Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Suki

Your name is Suki. No last name. You never had a real one. And forsook the one they gave you. You gave that up when you abandoned your home. Abandoned your oaths. Abandoned Vaugarde.

You’re currently staying in some old abandoned house that was lying around. Townsfolk are a little untrustworthy, but that’s fair, you’re new and foreign. But you’re making that better! Little things, like getting rid of the change symbols on your stuff, or changing your hair to white with bodycraft, make you fit in right. And it HAS been helping! You’ve been feeling more welcomed, and honestly you like these ch- adjustments. Just adjustments, just adjustments.

You really don’t blame them for disliking outsiders. Sure, you’ve heard things like curses and blessings that make them defensive, but it’s kinda hard to sort out what’s true and what’s propaganda. Both from inside AND outside. But you DO know they value their history and beliefs a LOT. Sure, Vaugarde kinda does that, but they’ll shuffle around anything at a whim. Here, doing that is an insult to everything before, and new people means potential conflicts with that.

Ironically, It’s why you like it better here. Here, you can fight for stuff that’ll actually matter. Things that won’t get changed out for nothing.

Yeah. You can do this. You can be Astravian… You look at your white hair, and black outfit. It feels right, honestly, regardless of the reason. This is a face you want to keep. You’ll never have to lose. Never again, never again, you are in control, you are IN CONTROL-

Stop that Suki. You’re fine. You aren’t there anymore.

… You look nice! Time to head out!

You open the door and head into tow- hoLY CRA- STARS!!!!

You see bandits running off with stolen goods!!! Oh no they don’t! You don’t have time to grab your armor, so you just pull out your sword, and start chasing after them!

Alright. No armor, just your sword, outnumbered. Have to track them down. Got it. ‘Defeat the bandits’, that’s the goal. You start to focus your mind on that goal, and feel it adjust slightly to the task ahead. Your awareness sharpens, your movements become agile, and your footsteps become light.

They will not escape.

>>>

Alright, bandits are gone, all… 13 of them? Yeah, thirteen. Took them out pretty easily, nothing compared to your old job, though you can tell you’re gonna be sore for a bit. Hard to hold yourself back, but now there’s consequences to using your old tricks. You should be fine though, nothing a day or two of rest won’t fix.

You’re sitting in their cave hideout, just out of sight of the entrance, in case any stragglers come by, so you can get them by surprise. Bodies are out of sight, so you should get a few moments before they panic and run. Oh, yep, you hear footsteps, quickly, out of sight.

𝄆 “Alright, bandits, hands where I can-!… see them… o-oh. Did I lose the trail? Oh no… Don’t tell me they got away…”

Oh! Huh, didn’t expect a fellow hunter. Hm. You scan the man over. He’s half a head shorter than you, but given the fit build and recently bloodied halberd, he knows what he’s doing. Must have gotten the stragglers himself. His outfit isn’t really suited for combat,though, it’s just casual clothing. Shirt, pants and a jacket. Similarly unprepared, likely. He’s got black hair, think that means nobility? The bright red eyes are a little strange, but you’ve seen a lot of interesting eye colors here.

𝄆 “Stars, um. Okay. M-maybe there’s some clues? It does look like this is their old hideout.”

Oof. Yeah, you’ll save him some time.

♮ “Nah, don’t bother. I got them!”

𝄆 “WHA- I um Hi!!! Hello! Oh uh. Nice to. Meet you?”

♮ “Suki. Nice to meet you, I was just waiting for any stragglers. I take it you got them?”

𝄆 “I- Yes. Thank you. Are you uh. Here for the bounty?”

♮ “Oh, there’s a bounty on these idiots? Nice to know. But no, not really, I just live nearby. You want it?”

𝄆 “No, no! You did most of the work. If I took any it’d be…”

His nervous face shifts into a cheeky but nervous smile.

𝄆 “ Highway robbery ?”

…Pft, okay, that was terrible, but you can’t help yourself.

♮ “Welp, in that case, I guess they can keep the coin! So, what’s your name stranger?”

𝄆 “I- uh!! … D-Darkon…”

♮ “Nice to meet you! Right, we better let the townsfolk know. Mind coming along? Might trust the story more from someone more local.”

Darkon nods, and you both head out.

𝄆 “O-oh. Um. When we uh. Get there. Don’t use my name. I’d rather my family didn’t know I was sneaking out like this.”

Ah, So you were spot on with the noble thing. Still then-

♮ “Why’d you tell me your name in the first place?”

𝄆 “Uh! I um. Didn’t have a better answer prepared.”

♮ “No problem! Let’s see… Well, then, Darkon, I’ll just call you Shade! You know, cause Dark-on! That sound good?”

𝄆 “Hehe. Pun’s a bit weak, but thank you.”

Scathing review aside, you’ll take it! Puns were never your strong suit, but oh well. You continue onwards, with your new friend ‘Shade’.

When you got to town, you both let people know what happened. They took it well! Local guards weren’t doing much of anything about it, so having it taken care of was a massive boon. 

Afterwards, Darkon met up with some other lady, Aurola? Apparently she helped him sneak out of the royal district. She seems a little suspicious of you, but the normal way instead of the ‘silent hatred’ way, which is nice!!

♮ “Well, if you both ever want to come by again, let me know, I’d love to hang out!”

♪ “Hm…. Noted. Well, if his nobleness wants it, sure.”

𝄆 “Hey! I-… I mean, I would, if that’s okay?”

♪ “Yeah, sure. Of course. Least I can do for you buddy.”

She pulls out some kind of bike from the bushes. Looks high tech, must be one of those self-propelling vehicles you’ve heard about from here. Suppose that’s a good investment for getting to the central districts and back quickly.

As the two hop on, you wave them goodbye, and they speed away on off-road out of town.

Heh. Nice! First friends in Astravia made! Stars yeah, you’re good at this!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

~1 year later

You wake up, and stretch. Ah, should be a good day today! You wipe off a layer of dust from your old armor on its stand. Hasn’t seen any use for a long time, and that’s a good thing. You get up, then open the blackout curtains, and are greeted by the bright noon sun.

Heh, you remember when you were first getting used to the Astravian sleep schedule. You see the appeal now, honestly! The early tasks are done in the light of day, and when they are done, you have the soothing night to cool you down.

Speaking of which, best check your commissions list for the day. You head downstairs, and check the room you set up for Craftwork. 

Alright, going down the list… Mostly old keepsakes in need of retrofitting. Some spare parts with old crafts that need to be swapped out for a new role. They'd be discarded in Vaugarde, but not here! You know all of these have weight to them, likely many memories or significance. 

‘The Universe listens to what we care for, we must do the same.’ What people put effort into making real always matters, and should never be ignored. And you are trusted to make sure they aren’t lost. You make sure to be extra careful with the instructions to not miss a single detail, of which there are many.

After those, it’s just little things, like some wires, dyes, paper, and various items. Mostly just making them conductive to craft so someone else can put actual craft into them. Still important, but much simpler. Alright, should be able to knock this out in just a little bit!

Stars, you know you told people you could get pretty exact, and they sure are testing that! You’ve been at this for a year now, and you guess you’ve started to get a reputation. Nothing you can’t handle though! Your Craft skills are pretty top notch, even if they were originally learned for battle. You can’t get nearly as much focus as you did back in the order, but even oathless you’re a damn sight better than most.

Alright. Time to get started. You use the tasks as a focus point, and make it your focus. They will be done as requested. You feel your mind subtly shift itself to fit the desired goal, and then begin…

>>>

You finish delivering your handiwork, and head to the square to meet up with Shade. One of his other friends, Re, mentioned he’d try and be by again today, and you look forward to it!

Maybe a… Bit more than usual. You fiddle with the iron ring you made. You aren’t putting it on till he shows up. You wonder if he’ll get the idea.

You take a deep breath, and sit in your favorite spot, a bench near Eridani’s central fountain. You look at a town that, on the surface, is not too different from most port towns. Perhaps a few bits of celestial iconography, or architecture based on mixtures of old ships and defensive castles, or the occasional fancy piece of tech. But, you watch as the sun sets, its golden light falling away, as the true Astravia comes to life.

The speckled bits of crafted material in the stones beneath your feet begin to glow faintly, forming a nebula outlined with small lights at its edges. Lights within houses faintly glow through tinted glass, showing life as people begin to relax after a long day's work. Adornments on the buildings faintly glow in elegant patterns, some from ages long past. People walk about, the metal pins and accessories of their outfits reflecting the light to make themselves visible, combined with occasional glowing patterns of various colors to complement the black of their outfits. What lamps are around are faint and hooded, to keep their light from going upwards. Even the ships on the harbor are careful with how much light they shed, painted with patterns to make their silhouettes known to other sailors.

A beautiful dance of light and darkness, carved into every surface. One that has lived for generations. Carried in the people’s hearts, built into everything they own, held onto so dearly they would and have fought and died for it.

All to keep from drowning the lights in the sky.

…

You love this country. So much.

…

Ah! You see the familiar shape of Shade, walking your way. The buttons on his jacket, the brass armband, the small star pin he has on his shirt, the little necklace you made for him, and of course his faintly glowing red eyes. He’s never elaborated on that last one, but you don’t mind, it’s cute.

You quietly and nervously slip on the iron ring while waving with the other hand. He waves back.

𝄆 “Hi Suki!”

♮ “Heya Shade! Glad you showed up!”

𝄆 “Of course! I wasn’t gonna… leave you in the dark .”

Pft, classic.

Huh! He’s got a basket with him this time! You point to it, and he gets flustered.

𝄆 “Oh uh, I just thought a picnic would be nice! And we could go stargazing, I know you love that.”

♮ “Aw, thank you!! That sounds fantastic!”

The both of you alone, stargazing? PERFECT!!! That way there’s no way he’ll mistake the whole iron ring thing. Unless he doesn’t notice, but he’ll totally notice, right? He HAS TO. That’s like. A very new thing for you to have done! RIGHT???

Okay, just relax Suki, it’s been like a few SECONDS. Just. Yeah, you’re good.

♮ “Got a spot in mind?”

𝄆 “Yes! Follow me!”

>>>

Shade, or Darkon (you aren’t in town, you can call him that, at least you still remember how to swap names around), leads you to an old ruined watchtower on top of a hill. The view is spectacular. You can even see the grand castle of Piscium from here. And the view of the stars is fantastic.

You look at the ruins net to you. Usually buildings like this get repurposed, so that they can be held on to for a bit longer, especially something like a watchtower that has history. So why’s it ruined like this? You initially think it was just a bit out of the way, until you realize the tree in the center is well cared for, and various vines growing on its walls are actually labeled. Actually wait, you recognize that handwriting... Oh, so THIS is where Cara gets her herbs from! That’s quite clever. She probably has some history with this spot. You’ll have to ask later!

Darkon puts out a picnic blanket for you both to lay out on, and he lays down his halberd. You do the same with your sword and join him. You both did bring your weapons, since you both are alone and it’s worth it just in case of some bandits, angry animal, feral fey, or something else. Lot of bandits came after you since that first incident. But for now, you both can relax.

𝄆 “So, how have things been going?”

♮ “Same as usual. Business is picking up, especially after the first year anniversary. Think that cleared out the last bits of suspicion from people. Stars, the way things are going, might even get commissions from the capital.”

Apparently if you live in Astravia for a year straight, the Universe itself sees you as Astravian. Any doubts people had of you dashing back home were gone after that point, though most people had started accepting you way before that, even despite Astravia’s bad history with Vaugarde.

They… probably wouldn’t be as accepting if anyone knew you used to be a paladin, but… Don’t think about it don’t think about it you aren’t there anymore you’re alright.

♮ “How about you? Things going alright back home?”

𝄆 “Ehhh… Mostly? Me and the others have been managing well, all things considered. We WERE going to try doing a concert. Re finally convinced me to try again! But then my brother pulled some strings to get the whole venue shut down.”

♮ “Not again... He really doesn’t like you, does he?”

Darkon shakes his head. His brother, Drago, has always been kind of a petty person, from what you’ve gathered. Especially since you’re pretty sure he’s been funding the bandits, from what little you’ve gotten. You aren’t telling Darkon that though, not unless it comes up. Darkon tries to hold hope for him, and you don’t want to judge someone you haven’t met.

𝄆 “It’s a shame, I was kinda looking forwards to doing some music myself. I know some songs I wrote are pretty popular, but I rarely get the chance to actually play.”

♮ “Hey, moment you do, you guys always draw a crowd. I remember that time at the square. You’re a really good musician!”

Darkon gives you a smile. You smile back. Stars, you hope you aren’t blushing.

Stars, you love him. Maybe one day, you can take him to that house on the coast, just outside Eridani...

You notice him glance downwards and start to blush? Wait...

OH F**CK HE NOTICED THE RING!!!!

♮ “Ah ahaha R-right um. The ring. I uh. Do know about the local customs. And that you should um. Wear an iron ring if you-”

𝄆 “ YEP .”

Stars!!! He’s bright red! You’re sure you are too!!! You both are this flustered over the sheer concept of dating ?!? WELP!!

He takes a few moments to collect himself. Takes a deep breath in and out. And then turns towards you, something genuinely worried in his eyes.

𝄆 “R-right. So. Um. T-then there is. Something I need to tell you.”

Huh? Stars he’s not interested, is he? He wasn’t wearing an iron ring anyways- No stop that line of thought now, just. Listen.

𝄆 “I… I’m-”

A child’s scream pierces the air.

You both jump. It came from town! You grab your weapons, and start running. This can wait.

Rushing through the woods, you hurry towards town. There seems to be a lot of commotion. As you pull through, and start to see things, you see the injured child. One of the locals attacked them?!?

You quickly place yourself between the child and the woman.

♮ “What in the blinding universe are you doing?!?”

“Don’t be fooled! That THING just shape-shifted! It’s some kind of monster!”

What? That’s ridiculous. Where did they get that idea fr-

Oh, huh. Their face is actually flickering. Gotta say that one is new... new kind of Fey? Doesn't feel like it, and far too human...

The poor kid seems to be panicking. And malnourished. Stars.

♮ “Doesn’t matter. They’re a child.”

“Ash that! It could just be trying to get your guard down!! It just tried to trick me out of food!”

♮ “Only out of desperation by the looks of it.”

Their cracked voice can barely muster out words, but you hear them try to say ‘sorry’ over and over again, with a fear that makes your heart wilt. You lean down and try to use some healing craft. They back away, clearly still scared.

