth Leviathan was far less useful, it was her concession – because she knew Oma would not be there to protect the forest, “Leviathan can detect in other ways, help, in other ways. Can’t you?”

The dragon let out a long exhale, but nodded his giant head in agreement.

 

[Arcanist]

No, of course not. Sesario wondered what they would have done to the thief had they found out about his allegiances - or rather, employment. He knew what they would think, though perhaps not what they would have done - but Sesario hadn't been thinking about that. He knew Didymus had to have cared, even just slightly, if he hadn't used that bomb.

Why do people travel with their targets and pretend to be an ally, or risk an entire ship for a scrappy slave they never met if they didn’t care?

Of course, there was the problem of Cleon and Reva being capable of defending themselves. The odds were stacked against Didymus for a long time.

Why Zariel sent him, he didn’t understand. Something to ask, gods forbid, if he ever ended up in front of her again. No doubt they would.

Sesario heaved a sigh, scratching his jaw. Fucked was the word for all of them in this situation. “Tell me about it.” He wasn’t convinced either him or Hector would be safe regardless of who they sided with. He guess he knew where he stood when it came to this Ophiuchus, all the Zodiac. But the Empire left plenty of damage in its wake.

“No, maybe not,” Sesario shrugged. “That’s what makes it hard, and maybe what makes it hard for everyone here too. No one knows what the right answer is in all of this.” And he preferred to run and forget about it most of the time. Maybe that’s why he had some sympathy for Didymus.

Some.

But he was no saint either.

Sesario scoffed, then chuckled at Didymus’s complaint. “Guidance,” he repeated mockingly. “Go here, go there…but beyond that, you’re on your own…” He looked at Diddy again. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be, really. It’s freaky, being a kid and hearing a constant voice in your head after your grandfather dies.” He wasn’t sure he told anyone about when it started. Did he ever tell Zariel? Not that it mattered anyway, right? She had been more than happy just to hear he had Bahamut's voice in his head and be spared the details that didn't fit into the bigger picture.

~***~

Hector was the first to approach the thorned flower that appeared among the ashes. Cleon couldn’t believe the spectacle of it - though, he probably should have, given the fae's magic and illusions. Kikiti had been the first of the two of them to venture toward it, though, gave Hector space to inspect it.

It did not belong here - or so the fairy said - but it certainly was a marvel regardless. The flower did not burn away, but stood untouched and unharmed. It was odd - that, and Cleon never imagined a flower so straight and untouched by the disaster that should have engulfed it.

At Hector’s request, Kikiti nodded, and approached the flower. Her hands were indeed small enough, and her little fingers wrapped around the stem. Only, as soon as she felt the toughness of its surface, she announced, “Definitely not a normal flower stem. It’s tougher. Like…”

“Like…?” A spear, he hoped. Though,, Kikiti struggled to find the word for it.

“Ah, I don’t know,” she tutted. “Let me just…” Since there was little space below the thorns, clasped her other hand over the one that gripped…whatever it was she gripped, and tugged. The effort was clear in her ever-reddening cheeks, the long straining sound she made. She felt it shift up in the ground. Though, she had forgotten to breathe during all this, and so when she couldn’t hold it any longer, paused, panting.

Kikiti still held onto the stem and in regaining her breath noticed what was attached to the thorned flower. It was off-white, coarse looking. It wasn’t quite human, like she was used to seeing but…

“It’s… a bone?” Cleon regarded it with a frown. A bone with thorns and flowers.

“Yeah,” Kikiti confirmed, “not human though.” Obviously. Maybe. Who knows what the fae did with humans they didn’t like. She did not want to know. “Let me try getting more of it out…” She murmured, just about to start the same spiel over again.

“Wait,” Cleon put a hand out. “I don’t want us to risk breaking it - whatever it may be.” He did not want to seem too hopeful, but he desperately wanted to be. “We should try to loosen up some of the ground around it. Else, I’m sure one of the fae here have something they can use to help?”

~***~

Reva’s words landed on her as heavy as a felled tree. It did not register for a moment, not really. And when she really thought about it, she did not understand.

And the protests from her friends did not help Oma understand any better. She felt herself shrinking among the faeries, wondering if she could disappear. Was she not doing as she was always meant to? Staying here, keeping Fenrir safe, until he was ready to go with all the other gods when they came here?

She thought she could stay here, and he could go without her. She tried to piece it together in her head. It hurt her head. Too much to think about.

Even as Reva looked at her again, explaining what it is she must do as a ‘marked’, she felt herself go through the motions. She almost felt tears fill her eyes, but then she scrunched up her nose, just as indignant as she had heard in protest not too long before. She did not like being told what to do - even when Titania told her not to do something, she wanted to do it all the more.

“Fenrir go. I stay,” she resolved, neither a compromise or a request. She looked ready to fight about it on her front, though, felt herself slacken at Cid’s grumble.

“We can argue all you like about this later.” If it meant they had to drag the girl out, he would happily do it for them. “First, we’ll get…Leviathan,” calling him as such in front of the sea dragon put him at a strange unease, “to help with finding this spear, so we can sort out your problem first.”

Oma did not answer. Rather, she sniffed, looking unsatisfied, but begrudgingly compliant. Her home needed help either way.

And Cid knew they couldn’t leave without dealing with it otherwise. Because that hunking Cucu would finish them before they could leave, and the fae…well. They’d be embittered that they never helped them finish the job.

Fucking fae.

 

[Lucyfer]

Hector remained near Kikiti as she strained under the pressure of trying to reveal what was in the ground. He looked for an opening as, little by little, she made progress…but not much. She wasn’t strong. He knew that, and was hoping the thorns would cut off and there’d be a place for his hands. Then he could help.

Cleon had an idea as the bone-stem was revealed, and indeed, did look rather…well, bone-y. ‘I don’t like this.’ He remembered the design in the false tree. Cleon’s idea was good, except that none of them had a spade or a shovel. The only fae nearby was the flame one, and Hector shot her a pointed look.

“Oh!” she huffed, “Can’t you call the Zodiac for this?”

“For a tedious job like this?” Hector shot back, “You’d want to ask Alexander to do this?” He couldn’t summon Alexander. At all. But the look of mortification on the fae’s face at the thought of asking a god to dig out a bone-y thing was evidence enough that this ploy worked, and the fae flew back to chat up the others, eventually bringing one over.

“He can help!” she suggested.

He cracked his tiny knuckles, “Hold onto your butts.” He suggested, and pushed his hands out.

The ground rumbled, and Hector did fall on his butt – but the spear didn’t seem to move at all. “What’s—” the realization it wasn’t him a second later, as a gurgling, liquid-y, roar broke through the deadlands. In the distance, Hector could see a fiend rushing towards, a weapon sticking out of his head, metal jangling on his body – and a wide, broken smile, that was spewing a putrid poison forward.

He got to his feet. “Do fae like lead?” Stupid question, really, as he was already drawing his gun and aiming.

“WHAT? YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!”

“We have to get whatever that is!” Hector decided, took aim – and fired.

“HEY!” Hector screamed at it as he saw it take the hit – and even if it wasn’t iron, there was clearly distaste. The bullet sizzled its way into the large body like acid, which was good enough for Hector.

Hector stepped away from the spear, away from Kikiti and Cleon. “That’s right, I’ll do it again, too!” Give them time to get that thing out of the ground, because Hector didn’t think it was a coincidence that Cúchulainn showed up right then, or that he saw the markings on the tree.

That was the spear, and if they were going to spare this area mist, they had to get it out of the ground and get it to the fae so they could do…whatever it was they were going to do with it. ‘This is a terrible idea.’ Made all the worse by the fact he had the creature’s attention, and it did decide to lumber towards him, because, well, the others would wait, and his little bullets hurt.

Some of the fae began to vanish, and Hector could only hope they were getting the others, because he could not hold onto bravado nearly as long as Sesario.

~***~

‘You do not understand.’ Reva felt sorrow for the girl, truly she did, although Cid had a point. Now was not the time to argue this with her. Now was the time to get back to the search, and let Leviathan help as he could, even if he could not remove the magic barriers out of a sense of terrible empathy that Reva now felt for Oma. ‘Fenrir cannot leave without you.’

Leviathan did help as he could, occasionally phasing into droplets and seeming to spread everywhere, searching as droplets among the ground, the stems, the flowers, the trees, getting into crevices no human could hope to get into, but there was no luck.

No luck at all, and for reasons that soon became obvious as a panicked fae showed up, hair and flowers in a tight braid. “Cúchulainn found them! Cúchulainn found them!” she cried out, “and maybe they found something, I-I-I don’t know!” her voice was shrill with terror, “They wouldn’t leave!”

“Who?” not that it mattered, Reva realized, she would go help if it was Didymus as soon as she would go to Cleon’s aid – but of course, her heart was in her throat at the thought of Cleon. “Take us,” she didn’t need an answer, “Now!”

“A-aah! That’s—that’s—”

“Leviathan!” Reva all but shouted the name at the fae who realized she was before a giant god she’d not yet had the pleasure to lay eyes upon. “NOW!”

