Fandom The Dragon Prince: Deep Trouble [Closed]

[Lucyfer]

“Shines bright?” No, Lethe didn’t have any idea what it would do if all six primal sources were around it. It was worth experimenting with, but…there was no way they’d give it to her. ‘Well, that’s what portals are for.’

If it did nothing, she’d be caught. Doomed.

“There’s a source on the ship for each. Bait is Sun, I’m Star and Sky, Rayla is Moon, Finnegrin is Ocean, and Terry is Earth,” if she talked Terry into coming down to the prison with her…, “Willow’s also Earth….” Terry had reason to visit Claudia.

‘If it fails, you’re doomed.’

She had to steal both prison and key. Callum had the key, Ezran had the prison.

She rose, shaking her head in frustration, walking across to the other side of the room, “No, no – even if this worked, you’d kill everyone on this ship. You’d kill Zubeia,” Lethe rounded back on him, “you’d still hurt everyone I don’t want hurt, by you or Sol Regem.”

~***~

“We’re working on it,” Rayla said, frowning a bit at Willow’s insistence, “It’s not like we’re trying to get everyone killed, and Sol Regem has every right to be angry over what happened to him.” Not that Willow wanted to deal with him, but, “he was blinded by dark magic and left to rot for centuries. We…we have to find a middle ground, and reminding him that elves can be just as bad as humans is one way, so he doesn’t just up and commit genocide.”

“No, no, he’ll just commit genocide of humans, and then all tidebound elves,” Finnegrin said, not bothering to hide his displeasure. He didn’t really care about all the others, being the same species didn’t make him sentimental, but he did have friends among his own, and family. He’d rather those individuals not die.

“Look, if any of you have any good options for this, I’m all ears. We all are. But Aaravos isn’t one of them.” Rayla said, shutting that down immediately.

Finnegrin snorted, “What’s he done to have you so afraid, girlie? Mess up your hair before a date?”

Rayla gave him a withering grin, but it was Viren who answered, “He can dominate your will. He can take control of you.”

That was what pierced Finnegrin enough to drop the playful anger from his face. It went stony at that. “He’s an Archmage of all the primal sources, and dark magic, and he’s done…terrible things to get there.” Viren didn’t know, but, “his name is erased in every book I’ve ever tried to read it in.”

 

[cleopat]

“I have a feeling it will do more than shine bright.” With his prison, maybe it is a literal key to free him. Aaravos frowned in thought for a second. “Excuse me for one moment.” With that, he disappeared from Lethe’s view, but not even five seconds later, he returned.

“Well, you have your Ocean, Moon, and Earth sources down in the brig. If you’re truly curious, you can get…Bait, and go down there.” There were other obstacles to cross first before he convinced her to do that.

He tilted his head at Lethe, eyes following as she crossed to the other side of the room, before he slowly stepped that way. “What if I made a promise to you, that I won’t hurt anyone on this ship.” He stopped next to her, close enough to reach out. “Have I actually ever broken a promise I made you?”

Aaravos reached out a hand, moving to brush back a strand of her hair, but his hand met only air. He frowned. Oh how he ached to touch another person. To feel another warm body against his skin.

~~~

Willow grimaced. “And maybe earthblood elves as well,” she mumbled, shaking her head. It was so obvious how young Rayla was, to have so much hope that things would work out in the end, and Sol Regem won’t kill anyone.

She missed being that naive, if she ever was. Growing up in Scumport took away much of that innocence quite young.

She was about to suggest Aaravos yet again, defying the moonshadow elf, as maybe sometimes you need to fight fire with fire, but Viren’s words put a pause to that. Willow looked over at him.

She could see a man defeated by his own actions, and it seemed, actions that Aaravos played a large role in. A master of all the primal sources, plus dark magic, and someone who had done something so heinous, his name was wiped from history. Or, at least, attempted to be wiped.

What did he do that resulted in such a punishment?

“Okay, maybe Aaravos shouldn’t be an option,” she spoke softly, but the lingering ‘what if’ echoed in her head. And what would be worse, Sol Regem or Aaravos?

 

[Lucyfer]

Lethe was curious.

Lethe knew it was a terrible idea. She should stop listening to him. She should go right to Callum and tell him to talk to her, talk to her all about the ocean arcanum and how he figured it out, because she was listening to Aaravos.

Yes. That’s what she had to do.

‘Never. Not one promise.’

Things changed. Like his inability to touch, though she imagined it. The imagination was almost worse than accepting there was no feeling.

“Promise me. You’ll never hurt them. Including Zubeia,” who was not on the boat. A loophole, and one she knew Aaravos would be loathed to agree to. He would either lie, or he’d find a creative solution, but…creative solutions took time.

“Promise, and I’ll…see what happens, with the cube, and the prison, and all six sources.” There was no guarantee. It could do nothing. But…she needed that promise. She needed to know they were safe.

She needed to stop making deals with Aaravos.

~***~

Viren let out a relieved sigh to hear Willow drop the subject, realizing how terrible Aaravos was. “I don’t…have the answer for what should be done with Sol Regem. I’m sorry,” he added.

“Kill’em,” Finnegrin’s answer was obvious, and Rayla shot him a terrible look for it, “I’m not budging on that view.”

“For all dragons? Is that what you think?”

“Yeah. It is,” he said, “what do they do, other than kill at their leisure, and claim it’s fine ‘cause they’re the leaders? Tell me one good thing they do.”

“They protected us from humans when—when we had problems.” Rayla insisted.

“Tch. We could have protected ourselves just fine,” Finnegrin folded his arms over his chest.

“Why do you hate dragons so much?” Rayla demanded.

“Domina killed Shelley,” he stated bluntly, “for doin’ nothing but being too far out in the waters, fishing,” sure it was leviathan fishing but that didn’t matter. “She was upset over some other pirate killin’ one of her watery friends, so she took it out on all of us. I wasn’t the only one. Others lost crew, ships, family – Domina didn’t care. Someone killed a single friend of hers, so she had dominion and authority to take it out on everyone that crossed her path.”

“That…can’t be right,” Rayla said, sounding a bit defeated.

“Ask around in Scumport. Can’t throw a stone without finding one of Domina’s victims.”

"Not to play advocate, but I recall Rex Igneous wasn't exactly a champion of elves, either. Didn't he eat people who disturbed his sleep?" Viren was pretty sure Terry mentioned something about that.

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos didn’t immediately answer. He stood in silent contemplation at her addition. Out of everyone, he wanted to hurt Zubeia the most for her own betrayal and role in his imprisonment. But…

He had other options.

Aaravos sighed, and nodded. “I promise I will not hurt them.” He’ll still find some form of revenge, but first, to gain his freedom and destroy Sol Regem. Then he’ll take one day at a time after that.

Like feeling the sun on his skin again.

“You may either want to hasten getting the cube, or see if your persuasion skills are up to par. Those who have congregated in the brig just threw away the possibility of using me to fight Sol Regem.” He didn’t listen much to the conversation, but he did hear that much.

Fools they were. He was their best option!