♮“Hey, it’s okay, not gonna hurt you.”

The child still seems panicked, but when they feel the craft soothe their injury they just shake in place. They can’t seem to stop their face flickering though.

You see Da- Shade come out of the woods, just managing to catch up to you.

𝄆 “What’s going on?”

♮ “Dunno. Kid seems to have some weird craft. Doesn't feel fey, but maybe.”

Another person speaks up.

“Some weird craft? It’s a blinding shapeshifter! I bet it’s some kind of Vaugardian weapon or something!”

Shade takes one look over the child and looks back at the civilian.

𝄆 “They’re a scared child.”

“Don’t take their side! I bet that changeling girl doesn’t care!”

You wince. Haven’t been called something like that for a long while.

More people are showing up, and some are debating, but more and more voices are shouting in anger and fear, given the kid’s craft is on full display. You watch the child’s face shift through many a fearful expression. They pull close to you, scared.

“Get rid of them!”

“They’re a danger!”

You hold them close. Stars, what are you going to do, this will turn to mob violence soon enough.

𝄆 “Stand down, we can-”

The shouting continues. You might have to grab the child and make a run for it, Blind it. You won’t let another child be hurt because someone said they should be.

Shade’s face turns from worry to a cold rage you’ve never seen.

𝄆 “I said.”

𝄆 “ Stand Down. ”

The entire crowd goes silent. Even you felt something when he said that. His hair has turned bright red, and his entire form stands out against the night, visible as if it was brightest day.

Red hair. Red eyes. Wait. There’s no way-

𝄆 “… This child, until further notice, is being placed into the care of the royal family. Understood? ”

The people simply back away, nodding. Parting for him. For the crown blinding prince.

As his hair starts to fade back mostly to his normal black, he looks at you, smiling, but with a sadness in his eyes.

𝄆 “Suki? Mind helping me take them to the usual spot? I uh. Think it’d be best if we left.”

...You nod. Stars. You turn towards the child.

♮ “Can you walk?”

They try to get up, but are clearly straining themselves. Alright. You pick them up in your arms. They haven’t stopped trembling.

♮ “It’s alright. Let’s get you somewhere safe, and then get you some food.”

You follow Darkon through and out of town, towards the normal meetup spot with Aurola. The whole way, people's eyes seem to stare at you both, but mainly Darkon, who’s hair still carries some of that red shade. Who’s odd light hasn’t quite left… Who still looks remorseful.

As you leave town, the child slowly tries to speak, barely managing a voice above a whisper.

𝄢 “t-thank you”

You give them a kind smile. They pass out in your arms, likely exhausted. But they seem to be alright otherwise. You make sure to keep an eye on them. It wouldn’t do for them to die here.

𝄆 “… Sorry for not. Mentioning that earlier Suki.”

Oh. That. Yeah, you are... Honestly still processing that.

♮ “I’m. Gonna guess that’s what you were gonna mention back there?”

𝄆 “Y-yeah. I just. Um.”

♮ “You’re good, buddy. Not an easy subject to broach.”

No wonder he needs someone like La to sneak him out. The prince himself would not be allowed out normally. If he was even seen hanging out with someone like y-

OH F**CKING UNIVERSE YOU JUST ASKED OUT THE CROWN PRINCE!!!!!

No it’s okay be normal! Benormalbenormalbenormal.

𝄆 “Yeah. Sorry if that um. Changes your mind on things.”

…

……..

Ash it. This would not be the most ill advised decision you made in your life.

♮ “Still down.”

𝄆 “WAIT REA-?!”

♪ “Huh, you guys are early, what’s up?”

Oh, HEY!! You made it to the meetup spot! Hahaha topic change!!

♮ “Kid here got attacked because they’ve got some weird craft that scared people. Darkon uh. Convinced them. To stand down.”

La just stares at you a bit, sees the kid with a face shifting even in their sleep, then looks at Darkon, mildly annoyed.

♪ “… You did the prince thing, didn’t you?”

𝄆 “I did the prince thing.”

She sighs, facepalming. She then takes a second to breathe, and turns serious.

♪ “Right, scratch this town off your list of safe places to sneak around. Anyways, we better get the poor kid to the capital. We can keep them safe there. But there’s a problem of how to get them there.”

♮ “Right, your bike isn’t a good way to move a frail, unconscious child.”

𝄆 “Hm. I’d consider getting a cart, but given how the villagers reacted…”

♪ “Yeah, it’s just us on this. And we need to be quick, they look bad. We might just have to risk it, and have you two walk while I take them over.”

Stars. No, that’s not good, you can’t risk them getting hurt… And you don’t want to leave them alone. They might be scared if you aren’t there when they wake up.

Well. There’s one option. But you… really don’t want to do it. But if it’ll help them then…

♮ “… You both take the bike. I… I have ways to keep up. I don’t want to leave them alone.”

♪ “You’re kidding right? On foot?”

♮ “Yeah just. I’m gonna be a bit out of it till we get there. Might act strange.”

𝄆 “Wait, Is it that focus thing you do sometimes?”

♮ “Kind of. But. Much bigger… I’ll explain later.”

They look confused, but agree, and hop onto the bike.

...You REALLY didn’t want to have to do this. It’s one thing to use it for small stuff, but this… This is going to be unpleasant.

You focus on yourself. Channeling craft like you used to. It’s a lot more shaky, without your oath. But it’ll work. You focus on the goal.

You WILL get this child to the destination safely.

Your mind sparks with awareness, your senses become exacting, your movements precise. You feel your body subtly alter its chemistry to push your agility past its normal limits, augmented with speed craft constantly circulating throughout your system. It burns under your skin, unstable as it is now, but you don’t care. You’ll fight through the pain for them.

Aurola starts the bike. You follow. It’s fast. You are fast too. It burns. Doesn’t matter. Is the child alright? Yes, alive, heartbeat fine. Keep focused. Are you followed? No. It’s fine, just focus, don’t worry, stick to the goal. Your legs run, even as they burn. It burns. Doesn’t matter. You dodge a stray branch. Forest path is secret, deters followers. Nobody shall hurt the child. Child is still sleeping. Alive. Keep going. Keep going.

Approaching the city wall. There’s a crack in it. Aurola and Darkon hop off the bike and head in. Entryway. Are you at the destination? No, you don’t think so, the child must be safe first. Too open. Need to have them safe. It burns. Doesn’t matter.

𝄆 “That was. Wow, how did you do that?”

♮ “N-not now. Need. Need to get them safe.”

Keep them safe Keep them safe Keep them safe

♪ “...Right. Follow me. Me, Re and Ti have a joint house just outside the palace. Should be a good place.”

Nod. Acknowledge. Follow.

Streets twist and turn. Taking back alleys. Good. Less threats. You keep watch as you move. Shifting from agility to senses. Several noises from the main street. None approaching. Good. Safe. Is the child alright? Breathing is normal, heart-rate is normal. They’re fine for now. Keep moving. It burns. Doesn’t matter.

They talk to a guard, and enter a house. You follow. A tall man greets you inside, then looks at the child in surprise.

♪ “Hey Ti. Can you get this child into a bed? Maybe get some food, something easy to eat, like broth.”

The man nods. He seems nervous. Ti? You’ve heard of Ti, he’s safe. You hand him the child. He takes them into his hands.

The child is safe.

The burning in your body SNAPS into focus, and you crumple from the pain. ASH ASH ASH!!!! F**CKING ASH!!!!

𝄆 “SUKI!?!?”

♮ “Ash ash ash gotta, gotta-”

The focus is gone, but the changes aren’t!! You KNEW this was coming but BLINDING ASHPIT!!!! STARS YOU ARE BURNING ALIVE!!!

C-C-Concentrate. S-start with settling the craft. You shove yourself against the wall, slowly pushing healing craft through your entire body. You had to do this before, you can manage it again, but you have to hurry. Without a goal, the changes will get more unstable. You need to start work NOW.

You start to carefully and meticulously revert the changes manually. Slowly get it back to a normal human’s levels. Darkon is trying to help out, he picks you up and brings you towards a bed across from the child. That’s fine.

♪ “What the f**k was that?”

♮ “O-old trick. Using a goal as a focus, pushing the body towards the desire, Crafting it past what's humanly safe. B-But without an anchor, it’s harder to keep stable. A-and it doesn’t. Change back. On its own.”

You remember when you could sustain several changes like this at once, without even a bit of backlash or pain, for months at a time. So frequently, your body was barely even human. And changing it back could be done with barely a thought.

𝄆 “An anchor? I-is that something we can-”

♮ “Sorry, no. I nearly killed myself by getting rid of my old one. Not. Not making a new one lightly.”

♪ “Sorry, is that just. A THING in Vaugarde? I assume it’s Vaugardian, cause I’ve never heard of this.”

ASH, it hurts. Oh f**ck it, Darkon shared one secret today, you might as well share yours.

♮ “Only for Paladins. And the very few oathbreakers that survive leaving.”

The two grow silent. Yeah that’s. Fair.

Astravia probably just knows Paladins from their time at war with Vaugarde. Unfeeling assassins, brutal fighters, whatever the order needed you all to be. It’s funny, they don’t even know how messed up it is on the other end. Only a handful of kids manage to survive becoming one. But nobody cares because ‘Change is Destruction’.

And then there’s the oath itself. Your former anchor. Your former chain.

♮ “Don’t worry. I’ve cut my ties. Damn near killed me.”

𝄆 “I don’t doubt that. I just. I didn’t know.”

♮ “Like I didn’t know you were prince. We’re even now.”

‘Shade’ chuckles nervously at that.

You finally manage to get yourself stable, but you’re exhausted, and probably heavily injured. Your insides are probably shredded. You relax on the bed Darkon puts you in.

𝄆 “Will you be okay?”

♮ “Yeah. I fixed it, mostly. Just… Gonna need some time to rest and recover.”

♪ “… Well, thanks. But you didn’t have to hurt yourself that blinding bad.”

No. You’re used to pain. If it helps protect someone, you’d do anything.

Darkon sits down next to you. You look across to the other bed, and see the child, face shifting slowly bit by bit while asleep. The only static part being a pair of violet horns that seem to have faded back in.

𝄆 “Okay. Then… Rest up. I’ll start figuring out how to approach my father on all this. Make sure both of you can stay here safe.”

♮ “Good… Don’t want to leave any of you…”

You start to feel tired. Right. Best rest. You close your eyes, body still aching. And drift into dreams…

>>>>>>>

𝄆 “Alright, we know the pitch, right? Just leave the talking to me and it should work out right.”

You nod. Both you and the child, Song, have managed to heal up well enough. They didn’t have a name before, but liked the name you both came up with. They can find a face they like later, if they want, but for now at least they have a name!

Still. You both are nervous. You stand in front of the doors to the throne room. Darkon’s father, the king himself, is inside. You’ve heard he’s an… efficient ruler. Sometimes harshly so. And according to Darkon, those rumors are very accurate. But he’s apparently better than the tyrant before him, so it should be alright.

Darkon’s hair goes red, and he opens the door. There you see him. King Draconis.

Dressed in white and red, he sits on the ornate throne, staring you all down with seriousness. At least he was not in the middle of anything, other than reviewing some paperwork.

≛ “Ah. Darkon. You have business?”

Darkon nods.

𝄆 “I recently came across this young child, Song. They have unique abilities of shapeshifting. Possibly Fey, but decidedly more human. I wish to propose housing them, in exchange for the chance to study their nature.”

Song’s face flickers a bit. They’re probably a little nervous about using the test subject angle, but it should work. Draconis sees their face changing and seems intrigued.

≛ “Hm. Reasonable. And the woman?”

𝄆 “Suki. A former Vaugardian, with knowledge of advanced craft. The child has imprinted on them, so she seemed to be an ideal choice for caretaker and researcher both.”

Draconis seems to think it over for a bit, before you see someone emerge from the corner of the room, chuckling to himself.

≓ “Correction, brother. A former paladin .”

!!! Uh oh!

𝄆 “Drago. Surprised you’d know that.”

≓ “The guard in front of your friends abode has a loose tongue, and just happened to overhear.”

Draconis leans over, and looks at Drago.

≛ “A former Paladin? Continue.”

≓ “I did some brief research and what do I find but the tale of a Paladin that murdered their commanding officer and fled! Hardly very trustworthy, and very dangerous. Really, brother, when did you become such a poor judge of character? She should be killed swiftly.”

You notice some of the guards have their weapons pointed at you. Ash, that’s bad.

Darkon looks unfazed. As does Draconis?

𝄆 “Firstly, we are at peace with Vaugarde at present. Secondly, her former alliance is not relevant. I can confirm she has cut ties with Vaugarde in full, and has lived here for a full year. Thirdly, she no longer has access to her paladin techniques in any meaningful capacity.”

≛ “… Indeed. If you had done your research properly Drago, you would know that killing the commanding officer is the clearest sign they have no ties to Vaugarde.”

Huh?!? He knows??

≛ “Paladins are normally unable to strike out against their officers, control placed into them as part of the oath. Even if one survives severing that Oath, enough control remains for the officer to kill them. You must be awfully clever, timing their assassination with your oathbreaking. And resilient, to manage it at all. Not to mention, one would not sever an oath to Vaugarde at all unless they had fully intended to leave, ensureing no lingering loyalty.”

You… You nod. It seems he understands.

He stands up.

𝄆 “… Hence the researcher position. That cleverness, combined with the advanced craft knowledge from her time in the paladins, make her an ideal fit.”

≛ “Indeed. This is why, despite your bleeding heart, you are my choice of heir. You actually think through your actions.”

You see Drago flinch and curse under his breath.

≛ “But Drago does have a point. Broken oath or not, your potential does make you a liability. Short of a Bladeheart knight, there are few who can contend with a Paladin of such skill. Not to mention, one who has partaken in the Astravian blessing. I would not have you executed, but precautions must be taken.”

He starts to walk forwards. Wait...

𝄆 “What are you planning?”

≛ “Quite simple. I propose a solution. After all, She is only a danger when her oath isn’t set. Therefore, we have options.”

He stands in front of you. His eyes glaring down at you. His presence seems to tower over you.

≛ “Suki, is it? I shall give you a choice. If you wish to live in Astravia proper, you will swear a new oath to Astravia. Refuse, and you shall have to be relegated to living outside the mainland, or at least towards outer districts, to mitigate the risk.”

A new oath. A new chain, a new shackle.