A startled squeak left the fae – and then babbling about the rotted tree, the fae managed to use their powers to transport them – including poor Leviathan – some distance from where the tree had stood, but well in sight of the situation, including Hector being run down by Cúchulainn and trying to reload his gun in his panic – and not cough his head off from the poison.

Or fall.

Or dry heave.

Or stop.

~***~

‘I bet Cleon thinks he knows the right answer. And Zariel.’ That was so much the problem, wasn’t it? Why did Zodiacs have to pick royalty? Royalty was a pain in the ass. Didn’t they know that? ‘Well, they’re probably pains in the asses, too, being gods.’ It sounded like it, from the way Sesario spoke of his so-called guidance, that wasn’t really that. It had just been a weird voice that showed up one day, and didn’t leave him alone.

Didymus still would have taken that voice over nothing.

Something to tell him what to do – go to Zariel, stay with Cleon?

“Yeah. That part probably sucked.” He wondered if Sesario’s grandfather had held Bahamut previously. Yet, didn’t it happen at birth? Didymus didn’t know for sure, but that’s how it seemed to be from what little he had gathered. He was born with his mark. He knew Zariel was born with hers – it was practically a celebration that she had it, after all.

“I guess it’s not telling you where to go now, huh? To the Empire, or with the King of Fuckall.” That was rude, but it was also true at this point, and Didymus groaned, “I don’t mean that,” well, he did, but also, he didn’t, “I’m just….” Angry. Frustrated. Uncertain. “I don’t even know.” He could almost hear something sighing in the wind.

Himself, perhaps, although he hadn’t.

He felt like just giving up.

They weren’t even really looking for the spear at this point anymore, were they. “What would you do?”

He was destined not to get an answer to that, it seemed.

A fae popped up, not from their group. “Cúchulainn’s back! He’s back where the weird tree was, that’s not a tree anymore!”

The other fae came buzzing around, “What?”

“Oh no.”

“The others, did you get them out?”

“They won’t go!” the fae moaned, “they found something in the tree.”

“Probably the spear, you dingbats.” Didymus huffed. No wonder the fae hadn’t found it.

“Oh.”

As if it just realized it.

“Then we need you all to go there and help! We have to get the spear!”

“Wai—” Didymus didn’t get to complete that – then.

The fae gave them no option, and it was the last straw as Didymus found himself suddenly in the stinking deadlands, the fight raging ahead of him, and the word, “NO!” burst out of him with a gust of wind that was far from natural, full of frustration, full of being ignored – and for once, finally, full of decision.

It knocked fae over in the air or to the ground.

It knocked into Cúchulainn and caused him to stumble, even as Hector was thrown face-first into the muck.

Didymus felt arms wrap around his neck, and he was pulled backwards – but into nothing. When he looked up, he was looking into a face that looked eerily familiar, but tinted green, and a wide, toothy grin on her lips as she stared down at him – because she was upside down in the air, wings keeping her aloft.

Garuda of the Zodiac had arrived, feathery hair in pigtails, looking mischevious as sin -- a look that didn't need the help of her unclothed status, but certainly received it. And people thought Shiva was indecent (not that a goddess could ever be indecent)!

“That’s all you had to say, you know.” Garuda giggled, as if Didymus hadn’t said no a thousand times in his life and been ignored or overridden.

It was different this time.

 

[Arcanist]

A Zodiac to help them. Even if they had any between them, Kikiti almost laughed at the idea. Hector was right - such a thing would have been below them. Fortunately for them, there was a faerie for everything, and one was willing to help pull this thing out of the ground for them. The sooner it was free, the sooner they could seal Cucu!

The ground shook with Hector falling over himself, and Cleon just managed to catch himself on his knees, while Kikiti wobbled on her feet. Fae did not make the earth tremble as powerful as that, did they?

They did not. Giant, black-eyed smiling fiends, however, did.

Both looked up at the sound of a gurgling roar, though, Cleon quickly rose, fumbling for his weapon as the creature charged toward them. Kikiti had never seen something so vile looking before in her life, and the fear of it rendered her motionless.

Hector had taken the lead with distracting it. The bang that erupted from - agh, what did he call it again? - brought Kikiti out of her stupor.

“Kikiti, no time to waste!”

She heard Cleon shout to her and looked at him.

“Help me pull this out of the ground!” He watched her hesitate, her eyes anxiously fluttering back and forward to the disgruntled Cúchulainn and Hector, but her hands went for the top of the spear as Cleon’s went to the bottom. They both started pulling, the spear starting to shift from under the ground. It had been as if something tried to grip onto it to hold it there, refusing to budge as the two pulled at it.

Cleon watched Cucu dash out of the corner of his eye. He did not want to leave Hector to be the distraction, but Kikiti could not pull out this spear alone, and the fae had disappeared. “Hang on, Hector,” he whispered, but felt something scratching, burning in his throat, and he coughed into his arm. He would not stop on account of it.

~***~

Even as they continued the search for the spear, with Leviathan weaving as droplets among the wildlife here. Oma had followed, or rather, stamped along, unhappy and confused. The looks that Reva and Cid gave Oma troubled her deeply. She didn’t understand. Titania said she kept her safe here so that she could keep Fenrir safe. She never said anything about leaving. Would they really drag her away from her home?

Another fae, not of their group, arrived to inform them that Cúchulainn had descended upon the other. Oma now had something else to be wholly unhappy about instead, and welcomed it.

It seemed Reva and Cid did too, but responded with much more urgency. Cid wondered what the hell they were waiting for then in that regard, though Reva's demands quickly had them brought to the scene of an ongoing battle. A battle that was being lost by Sesario’s boy. He clocked Cleon and the small girl pulling something out of the ground with extreme effort. The spear, no doubt, if they were risking their lives being out in the middle of it all for it.

He looked to Reva, grabbing one of his two blades, “They’re trying to get that ruddy spear out of the ground,” Cid was sure that was obvious, but regardless, as he started moving, he declared. “we need to keep that thing away from them and that spear!”

Reva had Leviathan, and even if Cid only had his blades and his wit, surely it was enough to protect them. They had no choice - it had to be enough.

“Cucu,” Oma growled meanwhile, the sight of him enough to anger her. She did not sprint toward Cucu head-first, but rather, she let out a high-pitched shriek instead, almost as if it were some sort of battle-cry. It took a moment, but as she started moving, she was joined by two Iguions, scaled-iguana creatures with large fins standing up on the backs of their long bodies. Nothing in their body language indicated they recognised her as an enemy - rather, an ally. She had issued a command - one to head for Cúchulainn, the other to take a defensive stance alongside some of the others. Neither hesitated as one started heading towards him, and the other would follow those who would get on the front lines.

~***~

Probably sucked was an understatement. He thought he was crazy, maybe hearing his grandfather speak to him. Bahamut was an asshole, never explaining who he was. But somehow, he became a comfort, a constant in his life. He got used to it.

And Didymus was right. It wasn’t telling him what to do, and as much as he was never told specifics, it pointed him in all sorts of directions that would help. It pointed neither to Zariel or…the King of Fuckall. Cleon. He looked at Didymus, who backtracked. “It was a good one, but…” The timing wasn’t great. Would it ever be? He really didn’t have anything at this point. Neither did he, bar Hector, but he coped much better with it. Knowing Hector was around was enough. He wasn’t sure what he’d do without him…

What would he do?

Diddy’s question should not have been difficult to answer. He would do what Hector wanted to. He would pick Hector up and run, so they wouldn’t have to deal with it at all. He would go to Zariel, grovel - they didn’t know Cleon would do what he did. Yet, Sesario couldn’t stomach betraying him like that. He didn’t know him. He’d done plenty worse to strangers, so why not this one too? Pity? A weird Zodiac connection? Something else.

‘Why, Bahamut? Why do I feel tied to him? To all of them?’

In his introspection, Sesario opened his mouth to finally answer, only for another to take his place. Cúchulainn had returned, and Didymus pried from the oblivious fae that their group there stayed for the spear that they might have found.

But he had not been focused on that or Didymus’s sudden hesitance. Dread came down like a dark curtain on Sesario’s face. “Hector!” He breathed, hand already reaching to the Highwind at his back. It was him that went with Cleon and Kikiti. Stupid, stupid! He should have never partnered with Didymus. He should have been with him!

His blood boiled the longer the faeries stood prattling, oblivious to what should have been done. He was about to demand that they take them to him this very instant, until there was another flash of light. The smell of the deadlands hit Sesario hard, and he almost recoiled at the sudden permeance of it, but had little time to comprehend it.

He was about to start running, until a gust of wind - no, more like a tornado rushed past him after an adamant cry of refusal. It did not discriminate towards those who got in its way. It sent fae off-balance, almost swept Cleon and Kikiti off their feet - had the latter not spotted it and grabbed Kikiti before booking it out of the way - and it stumbled into Cúchulainn.

Heads turned and gazes of those who were still up were thrown back to the source of the whirlwind, to find Didymus being lifted by some green entity.

Gemini. Garuda. Another Zodiac! This was good! The fae who came to eventually noticed, and they gave their cries and cheers of joy.