~~~

Willow nodded to Finnegrin’s story. “I’ve heard his stories, and many others like his, in Scumport.” So many sailors with their own personal vendetta story. “Not to mention, I don’t think they’ll take too kindly to people like…me.”

Too elvish for humans, too human for elves. The woman who belonged nowhere, and that discrimination can be traced to the dragons and how they treated the humans.

Rex Igneous was brought up. She heard stories of the dragon, some stories her mother told her. “I believe if you disturb his slumber, you must present him with a gift that will surprise him, and if he doesn’t like it, then he will eat you.” Just a big, cranky dragon. “But I don’t think he’s been seen above ground within our lifetime.”

He does nothing but sleep underneath the mountain of Umber Tor.

“But I think he just generally didn’t like anyone who woke him up, human or elf.” But she didn’t know much else about Rex Igneous.

 

[Lucyfer]

It was obvious that addition brought Aaravos pause, which was…good. If he just blithely agreed, Lethe might have indeed reconsidered, but he thought about it. He could still being lying, she knew this, but he hadn’t actually broken any promise to her before. She may regret what he decided an unharming punishment was, but….

She didn’t trust Sol Regem to not harm Zubeia. Or the others.

She trusted Aaravos more.

Persuasion wasn’t on the agenda, though. She knew that wasn’t possible. “All right,” she wasn’t going to have much time before people left the brig. Finding Bait would be the trick, “Go find Bait, he’s the glow toad,” she said, “I’ll do what I can for the rest,” she would leave her own room then, to head towards the room Callum and Ezran shared.

She knocked, and sure enough, Ezran answered, looking a little surprised to see her, “Is everything okay, Lethe?”

No, it wasn’t. “Everything’s okay,” she lied, and didn’t bother to hide that it wasn’t. Who was having a good day, after all? “I was trying to find Soren. Do you know where he is?”

But she made a portal just within the bag behind him to take the prison from it as attention was on her. Once she was sure of that, she’d just have to make a portal within Callum’s bag for the key.

~***~

“He doesn’t,” Rayla muttered, recalling the meeting with Rex without any fondness. She hadn’t enjoyed that meeting at all and Rex proved he didn’t really care about anyone or anything other than himself. He was selfish, but she knew that wasn’t true of all dragons! It wasn’t true of Zubeia.

She didn’t know Domina, though Ezran hadn’t described her with any cruelty.

“Okay so some dragons might have some issues. And maybe we need to have some sort of…I don’t know, dragon conference in general,” Rayla stated, “but that doesn’t mean you can just go out and kill one, either. We have to give peace a shot. We have to bring up the grievances and…and I don’t know!”

She wasn’t the politician.

She wasn’t the thinking person!

“That’s what Zubeia is going to help figure out, and Callum, and Ezran.”

“Kids,” Finnegrin scoffed.

“That kid has done a lot. They’ve opened up the borders again. Together. Something we all thought impossible.” So, Rayla would reserve her right to hope. Even if it was hopeless.

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos was still in slight disbelief that Lethe was actually considering opening his prison, if she could figure out how. The news concerning Sol Regem was quick to change her mind, and he thought he would have to convince her further that he was their best option in dealing with the dragon.

As instructed, he disappeared to go find the little glow toad, who was in the kitchen with a pichi. If he was physically there, he may have made it so that they could have easy access to all the food they wanted.

How funny would it have been for the crew to walk into the kitchen to see empty cupboards and two very full, very fat small creatures.

Once he made note of their location, Aaravos reappeared back in Lethe’s room.


With the unexpected visitor, Callum looked over at the door, and smiled and waved at Lethe. Both bags, laying on the floor, were hardly being paid attention to.

Ezran furrowed his brow in concentration as he tried to think about the location of their friend. “I believe he’s in his room for the evening, just two doors down.” Last he saw, Soren wanted some alone time to think in peace.