♮ “I-I…”

You could. You could just live on the outskirts. Keep a quiet life. You think about a particular house on the coast, made with parts of a ship that’s since left service, like many houses are...

≓ “Oh please, I like she’d do that. She’d run off to whatever country would house her, like a stray dog.”

… But. You do care about this place. Despite everything.

Sure, it’s been rough at times. But. The stars at night. The lights of the town. The people who accepted you in time, rarely ever caring that you were once other. The way nothing is discarded, not even you. Even Draconis is willing to give you a chance. Vaugarde wouldn’t. Vaugarde wouldn’t unless you gave up everything of who you are.

And… You don’t want to lose your friends.

Darkon wouldn’t be able to go to that house. Not as crown prince. Especially not now that half of Eridani knows who he is. You… you want to stay with him. La and Re too. And you want to know Ti better. Not to mention, you need to be there for Song.

You want to stay. With all of them.

♮ “… I’ll do it. Here and now.”

𝄆 “H-huh??”

≛ “Very well. I shall let you choose how to word it. It is your life. As long as it includes loyalty to Astravia, the rest is arbitrary.”

Huh? He’ll allow that? You… you are thankful. You knew it would be better than the first time, but you didn’t know you’d have that much freedom.

You stand straight. And remember the day you first swore that oath. Remember how it felt, so you can do it again.

If you are going to swear a new oath. You want it to matter. The Universe cares about desires, we must respect that. 

You know what? You do too.

As a golden light starts to emit from your heart, you choose your words carefully. You didn’t get to choose them last time . This will be your cause till the day you die. The words you cannot break. The commitment you can never go against. And unlike last time, you can't afford to break it.

♮ “I, Suki, do hereby swear on my life. That I shall serve the people of Astravia until my dying breath. That I shall protect the people's wills and way of life with every fiber of my being. And that I shall follow the path the Universe and its blessed leads for me.”

You feel the energy fill your body, shifting and molding you, inscribing your words into the deepest parts of your mind, filling the hole you left all those years ago. Your entire mind blazes to life, as the connections surge with the newly opened mental pathways, carved into your mind so long ago. You gasp, nearly falling to the ground, as craft starts to circulate throughout your body, like a floodgate opened. You can feel your body shifting and changing. you look down at your hands and see light glowing from your veins. It burns, but the burning starts to fade as the words echo in your mind, steadying you.

You start to breathe again, realizing you stopped for a bit. You look at Draconis, who seems content.

≛ “Hm. I can tell you put care into that oath. It shall not go to waste. Very well Suki, you are now the first, and only Astravian Paladin. I look forward to your efforts.”

You start to get back onto your feet. His words seem to hold even more weight now, as one blessed by the stars. He turns and heads back towards his throne, before stopping and looking at Darkon.

≛ “Congratulations, my son. It seems your empathic nature has proven useful, despite its risks to you. I leave Suki in your charge. You may use her as you see fit. I imagine she will not object.”

𝄆 “I-… alright.”

Well thank the universe for that. You do not mind working for Darkon in the slightest.

You, Darkon and Song leave the room, a scowling Drago staring you down.

As you leave the room, Darkon’s hair turns dark again, and he turns towards you, his calm demeanor breaking instantly.

𝄆 “Are you alright?! Oh stars, Suki, you didn’t have to-”

♮ “I-It’s alright. I… I was already committed to staying here. And… I got to choose my oath. I didn’t get to do that before.”

Song holds your leg, looking up at you, nervous.

♮ “It’s alright, Song. I’m not gonna leave you any time soon.”

You look at Darkon as well.

♮ “None of you. Got it?”

𝄆 “… If you’re sure…”

He seems nervous. You need to lighten his mood a bit. You put your hand on his shoulder, lifting the finger with the iron ring on it.

♮ “Sides, you never gave me an answer on this~ Want to swap it for Silver?”

He instantly goes red as a tomato. Oh that’s adorable, his hair also turns red when he’s flustered! He must have spent so much effort hiding that till now!

𝄆 “Ack! N-now is not the time!!”

You chuckle a bit. And watch as some of the tension in his shoulders eases. Success!

Yeah, this should work out. Better than it did before. An oath on your own terms. To someplace you actually care about. To a cause you care about.

It’ll be fine.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A few years later

You wake up in your bed, and stretch. Oof, still a little sore from all that action. Wildest wedding ever.

You look at the ring on your finger. Your first iron ring mixed back with the silver ring it replaced, with a new ruby reflecting the light.

You lean over and give Darkon a smooch. He’s still sleeping soundly. He must be glad to finally get this all done. Well, while he’s sleeping, you can get up and get ready. You still have a certain trio to lecture.

As you head outside the room, you notice a package. Addressed to you specifically. Ah, blind it, is this another assassination attempt? You killed ten of the assassins at your wedding yourself, what do they think is gonna happen? Especially in the royal palace!

Alright. Time to bring the package into a secure spot. You grab it, and head off towards a secure room. Armory should work. Ugh, it smells horrible, like rotting flesh. But the scent carries no traces of poison, or harmful chemicals? Hm.

Alright, you close the door behind you, open it up in and…

Oh.

That’s not good.

>>>

You enter the Scale’s house. Re, La, and Ti are sitting in the living room, guilt plainly written on their faces.

You’ll get to that ‘gift’ later, for now you have a bigger issue.

♮ “Alright you three. Explain yourselves.”

They all look a little nervous. Yeah, you’d hope they are! You’re half ready to beat them up yourself, newly Bladeheart knights or not. They could have died!!

♯ “It worked out alright...”

♮ “You nearly killed yourselves.”

Re deflates.

𝄡 “We just wanted to help…”

♮ “You nearly killed yourselves.”

Titania curls up into himself.

♪ “You wouldn’t have managed on your own…”

♮ “You. Nearly. Killed. Yourselves.”

La goes quiet.

They stay silent. None of them have a counter. The guilt of hiding their plans is clear. If even ONE of them had died from this, on the day of your wedding, you all would be inconsolable!! Blind it, these people have been your closest friends for years! The least they could have done was TELL YOU what they were planning!!!

But… you sigh. You know why they did it. They all fought off more than a few attackers during everything, and there will likely be more eventually. Especially with that gift, and the upcoming coronation. That’s gonna be messy.

And especially when word gets out about the child. You’ve already settled on the name Siffrin. Darkon’s little naming convention is fun, but he already got one child named that way, you’re giving a better name to the other one. If he gets to be a music nerd for one kid, you can be a theater nerd for one as well! Especially since his entire side of the family is bad at names. Look, Darkon is at least passable as a name, but Draconis naming his kid Drago? Still, the idea of the next heir being half Vaugardian will rub a lot of people the wrong way.

Speaking of which, Darkon and Song come in. The Song runs up to you, giving you a massive hug. Her little face is adorable as always, you swear she made it just for that reason. She really looks like you and Darkon’s child. Awfully clever for her age, isn’t she?

You give Darkon a kiss, watching him get flustered before turning towards the others.

♮ “Don’t worry, I’ve already started lecturing them.”

𝄆 “Alright…. I’m just glad everyone’s okay.”

Song runs up towards the others and kicks La in the shins.

𝄢 “You’re all a bunch of idiots.”

♪ “ow… Duly noted.”

The room starts to relax a bit. It’s fine, everyone is okay.

𝄆 “Gotta say though, that has to have been the most entertaining wedding ever.”

♯ “Ash yeah! When all those assassins jumped out to attack right before the ring exchange, that had to have been the most fun ever!”

♪ “Yeah, we all took out a good few. Even Darkon managed to take out one or two.”

𝄆 “Barely. Suki took out the majority.”

Darkon looks embarrassed. He’s a decent fighter, to be fair, but honestly the two kills he got were purely because his halberd has more reach than you. You might have gone a little overprotective, so most of them didn’t get close.

𝄡 “I am surprised and relieved the guests were not upset by the carnage.”

𝄢 “Um. Yes? It was the coolest thing I’ve ever watched. And we had snacks, so. Worth it.”

Aurola chuckles at Song’s response. Most of the guests, including a disguised Song, were just happily snacking away while you all fought off the assassins. Which is fair, when a Paladin, three Bladehearts, and a chunk of the royal guard is present, you can feel kinda safe.

♪ “Ah yes. Because snacks clearly make up for being drenched in blood.”

♮ “After all the effort we took to make sure it wasn’t poisoned, I sure hope so!”

Stars, there was one assassin who tried slipping pineapple into the decoy catering. If that one wasn’t at the wedding itself, you can only imagine how embarrassed they must be. DARKON’S the one with the pineapple allergy! Wrong target buddy.

𝄆 “I-I feel really bad for the cleaning crew. Are you sure it was alright to leave them?”

𝄡 “They knew what was going to happen, came prepared, and were paid accordingly. Have no fear.”

𝄢 “Also, They also got leftover cake, and that was some good cake. Totally worth it.”

You chuckle. It was a REALLY good cake. Glad you made sure to keep it in a separate room until after the battle. Wouldn’t have been the same if any blood got on it. Gretir’s work doesn’t deserve that!

♯ “Well, now all that’s left is Darkon’s coronation, and things should settle down, right?”

𝄆 “Hopefully… We’ll be able to make a difference here.”

♮ “True. The people, and the country as a whole, deserve better. Nothing that can’t be fixed though!”

After a few years fulfilling your oath, you’ve come to see a lot of Astravia. It’s people and its culture. It’s truly beautiful, and never once did you regret swearing yourself to it. But its nobility has grown corrupt.

Draconis, while a decent ruler, was more focused on the practical side of the aftereffects of his father’s war on Vaugarde. Because he didn’t care about the ethics as much, a lot of positions of power continue to be filled with cruel hearts.

Astravia is better than its leaders. It’s a place where nothing is left behind. It’s a place that holds onto the good and refuses to let go. It’s a nation that respects what it’s made. It deserves better, and that means fixing some things.

But to do that… First, someone that cares must take up its reins. And you know Darkon can do the job, especially with your help. He sometimes doubts it can be salvaged, but you KNOW it can, it’ll just take time and effort.

But there is… one last complication to all that.

♮ “That said… We do have one problem.”

𝄡 “Oh dear. That bodes ill.”

♮ “I… appear to have gotten a wedding gift. From Drago.”

That silences the room. Drago has disliked you a bunch, ever since his attempt to get rid of you failed so badly. Combine that with a nobility complex, ingrained hatred of Vaugarde, and pure hatred of anyone associated with his brother, and you have basically been his primary enemy. He’s been funding smear campaigns, political rivals, anything to get at you. Still, up to now you were mainly an annoyance to him.

But you think the marriage was the final straw.

♮ “He sent me a Rafflesia flower.”

♯ “F**ck! Ash, ash, that’s not good!!!!”

It’s the most hateful way you could possibly send a death threat in Astravia. Flower gifting for respect, either friend or enemy, is well known. But putting in the effort to get a rare, parasitic flower that smells of death makes the intentions clear as day.

He considers you a threat, he wants you dead, and he plans to do so soon.

♪ “Alright, we need to take precautions then. Especially with Darkon having to head to the first observatory for the coronation soon.”

𝄆 “Y-yeah. Stars, I knew he wouldn’t take it well, but-”

♮ “I get it. He’s still your brother.”

𝄆 “… I always hoped he’d calm down one day, put himself together. Maybe then he could take the throne, and I could just… go be a musician or something. But that was never going to happen, was it?”

If only that was an option.

… You think of a house on the coast, made of parts very dear to you.

You really wish that was an option.

𝄡 “Perhaps when the throne is no longer in reach, he will move on.”

Darkon smiles weakly. It’s a good thing to hope for.

You just hope nothing goes wrong.

>>>>>>>

Alright. Day of the Coronation.

Plan is simple. You’ll be hiding out with La at a place owned by someone you trust. Gretir made your wedding cake, and you knew her back in Eridani, so you trust her well enough. Re and Ti will be guarding other locations within the general area to throw people off, but close enough they can come for backup if need be. Song is going to be in the palace, disguised, so that no matter what, she’ll be safe and away from the action.

And of course, Darkon is at the First Observatory, undertaking Alprecha’s trial. As soon as he’s done, he’ll head back and take control of the situation.

You sit in the backroom of the shop, waiting. La is using her new senses to keep watch, even while out of sight, shaky hand on her revolver. You are similarly nervous. Anything could be happening. You have to protect them You have to protect them - No. Breathe. This IS protecting them. If you are in danger, the others get hurt. At the very least, your yet to be born child could be.

But what could Drago be planning? He knows you all are the best fighters in the kingdom. And he doesn’t have anyone who could go up against you all. Short of bringing an entire platoon, he doesn’t have much….

But he has a plan. You know he does.

You hear noise in the streets? Angry shouting, many footsteps. Drago must be on the move, but something seems off. They’re too noisy for soldiers.

You hear the shop door open. Gretir greets them, only for you to hear a gunshot. Ash! You and La barrel out of the room, and see a gruesome sight.

Poor Gretir lies dead on the ground, in a pool of her own blood, as Drago himself sheathes the pistol at his hip. Something bright like fire alights the room from outside. He’s smiling cockily. You lunge at him, and he barely dodges out of the way.

♮ “Blind it! You’ll pay for that!”

≓ “Now now, I’m not here to fight you, dear Suki. I know I wouldn’t win if I did.”

He chuckles and flees out the door. Your eyes start to adjust to the sudden bright light and…

Oh no.

≓ “People of Astravia! The Witch of Vaugarde is here, and her minion has already killed an innocent! Stop them, for the good of all!”

You watch as… as civilians walk in. No. No no no.

These aren’t soldiers, or criminals, they are innocent civilians. Misguided, but innocent. And only after you all. You. You can’t hurt them!

You swore an oath to the people. They’ll kill you! You swore an oath . You have to do something! You swore.

You swore an Oath.

Your body can’t budge. La’s arm shakes. Her Bladeheart oath stops her from firing. It's not as strong, but it's enough hesitation.

You swore to protect them.

You watch as the mob takes you both.

You swore an Oath.

You feel people strike at you, unable to do anything.

You can’t.

You try and break free, try to run, but there’s too many.

You swore on your life .

Your heart beats out of your chest in panic, as the conflict against your oath grows stronger.

♪ “You Bastard, Drago!”

≓ “Wreak havoc on the minion, but leave the witch to us, dear people! We will need her to stop Darkon’s misguided quest.”

The guards drag you out from the angry mob. You are about to flee, but Drago leans down and whispers into your ear.