In the midst of this reveal, Cleon’s eyes just managed to pry away from Garuda, remembering the spear. It had been pulled from the ground, no thanks to the gust of wind, lying a short distance from where it had been planted. They would have to thank her later for that. “The spear! Kikiti, stay put,” Cleon told her, quickly getting to his feet to head for it. She had no qualms there - she was busy staring at Didymus and his Zodiac.

Things would be easier. So much easier!

Sesario wondered: was anyone noticing that Garuda looked like they were wearing nothing? Gah, there was no time for that! He needed to find Hector. He scanned the area, weapon in hand, trying to ignore the smell and everything else going on around him, until he found him, face-first in the mud.

“HECTOR!” He shouted, already sprinting towards the boy. He was fine. He couldn’t assume the worst. He was a strong kid, sometimes even stronger than him.

Cucu was being attacked on all sides. Needless to say, he once again, didn’t appreciate being thrown off balance. With another gurgling roar, he advanced, his fury now targeted towards Didymus and Garuda.

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus wasn’t sure if he should be furious or relieved when Garuda appeared, and settled for laughing, even as the fairy fiend came rushing towards them. He wasn’t worried. He knew what was happening and for once he had control over it!

The latent fury seeped out in tears through the laughs, as Garuda made herself right side up and wrapped her arms around Didymus’s chest, under his shoulders. “Ready?”

Didymus couldn’t find words, but he nodded, blinking at the moisture in his eyes, and the burning poison, before Garuda shot straight up into the sky. He had one moment to look at the others. One moment to reconsider, but he saw Sesario and Hector, not Kikiti, and hardened himself against the decision. “Head to Ucantis, Garuda.” Perhaps he should have gone to Rozari, but Ucantis was likely where Zariel would head back to herself, and he figured if he beat her there, that might be good for him? Maybe?

It didn’t matter now, as the sounds of Cucu’s rage faded to the background, and the cold wind stung at his face as they flew high. Breathing, somehow, wasn’t difficult, though. Garuda had no trouble with his weight. He felt no risk of being dropped, and so, he watched the forest vanish. He watched Rozari vanish. He watched his task vanish.

Everything he had with them couldn’t vanish, and the guilt tried to drag him back to the ground, but he ignored it as the world zipped by beneath him. ‘I’m sorry, but….’ what followed a ‘but’ other than ‘you were all fucking wrong?’

~***~

Things were not going to be easier. Hector was spared the full wrath of Cúchulainn falling upon him when he fell, and came up from the water hacking up a lung. The poison shivered through him, and his body convulsed even as he tried to straighten up and still himself. It wasn’t working out great. His eyes burned, too.

Everything hurt, and his eyes landed on the center of attention just as it vanished. Just as Sesario reached him, and he convulsed again and put a hand against his lips to try and stop the nausea that threatened, on top of the pain of the poison.

“Urk.”

He wasn’t going to be very convincing about being okay like this, but at least he swallowed back the sick and didn’t get it on his hand as he winced and looked at Sesario. “Fucking late.” As if it was his fault.

Cúchulainn let out a shriek of absolute rage as Garuda didn’t come back down to fight, nor return with Didymus. “Aaaand he left us.” Of course he did. Hector didn’t believe he’d run off to get help, or create some kind of helpful distraction. He didn’t have that kind of faith in Didymus.

Smearing Didymus’s name apparently didn’t agree any better with the poison as he felt the nausea rise again and he quickly turned away from Sesario and pressed his hand firmly to his lips once more in that futile battle. Fuck, he needed an antidote.

Some ways aways, the group that had gone after Cúchulainn caught up with him. Reva saw that Cleon was safe, and went to help Didymus as the fiend charged, only for Didymus to rise up into the air and…leave.

Reva felt a pang of hurt as Cúchulainn’s scream all but confirmed it, as well as a roiling anger. She considered sending Leviathan after him, or to at least follow…to make sure it wasn’t a betrayal. Maybe it wasn’t? Maybe he had just gone to get…help?

Reva wasn’t that much of an idiot, and the poison wasn’t the only thing causing her eyes to water as Leviathan wrapped around Cúchulainn to hold the monstrous fiend in place. She leapt into the air and landed atop Cúchulainn’s head, thrust her spear down, and tried to rip it out and through his skull. All of that was successful, but Cúchulainn barely seemed to notice. He wiggled a bit to get out of Leviathan’s grip, as Oma, the iguion, and Cid caught up, but seemed more annoyed than hurt.

Which turned out to be fairly true and not an act, as Cúchulainn turned his attention to Leviathan, and bit the serpent.

The poison could be seen immediately in his watery body, and Leviathan disentangled himself immediately, only to have his tail caught in the uneven and broken teeth of the fiend. With a sharp turn of his head, Cúchulainn slammed Leviathan into the murky ground, and Leviathan dissolved into water droplets.

When he reformed, he was blackened by the poison, and twisting in agony.

 

[Arcanist]

In all the chaos of the moment, while using Cúchulainn’s fury and Garuda’s appearance as a distraction, Cleon grabbed the spear that had been pulled from the ground. Even as he ran for the group of fae who kept well away, he felt a dull ache start to spread along his limbs, eyes watering both in an attempt to keep his coughing down and because of the poison that now spread among them all.

He reached the faeries, dropping the spear in front of them. “Do it,” he ordered in haste, “whatever it is you need to do to seal Cucu, do it now!”

There were no snide remarks about Cleon’s demanding. The faeries huddled around the spear and began preparing their magicks to seal Cucu, muttering and speaking in low incantations Cleon wouldn’t have been able to make sense of if he tried.

Cleon turned, sword now in hand, ready to join the fight, even if the rest of his body did not feel the same. He looked for Didymus and Garuda. He figured the two would have been well embroiled in the fight by now and yet neither were nowhere to be seen. He looked up, for Garuda was one of the few masters of flight of the Zodiac, only to find two bodies floating further and further away from the scene.

He was beset by a wave of confusion, at first, before his chest tightened and stung at the pain of betrayal, the fury that he would abandon them right now, like this.

“Diddy? Diddy!”

Cleon looked to Kikiti, who stood shouting and waving up at him as if he would see her frantically willing him to return. His heart wrenched further and the fury cut at him deeper. He went to her as she dropped her arms, defeated. Seeing the forlorn face on Cleon had not helped her hopes.

But still, she would try to hope. Someone here still had to. “He’s coming back, right?” Kikiti insisted, water welling in her eyes. “He’ll come back. He’ll come back to help us!”

But she knew, and Cleon knew too, that shred of hope had been carried away on the wind with him. He got down onto his knees and wiped the tears that fell as Cleon did not affirm her hopes. He wanted to cry with her, though didn’t want to shed tears over a friend who had abandoned them both. Him, and Reva, and all the others he could understand. But Kikiti? He thought he at least cared about her the most.

“You can help us, Kiki,” Cleon held her by the shoulders, convincing her, himself, that they didn’t need Didymus, “you have your magic. I need you to use it to get rid of the poison in all of us, or at least, enough to buy us some time. Can you do that?”

Kikiti’s shoulders shook - at the growing infection or the clear upset, neither was sure. But she nodded. “I-I have ant-antidotes too,” she told him in choked sobs, reaching in a smaller bag she had made to hold items such as bottles. She gave him some - enough for him and a few others, but not enough for all of them. “I’ll…go help He-Hector,” she told Cleon as he let go of her, turned, and started running as best she could in the state she was in.

Cleon pocketed the antidotes, leaving one for himself to drink as he moved toward those fighting directly with Cucu. ‘We don’t need you,’ he thought bitterly, before pulling the top off the antidote and taking a swig.

As Sesario reached Hector, he watched as his partner battled with the poison that tried to overtake him. He didn’t know what to do and it scared him. He always prioritised his safety, and to see Hector hurting like he did...Sesario had to wonder when he got so afraid.

Hector’s nature hadn’t changed though. He was still there, somewhat, if he could make the comments that he did. “Yeah, I know,” Sesario admitted, even if not all of this was his fault, “and I’m sorry. I’m real sorry, kid.”

That apology could wait. He too watched as Garuda made off with Didymus - or rather, the other way around - and he clenched his fist. “Fuck.” He knew better that he would run. He was only sorry that he wasn’t able to convince him otherwise to stay. To run in the middle of a fight…it was the perfect time to do it.

Hector turned again at another wave of nausea, and even Sesario felt something start to prickle and burn at his throat. Fuck. He didn’t even have any antidotes on him that could help.

Sesario turned at the sound of running and heavy panting.

“I’m here,” Kikiti breathed heavily. Her eyes were red and puffy, and if anything, she looked ready to drop. But she walked over to Hector, placing her hands on him, a pink glow emanating from her palms. She swayed a little while healing Hector, though, managed to steady herself enough to look at Sesario. “Are you okay?”

“Are you okay?” He asked back.

Kikiti hummed - or groaned - her answer. “I’m just trying to help with the poison,” she told him. “I have some magic that can help, but…” She wasn’t sure if it could hold off completely against the poison. It was strong, and even then she felt sweat start to gather in her palms. “If you need it too…”

Sesario shook his head. “I’m okay.” For now. He adjusted the lance in his hand. “You focus on Diddy and yourself first. I’m gonna go teach that ugly bastard a lesson.” He proclaimed, running to meet with the others.