“If not, try the kitchen!” suggested Callum.

~~~

Willow scoffed and shook her head with amusement at the idea of a dragon conference. Just imagine the pure ego, arrogance, and conceitedness! A war may start between the dragons, and then what would happen to the humans and elves?

But Rayla did bring up a point about opening the borders, something many thought would never happen. But it did, thanks to a group of kids.

“I like your hope.” Did Willow ever have that much hope about others? About something she wanted more than anything, but seemed impossible? “Try to not let it go as you grow older.” As what happens when most grow older. They grow more cynical, pessimistic about the world as they experience how cruel it can be.

“But,” she continued with a sigh, “I know you want to give peace a shot, and that is the ideal situation here, but you also need to be prepared to fight, because while Sol Regem may be willing to listen, he’s just as likely, if not more so, to attack.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Both boys were immediately helpful, offering two options. Lethe hadn’t tried Soren’s door, but as she opened the second portal, she nodded, “I tried the door, so I’ll check the kitchen next. Thanks!” She stepped back, “Oh, and Callum, you still owe me that talk about the Ocean Arcanum tomorrow.”

She thought then, she recognized what had plagued his earlier expression when she brought it up.

Guilt.

‘No, that’s your mind.’ Her own guilty conscious, and yet, it stuck. He definitely wouldn’t be telling her about any arcanums tomorrow, if Zubeia even though to spare her life. If Aaravos spared her life. Odds seemed good she wouldn’t be alive, but so long as Sol Regem was dealt with, and no one on the ship harmed, she’d call it a victory.

Pyrrhic, but she was familiar with those sorts.

She did go to the kitchen, though. A part of her hoped Soren was there. She realized she did want to tell him something; she wanted to tell him about Viren being startouched at the end, and now, she might not get to. Viren wouldn’t. He’d die with his secret.

But Soren wasn’t there.

Just Bait, and another creature, eying treats on a counter. Bait could not doubt jump that high, but the food was covered. “Hungry?” obviously they were, and where Aaravos couldn’t cause mischief, she could – and so she just opened the container, and swiped some to the floor for the animals.

She let Bait get a couple of the baked rolls, before snatching him up. He gave an annoyed grumble and struggled, until Lethe held him close against her face, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she murmured, eyes shut. A sad grumble escaped Bait. His hues changed to a more comforting blue, the glow soft, warm.

‘Don’t do this. Don’t do this. This is stupid. You know it’s stupid. There are other options. Please don’t throw everything away. Don’t betray Callum.’

The thought of Callum’s look…would he understand?

‘Yes.’

That would be the heartbreak of it all, and she held Bait a little longer, reconsidering it.

Callum couldn’t understand if he was dead.

And Sol Regem would kill him.

“Come on, Bait,” not that she gave Bait an option as she carried the more docile glowtoad down to the brig, where it seemed everyone was having a lively conversation about options. She didn’t think to return to her room or look for Aaravos.

“—Regem may be willing to listen, he’s just as likely, if not more so, to attack.” Willow was saying.

“He’ll attack,” Lethe said, “he’ll ask something that can’t be done, and then he’ll attack.”

“And another on team Fuck Sol Regem,” Finnegrin all but cackled, “You’re outnumbered.”

“You’re in chains,” Rayla spat back at Finnegrin, “What are you doin’ here, Lethe?”

“A crime,” there was little point in hiding it, “Viren, I’m sorry. Rayla, please tell Callum...it was the only way.”

“Wha—” portals opened, the prison and the key fell to the floor and Lethe knelt by the prison, stopping it from rolling away. “How did you—” Rayla stopped asking questions there, but pushed off the wall she’d been leaning on to lunge for the prison.

“Ferrum venti!” Some of the cube was lighting up, but she wasn’t close enough to the others. The gust of wind swiped through the room. It knocked Rayla back, and made light cuts on the others.

Blood.

Claudia was unharmed, and Viren, but the blood taken from the others was enough to bring their primal source close enough to the cube.

All six lit up – but no one really saw that. Bait, sensing the chaos, fearing for Rayla, exploded in blinding light, and then grabbed the prison in his tongue, in his mouth, to hop away with it.

That didn’t matter anymore, though. The prison remained intact.

The cube, however, formed a door.

A door had appeared in Aaravos’s prison, tied to the cube, which would fold back into the cube once opened and passed through.

 

[cleopat]

Just as Aaravos started to get impatient in waiting for Lethe to return to her room, he was pulled away, and his spectral form disappeared as his corporeal form was drawn back into his present inside the prison. There was a bright glow, and when it went away, a door was left behind.

The door was purple, with the familiar symbol of the star arcanum etched upon it. Did she really…?

Smirking, Aaravos stepped forward to take a firm grasp of the doorknob, and he slowly opened it, holding his breath as the outside world revealed to himself for the first time in three centuries.


Willow had no time to process what was happening, or that she was bleeding, before the chaos culminated into a single door where the cube once was. “What the fuck did you do?” she asked Lethe, but her eyes never left the door.

Just as she asked that, the door opened, and a tall elf with purple skin, a look Willow had never seen in an elf before, stepped through. He took a deep breath and sighed in content. “Ah, finally, the smell of something other than the interior of that prison.”

The door closed behind him and shifted back into the cube. He looked down at the object, before kneeling down and picking it up. A mini portal formed in front of him, and he dropped the cube into the portal before closing it back up.

No one else should be touching that for a while.

 

[Lucyfer]

Rayla managed to get to her feet, but when Bait flashed, even she was blinded. She felt Bait on her feet, as her vision started to clear – as another voice spoke out, one she never wanted to hear again in her life. Aaravos stood in the room. He wasn’t a specter. He wasn’t possessing anyone. Rayla blinked, but he didn’t go anywhere, just grabbed the Key and pocketed it.

‘Shit!’ Rayla should stay, fight him, do – anything!

But she was very aware she stood no chance against Aaravos, and she needed to warn the others, so she grabbed Bait who held the prison in his mouth, and ran up the stairs, screaming, “CALLUM! SOREN!” as she went, to get their attention, to get their knowledge.



Lethe pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes as the flash went off, and held them there as she watched colorful lights dance behind her eyelids.

She heard Aaravos.

She sensed Aaravos, as the shadow fell upon her, as she knew he was there, present, and not just a ghost.

“What did you do?” Viren echoed Willow, with far more outrage.

“Aaravos!” Claudia cried out, breaking her silence for relief and hope. She went right to the bars of her prison. “Please – get us out of here. Help my dad!”

“I told you—”

“Fuck Viren,” Finnegrin said, “If he doesn’t want the help, I’ll take it. I don’t want to be sacrificed to Sol Regem.” Okay, so he just heard a lot of terrible things about Aaravos, but given the choice – he’d put his life in the starry elf’s hands rather than the sun dragon’s. He was pretty sure his odds were significantly better.

Lethe just – stepped back.

As the colors started to fade, she lowered her hands and opened her eyes. She considered fleeing the same way Rayla did, but she was frozen. Fear, guilt – no matter where she ran, she was doomed, so staying still seemed…safest. “I’m sorry, Viren,” she simply repeated that, as it was fairly obvious what she had done. She didn’t really need to clarify that.