≓ “Don’t try anything. If you do, the guards have been told to slaughter them all.”

You… Ash, now you see it, there are several guards everywhere, all positioned next to the townspeople. No one would escape. You have to-

You swore.

Ash ash ash, you could take out all these guards yourself, but not before they killed several civilians. And…

You swore.

Ash, ash, ASH!!!! F**CKING ASH!!!!!!!!

≓ “Ah, an oath is a lovely thing, isn’t it? Such commitment.”

You hear La scream in pain! BLIND IT, YOU-

YOU SWORE AN OATH .

A burning sensation fills you as you try and fight against your oath, crippling you on the spot.

Your body shakes, you start to cry in pain and hatred, and the guards helplessly drag you away, powerless despite everything. It’s just like back then. You can’t save anyone .

You are dragged along the ground, you refuse to walk this deathmarch. You see people in their homes, watching, too scared to act and stop this madness. Even those who know it’s wrong can’t do anything. You try to search for an opening, you have to save SOMEONE!!

≓ “Since we are out of earshot of the mob, myself and all my soldiers have a signal flare on us. Make any sudden movements, and there will be a massacre on your hands. And don’t worry, It’ll be visible all the way from the first observatory.”

♮ “...You f**cking blinded ashpit .”

He starts to laugh hysterically, like the madman he is.

≓ “Oh maybe I am, but I am a successful one, clearly! Oh Drago, you don’t think things through, Oh Drago, you’re too impulsive, Oh Drago you’ll never be fit to lead! Well look who’s in charge now!!!”

He continues laughing.

You simply hang your head. You… You couldn’t protect La. You couldn’t protect Gretir. The others are likely also dead, felled by the same dirty trick. And now you… you can’t even…

>>>

You head up the icy mountain, the cold sapping your strength almost as much as the repeated beatings have. Guards flanked at your sides, Drago’s cheerfulness stinging like poison. His every word is like venom pouring from his mouth. You can only think of La. Of Re and Ti. And Darkon.

Drago enters the ancient observatory. Made by the first king to commune with Alprecha, if the legends are true. But only the royal line is allowed in normally. Not that Drago cares, as he waves the guards in, who pull you along. One waits at the entrance, to fire the flare if someone shouts.

Of course, your hands have since been bound. Drago had apparently commissioned hefty iron cuffs just for this, strong enough to withstand your inhuman strength. And the beatings he’s given you out of twisted amusement have been to near death, after which he makes sure you heal yourself up, spending what craft energy you have. You half considered not healing yourself, till he threatened the signal flare again. At this point, you’re too exhausted to even fight back if you did have an opening.

Whatever hope you had for him is long gone.

Whatever hope you had for yourself is gone.

You failed everyone.

You watch as you are dragged in, corpses of strange monsters littering the corridor. Darkon’s handiwork, by the looks of the injuries. Must be part of the trial.

As you go further, ancient Astravian stonework gives way to strange metal structures you’ve never seen before. You’d probably be fascinated, but right now, you can only feel dread. You failed him. He trusted you, he loved you, and you failed him.

You hear a voice up ahead, unearthly and powerful.

✧ “You have done well, child of Mankind. Take my blessing, and may you rule well.”

Drago opens the final door.

You look upon a wide room. Darkon, glowing in bright ruby light, stands before a massive gateway of unnatural metal and intricate technology. Inside stares a single glowing star-shaped eye. The Patron Star herself, no doubt.

So even she will bear witness to your failings.

≓ “Ah, dear brother! It appears I have perfect timing!”

𝄆 “Drago? SUKI!?!”

Drago grabs you by the neck like a frail stray animal, weakened from the beatings he’s dealt and you trying to fight your oath. He puts a dagger up to your throat.

♮ “I’m sorry…”

≓ “Poor girl is quite vulnerable, if you know how to play that oath. A shame, she might have been able to do something if you were just a little faster.”

𝄆 “Let her go! NOW!!! ”

The guards tremble, but Drago simply laughs.

≓ “Oh, don’t play games, we both know what my demands are. I thank you for handling this tedious trial for me. Just forfeit the blessing, and she’s all yours.”

Blind it, no, it’s not worth it. He shouldn’t care about you, after failing him so miserably.

♮ “Don’t…”

𝄆 “I-I… I…”

≓ “Don’t worry brother. Once I have what I want, I couldn’t care less what happens afterwards.”

♮ “Liar...”

≓ “Am I? I only want one thing, and it’s not like you can steal it back once I have it. Just like how you won’t bring your pet back if she’s dead.”

Drago chuckles to himself.

≓ “Checkmate, dear brother.”

Darkon looks at you, tears in his eyes, then hangs his head.

𝄆 “...Fine. Empress, do it.”

✧ “Are you certain?”

𝄆 “Yes… I’d do anything for her.”

The patron star’s eye falls, as if saddened. Hah… Even she hates this. Hates that you let it come to this. You see as a pale branch of flesh emerges from the gate, and reaches out for Drago, a glowing red light enveloping him, as Darkon’s own glow fades.

≓ “Hahahaha!!!! Father was right, your bleeding heart really was your downfall! Very well, Brother .”

You feel Drago lower his dagger from your throat.

Only for it to pierce your back! AAAHHH!!!!!

You feel the stiff metal pulled from your heart, as you crumble to the ground, blood pouring from the wound.

≓ “She’s all yours.”

Darkon panics, and starts to run over to you.

𝄆 “SUKI!!!!”

Drago circles behind him, grabs him by the collar, and slashes his dagger across Darkon’s eyes. He screams, and you… You can’t do anything. You are growing more tired by the second, as your blood starts to pour out. You’re too weak to do anything about it. Pathetic. But yet you still want to call out to him. 

♮ “d...darkon…”

He starts to crawl over to you, searching blindly by your voice. You don’t deserve him after this. When his hands finally find you, he holds you close, hugging you desperately. You watch as Drago laughs behind him, enjoying the show.

≓ “Now then… What was that ritual? I have the perfect sacrifice right here...”

You ignore him. It doesn’t matter anymore…

Stars...

Is this how it ends?

Once again, a broken, useless tool? Failing to help anyone, except to cause more harm?

𝄆 “Suki!! Stay with me!!! Please!!!”

♮ “sorry… sorry… sorry…”

He desperately tries to imitate your healing crafts, knowing none of his own. You watch him flounder, trying to save you. But it doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t have enough energy to recover anyways…

Your mind wanders, as the cold seeps in.

♮ “I… There’s a house…”

You feel weak.

♮ “A house… on the coast… near Eridani…”

𝄆 “Don’t go please, don’t go!!”

He cries out to you.

♮ “It was made with…. Parts of the ship… that brought me here…”

Darkon weeps. But you’re… tired of fighting…

♮ “In… another life… I would have loved it if….”

If your family, all of it… That little house…

♮ “if….”

You….

are………

tired……………

>>>

𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆

Darkon

...You live.

By the whims of The Fool Arcana, you live.

You sit in this endless, empty void, outside of time and space.

Empty except for you. And the cold, dead body of Suki that you stole from reality.

In this moment, you are the embodiment of limitless possibilities. Of the beginning and the end. Beyond mortal life.

But you still can’t bring her back.

You weep. You weep blood from your newly healed eyes. What can you even do?

It’s not fair. She had hope. She had hope for Astravia. She had hope for you. She had hope for herself, that your blinding home could be her new start!!! She even convinced YOU that it was worth saving!!!

And THIS is what she gets???

IS THIS WHAT FATE GAVE HER???? WHAT YOUR HOME COULD OFFER HER????

She deserved better.

…

Ha….

….

To ash with it all.

You’ll burn that universe forsaken ashpit to the ground. Dig up the fate she deserved from its embers. You don’t care anymore. YOU DON’T CARE!!!

You wave your hand, and her body turns to ash, floating in the void. As it swirls in the air, you take bits of Alprecha’s power into it, forming black crystal, pulsing with energy. You shape and mold it into a halberd.

You’ll keep her at your side forever. No matter what comes. A fighter, to the end. A weapon, to strike back at fate itself.

…

You form two spiderlilies in her place. One larger, for herself. And one for the child that never got to live. For Siffrin.

…

Alright. Time to go see if you can rescue the rest of your family.

You have a fate to unwrite. And a country to destroy.

Chapter Text

𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡

Titania

You stare into the mirror. Your dagger in hand. You will join the other two shortly. You plan to do this together. Just in case one of you dies, the others can hear their last words...

But for now. You just. Need a minute. To get yourself together, and ready. Sunrise isn’t for a little bit.

You breathe In. And out.

Alright, time to head to the others.

You enter into the living room. Re and La are already disrobed and sitting down. Didn’t want to get blood on any of your clothes. La looks serious and calm, while Re has a kind yet nervous smile

You join them, and all sit back to back in a circle on the center of the floor.

♪ “Alright. Everyone awake and ready? Doors locked?”

♯ “Yep, all good! Even if someone does come by, they won’t come in!”

You nod. Good. If they did, they might try and stop you. Or worse, try and heal you in a panic. Which would not only undo all your efforts, but bring your doom.

𝄡 “Very well. I believe everything else is ready… Mark the time. And… May we live to see tomorrow.”

You hold up the blade. Position it above the mark on your chest. And whisper under your breath.

You wish to never be helpless when others need you, and the will to do what must be done.

And then

you drive

the blade

through!!!

AAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

STARS!!!! Blind it blind it blind it!!!!

Breathe!!! BREATHE!!!!! In and out, in and out, IN AND OUT!

It hurts it hurts it hurts it’s like the blade is on fire!!!! You feel sugar in the air!!! It hurts it hurts it hurts!!!!!

The others are crying in pain alongside you. STARS it hurts!!!!!!!

You feel yourself going faint!! NO!!!! You REFUSE!!!! FOCUS!!!!!!

You will not be helpless, you WILL withstand this, you REFUSE to fall now!!!! Come on!!!! Hold it together!!!!!

The pain starts to sear its way through your body, traveling outwards. The room seems to blur. But you WILL hold on!!!

H-how are the others? La and Re are still breathing. Good. Good!! You breathe. In and out. In and Out.

You… The pain is still horrific. It refuses to ease. Your entire body is on fire.

But somehow, you are. Starting. To be able. To think? STARS this is AGONY!!!

You all settle back into position. Back to back. Shoulder to shoulder. Sitting in a puddle of your mixed blood.

You consider talking. To keep you all aware. Is that too much help? You… You aren’t sure. But you need to do something, or to your shame, you might lose yourself in the pain.

𝄡 “Are we… all still here?”

♪ “Y-yeah. J-just barely. Stars.”

♯ “Fuck me, this hurts like absolute fucking ash.”

You agree. STARS. And it’s not stopping. This is extreme for such an injury. Your entire body flares with pain with every heartbeat. You would think that would keep you awake, but alas, as the floor turns dark with stains, you feel it hard to hold yourself conscious.

A squeeze on your hand jolts your awareness. Re looks at you.

𝄡 “T-thank you.”

♯ “Course, I got you!”

Right. You all are in this together. Keep each other awake. You will manage.

>>>>

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

La

It’s been… an hour? Fucking Universe, it does NOT feel like that.

You almost didn’t make it through that first part. Felt it waver, your heartbeat slowed way too much for comfort. But you pulled through.

The pain has not stopped at ALL. Or even slightly reduced. In fact, it might be getting worse? You all are, however, used to it enough that you can think. Even as you are dizzy enough from the blood loss to render that difficult. You feel like a desiccated husk.

Fuck. This is gonna be a long blinding day.

…

Alright, screw it.

You start to get up. Stumbling as you do, with the whole world seeming to spin as you try and move.

♯ “La?”

♪ “I’m getting some fucking water.”

𝄡 “Hm. Does that count as aid? I would hope not, yet...”

♪ “Don’t care, The stab wound sucks enough, I don’t wanna be thirsty on top of it.”

You slowly try and head out the room. Round your way into the kitchen, clinging to the walls for support.

Oh right. You call out.

♪ “You want anything?”

𝄡 “N-no…”

♯ “Can you grab the leftover chicken wings? We could probs use some food!”

𝄡 “Re! P-perhaps we should check if water is safe first?”

The two start arguing, while you grab three cups and the chicken wings. Throw the wings in the oven, and get it on its reheat setting before starting it up. You think you could kiss whoever invented this stuff, because you are NOT in a state to cook.

… Actually, does Merlon help tech development? You heard some Astronomers do. You might make good on that idea and kiss them for it later. Or even if they didn’t, but still.

Wow, your thoughts are drifting. You are gonna need this drink.

You fill up a glass with water and then pause. Right, you might as well check now, just to ease Ti a bit, you trust him to catch stuff like this. You take a sip of water, hold yourself back from downing the whole glass, and wait a few seconds…

… You remain in utter agony! Nothing different, thank fuck. You chug the glass, refill it and the others, and pull out the wings, then head back.

You drop the wings in front of Re, along with handing out her and Ti’s cups, and then sit back down in your spot.

Ti just stares at the glass, even after you down yours.

♪ “Don’t worry Ti. I tested it first, we’re good.”

𝄡 “Thank you.”

♪ “Course! I trust you to take this stuff seriously.”

He frets for a second, before breathing slowly and smiling at you. And then he takes a sip.

And you both are fine. Thank the stars. You trusted him to keep an eye out, and he trusts you to listen.

That’s what this is for, to you. So you can trust people. And that means, they can trust you.

… For just that second, the pain didn’t feel as bad.

>>>

♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯

Re

Three.

Three fucking hours.

Of the worst, Arcana damn, fucking, shitty ass, ashen supernova, Devil brought, SUFFERING you have ever experienced!!!!!!!!!

By whatever limb pegged Hermes, you are gonna fucking break something! You don’t know what! But you are gonna break something!!!!!!

Might be you breaking first though! Fuck, you can’t keep yourself calm, you haven’t felt this fucking insane for over a year!!! You can feel yourself get twitchy all over again!! FUCK!!!

You have been unable to sit fucking still with how much it god damn hurts. Like. You all don’t even feel dizzy and shit anymore, even though you keep bleeding. Like. Where the fuck is this blood even coming from at this point?!?!??

Doesn’t ashing matter!!! Point is, you can’t sit still. The others can’t get themselves to move much, but like. You don’t fucking know. You just fucking can’t! It probably hurts more, but you sure as fuck can’t tell anymore!!!!

And the pain just KEEPS getting worse! SO MUCH WORSE!!!!! It already hurt like hell at first, but at this rate you feel you are gonna go insane!!!!!!