By the time the cavalry arrived in the form of both Sesario and Cleon, Leviathan had reappeared as a blackened serpent.

“That’s no good,” Sesario pointed out the obvious.

And Cid pointed out Sesario’s obvious remark. “Yeah, no shit! Cleon,” grabbing the attention of the young man, he ordered, “you and me, we go for the heels and bring this thing on its knees.”

Cleon nodded, preparing himself with his blades alongside Cid.

The iguion with Oma launched and managed to bite and latched onto Cucu’s hand before it could go to swat at Reva on its head, and once again, he gurgled a roar in annoyance, at first, flailing his hand to get the beast off him. The iguion was stubborn enough to hold on, thinking that its bite was enough to start a means of petrifying the hand, but its body convulsed as it instead began to ingest whatever poison Cucu held within him. It was not long before he grabbed the iguion, its grip faltering, and chucked it against an already dying tree.

In the process of this, all others advanced on him. Oma, and the other iguion that lingered nearby, jumped on Cucu’s arm, scratching and digging into him, yelling through the sting of infection.

“Here I go then!” Sesario called before he leaped into the air - those leg braces Hector made, they never got old! - before taking his spear and launching himself down with it into the back of Cucu’s neck, driving it as deep as he could as the creature roared once again.

It left Cleon and Cid to take their blades to slash at his heels…only to see him sway a little before launching himself backwards with a watery laugh. The two barely managed to get away from the impact, but the sheer force sent a rumble across the ground and they stumbled to the ground.

Sesario had to abandon the lance as he manourved himself to the front of Cucu at his shoulder, avoiding being flattened. The lance had gone through Cucu’s neck, but it didn’t seem to perturb him at all. Oma held on tightly to his arm as he fell, and even as they landed, continued throwing blows at Cucu. But she slowed and laboured in her attempts. Even Sesario began to feel nauseous, water streaming from his eyes as he tried to reach for his lance.

 

[Lucyfer]

Hector also looked as he heard the sound of running, as he regrouped himself, and internally winced as he saw it was Kikiti. Sure, she was there to help, but even like this, he didn’t want to need that help. It was still a relief when the poison faded from his body. It didn’t heal the damage done by it, but it was a temporary relief.

Temporary, he knew, because the effects would wane, whereas the poison was strong.

His nostrils still burnt with each inhale and the threat of taking in the poison again. Sesario denied being helped, “Hey—” but off he was running to join the fray, “Idiot.” But Hector forced himself to his feet, a hand moving over his chest as it still hurt to breath, and his own fury at the situation wasn’t helping. Kikiti had to be doing worse. “Take care of yourself Kikiti…then we can find ways to help the others. I’ll cover you so you can heal, or do what you need to do, okay? I promise, I won’t be running off.”

He could fight at a distance with his gun, so he didn’t need to go running into the fray like the others, and Kikiti had magic. He didn’t know if she’d need to touch people to heal them, but he’d make sure she could, so they could keep going and bring down Cúchulainn.

Although it wasn’t looking good.

"Can you heal a god?" Probably a strange question, but Leviathan was not looking good.



Reva fought to stabilize herself on Cúchulainn’s head while feeling fear flutter in her chest at the sight of Leviathan, poisoned. ‘A god.’ She did not think that was possible, despite knowing Phoenix had died. Leviathan shuddered and shimmered, poison and water battling for dominance in his translucent body, and Reva thought to send him back, but knew they still needed him.

‘I am sorry.’

The iguion was tossed off.

Sesario joined her on the upper part of Cúchulainn’s body.

Cleon and Cid did their best to take him down…only for Cúchulainn to go down of his own free will.

Reva leapt up, but did not go away. She came back down with her own naginata and pushed it not through Cúchulainn’s hard skull, but through his soft eye. That finally caused a reaction from the fiend and it jolted upwards and tried to swat at her, though one hand was hindered by Oma and the iguion. Reva jumped back from the one hand it had to swipe, and lifted her free hand up to form several icicles out of the poisonous water to hurl at his other eye.

Leviathan, reading her intention, aided in his way – a burst of water spewed from his mouth as he swirled himself up into the sky and he let it slam down on Cúchulainn’s gut to keep him pinned down for a moment or two so he wouldn’t get out of range too quickly of Reva’s blinding tactic.

He couldn’t hold it long, sadly.

The poison that moved through him caused substantial enough pain to break his own focus on that.

 

[Arcanist]

Kikiti watched Hector gain some relief, though she was unsure for how long that would last. It would buy them some time, which was better than none at all. Enough to get them through this fight and for the faeries to do what was needed. What was taking them so long?

Hector rose to his feet. Kikiti was not as quick to do so, trying to catch a breath. In between the tears, the running, the healing, it got harder to stop the world from blurring around her. She managed to lift her head to Hector, barely catching the instruction he was giving her. She clutched at her skirt when he reassured her he would not be leaving her, or any of them, behind. She swallowed back a sob, or perhaps the scratch in her throat, she would use as an excuse.

Kikiti would not mourn a loss when people needed her, when she needed to help herself. Didymus would not help her here. “Thank you, Hector,” she nodded, trying to avoid her emotions getting the better of her. Later, when this was all done. She took both her hands, that same pink glow moving from her hands to her chest. Kikiti felt the weight lift from her chest. She did whisper, a green glow moving into her, but only a little to keep her going. She needed every bit of magic she could muster.

She wasn’t completely cured, of course, it would only ease the effects in all this poison around them, but it would be enough to do what she had to.

Kikiti eventually got onto her feet, seeing the fight that happened ahead. Leviathan’s appearance had changed from what she was used to seeing - a dark ooze spreading across his body. Kikiti frowned.

“Maybe. I don’t know,” she murmured. She gripped her staff. “But I can try. I just need to get close enough to him!” Kikiti declared, already starting in the direction of the fight.



Reva was a force to contend with. Sesario was glad she was at least on their side, though, her leaps and attacks made for a bumpy ride as Cucu jolted up. Sesario drove his lance into his shoulder for some stability, though it hadn’t been enough to draw attention from the blinding, but enough for him to hold on and stay on.

Leviathan’s spiral of water was enough to keep Cúchulainn pinned down, if only for a moment, before the poison was too much to ignore. The icicles met their mark, driving deep into the other eye, but even then, the creature wouldn’t admit defeat. It rose and blindly reached out towards Leviathan, grabbing his serpentine body, and flailing it on the ground and all around him in another fit of rage.

“Just give in already, would ya?!” Sesario shouted, dragging the lance still embedded in Cucu’s shoulder. It still wasn’t enough to stop the serpentine being used as a whip.

Cleon and Cid attempted to get in closer, Leviathan an obstacle to their goal each time he landed against the ground. They got to his legs again, slashing at his heels to try and send him to his knees. One of Cúchulainn’s legs jerked backwards in response, striking Cid and throwing his body away from them.

“Cid!” Cleon shouted, watching the man struggle to lift himself off the ground. Though, he had to avoid the turning Cucu, still flailing.

Though Oma and the iguion had done their best to keep Cucu’s hand immobilised and used what strength they had, it wouldn’t be enough. Oma was forced to let go with the poison that burned through her veins and the iguion followed not long behind her. She struggled onto her knees, barely managing to keep her head up as she watched the iguion be crushed under the weight of Leviathan.

 

[Lucyfer]

“LEVIATHAN!” Reva couldn’t help but cry out as he was being used like a whip, a god of all things, at the mercy of this abomination! She felt a feral rage building up in her that had nothing at all to do with Mist, and everything to do with what was happening to Leviathan, as the others gave it their best to put Cúchulainn down for good.

Thankfully, this was no berserker’s rage as she rushed back in, jumping clear of the whip and landing back upon Cúchulainn’s head. It felt her there, of course, and with its other hand now free it did reach up to try and grab her. She leapt up and he slapped his head, Reva coming right back down to pin his hand to his head with her naginata, thrusting it in deep, and pushing deeper.

Leviathan came up as a whip as Cúchulainn seemed to frenzy now that its hand was stuck, and pulling at it caused more pain. Reva was hit by that, and as she was knocked into the murky water, Leviathan finally faded out, unable to hold form anymore, too injured and too poisoned. Reva struggled to get back up. ‘Leviathan?’ but his presence was weak, as if he’d fallen unconscious, or to sleep.

She’d never lost that connection before, and it caused her to pause on her hands and knees in the water, a terrible fear running through her. Was he dead? She knew they could die. Could he die, bonded to her? Nothing suggested that was impossible to her, yet it felt like it should be.



Hector and Kikiti had made it closer, but they were not in time to save Leviathan, before he just…exploded into water on hitting Reva. Droplets of poisoned water fell everywhere around, and Cúchulainn raged that his whip was gone, but began to struggle with his other problem.

Reva stayed down, though. Mostly. “Help her,” Hector urged, considering she’d likely been the most help. Sure, Sesario was evidently helping out and doing well, but she’d blinded the thing twice! Hector could, in fact, let go of his bias and accept Reva had been managing the fight well.