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos allowed the young moonshadow elf to run away, calling for her little friends. They wouldn’t stay long enough for the others to come and see what was going on. He knew Zubeia was near. He knew he needed an isolated place to think about his next action.

And he needed some ‘friends’ to come with him. As everyone currently in the brig risked death or punishment, and as Claudia begged nicely, they would do nicely.

Willow couldn’t get any words to form. She just stared at the scene, wondering what was going to happen next. She briefly recognized that Sir Sparklepuff was coming down the stairs, much curiosity in its eyes, with Pucca in its arms.

Wordlessly, Aaravos made a sign with his fingers in front of him, and everyone in the brig disappeared with a sudden, bright glow. When the light dimmed, they were no longer in the brig. Finnegrin and Claudia were no longer chained, and they were surrounded by crumbled buildings overgrown with nature trying to reclaim the long dead city.

“You are a bright one,” he finally spoke, turning to Lethe. Ideas were already forming in his head of what he should do with her. “Do you know where we are?”

Willow, as soon as she oriented herself, glanced around in slight panic. She was just on the ship…and now she wasn’t. She was in some abandoned city. But so many plants and trees and…earth around her.

 

[Lucyfer]

The transportation was disorienting. Finnegrin felt lurched forward, and he fell to the ground as they appeared in the ruins, catching himself on his hands, before looking around. He knew where they were, all right. ‘Elarion.’ He’d gone by the coast often enough to recognize the ruins, even if he never went into the city.

Despite his consideration of learning dark magic, the city always had an aura about it that rejected approach.

Now he was within it, and he shifted to a knee, before rising to his feet, and considering who was there with him.

Viren.

Claudia.

Neither of them had fallen, despite Viren’s frailty. Claudia seemed relieved, and went over to hug Viren. Viren just froze up, as the strange Sir Sparklepuff wandered to where Willow was and held up Pucca to her, wide, unblinking eyes, staring into her soul with the offering.

When the question was asked, Finnegrin took note that it wasn’t too him, and went to find a broken wall to sit on as he considered his new fate. Free – but without his ship. Without his crew – except Deadwood, the silent lout who’d been among the imprisoned, now seemed baffled to be there. He motioned Deadwood over, and he approached.


“Elarion,” Lethe answered.

She’d visited, after…everything.

Everything that should be coming to kill her. Her heart rate certainly spiked, away from whatever false safety the walls of the ship provided. She couldn’t use portals to transfer herself. Anything and anyone else, yes. If she tried to step through, however, it closed before she could. That made sense, considering Aaravos had to form the spell. She watched him – she might even be able to recall it – but she wouldn’t try.

She wouldn’t be fast enough.

She just took another step back, “I—don’t need to be here.”

“Oh no, no, you did this,” Viren finally got out of Claudia’s hug – not cruelly, but it wasn’t exactly nice as he stepped closer to Aaravos and Lethe, “Why did you do this?”

Lethe gestured out at Elarion, “Doesn’t this answer the question? This…is what Sol Regem can do, in less than a minute, Viren. Aaravos promised—”

“He always promises. And his promises are always terrible and not worth it! I thought you knew this!” Viren was beyond frustrated.

“Dad—he can help you now!” Claudia sighed, “I’m sorry, Aaravos, I think this is just a lot for him, and—”

Viren buried his face in his hands, smothering an outcry in his palms. He’d lost complete control of the situation.



Finnegrin could definitely use some popcorn for this lovely family drama. Alas, there was no popcorn. But, he imagined it was distraction enough for anything else he might want to do, and there was someone here who definitely didn’t belong in their ranks, as his eyes fell on Willow. ‘Well, she was just as damned as I was with Sol Regem.’

That didn’t forgive her.

Rather hoping she was absorbed in the drama, he got up from where he’d taken a seat and went to move behind her, planning to snake an arm around her waist and remind her she was far from safe just because she was here with Mr. Sparkly Elf.

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos smiled as Lethe answered correctly. “Yes, Elarion.”

The family drama wasn’t what he signed up for upon his return though.

He ignored it for the moment, and he took a few steps to get closer to Lethe. One hand reached out, and he delicately placed his hand on her cheek. His first contact with someone since before the imprisonment. His breath shuddered, and he almost closed his eyes to relish the contact.

The hand slipped back and brushed through her hair before returning to his side.

“She’s right,” he stated, taking a step back to turn and face Viren. “He destroyed the entire city in very little time. If it weren’t for my intervention, every human living here would have perished, and the history of the city would have been lost to history.”

Sol Regem would kill anything, including elves and dragons, to see that humans were punished as he thought they should be for their involvement in dark magic.

“And I’m upset you think my promises are terrible,” he mocked pouted. “For freeing me, I don’t see why I shouldn’t help you, and I shall. But first…” Aaravos turned back to Lethe, and before she could react, he plucked a strand of her hair, before one of his hand, and with an utterance of strange words on his tongue, the two strands transformed into a necklace, simple in its elegance with a purple stone in the middle.

He moved behind Lethe and clasped the necklace around her neck. If she moved, he would have easily stilled her with his hands before continuing. “There, a perfect addition for that lovely neck of yours.”




Willow hadn’t gotten up yet, but watched the drama from her distance. Though when Sparklepuff came up to her, and held out Pucca to her, she smiled back, ignoring how uncomfortable its wide, unblinking eyes made her feel. How it felt like it could see directly into her soul.

“Thank you,” she said with sincerity, as she gently took Pucca and held her close. The creature nodded in satisfaction before going back near Viren, and Pucca eventually settled next to Willow, as she became distracted by the drama.

She wasn’t meant to be there.

An arm snaked around her, and she jumped, unprepared for anyone to touch her, and momentarily forgetting that Finnegrin and Deadwood were also there as well. Fuck. Her heart jumped to her throat, and she didn’t look at him as she asked, “I suppose we can’t talk things out?”

Did he already decide on what he wanted to do to her, with no room for negotiation? "I didn't want to do that to you."

 

[Lucyfer]

Lethe stilled when Aaravos reached out to her.

A part of her wanted to simply melt into the touch, but she knew better. Tension continued to ring through her nerves, and she couldn’t move. His reaction didn’t help, his obvious pleasure in having contact swelling the guilt in her even further.

It had been…a long time for him, to even touch someone, let alone talk to someone. Embrace someone. Be seen. He’d suffered, a very long time.

She did flinch at the sudden plucking, and did try to add distance again, but he moved quicker this time, and got behind her, wrapping those entwined hairs around her. His, and hers. The words were obviously dark magic, though Lethe couldn’t parse them fast enough to figure out just what he’d done.

She did lift her hand to the necklace to try and pull it off immediately, but it wouldn’t move. She closed her fingers around the chain as she shifted to look at Aaravos, “What did you do?” no, she couldn’t hide the fear, as she tried to repeat the words he said to figure out just what curse he’d inflicted upon her.



Viren knew.

He’d parsed the words automatically, and understood it was a spell he would find difficulty breaking. He wanted to, despite it all. He wouldn’t have the time, certainly. He wasn’t going to let Aaravos help him.