♪ “If you keep trailing blood on everything, you’re cleaning it.”

♯ “AH! Fuck! Fucking shit ass bastard son of an ashpit-”

𝄡 “I-It’s aright, I can clean too later. Are. Are you alright Re?”

♯ “NO!!!! Everything hurts a billion times more then it did when we started and I’m gonna lose it!!!!”

𝄡 “It has?”

♪ “It hasn’t gotten THAT much worse…”

♯ “Bullshit!! I’m gonna melt out of my skin! Fucking-”

You know it ain’t cause you ate or anything, cause La and Ti both shared the wings after, so you guess the universe just fucking hates you!!!!

No.

No, you know what?

♯ “FUCK THIS!!!!”

You head over to the fucking kitchen. Where the god damn fuck is it-

THERE!!! La’s secret stash! You forgot to refill your own before this, but who the fuck cares, she won’t know, you both buy the same brand. Maybe this’ll make this even halfway bearable!!

One bottle of mead!

Actually, fuck it! Grab two, one for you, and one for the others, since even if they SOMEHOW aren’t hurting as bad, they could prob use a little help! And if this takes off even the TINIEST bit of pain from them, then it’s worth it in your book!

You pop open the top and start chugging the first bottle as you head back.

𝄡 “RE!!!!”

You finish the bottle and turn to face him.

♯ “FUCKING WHAT?!?!??”

𝄡 “T-that could be a bad idea! That’s- alcohol can numb pain, it could count as healing!”

♪ “Ehhh maybe not? It’s technically a toxin?... Especially with how much she just drank. And anyways, it’s more recreational than actual pain relief.”

♯ “Exactly! Or I mean. I’ma work with that. Sounds smart. I can’t think right now, hurts too fucking much. Point is, I ain’t doing this sober! Anyways, I got a second bottle for you guys! And uh. Maybe more for me, if I need it.”

I mean, sure, it’s not yours, but that’s a later problem…Wait why is La staring at you like that?

♪ “… You took from my stash, didn’t you?”

Fucking, how the fu-!?!

♪ “Just a hunch. Am I right?”

♯ “… I’ll pay you back later??”

♪ “ sigh, Alright. In that case, I better take some shots myself. Fuck it, might as well get hammered tonight.”

La pulls out her former water glass and pours herself a shot. Fuck yeah!!

𝄡 “I-I must reiterate. Alcohol and a deadly ritual does not seem like a wise combination.”

♪ “Well. We’re gonna be doing this for the ENTIRE rest of the day. Might as well have fun. As Re said, fuck it.”

Ti begins to look like he is gonna argue. But then stops, and grabs his water glass.

𝄡 “Very well. I suppose if you both are doing this, I might as well join. I can at least do that…”

FUCK YEAH!!!!! Party time!!! Getting a headstart before the wedding!

Sides. Both of them tend to overthink things, and you KNOW that’ll cause issues down the line. This ought to help them a little bit on that front at least.

You can at least stop that problem.

Feels good, doing that.

>>>

𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡

Ti

You want to help them.

It’s been screaming in your brain to help them, but you know you can’t. If you did, it would make things worse. But you want to help them. They are in pain. They need help. You want to help them. But you can’t, you can’t you can’t you can’t.

The physical pain on your end is honestly bearable at this point. It’s no less painful, but you barely register it anymore. But they aren’t. They are clearly feeling it, greatly. La is struggling, even if she’s managing. Meanwhile, Re’s unstable demeanor has returned. She had been doing very well keeping stable, yet now she looks like her mind is fraying at the seams yet again. You can only hope it is temporary, and she’s not regressing to when Darkon found her.

And you hate this. You hate not being able to do anything. You want to help. It’s filling your every single thought, that you want to help. You need to help. Somehow, in some way. You need to do SOMETHING. But you can’t, there is NOTHING you can do to make it better.

♯ “… I’m hungry.”

♪ “Yeah well. We’ve run through all the snacks, so…”

♯ “I gotta eat SOMETHING. I’m starving!!!”

♪ “…. Okay, I’m hungry too, but like I said, we are out of snacks. Not a lot of options. Even if we COULD go out, nothing’s open yet, it’s not even noon. Nobody is gonna be up.”

One of the few times the Astravian sleep schedule has not worked out for you all. Not that it matters, you all are in NO state to leave, and it would be quite hard to conceal the bleeding stab wound if you had, even if you got someone to bring it to you all.

But… They need food. And. Food is allowed, as you’ve seen. So, surely?

𝄡 “Perhaps I could cook us something?”

The other two smile. Yes! That would be nice! You get up, and head to the kitchen.

Hm…. What to cook though? You want it to be something filling, and nutritious. Preferably something with plenty of iron, given the blood loss. So something meat heavy. And something that won’t take too long, lest the others grow restless. And, if you are perfectly honest with yourself, easy to make. The pain and blood loss have made it difficult to think, and sadly you are not ready to make something complex. Eggs and bacon would work, but you all already had breakfast before the ritual. It would be nice to have some variety. Hm…

Ah, you have something that should work. Simple fare, but swift to make and quite filling. You pull out some cabbage and sausage, and debate between potatoes and malanga before settling on potatoes. Potato fits the flavor profile a bit better, though the ingredients are very mundane. Not to mention, sausage is rather iron rich, and the rest should make it filling enough to last everyone’s appetite. You can work on something much better afterwards, since you are handling the pain best. And the most sober.

You set a pot of water to start boiling, and see Re walk in.

♯ “It’s not gonna take too long, right?”

𝄡 “Worry not, I shall be swift.”

♯ “Good, cause otherwise I’m gonna eat La.”

That elicits a chuckle from you. You start chopping up both vegetables, while trying to not get blood on them. Which is… a difficult task, given its ubiquity in your surroundings.

♯ “No apron?”

𝄡 “T’would only stain it dark. Or perhaps, the dagger’s hilt could catch on the fabric, and that would be most unpleasant.”

She hums in response. And then… Dips a finger into your blood, and starts writing on your bare chest? You stop chopping vegetables to see what she’s doing?

… Kiss the cook?

♯ “There! Close enough!”

You chuckle. You doubt that will handle the stains or anything, but very well.

♯ “Maybe it’ll give you good luck later, who knows?”

And she heads out. You can only wonder what she means by that.

A bit later, everything is boiled nicely, and you pour a little vinegar on top, then serve it up with the least bloody dishware you can and head back.

You find the two women playing ticktacktoe in blood. Getting creative now, are they? How morbid, but you suppose this entire scene is.

♯ “YES!!!! Food! Fuck yeah!”

You chuckle, and hand her a bowl. The one you filled up a bit extra, since you know she’s quite hungry.

You sit and relax with them, as best as you can with the pain.

You are glad you could help, on some small level. That short bit of glee makes it worth it. Makes it feel like the pain isn’t there at all.

>>>

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

La

The boredom is starting to get to you all.

It makes sense, there’s not much to do, and distractions from the pain would be nice. Right now, you all are just playing any game you can think of.

♪ “Hm…. Is it the curtains?”

♯ “FUCK!… yeah, it is. Blinding, how are you getting these so fast?”

♪ “Dunno, guess I’ve just been lucky?”

Something about that feels wrong though… It’s like you’re getting a sense for it?

♯ “UGH!!! Fine, I guess it’s your turn!”

♪ “Heh. Alright I spy something… black-”

As you glance over at Ti, you stop yourself.

♪ “-… Nevermind. Uh. Ti, your hair is changing shade.”

Ti jumps. Fair? That is… a bit unexpected? You look at the roots of his black hair, starting to change to a very light gray. Universe, you are REALLY missing color, you’re sure it’s turning into SOMETHING cool.

𝄡 “Hm… In hindsight, I had heard one of the most common transformations is changing the hair and eye color to that of a color significant to the user…”

♯ “Wait, is mine changing?!?!? Please please please tell me it is!!!”

You look, and yep, sure enough, it is. Her dark hair, not quite black, is lightening quite a bit. You remember it was a dark red before in color, you wonder what color it is now?

♪ “Something a good bit lighter, by the looks of it.”

♯ “FUCK YES!!!! SUCK IT!!!!”

She shouts the last part skywards. Right, her red hair was specially crafted cause her dipshit parents wanted to sell her off to the royal family, if you remember? It was a whole THING when she first showed up, cause she was always told the prince would use her, and just waiting for the shoe to drop. Not that Darkon or even Drago wanted to do that, but still. She’d considered getting it dyed more than once.

♪ “Folks must be livid . Nice.”

𝄡 “It’s just the roots for now, but by sunset it should have all of it.”

♯ “NICE!!! Oh wait yeah, La what about yours?”

ASH! Is it? You kinda hope not. You like your hair as it is.

𝄡 “Right it-… Hm. Strange. Could have sworn... Seems it’s still white.”

♪ “Oh thank the universe. I’ll take it.”

You like your white hair, and its little dark streak. Crafted that dark streak in yourself, just because it looked cool. You are not quite ready for a shade change. Sides, Merlon likes your hair how it is! Not ruining that for your partner.

𝄡 “Well, it’s a start. I imagine there will be more changes like that, in due time.”

♯ “First things first, we GOTTA find something to DO!!!! I’m getting so fucking bored!!!”

♪ “Heh. How about a bored game?”

That gets a few chuckles.

𝄡 “Darkon has been rubbing off on you, I see. Let us see what options we have…”

>>>

♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯♯

Re

It fucking hurts.

La and Ti are finishing up the game. You had to stop. Hurts too much to think. Alcohol ain’t doing shit, and you don’t know how much longer you can take this.

𝄡 “Are you alright, Re?”

♯ “Of FUCKING course not!!!”

You wince at that, fucking, you didn’t want to shout at him. He’s hurting too.

♯ “I-… I didn’t…. GAH!!!!”

That’s it! You can’t take it! You NEED to do something, before you lash out way worse!

Fuck it, you march into the bathroom.

𝄡 “Re? What are you-”

You pull out some painkillers. It won’t help with the stab wound itself, so it’s fine, right???

♪ “RE!!! DON’T!!!!”

♯ “Fuck it, It’ll be fine!”

𝄡 “BUT-”

Fuck it, you just down a few pills. They can stop worrying afterwards, and then it’ll be good.

You turn towards them. They look terrified.

♯ “See? I’m fine!”

The pain…

Stops.

You cough into your hand. It’s covered in blood, starting to spill from your mouth.

You start to feel colder.

♯ “Oh.”

Oh .

La rushes to your side, as you start to feel faint.

♪ “No no no- RE STAY AWAKE!!!! STAY AWAKE!!!!”

𝄡 “What do we do? How do we- We can’t aid but-”

The world starts to spin.

Oh stars. No… Not like this…

You. You’re going. To die.

You were an idiot and impulsive and careless and shortsighted and a coward, and now you’ll die .

♪ “Shit shit shit, We gotta get the ritual to keep going, or…”

La is cradling you in her arms. Hah. She loved you so much…

This is…. Not the worst place you could die…. She’s really pretty…..

𝄡 “The. The pain is easing. Oh no.”

♪ “Wait. FUCK, it is, what does that mean?”

𝄡 “The Universe is already starting to give us her share of power.”

Hah.

So. This is helping them? Funny.

You guess…. If you die like this…

You’ll at least have that….

♪ “No- Don’t you DARE!!!!”

You feel something, as La shoves the dagger further in.

♪ “DON’T YOU DARE”

♪ “DIE ON US” ♪

♪ “ LIKE THIS!!!! ” ♪

Her voice starts to reach you. R-right. You. You can’t… Can’t leave them….

♪ Come on, you have to help her put herself together. She needs to get that spark going, somehow, somehow!!!! Maybe, just maybe- ♪

♪ “C-Come on, Focus on your wish!” ♪

Right… You wished…. You wished that….

You wished that you could keep anyone from being hurt like you were.

♪ “Right!!! Now come on, keep on it, don’t slip!!!” ♪

♪ Please, please please, her heart needs to keep beating!!! Come on!!! The Heart needs to keep Beating. ♪

You feel something faint in your chest, just a little. You start to feel pain again. That….

That must mean you’re still alive, right?

You wished that you could keep anyone from being hurt like you were.

If you hurt, then you have purpose. If you hurt, then you can still help others with theirs.

Keep the heart beating.

If you are hurting, then you are alive.

You wished that you could keep anyone from being hurt like you were.

It’s faint, but… You have to hold on. Y-you have to…

Keep the heart beating.

♪ She’s holding on, come on, she has to stay, she just needs more energy, but it’s not- ♪

♪ Wait, what is Ti doing? ♪

𝄡 “Universe, I forsake this strength, if it must come at cost to her.”

You hear a noise, like tearing flesh.

♪ H-he twisted the knife?? ♪

H-he’s hurting himself?? For you??

Keep the heart beating.

N-no!! If dying makes them hurt themselves like that, then you HAVE to live!!

You wished that you could keep anyone from being hurt like you were.

Keep the heart beating!!!

You wished that you could keep anyone from being hurt like you were!!!!

KEEP THE HEART BEATING!!!

YOU!!!!

WISHED!!!!!!

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

La

Re gasps for air, coughing and sputtering, as the life starts to reenter the body. The dagger seems to pull itself back in.

She’s alive.

She’s alive!!!

♪ “You’re alive!”

You hug her. Stars, you don’t think you could handle it if you had lost her.

You don’t know how you got through to her during that, even as she looked like she was fading. But she made it, and that’s what matters, and you don’t care.

There’s this buzzing in your head. It feels strange… is that mint? N-no, it’s nothing. Likely just you coming down from the panic. That’s all it is just the panic it’s fine don’t worry about it don’t think about it .

𝄡 “Urgh… I am glad she is alright.”

Ti hisses as he moves. Yeah, no surprise, there is a LOT more blood near his wound. But it seems he’s alright as well.

𝄡 “Re? How are you?”

♯ “...Ha. Ha! HAHAHA!!!! STARS everything hurts WORSE!!! B-But! Doesn’t matter! I’m alive!!!”

She starts laughing to herself, eyes unfocused grin seeming to split her face. Um.

♪ “That… Hm.”

♯ “It’s fine It’s fine It’s fine!!! If I can feel pain, then I’m not dead!!! Hahaha!!! I can’t… I can’t die. I WON’T die!! T-That is good enough!!!”

♪ “I…. Heh. I’ll take it. Tell you what, once this whole thing is over, you can take as many blinding pain meds as you want. Just. Just not till sunset, alright?”