And now that it was blind….

Hector cocked his gun, and let off a shot at the fiend, hoping it’d draw the attention away from the group, and still avoid it. There was a lot of noise and chaos, after all, certainly moving through the muck wouldn’t be a discernable noise.

If it was, he’d just make sure to run the opposite direction of Kikiti.

Again.

 

[Arcanist]

To watch Leviathan be thrown around was unthinkable. Kikiti only regretted that she could not reach them in time to help. But she could still help. Kikiti did not need to be told twice, not even once by Hector to aid Reva. She ran to her, the water that came from Leviathan soaking her hair.

As she stood by Reva, her stomach lurched at the thought of her pausing, looking so fearful. She hadn’t seen her look so vulnerable since the night Ucantis fell and Queen Inara died.

And she realised Leviathan had not reappeared after that water rained around them.

Kikiti put her hands out. “Hold on, Reva. It’s going to be okay.” Her voice wavered, but she had to say it nonetheless. Another green glow from her hands came as she tried to soothe Reva’s pains. But she was already feeling the familiar ache of the poison return and so soon after she had cured it.

She urged herself to hold on too, just that little longer.

By the time Cleon reached Cid, he was hunched over in a coughing fit. Cleon fished for one of the antidotes Kikiti provided while Cid glanced at the faeries gathered around the spear, still conducting their magic. "The hell is taking them so long?" Water ran from the corners of his eyes. He snatched the antidote offered by Cleon and gulped it.

Cleon looked at the faeries. He wasn’t sure how long rituals like these were meant to take. But it had felt like an eternity already. Once Cid finished off the antidote, Cleon helped him to his feet. When he glanced around him, fear gripped him when he found Leviathan had disappeared, that Reva was on the ground with Kikiti. “He’s…he’s gone.”

“We gotta keep going,” Cid grabbed his shoulder, to snap him out of it or more likely for support. “We’ll buy time. We have to.” He told him before he pushed himself off him, pushing through the ache and pain he felt to get back into the fray, with Cleon having little choice but to follow behind.

Hector’s gunshot echoed long after it was fired. As Cucu spun towards the sound, the bullet hit what was Cucu’s jaw, melding into his flesh. Not enough to hurt him, but enough to irritate him. He moved away from where Reva and Kikiti had been and blindly threw a fist in the direction he thought the gunshot came from, though his aim was wide, and hit the ground instead.

Cid launched himself at Cucu when he was down with his fist in the ground, embedding both blades into his back. The creature roared, trying to shake him off his back. Cleon, in his desperation, hacked at one of Cucu’s heels once again.

Oma, bloodied and battered as she was, ran at Cucu’s other leg. It was a meagre attempt at trying to climb him, to get to the top of him, but she was weak, and climbing proved much more difficult than she was used to. Cucu grabbed her, much quicker than she could avoid, and chucked her into the murky waters below.

This time, Oma did not move.

Between all this distraction, trying to free his hand that was stuck from his head, Sesario’s lance skewered through Cucu’s neck, sending him off-balance. Having lept off him in his previous frenzy, and landing on one of few remaining tree branches, the sky pirate launched his weapon before the poison inhibited him even further. He could not keep the bile down any longer, gagging off the side of the branch.

Cúchulainn’s patience wore thin. Something within him rumbled, making his body jiggle and the ground beneath him tremble.

Cleon paled. If he shouted a warning, it was drowned out by the incoming eruption of poison in a wide area around them.

The poison burned down to their very bones. Cid could no longer hold onto his blades and dropped to the ground, writhing. Sesario could not keep upright on the branch and he too fell below, barely conscious and hacking in the waters. Kikiti had been too close to avoid the burst of poison, and was brought to her hands and knees, shaking and groaning.

Cleon had been knocked onto his back, eyes filled with tears, gagging, trembling with the pain that started to seize him. He still tried to fight it, desperate to get back onto his feet. He rolled in the water, trying to prop himself up with his sword. ‘Not like this, not like this!’

 

[Lucyfer]

Reva reached out her hands to Kikiti as the healing began, shaken, but trying to get over it. The reprieve was good, and she was able to clamber back to her feet in the muck as the others continued the fight, keeping Cúchulainn’s attention from her for enough time. At least, that’s how it seemed.

Reva saw Oma get thrown and go under, “Kikiti, to Oma—” but as it was said, there was a terrible rumbling, and then, poison – poison everywhere. Not that it wasn’t everywhere before, but the potency burned as it went down Reva’s lungs and sent her into a hacking fit, dropping her to her knees again.

Blood stained the water, her hands, as she covered the coughs.

‘No, I cannot….’ She used her own naginata to stand, for Kikiit was down. Cleon was down. Cid, Sesario, Oma – down. Hector was the only one standing, some distance off, and he looked terrified, torn between decisions. Reva could empathize, but she had no time to think of him. Her duty to Cleon came first, and although she could not heal him, she could make noise, and she could try to fight.

“CU—!” sputtering cough, more blood, and Reva staggered in the water as she stepped backwards, wary of where Kikiti was, wary of drawing it away from Kikiti. Cúchulainn turned at the sound, and to her own surprise, Hector let out a shot just as it did, turning the fiend again almost as quickly.

It reacted in a flailing rampage, unsure where to go to hit anyone, or anything. Reva was still too close, and not slunk into the water. Its fist cuffed her side as it swung, and knocked her into the water.

This time, she didn’t get up.

Leaving Hector with his gun, and an understanding he still, somehow, had to buy time. ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’ Did it matter if he bought time if everyone died? Fury erupted in him: ”I KNOW YOU HAVE A FUCKTON OF MAGICAL POWER, YOU COULD HELP A BIT FUCKING MORE!” Of course his shout reached Cúchulainn, and of course, Cúchulainn came running for him – and like the petty, scared boy he was, he ran for the fairies and their ritual, because they were going to do something to save his friends or he would make them deal with it while he figured out a way to save his friends when the fairy had to fight.

He'd just…have to get around Cucu, get Kikiti’s back, rouse her enough, heal everyone, and run!

Something like that.

 

[Arcanist]

Cleon came to with a start in the murk, a ringing from a shot and shouting pulsing in his ears. He jerked his head to the side, unable to stop himself from being sick and spluttering into the water. His throat burned hotter than a furnace, the ache in him turning to a searing pain pulsing through his body. He had not felt so ill since he was a child - but he wished for fever over this poison that overtook him.

Cleon spread his feeble arms out, searching. He tasted iron as blood streamed from his nose into his mouth, which only made him retch more. But even so, he groped the ground, searching for Cid. Even as his hand grabbed flesh, something human, no shaking or squeezing roused the man beside him.

This couldn’t have been happening. He lifted his heavy head, searching for anyone on their feet, someone who could help. He tried to count those who lay on the ground, unmoving. ‘Reva.’ He could not call for her, but only coughed as he looked for her, desperate to find her.

He spotted the whites of her ears. He froze when he realised she wasn’t moving. Cleon trembled, his head dropping to the water. Even she couldn’t face up to this creature. He could not protect her, or any of them. Expecting himself to well up and weep, he felt something roil inside of him. Not the poison, but something ugly and furious, something that gave him enough strength to get him to move. His hand jerked up, fingers brushing through the water before they brushed off the hilt of his sword, and he grabbed it.

‘Get up.’

Cleon stumbled with as much grace as a deer making its first steps, even with Severance to aid him. But he continued to order his body off the ground.

‘UP! STAND UP!’

Even as legs screamed with every step, he pressed on, eyes wild with fury as he searched for Cúchulainn. He caught glimpses of each fallen comrade - Oma, Sesario, Kikiti, Cid, Reva - only stoking a larger fire under his feet to keep him moving forward. His head whirled to the sound of shouting, despite being unable to pick apart the words. He realised those were Hector's words, his voice, and he dragged himself and Cucu along towards the faeries who still struggled to complete their ritual.

Cleon dragged himself along. He couldn’t fail Hector too. Not like he did in his fighting before, his failure in protecting the others. He dragged his sword alongside him in the water, a dark purple nebulous coating the blade as the desire to defend the last-standing comrade, to cut down this creature, festered.

The faeries shrieked at Hector's shouting and the incoming barreling of Cucu. There was little time to think of what else they could do as they all chose to try and fly out of range. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!" The fairy with the flowering, braided hair shrieked at Hector. "WHY DON’T YOU SUMMON THE—?!"

Cucu’s hand swiped at her and smacked her through the air. More of the faeries shrieked and screamed around him, and he flailed his arms up and around in his disorientation, trying to catch these pesky little faeries.

It gave Cleon enough time to approach, his jaw clenched at each shock of pain that jerked his body. Still poised in the ground, he brought another hand to the hilt of his sword. Every breath he took was ragged, every bone of his burned and ached to rest. Yet still he stood, eyes dark and set on Cúchulainn. Hector, the only other one left standing, had been buying them enough time. He didn't know how long he really had left to stay on his feet.

He could not fail him. He could not fail the rest of them. Reva...he winced. She had protected them, him, for as long as she was able. He would protect her, all of them right now, even if it meant he had to tear the creature to shreds, spear or no.