He understood Lethe’s desperation to reach out to Aaravos only too well.

But the words bound Lethe to Aaravos, as his own inclusion of his hair did. It would take some creativity and powerful components to break; star arcanum wasn’t something he dealt with regularly, and it was star arcanum that Aaravos, and so his hair, were. ‘And Lethe. And you.’

But he wouldn’t speak up on that. He did take in the city. He knew the history of Elarion.

And he just started to…walk.

“Dad? Where are you going…?”

“I don’t know, Claudia,” away. “I just want to be alone.” It wasn’t like he could go far. Sir Sparklepuff immediately gave pursuit, and almost automatically he offered his hand to the homunculus to accompany him.

Claudia, blessedly, didn’t.

She remained standing where she was, confused and hurt.



Not bothering to notice Willow and Finnegrin.

Not the low laugh he gave at Willow’s words, “Now, love, that’s not true at all and lying won’t help you. This was a pre-meditated plan. You told me as much. I tried to make it so you wouldn’t have to enact such a nasty thing, but you decided to escape jail. You very much wanted to do this,” he let the hand around her waist bend up so it rested on her neck.

“I don’t see a reason to talk it out,” he said, “but why don’t you humor me. Why should I listen to you now?”

 

[cleopat]

An odd feeling left Aaravos when Viren walked away. An odd feeling he didn’t even realize that had settled over him until he felt its absence. What it could’ve been was a mystery, but one he couldn’t think about at the moment.

Later, when he approached Viren to talk to the man.

For now, his attention focused down at Lethe.

Aaravos gently grabbed her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “It’s just a little safety measure, for my own peace of mind.” His thumb softly moved back and forth on her jaw, as he just relished in the feel of another body. Of Lethe’s body.

How often did he dream of her? Before the betrayal, and even during his imprisonment.

“It’s simply a way to make sure you don’t betray me again. You may have helped to free me, but don’t think that means you’re so easily forgiven, or trusted.” The hand touching her let go of her chin and trailed upwards to her cracked horn, softly tracing along the base, careful to not inflict any pain.

“Forgive me…I’ve missed the touch of another.”



“Yes, it may have been pre-meditated in that sense, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to.” Willow gulped. “If they weren’t children, I would’ve sat back. Maybe even help you.” But because they were simple kids, she couldn’t bear the thought of seeing any harm come to them.

Maybe it was the one good thing about her, and the thing that resulted in her death.

She could feel the hysterics creeping up just as his hand did, settling on her neck. The threat very much present. “And you know how much I hate that cell.” Not a point that would help her.

What would help her?

“I know you’re an elf of your word, and I respect that.” She grasped at his upper arm that rested across her torso, but she didn’t move to pull his arm away. It helped her ground herself. “And, in the end, you did exactly what you promised Claudia, to free Aaravos, and maybe it’s all because those kids are free.” They had the prison, that cube, and because of the threat of Zubeia that came with them, Aaravos freed those in the cells, and now they’re all there.

It was...convoluted, but had he killed them, the outcome would no doubt be different.

 

[Lucyfer]

Safety measure.

Betrayal.

It didn’t fully explain the curse Aaravos placed on her, but Lethe understood well enough. In some way, she was prevented from betraying him. Would it kill her if she tried? Strangle her before she could speak betraying words? She knew she wouldn’t be trusted, by anyone, yet she’d expected death for it.

Death, not…this.

She wasn’t immediately sure what was worse, and those panicked feelings were in immense conflict with the guilt of it being deserved, and the pleasant sensation of his touch. She shut her eyes as his finger moved over her jaw, to try and mask that conflict, but they opened as soon as his hand went to her horn.

The flinch wasn’t from pain, but anticipation of it. Her horn was still terribly sensitive, and she was primed to feel pain from even the slightest of gestures. Yet, Aaravos was so careful. So gentle.

It couldn’t be touch enough for him, could it?

Despite all the conflict, Aaravos had honored his word for the moment: no one on the ship was harmed. Guilt and those old feelings of love won. She opted to save crying over the curse for later as she lifted a hand up to grab the one he used to touch her horn, and pull it away, entwine her fingers between his, and step into him to embrace him.

Despite it all…she had missed the lie he gave her, so much. “You shouldn’t trust me,” defeated acceptance, perfectly mixed with the hug to just confuse it all more. Why should Aaravos have peace if she didn’t?



Claudia didn’t linger. She did not follow Viren, but she could see that…this was a reunion long in the makings. A conflicted one. She gathered enough of that from when Aaravos stopped her, but now she felt…more.

And it hurt.

She missed Terry.

She missed…a lot. The sudden isolation stung, but she left the area so it would hurt less.

~***~

Though Finnegrin could still see the hopeless little display of the Startouch elf and the Skywing elf, he only kept his eyes there as a distraction of sorts. He listened to Willow as she told him it wasn’t wanted. How it would have been different if it was adults.

And tried to bullshit her way out of it by how it all came together. “Yes, because that was your plan. You knew that little Skywing elf would unlock Aaravos and knew to be in the brig at the right time for it, didn’t you?” it was such a bullshit way to try and talk herself into safety again.

He drummed his fingers on the side of her neck, the pressure of each fall heavier than it needed to be. Not that he needed to drum them on her neck in the first place.

Claudia was leaving. But it was true. In the end, Aaravos was free. Not by him, but the incidents brought Aaravos here, no matter what. Would it have happened anyways? Sol Regem’s actions would have likely spurred the Skywing regardless, but then, Claudia wouldn’t be near enough.

He could at least claim to have been a part of it through circumstance. His debt with Claudia was cleared.

“You know I’m a man of my word,” he said, as she had mentioned already, “so you know that I must uphold punishment for what you’ve done to me, as well, love.” He could hardly re-enslave her. He didn’t have a ship. And this group could make that difficult. Which, could also make taking her life difficult.

Lethe had a soft heart. If she took offense, Aaravos might take offense.

What to do, what to do. “It will come in due time, love. You can consider your freedom gone, as you have taken my ship, and much else, from me. When I have it back, you will be bound to it in whatever way I see pleasing. Perhaps you will find ways to make sure you are not physically bound to the prow to serve as a new figurehead for Sea Legs.” He let his fingers stroke over her neck almost nicely with that threat.

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos lifted one eyebrow when Lethe pulled his hand away from her horn, only to entwine their fingers. The additional touch was nice, but he didn’t say as much.

Not when she surprised him by stepping forward to embrace him.

He froze, unsure of what to do for a second, before it clicked into place, and he lifted his arms to wrap around Lethe. He nearly melted into her touch, and he did bend his head down,angling his head so he could rest his face in her hair.

The strange yet familiar scent he missed so much.

“I shouldn’t” he agreed, “but every part of me wished we could resume where we were before the imprisonment.” Aaravos allowed that one truth of weakness. “We both know that’s impossible now.” But slowly, he could make sure Lethe rebuilt that trust.

And maybe then something more could happen.