♯ “That sounds great La, you are really nice and pretty and wow I really want to break something and also I could eat a whole fucking horse and also your skin is really soft and man there is blood everywhere and-”

𝄡 “Ah… I think the pain has hit delirum. Hm.”

You hug her tighter.

♪ “Long as she’s alive.”

You’ll take anything as long as she’s alive. She’s one of the few people you trust unconditionally.

She will live. She will live.

You breathe.

Right. You lead her back to the rest spot. You have to make sure she doesn’t… try anything like that again.

She couldn’t join you both because she couldn’t think so…. Maybe you can switch to some less complex games, so she doesn’t have to be bored?

It’s worth a shot.

>>>

𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡

Ti

The old game you dug out is going rather well, despite the complications.

It’s a simple game from a while back, composed of a circular mat with six different colored slices, and a spinner to determine both what to touch and with what limb. You opted out of the optional challenge of the constellation version. Though, it is still difficult to parse with the loss of color turning the mat into odd shades of grey. More so with all the blood stains on the mat obfuscating things further.

But it’s simplistic enough Re can do it despite her tragically strained mental state, and it helps relieve some tension from your minds.

You scratch at your head. It’s been itching there for a bit. In full honesty, your whole body has been feeling peculiar. Sometimes you feel something stirring within you. It is likely at this point that you all are starting to enter new levels of transformation.

...You watch as Re once again places their hand on the wrong section. She even reached far across the mat to do so, which has her thoroughly tangled up with La. She looks very proud of herself. Does she really think she did that well? Hm.

𝄡 “Ahem. Wrong tile Re.”

♯ “Oh whoops sorry my bad It’s so hard to tell right now and wow you are really pressing up against me La haha um which tile should I go for?”

...It may be best to clean the mat of blood. And you suppose it would give a break to check for changes.

♪ “Maybe we should take a break? Clean the mat, check how we are doing, and so on.”

𝄡 “Hm. I was just thinking that.”

La looks worried at that for some reason? She untangles herself from Re, and lifts the mat up. Only for it to start to fall apart, somehow ripped apart by cuts all across its surface.

♪ “Uh… Okay, forget cleaning it. How did that happen?”

Re looks at her hands, and you all notice that the tips of her fingers have turned into sharp claws. You are... frankly surprised you did not notice that earlier. Perhaps the blood obfuscated the change? Or perhaps it is just that all of you are, quite frankly, VERY tired and mildly delirious. Both from alcohol and blood loss.

♯ “Oh wow that is so cool also sorry about the mat and ASH I was having fun there but still claws are awesome I need to go tear up something right now, that’d be super cool!”

You… suppose you should let her do that. And it is not like either of you could stop Re if she set her mind on such a goal. Perhaps it would be good to get started on making more food? Something a bit more interesting than the previous meal. Pulpeta, perhaps?

You head into the kitchen, and begin work. Gather ingredients, prepare pans. Yet…. Something feels… off?

You turn around, and see La has suddenly appeared behind you! That was surprising, you didn’t sense her enter at all!

♪ “Hey Ti. Need any help?”

Well, you don’t see any reason to trouble her, but you suppose she is offering. Perhaps she needs to take her mind off something.

𝄡 “Very well, if you so wish. I was planning on making-”

♪ “P-pulpeta, right?”

You pause. She hit the mark perfectly. How odd. You wonder if it has any reason for why she seems more nervous all of a sudden?

♪ “Y-yeah, it is.”

!!!

♪ “I-I don’t know why, but I’m just… starting to hear thoughts? And I don’t know why and it’s kinda nerve-wracking.”

Hm. Considering how La values trust, an ability that somewhat violates it WOULD be concerning. However- Ah, perhaps it would be best to simply speak your thoughts aloud.

𝄡 “I would presume it is likely tied to your wish. If I remember correctly, it was for knowing who to trust, yes? And while knowing a person’s intentions would be necessary for that, trustworthiness is, in all fairness, a subjective measurement. Perhaps it doesn’t know yet what thoughts you do or don’t need to know?”

♪ “R-right. Then it should… It should stop once that settles, right?”

𝄡 “In theory. I imagine some sort of filter will form, regardless.”

La sighs in relief, and then begins to help prepare dishware. Hm. You had imagined some physical transformations would have occurred by now, but it is good to know the Crafts are starting to appear as well.

Speaking of physical transformations, you suppose you should check if La has any. Looking over, you notice that from her spine seem to grow some black feathe- some dark mist is emerging from her back.

♪ “...Good to know.”

Ah, this will take some getting used to, but oh well. Ah! Perhaps talking with only your thoughts will help her wish solidify its filter faster.

♪ “Huh. Good idea. We should switch if Re shows up though, would be kinda rude otherwise.”

Agreed. Tis only polite to make sure everyone can hear every side of a conversation they are in.

Regardless, the mist looks nice on her. A less tangible transformation than typical, but it is interesting, though you thought you saw something else .

You wonder if any changes have appeared for yourself? You have been feeling off for a bit now.

♪ “You do seem somehow even taller than usual, but I bet there’s more to it… I got no idea though. If only I knew where to look…”

Re dashes in front of the kitchen doorway, so fast her clawed limbs cut gashes in the floor as she skids.

♯ “Ti’s head is itching really bad like something’s coming up from under it and also their whole skin is like that but not nearly as much and that part isn’t as unpleasant but the part on the head is really noticeable and wow I don’t like feeling that also why am I feeling that all of a sudden like I’ve been feeling bits of it but now it’s like really up front and obvious and can you really quickly check his head I think that would help-”

La quickly brushes apart your hair, and rubs two spots that feel… weird? Oh, are they… raised?

♪ “Looks like you’re growing horns. They haven’t pierced the skin yet, but that’s probably why they feel weird. Spot on, Re.”

She seems to breathe out in relief, rubbing a spot on her head before letting it down.

Hm… An empathic response? Curious. Well, perhaps-

♪ “Out loud, Ti?”

𝄡 “Oh, of course. Apologies, I am far more used to putting my thoughts together in my head before speaking. Regardless, innate empathy is reasonable for one whose wish revolves around pain and suffering. The details might take some more time to be revealed though.”

♯ “That makes a bunch of sense thank you a lot also I’m gonna go scratch up more stuff now bye!”

Re scampers off back into the room, leaving more gashes, with the sounds of destruction shortly afterwards. The repairs for this are going to be quite costly. You imagine she must not be thinking rationally at the moment, but her behavior still seems a little off. However, you can’t quite place why.

♪ “She’s acting like a cat, scratching everything up.”

Hm? Ah, that would make sense! She saw herself as more animal like from her old habits, and even after growing far more put together, that perception of herself might have shifted how her wish shaped its effect on her.

You wonder if the fae roots of your name will shape yours? Along with… other details you’d rather not linger on. You suppose the horns and height do somewhat fit under that idea. You can only speculate what influences shaped La’s changes. Those feathers Dark fog does not bring to mind any particular reference points that it could be based upon.

♪ “I think I have an idea, but I’d rather keep it to myself.”

That is fair. While curious, you would never pry.

Another loud crash sounds off from the nearby living room. Oh dear.

♪ “Heh. If she’s turning cat-like, you think catnip would work on her?”

Hm. You have… no idea. She’s not actually a cat, but she has enough in common with them that it might just work. Or perhaps inherent desire. You think you saw her envious of Gretir’s cat on catnip once. That might be enough, if cat concepts are manifesting? Especially considering the high concentration of Wish Craft already being employed. Or perhaps there are no real cat associations, and this is simply her interpretation of being feral in a more casual setting.

♪ “Stars, yeah. Too many possibilities… Man, I really want some catnip to test that.”

You feel… Something as she says that.

♪ “Huh? You mean me wanting catnip?”

There it is again. You grab onto the feeling. An image forming in your mind, lines twisting around themselves, arranging into… Some kind of sigil? You move to the wall, and trace the pattern with your blood. Then, instinctively, you fill it with craft...

And then, suddenly, it flashes, and a bag of catnip appears in your hands!?

♪ “Wait, what? Did. Did you just craft a bag of catnip into existence ? Because I wanted it??”

Maybe? Hm… Perhaps an innate ability? You just wanted to help and the answer came. An odd solution, but you suppose it works.

♪ “Oh right! You did wish to be helpful. I guess you can kinda act as a wishcraft stand-in?”

Apparently. You did feel it drain from your own energy a bit, but nothing unmanageable. A helpful trick, perhaps, but mayhaps not one conducive to battle. You are no Creative Craft user.

♪ “True. Eh, nice for casual situations though. Well, in that case, might as well use it. I’ll see if this catnip works on Re. Thanks, and sorry to interrupt cooking!”

You hand La the bag, and she smiles, and then enters the back of your mind walks into a nearby shadow. You start to hear her humming from a room over with Re.

You return to your cooking. The ground beef is mostly seasoned, but you notice a little less garlic then you would like. Hm…

Now would be an interesting time to test things.

𝄡 “I would really like some garlic right now.”

… Nothing. But perhaps…

𝄡 “...Please?”

Alas, still nothing. It makes sense, you suppose. You wished to help others, not really yourself. And while the meal is for your friends, that is a degree of separation too far.

But the sigil you used for the catnip is still on the wall. Perhaps?…

You put craft in it again, while instead focusing on a clove of garlic. And as the craft alights, a single clove suddenly appears in your hands! Fascinating. You wonder if it creates the items itself, or simply brings them from elsewhere? If the former, how complex can it go? If the latter, how far can it bring things from? Does the result scale with how much craft put into it? Can anyone use it-

Ah, there you go, letting your mind wander. You can practically feel Oberon ruffling your hair to get your attention back into the task at hand. He had always been the one to lead your path through your duties, eyes squarely focused on his goals. You recall that night, under the blankets, when he brought your hand to his mouth, kissing your ring finger. He promised that one day, once you were both officially concluded with your education, he would make you a ring. To bond you together. Forever. And now…

Ah, right, garlic obtained. You rinse it, to get rid of a bit of blood that got on it, then add it to the mix. You have a few more steps to go before the meal is ready. Hopefully, Re won’t have torn the house down by the time it is ready.

>

You are just about to put the pulpeta into the oven, before La appears in the room again, face flushed a dark shade. She’d be a beet red if color still existed.

You wonder if aught is the matter.

♪ “So uh. Good news. I was right, catnip does work. It’s all over the floor and she’s rolling around in it.”

Ah. You then presume that her flustered appearance is because she found that behaviour adorable?

♪ “Well, it is, but uh. Not entirely. Um. So. I caught. A few more thoughts from her. And uh. She’s not just. A rowdy cat. Right now.”

Hm? What does she mean by-

♪ “Frantic energy, destructive, babbling, and very tactile. Combined with uh. Some thoughts. I was hearing and um. Well…”

And?

♪ “I think she’s in heat.”

…

Ah.

That is…

♪ “Yeah.”

By The Lover’s name, that will make some complications for the next few hours.

Hm. Truly, you have no idea why that would be the case. You wonder what underlying associations are coming together for that.

♪ “From the sounds of her thoughts? Seeing me naked.”

O-oh. You had noticed the two were somewhat attracted to each other but-

♪ “H-Hey! I’m in a relationship right now! I’m not even gonna think about cheating on Merlon! And me and Re are just friends, I promise!”

You did not mean to imply as such with your thoughts! Stars, not having privacy to think things through is quite embarrassing. You doubt dating would work out between the two anyways. Their attraction is far more casual-

♪ “Nope! Nuh uh! Not even gonna think about it! Nothing of the sort!”

Very well. She does take her relationship with Merlon very seriously. And you imagine Re wouldn’t try anything, even at her most uninhibited.

♪ “Right. Good point. It’ll be fine.”

Indeed. Well, you’ll put the dish in the oven, and then you’ll join her and Re in the living room while you all wait.

>>>

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

La

Everyone has kinda settled in. The pulpeta was good, Ti never disappoints. But most of you are just relaxing, having a few drinks, and just waiting out the pain. You’re at least in the home stretch, so that’s good.

Ti has been hanging out by the window. His horns, or antlers rather, finally broke through, and he’s gotten taller, but that seems about it. Well, except the butterflies coming out of his body, which took you all by surprise. He’s got the window open so the butterflies can enjoy the flowers, says it makes him feel relaxed. But you admit, it’s a touch risky, given it’s past midday and people are actually awake now. Someone could see him, blade in his chest, and that could cause a ton of issues.

You are on the far wall, with a bunch of blankets and fabrics shaped into a nice little seating area. Ti said it looked like a nest, and you disagree, but oh well. It’s fine!

Don’t think about it being bird like, it’s not, it’s not, that thing in your head has no say over you, never again, don’t think about it, it’s just mist and you did NOT see a black feather and-

You’re fine. Seating area! Comfy! ...You did make sure to decorate it a bit, found some nice craft lights to put around it, which is helping with this lovely book you are reading to keep your thoughts off of various things, including, well, people’s thoughts. Which is-

♯ Stars La is just so utterly pretty, those little lights around her just make her eyes glisten- ♯

Going. Fine. Mostly fine.

You had really hoped the catnip would have kept her mind occupied for longer, but no, it didn’t take long for that to pass on. And aside from constant desires to go outside and run about that she is thankfully suppressing, as well as destructive urges she is much less successfully repressing. She has been constantly looking at you and thinking about you and complimenting how you look and also how much she wants to hold you and-

♯ You really want to kiss her and make her blush more and hold her tight in your arms and feel her heart beat and maybe hold that dagger hilt a bit because it’s been feeling sensitive and- ♯

GAH it’s super distracting!!! Stars, the worst part is Ti realized her little empathic thing is letting her feel how flustered it’s making you, which just makes her more focused and thus making you more flustered. Every second you spend thinking about it kicks off a feedback loop.

And the worst part is, you’re both so many drinks in that neither of you has a good mental filter right now. It’s bad.

♯ She looks so flustered and you know you’re sunbathing but man it’s kinda feeling warmer and your heart’s fluttering like Ti’s butterflies when she looks at you and- ♯

Back to the book La, back to the book.

It’s a book Merlon recommended to you, they’ve been getting into Poterian storytelling lately, and the script is pretty interesting. It makes you think, and pay attention to the details of the event it’s retelling. Quite compelling stuff…

♯ “… I’m bored!”

𝄡 “Hm. I’m not sure what games we have right now, especially since the last playmat was destroyed…”

♯ “Um. Maybe a book? Like what La’s doing!”