A nebula of black and purple swarmed around the blade, expanding the longer he held onto that deep rooted desire. It eclipsed all other thoughts and pain that clung to him as he lifted his blade with both hands, and the darkness fired forth in a wave.

Cúchulainn turned to the sound of yelling, a sound not even Cleon knew he was making, before the impact of the dark wave hit his body and knocked him clean off his feet and backwards metres from where he once stood flailing. His back trailed across the ground, leaving skid marks even among the murk. He twitched at the flecks of darkness that ate at his stomach before they faded, but even then, he did not rise so easily to his feet despite his best efforts.

Cleon did not spare a thought to this success as he stepped forward. He licked his bottom lip, tasting blood. He wanted to do it again. He wanted it to hit harder, greedy to inflict that same suffering that he watched befall his comrades. And he’d do it again if he needed to, whatever it took to put him down.

Cleon paused, spluttered, wracked by another fit of coughs before collapsing. He could not cry out in pain, only writhe, as the blood and saliva and gods knew what else poured out beside him on the ground. Black spots formed in his vision, and though he wished to rise with blade in hand, he never did.

His consciousness, his thoughts, that bloodthirsty desire coursing through him, all faded to black.

But it was just enough. The time he and Hector bought was enough for the faeries to regroup and finish the ritual as Cucu still struggled to bounce back. The spear started to pulse with a bright aura, and eventually, the struggling Cúchulainn’s form started to slip away into the spear.

 

[Lucyfer]

Running into the fae had done something, at least. It distracted Cúchulainn from Hector, and he was able to look back at the others in the muck and think about how to save them. ‘Gotta get Ses, and….’ He saw Cleon was up, and walking towards Cúchulainn. Cleon, with a nebulous dark energy around his sword that quite honestly made Hector’s skin crawl as he laid eyes upon it. ‘Not good.’ Not good at all.

Well, maybe good for him, but in some corner of his mind, he knew it wasn’t.

When Cleon screamed, it was inhuman, and Hector ducked, covering his ears as he did so and watched in mild horror as Cleon swung the blade and a wave of that terrible energy left his blade and slammed into Cúchulainn. It sent him sprawling, but it wasn’t enough. Hector could see he was still moving, and working to get back to his feet as Hector straightened up and slowly lowered his hands from his ears.

Then Cleon began to splutter, and despite it all, Hector ran to his side since he was the only one up and moving, putting a hand on Cleon’s back as he knelt besides him, and another on his arm, watching Cúchulainn, and trying to figure how to get Cleon to safety, and everyone else.

He didn’t need to.

The ritual finished, thankfully, and Hector withdrew from Cleon as he watched Cúchulainn vanish into the spear. He didn’t recognize that Cleon had slipped into unconsciousness as he marched right up to the fae when it was done, “Now will you save them?” he gestured out at, well, everyone else.

The poison didn’t clear up magically, even though Cúchulainn vanished.

His friends weren’t magically restored.

One of the fairies rounded on him and flew into his face, “Oh! You try to tell us—you didn’t even summon Alexander! Fat lot of good you—”

“I CAN’T!” Hector shouted, “Can Oma summon her Zodiac? No!” he snapped, feeling the meltdown and unable to stop himself. “We sacrificed our time and our energy to help you without being able to call on any of the gods, and we succeeded, so the least you can do is save them from dying of poison, or—or—”

“That’s enough,” Titania spoke, calm, regal, “The threat is gone, we can begin healing – starting with all of them,” Titania gestured out, “take them back to our home and begin tending to them all, please,” and fae began to fly off, while Hector sunk to his knees in relief that he was being heard, and sheer exhaustion. He’d never run so much in his life, and the poison was still in his veins, just nullified a bit. He hadn’t taken the same hit as everyone else, and Kikiti had helped him when he was at his worst.

Titania still looked upon him as he sunk into the muck, a cluck of sympathy, before she said softly, “I see Alexander’s spirit in you, Hector,” when he looked up, more angry than encouraged, her smile was as soft as it was amused, “how desperately he wanted to protect the whole world, and how futile he realized it was! Impossible to control it all – so he chose just one place.” She crouched down and touched his nose, “As you have chosen your one thing, haven’t you?”

He might have bit her finger, but he had enough sense to realize that was a poor idea. “You can let go of your iron grip now. I will let no further harm come to them.” A wave of sleep came from her, though Hector didn’t recognize it as he was put under her spell, and went under.

‘But it wasn’t enough.’ Titania recognized that as she rose. ‘It is not your one thing that matters, is it?’ She looked to the sky, where she learned that Garuda had appeared, and Garuda had flown away.

There was so much yet to learn, and so little time. They had not been able to show Oma the way, and these children were muddling through it without guidance, either.

But they were strong.

Strong enough.

 

[Arcanist]

Strong was not something anyone was feeling when they all finally came to.

Their unconscious states, though worrying, provided enough space and time for the fae to treat the poison that clotted their veins. Less time moaning and writhing under its effects, for they had experienced enough of that in their fight against Cúchulainn. They had suffered enough punishment in their time in these swamps and deserved the rest.

It was hard to know how much time had passed - time in fae abodes were said to have passed so strangely. Minutes could have been hours, hours could have been days. There was no real proof of it, though, each one’s waking from a long period of unconsciousness, mixed with the dull ache and fatigue of the poison’s aftereffects, seemed to stretch things out longer than each of them wished.

Titania, of course, opened her abode to them all for respite. It was the very least they could offer them in their fight against Cúchulainn, and even if they weren’t entirely truthful in their inability to summon their respective Zodiacs. But no food or drink or any other comforts provided could satisfy any of them in the aftermath. They were restless and skirted around the topic of what had happened.

Gemini’s flight, the clear absence of Didymus, rubbed salt deep into already gaping wounds.

Cleon was forced to be the one to break this silence. Reva did not need to tell him this wound would fester more if it wasn’t addressed, or at least, spoken about. He knew they couldn’t lull in this melancholy, that they couldn’t lull here. They had lost so much time already, time that the Empire would use to mobilise against them. They needed to move, get to Reva’s home - her old home - as painful and infuriating as this all was.

And then? He could not think beyond that.

They gathered where they had their first audience with Titania. Oma was included too, given her association with Taurus, and despite her past insistences she would not be uprooted from these lands.

All of them were weary, clear as such in their faces, despite the small respite.

“We need to leave. The sooner, the better,” he told them, though, he knew that was obvious. “With Diddy’s…Didymus’s departure,” he corrected himself, trying to separate the spite associated with his name, “it doesn’t make us safe here anymore, not with who could have seen him.” Cleon would have been a fool to think the Empire wasn’t nipping at their heels. It’s why they had to keep moving.

Sesario rubbed at one eye. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought he was suffering from a shitty hangover. He much preferred it. Still, it didn’t stop him from admitting, “I tried talking to him. But he’s been set on the idea of running off for a while now.”

Kikiti had been quiet and still, but at that, she flinched. She spent much of the time after waking either busying herself with healing, or taking Yarrow, safely hidden in the fae abode, into her arms and sitting with him. She too was weary, but more noticeably, her eyes were red and skin blotchy, and even at times she struggled to keep tears back. She was reminded of his offer to her on the airship, where she could go with him back home. She pulled Yarrow closer to her, who rubbed his head against her cheek.

“And probably running back to the Empire to save his own back as we speak,” Cid pointed out, though, forgetting in the haze of things this wasn’t common knowledge.

Cleon was silent. That tense, stiff silence, where he thought, and came to realise what was meant by that. “Back to the Empire.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Perhaps he always knew something wasn’t right where Didymus was concerned, but turned away from that truth. He truly was too good, too trusting. His anger towards himself was turned outward. “So he was working with her, and no one thought to say anything about it?”

“I gave him a chance to think about it,” Sesario cut in, “that’s what he asked of me. That’s why I followed him - to keep an eye on him.” He was met with a bitter laugh. Even if it was a poor excuse - which of course, he wouldn’t readily admit to - he felt his temper flare. “Would you have believed me then, huh? You would have never taken my word over his. Isn’t that right?”

Cleon did not answer. He knew, they all knew, that Didymus’s word would have triumphed over all. Just because he had been there from the start, where he always intended to be. Cleon stepped back, rubbing his jaw. He was tired, so very tired.

“What does it matter now anyway?” Kikiti murmured, ignoring the pitying stares that locked onto her. “He’s gone now. He just…went and abandoned us all.” He had abandoned her. She wondered if their talks, the stories they exchanged, the company they shared, did it mean anything to him? Was anything of it really real?

Kikiti hoped it was. But the blackened hatred oozed over any hope she had in her heart. She hated him and she hated how he lied to her.

There was quiet again. Cid’s leg jerked up and down as she sat on some tree trunk. He had said something under his breath then, something along the lines of, “Little prick.”

And Oma, poor Oma. Involved in all of this, but somehow simultaneously separate from it. She observed it sprawled over a branch, but very much alert. The fae bickered and the beasts could tear into another if they so wished, but this level of fighting she was not used to. And this Diddy, or Didymus, she tried to follow the conversation. Empire came up a lot. She heard it before from those who tried to pass through the swamps, but she did not know what it was. Another person, a woman maybe like Cleon had said. She wasn’t sure.