~~~

Even if Willow’s gaze was in the direction of Aaravos and Lethe, she could not focus on them at all. Her eyes focused on nothing as her thoughts were consumed with making sure Finnegrin didn’t end up snapping her neck there, or in her sleep.

Or that he just got Deadwood to do it.

His fingers ever moving on her neck kept her all too focused on him and nothing else.

And his talks of punishment. “I know,” she whispered, resigned to her fate. But what that punishment would end up being was a mystery to them both. It was terrifying for what Finnegrin could concoct in that mind of his before they returned.

“I didn’t take your ship from you though, Aaravos did,” she argued, before snapping her mouth shut. No, arguing would do no good right now. “You could just…have me working for you, like before, but this time, without any possibility of me buying my way out,” she offered. The thought of being bound to the prow was not a pleasant one, and any other punishment sounded better than that.

 

[Lucyfer]

Returning to that point was impossible. There was no taking back what Lethe knew about Aaravos. There was no removing her betrayal. The lingering love was just that. A terrible, lingering feeling they never resolved, and never could. At least, Lethe didn't believe so.

When Sol Regem was dealt with…Aaravos would likely resume those terrible plots that killed so many. And Lethe didn't know what would happen then. She wouldn't be able to stand at his side. Betraying him might be impossible.

What then?

She didn't know.

She didn't want to think about it. She wanted to have the moment, where it didn't matter. Where he was just Aaravos, and the mutual pain wasn't a condemnation. It just…was. They just were.

But all moments ended.

Lethe let it extend a while. It was terribly needed. It was terribly missed. But, she did gradually let her grip slacken, “I don't…wish it was different,” she wished he was. “I'll help where I can with Sol Regem,” she promised that, as she drew her arms back. “I may not be able to betray you…but further than that I make no promises if you resume your previous path.” She couldn't meet his gaze with those words. They were true, but that didn't mean she wanted to see his reaction to it.

She didn't want to see reality hit either of them.

~***~

Aaravos did not take his ship. He considered his ship taken as soon as he was imprisoned, and she definitely had a hand in that. So, his hand squeezed her throat as a warning. A threat. She quickly reconsidered the trajectory of her words.