You can tell her motive is in part to cuddle up with you, and you are tempted, but you also don’t think she’d enjoy this book. Also it’s a bad idea.

𝄡 “Hm… I do have a choose your own adventure book we could try.”

Ah, that sounds lovely. Been a while since you read one of those.

Ti goes to the shelf, pulls the book out, and sits down in the middle of the room. Re instantly hops over, sitting down so she can see the pages too while he reads.

♯ You kinda squint at the pages and you can’t really think right, so none of the words make any sense. Oh, you got an idea! ♯

Uh oh.

♯ “La, come join so I can help think stuff right. Please?”

… Dammit, you can’t help it. She’s too cute with that look she’s giving you and also you know it’s a bad idea but you kinda DO want to be close to her and-

Before you can stop yourself, you are sat on the other side of Ti, both of you essentially in his lap with how big he is right now, reading over his shoulder. It seems the theme of this story is a magical star warrior, which is very applicable to the current situation. Though you imagine the character will go through exponentially less agony for it.

Genuinely, if it wasn’t for your guard training and several bottles of alcohol, you would NOT be in a decent state right now. You are pretty sure all of you should be dead from alcohol poisoning by now, but wishcraft body alteration is some strong stuff.

Re gets a good bit into the story, absolutely needing your help because she can’t form a single coherent thought right now, before she throws her hands up in frustration.

♯ “FUCKING ASH!!! I can’t crabbing do this!!!”

♪ “Well, do you have any better ideas?”

She thinks for a bit, looks at you with the most mischievous grin and oh stars above you can hear the thought already-

♯ “Gay chicken.”

Ti just kinda gives her a look, and then gives you a look because you haven’t said no yet and you really should but-

♯ Please let her say yes you want to kiss her so bad and she looks so nice and you want to hold her and you really should feel bad about that but you want to make her happy and- ♯

Stars and ash you can feel butterflies in your stomach hearing those words, and not the kind Ti has. You really should say no, this is a slippery slope and you really should not enable this-

♪ “Okay.”

Shit.

Stupid instinct to accept any challenge Re throws at you.

She starts to move closer, and so do you and-

♯ Oh my god you think your gonna get to kiss her this is exciting her eyes are so pretty as she looks at you- ♯

Fuck you can feel your pulse quicken damn you both and your inability to say no to a challenge. That’s totally why you said yes, you aren’t accepting another answer-

♯ You can feel the heat in her face and the fluttering in her heart as you get closer and- ♯

And before you know it the both of you are kissing and blind it you kinda don’t care you do like her and it feels good-

♯ Happy happy happy warm good love love happy ♯

𝄡 Did you just hear the front door unlock? Who would have a key?... Wait oh no that’s- 𝄡

☾ “… What. In. The. Universe.”

You freeze solid. And turn. Towards Merlon. Who is. In the house. Staring. Directly. At you.

♪ “I. Uh. I can. Explain?”

They look at you. With the coldest stare you’ve ever seen.

☾ “Oh. Oh really? I come to check up on you. To help prepare you for the wedding . And I see you. Middle of a dangerous wishcraft ritual. Covered in blood. Reeking of alcohol. Making out with your childhood friend. Naked. Yeah. I’m certain. That you have. A very good explanation.”

You… Uh… You can’t… really think of a good answer. For that. And just feel cold. And scared, and horrible...

♪ “I… I…”

☾ “I didn’t blinding think so. And you said you valued trust.”

That feels like ice through your soul. You feel like you're going to shatter…

♯ La… sad. La hurt. Words hurt La. ♯

♯ “Go away.”

☾ “Don’t you DARE get involved, you’re the problem here and I won’t blinding hesitate to-”

Re starts to growl. You’d try and stop her, but you can barely move. You betrayed someone who trusted you. How could you, that was the one thing you promised never to do and-

𝄡 OH STRENGTH, you know that handsign!!! Re is in danger!!! 𝄡

♯ “You hurt La, I want you to GO AWAY!!!!”

𝄡 !! You grab that desire, and trace the image in your mind as fast as you can-!! 𝄡

You feel numb. A loud bang occurs, a few actually, and you sense commotion, but you can barely register it. Everything is a haze. You cared about Merlon, she’s one of the few people you’ve felt safe being close to, and you went behind her back and risked your life and then let your stupid thoughts win and you…

You can’t breathe. You think you’re going to cry. You feel cold.

Everything is dark. You can’t breathe.

You can’t… You can’t...

𝄡 “-La?”

you…

𝄡 “-rola? Breathe.”

You feel Ti’s hand on your shoulder.

𝄡 “In. and Out.”

I-in. and Out.

In. and Out.

𝄡 “There we go. Are you okay?”

♪ “I-… I….”

You start to feel tears run down your cheeks.

Re just picks you up, brings you into your little sitting spot, and snuggles up to your side. You think she’s purring? Ti just kinda sits next to you too.

𝄡 “Why not just... take some time to rest. Let it out, take some time. That was… a lot, for a very short period of time.”

♯ Help be soft friend comfort ♯

You… You just take a bit to cry. Universe, you need to cry. Fuck. You’ve been with Merlon for half a YEAR. That’s the longest you’ve been able to be comfortable around someone outside your immediate friend group, ever. And you lost that for your own stupidity. And that HURTS. You don’t even blame the Re thing, you’re pretty sure the Bladeheart part would have been enough.

Merlon would never approve. They’d probably try and convince you to, at best, go for something less dangerous, and at worst, actively sabotage your attempt before you could have started. The former would have looked bad on them, because they’d probably dig up Astrologer exclusive rituals. But the thing is, it NEEDED to be this one. Bladehearts aren’t just strong, they have centuries of reputation behind them, and your buddy could really use that right now. But that’s a hard sell for a partner.

So you went behind their back. Hell, you all went behind everyone’s back. You doubt Darkon and Suki will appreciate this, even if it’s for them. And the sheer THOUGHT of betraying Darkon, after everything he did for you-

Blind it. Blind it all.

𝄡 “It will be alright.”

♯ Comfort comfort make her feel happy ♯

… but at least you aren’t alone. Stars, at least you aren’t alone.

Re and Ti at your side. Feeling them holding you close. It helps. Stars, it really helps.

𝄡 She needs this moment. You all have. It’s been a very stressful night. 𝄡

♯ friends friends happy nice make feel good let tears out hug ♯

Hah. And to think that for so much of your life, you never thought you would ever want to hold someone close ever again.

… That’s why you did this.

Because knowing who will and won’t stand by you… Is a very, very precious thing.

Darkon and Suki will forgive you. Re and Ti have been with you the whole way. S-So what if… if you lost one person in that circle? You… You…

Stars, that’s…

Just… Just don’t think about it right now. Just relax.

You aren’t alone. Stars dammit, you aren’t alone.

>>>

𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡𝄡

Ti

You all have been taking time to just relax, after everything. La has been sobbing for about an hour straight, with the occasional unintelligible words in between. Re has been comforting her with various cuddles and comforting words, despite not being able to string together a full sentence anymore.

You’ve dipped out a bit, because you felt some more food would be helpful. A good meal can make anything feel less bad. And after Merlon, you felt a bit… uncomfortable. You don’t like people seeing you naked for complex reasons, and while you trust La and Re, having a stranger here threw you off again. Regardless, some venison stew this time would be nice, since between the blood loss and alcohol, you all have been a bit cold.

You cut up the venison into decently sized chunks. Hm. In hindsight, venison is an odd choice when you literally have antlers on your head now. It’s not like you are actually a deer, more just concepts of deer and their association towards nature and the old fae of the untamed Astravian wilderness. Concepts you were recently reminded apply to you for more reasons than your name. Your… ‘defects’ of birth are often tied to fae and changelings, and are part of why you normally only go about in full plate armor. And someone seeing that is making you so very uncomfortable.

R-regardless, the resemblance to deer is there. You wouldn’t exactly cut yourself up to serve any time soon.

… Well, maybe not the best time to argue that point, given you have a knife in your chest for Darkon’s sake. Sure, it’s not exactly going to be going anywhere, or dice up anything. Though, Bladehearts are quite tough, it might let Darkon go a bit farther in sparring sessions. Let him use an actual blade, and feel its bite against your skin as he stares you down with that clever smile-

Stop. You will not have such thoughts about him on the day of his wedding.

Stars, your mind is wandering more lately. Perhaps you had a bit too much to drink. So have La and Re, more so than you perhaps.

You had best focus on the current task.

Venison stew. Meat is cut up, time to start cooking it, along with the other ingredients. You start getting vegetables, and realize there are no potatoes left. Right, you used them for that first recipe. Hm. Well, you still have malanga? Perhaps that will work well enough. Or if it doesn’t, it will at least be interesting.

With the stew itself started, you might as well leave it to cook for a bit and check up on the other two. You walk into the side room and…

Ah.

Re and La are now officially making out.

Hm.

You… just go towards your window seat, grab your tea and book, pick up a random chair, and take them back into the kitchen.

La gives you a look as you leave, and you don’t know what she’s thinking, but you will just. Leave her to her devices. Give them some space.

You place your chair in the kitchen. Stir the pot a bit. And just. Take a seat.

La and Re… Pairing up now of all times is not… wise per say. Complex crafts, recent breakup and several bottles of alcohol are not a good mix for a healthy relationship. But, then again, both have been dancing around their attraction for a while and have been friends for years.

Perhaps it will work out. Or if it doesn’t... Well. It will at least be quite the memory.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

La

You stumble into the kitchen. You… how much time has passed? Fuck. 

You look at Ti. He just kinda stares back at you. Makes sense, you uh. Probably made a lot of noise.

𝄡 “Ahem. I take it your mental filter is finally in place?”

Huh?… Oh yeah, you aren’t hearing his thoughts anymore! Huh. Wild.

♪ “I uh. Guess so? Um. Don’t know. When that happened.”

𝄡 “Well, at least you’ve… finished, as it were.”

♪ “Uh. Right. Yeah.”

By the time you finally came to your senses, the entire living room was fully decimated. It was already doing bad, you don’t even know where the scorch marks came from. However, there is absolutely nothing left now. You really should have, like. Gone to your room or something, but uh. Yeah.

♪ “… We never speak of this, got it?”

𝄡 “Of course.”

You let out a sigh of relief.

You notice Ti has a bowl of stew next to him, and is reading a book. Damn, he already finished cooking? Or um… how long has the stew been ready for?

Ugh, actually, where is everything time wise. You forgot to check.

♪ “What time is it, actually?”

𝄡 “Ah, a good question. I forgot to check, it’s…”

You both look at the clock and a dawning horror hits you both.

Good news, it’s past nightfall. So you all made it. Explains why you don’t hurt right now, aside from a slight ache from recent activities.

Bad news. The wedding is in less than an hour.

♪ “Fuck.

𝄡 “Oh. Sun be damned.”

You dash back into the living room and grab Re

♪ “RE!!! Get up!! The wedding is in less than an hour!!!!”

♯ “bwuhuh? wedding?”

♪ “DARKON’S WEDDING!?!?”

She takes a few moments. Before she suddenly jumps up, suddenly aware.

𝄡 “Ti, take the upstairs shower, we’ll clean the blood off down here, then we’ll have a few minutes to get into armor and head over!!!”

You don’t think you’ll be late, but this is cutting it MUCH closer then you planned!!!!

Hopping into the shower with Re, she starts getting a little touchy and as nice as that is you do NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME!!!!!

Stars, you are not gonna be late. You refuse to be late!!!

Please, by every single Arcana and the entire Universe besides, do not embarrass yourself!!!

𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆𝄆

Darkon

The wedding preparations are going very well, if you are fully honest. You hope.

A LOT had to be shifted, to adjust for the very sudden lack of color since last week. But, you think you’ve managed to make it work well!

The circular room’s décor was already focused on contrasting light and dark, which Suki insisted on. She thinks it’s very Astravian, and she isn’t wrong. So that turned out well, even if you had to adjust a few things. And you managed to add at least a LITTLE color into things, using your royal blessing to make some things Royal Red, even if it was a little taxing. It’s a royal wedding, so having some objects imbued with that was already a given. Stars, you REALLY hope she loves it! Please be good, please be good, please be good!

As for safety...

Gretir’s cake is safely stored away in an undisclosed location with the most loyal guards you could find guarding it. The dud catering was swapped out for one of the real ones, then double checked for poisoning. Four of the guests are bringing children Song’s age, so she has believable disguises. Some Astronomers have agreed to craft a wish to protect peaceful guests. And you made sure to hide you and Suki’s weapons near the pyre. Your polearm on one side, and the other a blade that is definitely not the legendary Starfire sword. The guards have been selected VERY carefully, and instructions prepared for every eventuality. So safety should be set.

… It’ll definitely be needed.

With your brother’s sudden death last week, a lot of people got riled up very quickly. Before, you expected maybe a dozen assassins. Now? You have no idea. You’ll need everything you can to get through this. But it’s fine, you’re the conductor of this show, and you have the entire thing in the palm of your hand.

Except three, very worrying notes off key.

Where in the Universe are your friends? It’s getting far closer to time than you’d ever expect of them. You know they’d never even RISK being late if at all possible. But it’s only fifteen minutes until time. What happened to delay them this much?

Wait. Oh, there they are. You see them finally enter the main room and…

… They look like shit.

Sure, they’re dressed nicely, armored up and ready. But they look rough. Titania is shifting about in his armor that even with his helmet on you can tell he’s nervous. Aurola is looking the entire crowd over, and her hair is a blinding mess. And Regulus looks about as out of it as when you two first met. Also, it seems that Re’s hair has changed?

You go up to them.

𝄆 “Are you all okay? You cut it pretty close.”

𝄡 “Apologies. We had to handle some… preparations of our own.”

Okay, fine, you guess they had something planned. But you take a sniff and…

𝄆 “Why do you all smell like alcohol?… and blood?”

♪ “Don’t worry about it! You’ll find out later.”

By Alprecha, you swear, they better be blinded fucking sober for this. SURELY, they would do that much for you and Suki? Well, at least, La and Ti would. Re might’ve seen they were having an episode and figured sane was better than sober.

𝄆 “Are… Are you alright Re? You um. Look like you’re a bit out of it.”

♯ “Good. Very good.”

She looks at you smiling. Without even blinking. Are her eyes dilated? Oh boy…

No. It’s fine. You trust your friends. You know that, whatever in Alprecha’s name is going on, they have their reasons. You just really, REALLY hope that whatever they’ve done isn’t going to throw off your very, VERY carefully orchestrated precautions.