What Oma knew was that Diddy, Didymus, whatever his name was, wasn’t a nice man, and everyone thought the same. That she was grateful to have in common with them all.

 

[Lucyfer]

Reva was not accustomed to defeat to this degree. She had lived long, and lived as a warrior. To find herself bedridden and broken was humbling as much as it was frustrating, so when she was finally capable of moving, she found herself in a bit of a daze, and silent. More silent than usual. Her thoughts floated away from her, even if they circled over some of the same things: Didymus’s departure, their future destination, and the long-term. They were all difficult things to digest, and so in a way, she was glad that Cleon found the strength to gather them all, and address it.

Even though it came with revelations none of them were happy about, the greatest, and perhaps even the most obvious, being Didymus’s destination. Had Hector – the boy who stood at Sesario’s side – not hinted at it? She had heard it in his mutters and off-hand comments, but she had chosen not to address it. She did not know Hector, nor Sesario, and it had seemed they were conspirators with the Empire at first.

They were certainly closer.

Cleon’s reaction was expected.

Kikiti’s was not.

“It matters,” Hector spoke up, “because knowing he goes to the Empire, informs us of what the Empire knows. Like, probably, our destination,” Hector folded his arms over his chest, “we shouldn’t continue on towards Reva’s home. No offense, but it’s dangerous now. The Empire will get there in full force now that they…they probably hold Rozari,” he gave a sympathetic look to Sesario.

Reva could guess why. Hector and Sesario likely hadn’t had time to adjust, or even consider, what had just happened to Rozari in light of Phoenix’s awakening. “Unless we intend to go there and offer ourselves up, of course,” Hector added, “Which doesn’t seem a terrible idea. Didymus got his Zodiac by going that route, and if Zariel isn’t lying—”

“No,” Reva said, staunchly against it no matter the logic, “Even if there are no lies, we cannot offer ourselves to the Empire, and I must go on to warn my people of what is coming,” because Hector was right – Didymus would tell Zariel to save his ass, and the Empire would go. “But Didymus doesn’t know where my people are, nor does the Empire, nor even most of Rozari. They will waste time trying to find it. We have time to get there, and to warn them…and learn what they may know, before we make any decisions.”

Like what Hector was suggesting.

Or any other sorts of decisions.

“My own awakening of Leviathan had nothing to do with the Empire or choosing them. Going over to them will not give us our zodiacs, or else Oleander would have his, and Zariel would have had hers long ago,” Reva noted, “There is no key here. Didymus just….”

Something dawned on her.

Didymus had been fighting with the decision for a while, no doubt from the moment he met them. Sesario attested to it. “Gemini is not known for being a…decision maker.” She said, “When he broke…when he made such a decision as he did now…it must have been such a critical one, such a…such a hard one, that it awoke Gemini.”

Because looking at Kikiti, how could it be anything but hard?

Reva did not know if that would help her. “The Zodiacs come at difficult times.”

“And how did yours arrive?” Hector asked.

“I was consumed by Mist. The opposite of Didymus…I was unable to make any decisions or even to dream of them, and that is when Leviathan revealed himself.” For Pisces always dreamt of more. To be stripped of that – when better? “We know naught of Aquarius, but we now know Leo and Gemini. There are connections.”

Hector grumbled, “All Virgo has is Escander,” he folded his arms over his chest, as if that was meaningless. He still remembered Titania’s words, though.

‘So he chose just one place.’ The way he had chosen his one thing. But his one thing apparently wasn’t enough. Alexander didn’t appear. Cucu wasn’t defeated by him.

“Besides, we can’t force events that tear us to pieces and make things happen like apparently Didymus’s crisis of faith, or you losing your mind! That’s just…too risky.” As dying was for Leo.

What if it hadn’t worked?

“I know,” Reva admitted, bowing her head, “but we must consider these things, all the same. And we must go on to my home.”

“No, we musn’t! It’s suicide!”

“The Empire will not kill us.”

“Okay, it’s torture, weird experimentation, and the hope of a sweet, merciful release into death!” Hector listed off, “Better? Come on! We should go anywhere but there!”

 

[Arcanist]

Sesario sucked on his teeth and nodded. He noticed the brief flash of guilt painted across Cleon's face, but didn't dwell on it. It was easier that way. He didn't think the Empire held Rozari, but knew it. Rozari's piece was knocked clean off the board when Zariel died on his ship. He hoped that his parents and his home were granted mercy from Phoenix's embers.

Zariel still needed governors, people that knew Rozari.

And now they were stranded. And standing, ruminating, on what they should do.

And talking about Diddy. If only he knew the gap he left.

Kikiti never looked up. The revelation did little to comfort her, even if she searched for ways to sympathise with Didymus. She saw the difficulty in it, she really did. But it hurt her more that he didn’t pick her in the end. She was a fool to believe he would choose her and selfish in believing she would come above all else.

“And where else do you propose we go?” Cleon finally asked. A question that lingered among everyone. “If they hold Rozari, then that means the Empire has the whole continent in their hands. So nowhere is safe.” The walls closing in on them were suffocating. But even backed into a corner, Cleon refused to be pinned down.

“Ports’ll be locked down and they’ll be setting up blockages along the roads, if they haven’t already,” Cid added. "I'm not saying sticking to the original plan is any better, but you all know we'll have Imperials crawling all over us once we step out into the open."

"Which is why we might have to seriously consider why we're still running," Sesario echoed Hector's suggestion. “How long do we keep running for?” He considered it more times than he wanted to. He didn’t want to put himself in chains. He didn’t want to do that to everyone else. But he had wondered, when he looked at Hector, if that was the best thing to do, if it kept him safe.

‘What will you sacrifice for him? What will it cost you?’

Sesario did not answer.

“As long as it takes,” Cleon affirmed. He would not do it, because what had all the running meant if he was to willingly give themselves to them? “I trust Reva and her word. There must be something else her people know that the rest of us don’t. Some…other way for us to bring about the Zodiac or...” He was desperate for there to be something, anything that made this running worth it. “And anyway, do you want to throw Oma to them like that? When we’re taking her away from everything that she knows already?”

Oma frowned and though she stayed quiet, she was watching them all. She didn’t want to leave, but she didn’t want to go to this Empire either. The Viera sounded like a much better alternative, even if they were hostile to outsiders.

‘It’s probably safer for her with them than here.’ Sesario sighed, scratching his forehead. He couldn’t say that. They needed a compromise. “We go to Reva’s home now,” he looked at Cleon seriously, “then you have to consider going to them, giving them something they don’t have. Look cooperative, so it’s not like we’re just giving ourselves up without reason.” Look a little more favourable. If that was possible being Zariel’s murderer. And accessories to murder.

A compromise. Cleon made a face, dissatisfied, but if it meant they could go to Reva’s home…

Not a yes, but not a no either.

“Think about it,” Sesario told him. Wear him down on the way, change his mind.

Cleon couldn’t do this forever. None of them could.

Kikiti scooped Yarrow up into her arms and stood up. “At least let Reva have the chance to go home and warn everyone. I think that's most important,” she murmured. Beyond running and beyond getting information, the Viera deserved the warning. Reva deserved to go home when they couldn’t.

Sesario nodded. He knew he would too, even if it seemed like he hadn't a care for Rozari any other time. "We need to be quick if we're leaving for there. Everyone should get their stuff together and we can make a headstart."

Hector wouldn’t be happy, Sesario knew that. And he knew as well as Cid that whatever path they took seemed to lead back to the same place. But he wouldn’t stand and bicker over it, not when they could at least try and persuade Cleon and Reva of another direction to take along the way.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘This is how we die.’ Except, Hector knew, that wasn’t true. They wouldn’t die, they would be captured, and Twelve knew what would happen at that point. Zariel needed them, but Hector was willing to bet she planned contingencies around them not cooperating. She had been raised in this. That became more clear to Hector every second, while he was just digesting the information.

‘I know where we can hide. I know how we can hide.’ Well, he didn’t know, but he had good ideas, and running straight to where Didymus would tell the Empire they were going, was the stupidest idea any of them had. Screw sentimentality! Screw Reva’s home! If they were intent on running, there were better options!

Escander, much as he loathed it, was one.

Ibec was another, although he wasn’t positive of it. It was just a feeling in his gut.

In Escander, they could steal an airship, though. They could escape. Maybe they could do so in Rozari, if there was anyone loyal to Sesario or his family, but that window was rapidly closing with every second Zariel was allowed to move soldiers. The Arkidian Empire could do so quickly, and cover every port and docking space.

That time may have already passed.

And it seemed all Hector could do was groan and cover his face with his hands in frustration as Sesario made the call, with Cleon, to go to Reva’s home, and let them think on the way. ‘There won’t be time to think! We’re all doomed when we get there you idiot!’ His hands clenched into fists around strands of hair but he didn’t pull them out. He relaxed them and he sighed it out.