“Oh love, you will be working for me, and looking out for my best interests, from now until you die,” he said, “if you want to avoid such a fate as that when I do return to my ship. I don't think you'll really have anyone to protect you, then.”

Claudia had her own issues to deal with, and likely remembered Willow was against them.

Aaravos had bigger things to deal with, and Lethe likely went with him. When everything was settled and his debt to Aaravos repaid for saving his ass, there would be no one there to help poor Willow, except her own actions.

“And love, I don't think I need to mention how terrible you've been at making decisions, so you had best be careful going forward. I may not be able to do anything with this company, but they will abandon you,” he said easily, certain of it. She wasn't friends with anyone here.

She was fucked.

“And then it'll all be at my discretion what happens. So if you're truly sorry, you'd best act it.”

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos, though as much as he didn’t want to, allowed Lethe to drop the embrace. He pulled back so he could look at her, even if she didn’t wish to meet his gaze as she made her promise.

He wasn’t surprised. If he could, he would change her mind. Make her see the error of her ways, and get her to join his side once again, willingly. She’ll see that he had been in the right all along.

“I do hope that means you’ll be willing to fight me one day.” Two fingers lifted her chin to try and get her to meet his gaze. “I would love to see if you’ve improved at all.” He let go, dropping his hand from her chin. “But if it gets to that point, I will not be merciful.”

Aaravos truly didn’t know if he would kill her, but her fate would not be kind. Maybe forever imprisoned near him, in some locket. Or in a room in a castle he had constructed by then. Or something else.

He moved, leaning down once more to hover his face at her level. He placed a chaste kiss on her cheek, “Thank you.” The words brushed her ear as he whispered them, and he straightened himself to his full height again.

~~~

Willow could only think of a singular person who would be willing to save her from a fate of an eternity serving Finnegrin, and that was if she had the opportunity to see Drake without Finnegrin or Deadwood breathing over her shoulder. Drake would be willing to help Willow escape somewhere into Xadia where Finnegrin could never find her.

But that would be such a big risk.

They will abandon you.

Like everyone else in her life. Like how Drake would in the future. He had a husband. They had so much more to think about than life in Scumport or her.

Tears pooled in the corner of her eyes with the realization of how truly alone she was. Of how fucked she was. Of how there was no one willing to help her.

“I understand,” she whispered, her grip on his arm loosening.

 

[Lucyfer]

Fight.

Lethe almost laughed at the idea of it. No, she had certainly not improved in that area, and she wasn’t planning on it. “I’m not a fighter, Aaravos,” a trickster, obviously. If she had to stand against him, tricking him would never work again. She didn’t know how she’d do it, really. The necklace probably wouldn’t let her fight him, anyways, would it?

She wasn’t inclined to find out if it would let her lift a hand against him.

She was inclined to suffer the realization that these once-casual affections were no longer so casual, layered in betrayal, dripping with confessions. It caused her to lift her hands to his chest, prepared to push him away if the kiss landed where it shouldn’t – but it didn’t.

Just the cheek. No matter what they’d said, no matter what they felt, the friendly veil held itself firmly in place.

Her fingers curled into her palm against his chest, but she didn’t press him back.

Lethe didn’t want his gratitude.

Her hands lowered from his chest as he straightened back up, “You should see to Claudia,” she said to dismiss the moment, to dismiss him, “convince her to accept Viren’s death. Don’t…force Viren to suffer any longer. Please.”

Viren could die with his secret.

Please, let Viren die with his secret.

~***~

Willow did understand.

It was clear in her body language. She was starting to realize just how alone she was, just how fucked she was, now that she was off that ship. Even those dark mages she’d brought to him wouldn’t help her now. No one would. He couldn’t help the smile at her realization, and he relaxed his grip on her throat, drew his hand away, only to pet her hair.

“Good girl,” he cooed, words and tone he’d usually reserved for the bedroom with her, but he saw no reason to keep it there just now. It was one of the few uses he had for her, after all. Far better than a decoration on the prow, at any rate, but only if he could be sure she wasn’t going to drive a knife through him.

He wasn’t sure of that.

He wasn’t sure of much, which was a problem as he stepped away from her.

Claudia was gone, so he couldn’t ask her any questions. So was Viren.

Aaravos and Lethe were still…well, he didn’t know. Even he could see the shared torment, and knew better than to interrupt. “You should grow some food or something,” he didn’t actually know if Willow could do that, “I get the feeling we’re staying here a night, what with Viren dying and all.”

Let him die here, and move on.

It sounded like that was for the best.

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos knew Lethe wasn’t a fighter. She fought with her words and actions, rather than fists.

But could something drive her to that physical limitation?

As he pulled away from her, he found himself wishing he had let his lips collide with hers into an actual kiss they both wanted deep down, a feeling they admitted was there before his imprisonment, but never acted on.

And now, it was too late, but the urge never faded with time, even if the anger grew.

His fingers did touch hers before she dropped her hands from his chest, longing to feel that touch again. “Tell me,” he said, as Lethe spoke of Claudia and Viren. He placed two fingers under her chin to lift her face to him. “Is there something about Viren I should know?”

He was going to visit the man before Claudia, but he hadn’t forgotten that feeling from earlier when Viren left the area. And he waited to see if Lethe would give him the answer.

~~~

Willow ignored how she ended up missing the sensation of his hand on her throat as he pulled away. And she certainly tried to ignore his next words, the familiar words and tone that sent a rush of heat through her body.

Her face reddened with humiliation at her own reaction, and she refused to look at Finnegrin until she calmed down.