𝄆 “Alright, I trust you all know what you’re doing. Just… Get into positions. Showtime is soon, and we need this to go well.”

They nod, and head to the places set before. Put so that they are exactly where they’ll be needed. Ti and Re are kept near the pyre where the action will happen, La farther away and on a balcony so she can act as overwatch and protect the guests. However many of them are actual guests, that is. You knew that if you did set invitations, a LOT of people would get upset and several assassins would get desperate. At least this way, you’ve made sure everyone has signed their name, so you can see how many of the guests are those you know and trust.

Speaking of which, a guard comes by and she hands you a copy of the list. Right, let’s take a look, get an idea what you’re dealing with…

Hm… That doesn’t bode well.

There are a LOT of names on this list you don’t recognize, but most have some form of noble last name. How real those are is up for debate though. Only about a third of the list are people you know. You expected that, with a bunch of nobles sending people here just to curry favor. But the fact you don’t recognize a single name other than trusted ones is… concerning.

This performance might be a bit less like an orchestra and more like jazz. Rife with improvisation.

You hand the list back, and give her a smile.

𝄆 “I think you should get some champagne.”

The guard hears your code phrase and nods, careful to not let her grimace be visible. ‘Prepare for the worst’ is the rough translation. Though she also takes it literally, grabbing a glass and downing it in one. You do not blame her.

Alright. Not much time left. The upcoming warzone is handled. Now for the actual scary part.

You take your place at the starting point of the orbit walk. In a waiting room, opposite of where Suki is staying.

R-right. You know what your binding wish will be, don’t mess that up. The fire on the altar itself is lit, and should stay strong. A-and you’re all cleaned up, right? Suit’s nice, not a stain on the white fabric, hair’s good, nothing on your face? Stars, please be good. You recite it under your breath three times, just in case, stars she’s gonna see you and you really hope you look good please.

You look to the Astrologer in the room with you, here to ensure things go well. They give you a thumbs up. So far, everything is looking good. Right, good, lovely. STARS you are SO NERVOUS!!!!!

Okay. Breathe. Do it like Titania does. In. And Out.

The guests go quiet, like an audience as the lights dim.

Alright. Cue the overture, it’s showtime.

The doors open, and across the way, through the flames of the pyre in the center of the room, your eyes meet with Suki.

She’s stunning.

You’ve never seen her in white in your entire life, refusing to do so except for here. And stars, she gleams . As you start to walk the spiraling orbit inwards, you and her can’t take your eyes off each other. The dress’ loose fabrics help show how gracefully she moves, every step with the precision of a knife. But it does not hide her figure, scars shown on her arms and back without any shame. As you match each other's step down the path, you wonder how she sees you right now. Universe, you love her.

Before you know it, you both stand opposite each other, across the main pyre, atop steps so everyone can see.

Right. You both pull out your falcon feathers. You know what wish you will make to bind you both, but you’ll let her go first. On one hand you are curious, but also you know she’s a little nervous, though she hides it well. A wish like this is almost like another oath, and while she does want this, that doesn’t make it any less nervewracking. She takes a breath, and speaks without fear.

♮ “I, Suki, wish to stay at Darkon’s side, to be there and help with anything and everything he does. To aid his steps, no matter where his winding path takes him. May the Universe hear my desire, so we are never apart.”

As she drops her feather into the flames, you can’t help but smile. Alright, your turn.

𝄆 “I, Darkon, wish to stay at Suki’s side, to give her a home she can be proud of. To help her have her place, whatever form that takes, and make it somewhere where we can be happy together. May the Universe hear my desire, so we are never apart.”

You drop your feather into the flames, and see her smiling at you.

You both pull out each other's rings, ready for the exchange. Oh, wow, she did such a good job with yours! You know she must have handmade it, and the two metals are carefully entwined with such detail. How the hell she got a ruby that’s still actually Red however, without you knowing, is very confusing. You at least had royal magics to work with!

But first…

Suki coughs, and calls out to the crowd, with a cheerful hint of mischief in her voice.

♮ “If there are any who would object our wishes, speak now.”

You watch as well over half the crowd stands up and pulls out their weapons. And people appear in the rafters, similarly armed.

𝄆 “Huh. I see, I see…”

You and Suki look at each other, nod, and smile.

𝄆 “Objections denied.”

You quickly toss your ring at Suki, and catch the one she tosses at you, while you both dive for the weapons hidden right under the steps. Right, this should be tricky, but you are as well prepared as you can be.

“We aren’t afraid to kill you too, prince! We can just use your blood to make a new heir!”

Yep, you figured. Brother’s death freaked a lot of people out, and now they are desperate.

“Give it up, you are outnumbered!”

♮ “The Prince, his Paladin, and the best knights in the kingdom? I think we can manage.”

You smile. It’ll be tough. You aren’t sure though, with how many there are…

♪ “Correction. Prince, Paladin, and three fucking Bladeheart Knights.”

…wait

WHAT?!?!

You see as Re, Ti, and La all eyes glow in COLOR. Pink, Blue, and Green. Fuck. Okay. Yeah, sure, that explains why they smelled of blood.

𝄆 “I- wha- how?!”

♮ “Fuck it, that works!”

𝄆 “You know what, sure. Scale! Take them out!”

The entire room erupts into chaos.

Most of them stick to their intended target and rush you and Suki. You use the reach of your polearm to keep them off the steps, stabbing away at a few enemies, while you put on your ring. Not losing it now!

Sugar fills the air as guests rush to the buffet area, some assassins trying their luck with hostages, but thankfully the wish protects them, and gunfire from La hits the violating parties swiftly after. A few of the attackers, realizing how much the odds just shifted, try to go for the exits, but the guards are waiting for them. Ti and Re, approaching your position, also take out any assailants blocking their path, leaving a river of blood and viscera in their wake as the room starts to reek of death.

And of course, Suki dances among the foes, a flurry of steel, blood, entrails, and golden fire from her blade. Her white dress is stained a stunning black with blood. You can’t tell if you’d prefer it being red with color, or as is. The way her grin shows how much fun she is having, just like you. You watch her literally grab a man by his skull and toss him across the room with one hand. You can’t help but smile, she’s blinding gorgeous. You have to be careful to not get too distracted. You are certain she is giving you glances too, but due to enhanced senses, she can afford to.

She spins back towards you, and you hold her like a dance as you impale the man she backed away from, letting her lean back, and kissing her then and there, before letting her back up. Okay, you might be having a bit too much fun.

You watch as Re charges through an entire swath of people, several weapons hovering near her as she strikes with them, while using her new claws to rip more into shreds. Claws?? Really??? Well, she at least looks like she’s having a good time?

You watch as Ti’s fucking HEAD rolls over and before you can panic, it dissolves into butterflies and returns to his neck?! Okay, so just. Cool. Also he has antlers now?! And his hair is also weird?!? At least now you know why there’s butterflies everywhere. He is. WAY too calm for someone who just got decapitated?!

𝄡 “Re, no. No more alcohol.”

♯ “But I wanna!”

𝄡 “No, wishcraft can only do so much, and you will hate yourself if you don’t remember the wedding.”

♯ “Ugh, Fine! More murder it is!”

Re then takes off and pounces on another assassin, turning the vicinity into a blender while Ti calmly picks up his helmet off the floor. La appears from the shadows near you all, gun in hand, not even hesitating or turning to look before headshotting 3 more people, before taking a bow. She then just looks at Suki, covered in blood and just stares.

♪ “Oh stars that’s hot.”

𝄆 “Hey?!??”

♪ “What? You know I’m right.”

She is but does she have to say that NOW?! Suki just turns towards you both, a slight grin on her face, while parrying a sword aimed for her head.

♮ “You probably shouldn’t be flirting with me in front of my husband, during my wedding.”

♪ “I- Okay, that’s fair. Ugh, Ti I might need that wishcraft too.”

𝄡 “Understood.”

You lunge with your polearm, taking out the person trying to get Suki. Honestly, you are going to need a drink after this yourself.

You need control over the situation, the guards are struggling to get a hold of the fleeing victims, but you need to ensure they do not leave to try again later.

You feel an energy in your ring, and notice the red in it is glowing a bit brighter. With… a slight amount of… heat… Like Suki’s sword...

𝄆 “My cadence, this Ruby. You didn’t take it from-”

♮ “I did.”

Oh stars above of blinding course okay. Actually? Screw it, might as well use it. What was that old royal craft again?

Right, you take the tip of your halberd, prick your finger, and smear blood over the handle. Then, using the hand the ring is on, you extrude your royal presence out through the ring into the weapon, make it synonymous with your domain. It is yours to command. It begins to glow Red and float below your grasp.

Oh this is perfect.

𝄆 “You are the best, my sweet melody.”

Raising your hand like the conductor of an orchestra, you gesture the blade to fly to your command, as it sweeps across the room. As it flies to the tune of your command, it strikes to the rhythm of your allies' dance, before flying up into the air, and then diving down at an assassin you heard approaching behind you with a snap of your fingers in a great crescendo. You twirl to face the impaled man, grabbing the hilt and swinging it into the next confused aggressor.

♮ “Hot.”

𝄆 “A-”

She then stabs a man behind you as she kisses you, and your cheeks are suddenly burning and you think the room spins for a second because she’s so close and her lips taste like blood and you can feel her pulse against your skin and oh my heart be normal be normal be normal you are not being normal.

𝄡 “Stars I wish I was her.”

Suki pulls out of the kiss and stares at Ti. It kinda takes you a second to process anything.

♮ “Seriously? Right now?”

You recover your balance a little, looking very confused at Ti, who instantly turns away to refocus on the battle, crushing an assassin under his mace, as if he didn’t say a single word. Wait. Hold up, since WHEN has he had any interest in you?! Huh?!? This isn’t something that would go under your nose like this, is it?? So how did you never- Wait. The helmet. It’s the helmet. Stars, you never stopped to think how he was reacting under the helmet. Stars, you are so dense.

Suki just sighs as she cuts another assailant in half, coating you both in a spray of various bodily fluids. You think you just need a bit to process, because HUH? Your brain is still reeling from the kiss, and the flirtation and what even just. You wave your hand to kill someone attacking you because you can’t think about them right now what even is today?!

♪ “And that’s the last one! Nice job buddy.”

Huh?

Oh. Uh. You just take a second to look around. Uh. You did, huh? Just a lot of bodies everywhere. And burning gold fires, and wrecked seating, and cuts in the walls and floor everywhere.

Ash, you were gonna do something fancy for that too! Proper finale and... Just. Okay. Nope. It’s fine. Compose yourself.

𝄆 “Alright. Good. That’s… Over. Cool.”

Suki sighs, and chuckles to herself, amused by your confusion. You turn towards the presently applauding guests at the buffet area, including young Song. Kiddo is bouncing on her heels. Cool, at least she wasn’t scared or anything.

𝄆 “Ahem. Now, to all the guests, I would ask you to retake your seats, however, given the mess, I hope you are content to stand for the finishing steps? It shouldn’t take long.”

The guests nod in agreement, with a little whispering among them. Yeah, you would expect none of them want to be covered in blood or shuffle corpses around. Luckily, there’s not much left to do.

Ti, La and Re regroup off to the side. Ti draws a sigil in the air, and a spell wraps around the three of them, momentarily dispelling the smell of alcohol still clinging to them. Probably for sobriety. Which implies Ti was drinking too. That… Yeah okay. Sure.

You take your place at the top of the steps again, Suki opposite to you.

Okay, breathe.

𝄆 “On my hand, I carry proof, that our bond will hold no matter what. Proof that I will stay, and proof she will accept me there.”

♮ “On my hand, I carry proof, that our bond will hold no matter what. Proof that I will stay, and proof he will accept me there.”

You nod, and hold each other's hand across the flickering flames. Feel the embers lick at them from below.

𝄆 “With this ring, I swear by my wish.”

♮ “With this ring, I swear by my wish.”

You both take the paper lanterns you made, with your wishes written inside via the feathers you burned earlier, and light them with the flames of the pyre. Then, you set them aloft, and they drift on the smoke of pyres flames up and out the opening in the roof.

Applause rings out from everyone still in attendance. It feels good to finally make all this official.

You both walk down towards the audience.

♮ “Alright, I think it’s time for cake! Er, after some of us clean the blood off. You all are good to head in now, we’ll be with you in a bit!”

You sigh in relief. This is a political event too, so being covered in blood for the rest of the night wouldn’t be a nice look. You watch the cleaning crew come in, and they seem a bit surprised. You are going to have to pay them extra…

>>>

The after party is going nicely. Everyone cleaned up a bit, and the celebrations were moved to a side room. You have gotten more than a few compliments ‘for the show’ and ‘skilled technique’. The cake is truly fantastic, Gretir knows what she’s doing as usual. The rest of the snacks have been nice. You and Suki have been keeping close, just happy to have each other. Song has come by you a few times, and you’ve hugged her and ruffled her hair more than a little.

You wait till a bit to talk with your friends, mainly till their own crowd diminishes a little.

Aurola, Titania, and Regulus are all chatting together in a corner. La is giving Ti assurances, as he seems to be in deep contemplation, or just embarrassment? It’s still hard to tell with the helmet. You will… have to address that at a later point. Re is clearly enjoying herself, and having a great time with cake while she leans up against La.

𝄆 “So… I have several questions. But we can talk about most of them later.”

♯ “Cool!”

𝄆 “I guess the first question is... are you all okay?”

♪ “Yeah, we’re good. I’m just… glad this paid off.”

♯ “We all made it! And it helped!”

𝄡 “Apologies ahead of time for the subterfuge.”

Yeah. You are… gonna have to have a talk with them about this. Maybe tomorrow, after you’ve had a few drinks and time to process all the… everything .

𝄆 “Alright. Second question, how long are you all going to be sober? Given tomorrow is the rite...”

𝄡 “Worry not, the effects should be held back for at least a few days.”

♪ “Yeah, things kinda got out of hand… At least it got us through the ritual.”

You cannot think of a single occasion in written history where that was a tactic, but given this is the first time in all Astravian history there are three Bladeheart knights in simultaneous existence, you don’t exactly have anything to counter that claim.

𝄆 “Yeah uh. How exactly did that go?”

The three just look at each other.

La looks embarrassed. Ti looks nervous. Re just looks confused. They then nod at each other.

♪ “That. Stays between the three of us.”