“For the record, this is a stupid idea,” he caught the glare from Reva, “Sentimentality aside, running where the enemy knows we’re going is never a good idea unless we have time to set a trap. And we won’t. But clearly my thoughts don’t matter, so I guess I’m following you all into chains,” he crossed his arms over his chest.

He let his nails dig crescents into his arms.

He wasn’t Didymus. He wasn’t going to abandon Sesario. He might abandon the others, but not Sesario. Maybe not even Kikiti…though that might take dragging her out of stupidity.

Apparently, Cleon, Reva, and Cid were enough for Sesario to throw caution to the wind. Not that he was ever cautious, though.

Reva chose not to argue the point. Hector had logic on his side and she could not fight that. So, instead, she bowed her head, “Thank you,” because humility would get her further in trying not to fight about this. They had agreed.

There was nothing to fight about.

There was still Oma, though, and she looked up at her as she straightened up, “Will you walk with me, Oma, as we prepare to leave?” She knew Oma was coming. She thought Oma knew, as well, but there were things she ought to try and…talk to her about. Not that she could prepare Oma for everything, but she could make it clear she was a person that Oma could come to, or even hide behind.

Hector huffed and let his arms fall as he went to walk off, and prepare to move on, as well. He made a point to bump his shoulder hard against Sesario out of spite.

 

[Arcanist]

Reva had more humility in her than Cleon would admit having in himself. His face grew darker the longer Hector let his begrudgements be known. Even if the decision had been made and shoved under the bed to be out of mind for a time, he bit on his cheeks, fingernails dragging along his palms. He was not usually so argumentative, and yet, it was unbearable to stand there and not speak.

‘It’s a risk we have to take,’ was what he kept bottled up, threatening to burst with. ‘Reva gets to go home. We’ll find something they don’t know. We have to.’ It was as Reva said. The Empire was not the solution to all their problems. ‘They can’t be. They won’t be. Murderers and conquerors never will be.’

“Hey.”

He didn’t hear Cid the first time over the banging of his heart in his ears.

“I’ll walk with you to get your things. It’s on the way to where my stuff is too.”

Cleon nodded, his stare unfocused. Cid recognised the distance in his eyes and how hauntingly familiar it was to him. He remembered his stare as the two walked together and Cleon ruminated.

~***~

Oma’s eyes moved from each figure moving after the matter was ‘settled’. She watched and waited for someone else to speak, though fumbled with her hands as she wondered where to turn. She looked at Reva when she asked her to follow, her eyes almost wide and unexpecting at being addressed. She quickly became used to being privy to being in the background of the group’s discussions or rather, shouting. She never knew if she had to speak or in what way she had to act in front of these strangers. Reva seemed easier to approach. But still, she was as much a stranger to get as the rest of them were.

As Oma looked back to the group splintering, she nodded at Reva, and followed. She walked with her head high, eyes forward. No fear. Fear was what got you hurt. She quickly learned that living among beasts. Perhaps it was not so different with these strangers.

~***~

Sesario knew Hector wasn't happy, as did they all, but he made sure that Sesario was wholly aware when his shoulder dug into him. He took the shove with a grunt. He deserved it. Maybe. Like Reva, he couldn't argue with his logic. He stared after Hector, debating whether he’d dare to speak or follow. Sesario turned his gaze to the others, and it settled on watching Cleon walk away with Cid.

“Fuck,” he muttered. He couldn’t just leave them. It was easier every other time, grabbing Hector and vanishing? Why couldn’t he do it here? He found himself sympathising with Didymus’s plight.

But that plight still made him an asshole. And it still made them fools too.

Sesario didn't follow Hector. Kikiti seemed to be doing that for him, meandering in his general direction. 'Good luck, kid.' Sesario sighed, walking in another direction. Hector would cool off and come around eventually, but that happening any time soon was as likely as shifting and splitting the continent. And only Fenrir could do that out of his chains.

~***~

Kikiti’s fingers ran through Yarrow’s fur as the carbuncle dug his nose into her neck. She was silent as she walked, staring at Hector’s back the whole time. Her things weren’t far away and she wouldn’t take much time grabbing them, but she didn’t want Hector to be left brooding on his own. She did not want to be left on her own either. Her lips parted plenty of times to say something, anything to fill the silence as they walked. She just needed to talk to someone, keep herself and her mind busy. Not forever, just enough to put the horrible things she felt to one side just for one second.

“Um.” Kikiti flinched at the sudden sound of her voice, surprised by how she let that one word slip. She could not grab it and shove it back in her mouth and take it back, so she had to continue. “I talked to one of the faeries. About things Oma likes here.” Getting more of the words out was an effort. “I told her about making something for her out of those things and she said she’ll make something for her to take with her. Like an anklet we talked about, or something…”

Stupid, really, to talk about this with things falling down around them. She felt sorry for what they were dragging Oma into.

 

[Lucyfer]

Oma’s posturing was one Reva was quite familiar with. She held herself up high for a time, because she didn’t know what else to do, and did not want to appear weak amongst the humans as she walked amongst them. It was something that she suspected Viera and Fae had in common – a certain need to appear strong, and not give away to weakness. Something they learned from nature.

Something that was both a truth, and a lie.

“You have been told you are coming with us now, yes?” Reva inquired to make certain of it, but would press on regardless, “You are one of the Twelve, and there is something the Twelve need us all to do, together.” Ophiuchus. That was the name that united them all, even the Empire, although how they would approach that part remained…uncertain.

“Have you any experience outside of this forest, Oma?”

~***~

Hector heard steps behind him, too quiet to be Sesario. He knew who they belonged to even without looking, and he didn’t want to look. He didn’t want to show Kikiti how angry he was, because she wasn’t the real source of it. Sure, she didn’t help matters by trying to argue to not go to the Viera forest, but…all the same.

He also knew she was still suffering from Didymus’s departure.

When Kikiti broke the silence, Hector also flinched.

He looked at her, as she fought her way to continue, talking about Oma. He’d almost forgotten that. Hector nodded. He remembered they’d talked about this. “Good. I’m…glad they’ll get her prepared to leave.” It wasn’t going to be easy. And if they were going to prepare it, then he supposed that meant he and Kikiti didn’t have to make it.

Although that had been a part…to show their own care and be friendly to Oma, so she could…adapt easier to the group she was forced into. The group he was forced into by the Twelve. By fucking Alexander.

He should say something too, shouldn’t he? An apology for his anger wouldn’t be right; he wasn’t sorry. “Is there anything…is there anything that can be done for you to help?” Well, that drew attention to things pretty obviously, but it…fit the conversation? They were helping Oma adjust, and now Kikiti had to adjust.

 

[Arcanist]

Reva seemed aware, though unfazed, by the display Oma attempted to put on. She kept it up, even as Reva asked her questions about if she knew what was coming, what they all needed to do together. She nodded, affirming that she did.

She knew the Fae let her live here and protected her, for Fenrir chose her. For something to happen to her would spell disaster for Fenrir in equal measure. It was a miracle they found Oma, Titania said. Had they not, she would have beeb in the jaws of a . The people she travelled with hadn't been found, and so who else could care for her but the Fae?

At least they allowed her to roam the Swamps under their protection, commune with them and the Beasts, and run and jump to her content.

But she had never stepped foot out of here. It was the one thing she could not do, and Oma never questioned it. She had to wait for the other Twelve to pass through here, so that Fenrir could go with them. Her departure was a detail kept quiet.

Oma shook her head at Reva's next question. "Humans come in. Danger here. We chase them out.” Rare, but there were always some that tried to cross through the swamp and forest, despite its dangers. Despite the fae's warnings, she ventured close enough to watch and keep an eye on them. She knew she was closer to them than Fae, in appearance and behaviour. But she never grew too familiar with them as begged by those who cared for her.

Oma did not like to see humans in danger. So she and the fae always chased them out.

It did not work this time with these strangers.

"Outside." Oma mused. Her upright posture slackened as she picked at her nails. Titania told her humans lived outside, though, again, withheld the wider curiosities of the world. She was not taught to fear it, but she had not cared much for the fact until now. Here was comfortable. Outside though…

~***~

Kikiti also nodded, quiet and agreeing. It would be easier with the faeries helping them. She mentioned about them wanting to give whatever was made to her, just to soften things between them all. Even if the faeries were fickle on that, she could make her some clothes. She'd need them to keep warm or for going into towns and cities if she could even manage that.

How would they even manage that now?

No, she couldn't think like that. They still had a ways to go. They could do something. Fix things somehow, right?

Kikiti felt her breath hitch, but she forced any tears that welled to stay their course. She would not cry over him. "I don't know," Kikiti whispered, running her fingers over Yarrow's fur, who sighed. It wasn't a very satisfactory answer for either of them, she knew that. She did not want to talk about Didymus, and yet he was all she could think about.

It was embarrassing how big a hole his departure had left behind in Kikiti.

"He's probably not even worrying about us." Not in the way, deep down, she worried about him. Maybe he did. But it was easier to think he didn't care that way. Maybe. "He just…lied to us. The whole time. Like we weren’t…” Friends. And he didn’t care. Her laugh was pitiful, flat. “I was stupid to think it would ever be like that.”