But once she did, and realized the question he asked, she cleared her throat before answering, “We wouldn’t have food tonight, but theoretically, if we can find some seeds or any part of a crop, I could quicken its growth, or revitalize the crop. Whatever is needed to be done.”

But as Willow looked around the immediate surroundings, she didn’t know how old the city was. Any garden or crop field was probably long gone, though if animals still lurked around, that meant there had to be some food somewhere. Maybe even some freshwater was to be found somewhere.

She started wandering off, using her connection to the earth to try and help guide her somewhere. She didn’t know if she was going to find anything, but it was better than standing around and thinking about Finnegrin’s threat.

 

[Lucyfer]

Lethe still kept her gaze down, even as her chin was tilted up. The answer to the question was likely obvious to him, but she still gave her half-truth, “Nothing that you should know, no,” which was the truth in her opinion. Aaravos shouldn’t know about this. He should never know someone else learned the star arcanum.

He’d stop Viren from dying if that was the case.

And Viren didn’t want to live under Aaravos’s terms.

Lethe empathized with that.

She turned her head and stepped back, wanting to add distance and keep him from being able to do that again, “You’ve caused him enough pain. You should know that.” And Claudia? Well, Claudia was soon to be in a world of it, without him, without Terry. Lethe empathized with her despite the physical pain Claudia caused her.

She had let Aaravos convince her to help him. She was responsible for that, and for still trusting him…but Lethe knew how convincing he was.

~***~

Of course the halfling couldn’t just grow them food. Finnegrin sighed at that answer. In a place like this, he supposed it was possible they’d find wild food in season to eat, but he didn’t know how long they would be here, or what the future held right then.

And he didn’t really feel like not knowing for long.

But he also didn’t want his head blown off his shoulders, so he could wait a while longer before bothering Aaravos with it. He let Willow go, to…well, do fuck-all, no doubt, since she couldn’t grow any food immediately.

Lethe and Aaravos had parted by then, and he rose to his feet, but didn’t approach. “Let’s find some places to bed down,” he addressed Deadwood, and motioned the hunk of wood to go along with him.

It was better than doing nothing.

Aaravos had to make his rounds, and loathed as he was to admit it – Finnegrin wasn’t in control here. And he owed the sparkly bastard for that. And his life.

 

[cleopat]

Nothing that you should know.

That phrasing made Aaravos wonder if there was truly something he should know.

He hummed, ignoring her next statement. Sometimes pain was necessary for the end goal. “Very well then.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “I trust you’ll behave yourself in my absence.” Not that there was anything to get herself up into in the ruined city, and he would know if she ventured too far.

Aaravos walked away, in the direction of the dying man. Finally to meet and talk face-to-face without the aid of dark magic. They should treasure the moment somehow, though Viren’s doomed state wouldn’t lead him much to celebrations.

Well, that wouldn’t last long.

Aaravos soon found the man in question, with their…son next to him. The odd feeling from earlier returned. “Lord Viren, finally meeting in the flesh.” A hint of amusement was on his face. “Though this isn’t quite how I expected our first physical encounter to happen.” But it still worked for him.

Everyone else may say differently.

“I see you have been taking great care of our son.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Viren had been to Elarion before. He had a favorite hill, a favorite ruins. He understood it had once been a town hall of sorts, and he sat on the steps overwhelmed by vining plants with the strange homunculus. Sir Sparklepuff was silent, still, until the damned Startouch Elf made his appearance. Then, Sir Sparklepuff all but started hopping in excitement, and he pointed.

Viren gave the homunculus a look, and the excitement withered away immediately. It drooped.

Viren put his attention back on the horizon, and sighed as Aaravos spoke to him. The voice hadn’t been an illusion at all; it was terribly intoxicating to hear, but he didn’t turn his gaze towards the speaker.

He was too tired.

He didn’t want to deal with this.

Though, he did flinch at the mention of ‘their son’. That drew his eyes from the stars. “Our—what?”

As if being helpful, Sir Sparklepuff immediately added in, “Blood of child!”

“Stop that,” Viren chastised, realized he was chastising it, and glared at Aaravos, “I don’t know what game you’re playing now, but that…thing is not our son,” they’d never even touched each other! How could they have a child? It made no sense.

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos smiled, as if he was amused by the antics of a small child. He didn’t think Viren would immediately agree that the homunculus was theirs, a product of a spell. He would have been impressed had the human agreed so readily.

“Don’t you see it?” he teased, reaching down to pet the hair of The Being as it approached Aaravos. “He has my eyes, although I think that voice comes from your side of the family.” The creature stared up at the elf and blinked once. The entire family was together!

“I’m sure you remember your…what was it you called it? Your little bug pal, that we created together. This is that very same bug, born of our blood ritual soon after we first met.” Or rather, soon after Viren finally discovered Aaravos in the mirror, and decided that he was curious enough to see what Aaravos would do.

The Being uttered that familiar phrase once more.

“He was to be sacrificed in a dark magic spell that would have kept you alive until old age.” The Being blinked and became distracted by a butterfly fluttering by, not at all concerned with what Aaravos just said.

 

[Lucyfer]

Viren kept a dull expression on his face, refusing to be impressed by anything Aaravos said about their supposed child that definitely didn't have his voice. Still…he knew the bug. He remembered the ritual.

He pressed his thumb and index finger into his temple as he let out a frustrated sigh, “Well, good to know that's how Startouch elves procreate, next time warn me I'm adding a third to my family,” his frustration was still mixed with disbelief.

And anger.

If this was a child, how could Aaravos so casually think of sacrificing it? “You'll have to take care of it instead. I'm not going to kill it in another profane ritual.” He was done with all of that. Done with dark magic. Done with Aaravos.

The Being, of course, was fairly confused by the tension and anger in the air. He looked from one to the other.