Fandom Final Fantasy: The Age of Ophiuchus [Closed]

[Arcanist]

That bombshell had to drop sooner or later. Sesario wasn’t sure why it had to be now, but the temporary peace felt like the only time he could do it, when they weren’t running, when he was trying to find out those exact things in dusty books hidden away in the forest. He expected the surprise of it, given some of the intense stares he received from Cleon and Reva, though he noted a worry in Hector that he learned to spot.

It was hard to know what it was about though.

Sesario sighed, “I didn’t do anything. At least, I don’t think I did. My grandfather died, the Empire was trying to pick up steam in conquering the continent again, and I just felt trapped. And then I woke up one day and it was just there, and it’s been there ever since I was fourteen.” Twenty-three years, as long as a marriage. Was divorce still an option? Did any of Bahamut’s past heroes feel the same, if they too were subjected to his vague messages?

“Maybe he thought it was urgent,” Kikiti suggested then, her finger pushing into a page on Phoenix before the interruption, “Bahamut is a bit of a rulebreaker. At least, all the stories I know depict him with values of freedom. Maybe what was happening at the time, how you felt, sparked something for him to find you.”

“Maybe I should ask him that,” Sesario chuckled, his tone obviously bitter, “and see if he answers me with something useful this time.”

Silence settled, and for much longer than Sesario would have liked. He remembered then, he never mentioned anything like that. He never even told Hector about that. Sesario could never risk him thinking he was travelling with a man who was insane enough to hear a voice in his head.

Cid leaned forward, more inquisitive but just as aghast as what the others around them looked. His tone was just incredulous enough, but more confused. “He speaks to you?”

It felt like the short conversation he had with his father, thinking that voice was grief. Any talk on risked seeming sane. “Yeah,” Sesario was forced to admit.

Cleon blinked, jaw hanging open as he shifted to the edge of his seat. He was much like Hector, more interested in the how. Sesario noted that hint of jealousy in his tone, and he almost laughed at how naïve he was, that they all were, to his situation. “How is that possible if you haven’t awoken him yet? Unless you have awoken him?

“I would have brought him out to solve a lot of our problems if I had,” Sesario pointed out, his frustration seeping through his words. He added, “It’s complicated. He speaks to me, and I hear him, but it’s infrequent. Sometimes it feels like he’s trying to get his words to me even when I can’t hear him. And then whatever words he does get through to me are vague or just…” Useless. Something that could have been helpful. He wondered if he listened hard enough to his words over the years, that he said something in a throwaway comment that might have been useful.

“So,” Cleon was dejected, mainly on Sesario’s part, but very much collectively for the rest of them, “he hasn’t told you anything that would help? There’s bound to have been something he could have said to you all this time.”

“Maybe, but more in a roundabout way,” Sesario leaned back. He didn’t want to dash that hope so soon, “he’s directed me to places before. He might have directed me to Hector without me realising, and Hector has a mark. Makes sense if we’re all being pulled together in strange ways.” It had to count for something surely. Meeting Hector was never just by chance, he believed that now.

“I’d believe it,” Kikiti affirmed with a small smile. She met the rest of them through strange circumstances. Hector less so, but she was no less thankful for it. Though, Kikiti would have to give that credit to Yarrow more than the Zodiac for that ‘chance’ meeting.

“We’ll keep looking. That’s all that's at least in our control right now,” Cleon said. There was bound to be something in these endless scrolls and books that they could pull out. The sooner, the better.

 

[Lucyfer]

Bahamut spoke to Sesario. Reva lifted her brows at this, as surprised as the others. Leviathan did not speak to her before he arrived into her life. She did not think any of the other eleven spoke to their hosts prior to it. Zariel certainly had not given such an indication, and seemed quite unaware Phoenix was dead when that much was pointed out. Indeed, Didymus certainly hadn’t mentioned any voices before the arrival of Garuda.

Perhaps he wouldn’t have, anyways.

Reva hummed in thought. “Perhaps it would be best to share what Bahamut speaks of from now on,” Reva advised, “it may make no sense to you, but there are others now with you who believe what you say.” Or perhaps that would only silence Bahamut.

“Can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Hector sounded bitter. Hard to fault him, though, considering how long the secret was kept. “Can’t believe how useless Bahamut is,” though, actually, he could. Bahamut valued freedom, but he was also ambitious. Two warring components, that never led Bahamut to achieving the role of King of the Zodiac.

That remained Phoenix.

For how long seemed debatable, now.

“I bet he manifests for no reason. No way we’re going to figure him out,” Hector just wanted to show irreverence to Bahamut, mostly. Spite. “But I…think I know where Alexander’s temple is,” he sighed.

Reva’s attention fell to Hector.

“Escander. I don’t know where, but. There’s nothing else about him. Every story, every hero, everything about Alexander, is tied to Escander. I don’t think he’s clever enough to hide his temple anywhere else,” and at that, Hector buried his face in his hands, “and summoning him is going to require returning to Escander.”

A place he didn’t want to go, but also, a very public place.

A very public place in the heart of the Empire.

 

[Arcanist]

Cid hummed in agreement with Reva on the point he should be more forward in sharing Bahamut’s words. “And anything you remember him mentioning before that you think would be useful to know too,” he suggested, though, anyone, not just Sesario, would have forgotten what they believed to be meaningless drivel. No less from a voice they didn’t trust.

Something in all that dialogue had to be meaningful.

Bahamut reared his head in a time of change and what Cid could only assume was a time of grief for Sesario. Cid remembered a man at the end of his tether. Compelled by grief to surround himself with books and scrolls and mutter to himself than to face the potential loss of his son.

Was it all just grief?

After a beat of Cid’s long stare on him, Sesario felt inclined to agree with him. “Sure. I can’t promise anything, but if he reminds me of anything useful, or if I remember anything, I’ll let you all know.” That was a chance for the Dragon to come forward and redeem himself from this point forward.

Hector didn’t take well to the news, obviously. Regardless of how often Hector seemed to put up with him, he put his trust in Sesario, as did the man with him. Sesario keeping secrets breached that, and he would admit, he felt and even looked a little ashamed of it. Shame was not something Sesario wore often. “Maybe I should have told you earlier, when I had more of an idea of what that voice was.” His roundabout way of apologising, without having to say, ‘I’m sorry’. Apologies weren’t his thing either.

Was Bahamut really going to take that shit from Hector? Not that he could do anything about it, but what if he was really willing to prove him wrong?!

If Bahamut was going to say anything, attention turned to the potential of Alexander’s temple being in Escander.

Cleon held back a sigh. Everything was in Empire territory.

Kikiti tried to think of something that would be at least a little helpful. She sighed. “Escander’s so big and crowded. Someone would have picked up on there being a temple there.”

“Definitely no temples there,” Sesario weighed in.

“But maybe it’s not a temple in the traditional sense that we’re all thinking of,” Cleon suggested. “I’m not exactly an expert on Escander,” he sheepishly admitted that bar having the knowledge he heard or read of Escander, “but maybe it’s built into the architecture somewhere or hidden underneath the city.”

“It would have to be practical though, wherever his temple is,” Kikiti said, gathering her thoughts of what she knew of Alexander, “not unless Escander has morphed it into something else without knowing.” It would be a shame if they unknowingly did so. Alexander always seemed so selfless when it came to Escander.

“Regardless, getting there, never mind getting in, isn’t an option for us right now.” Cid murmured. They’d be scooped up by Imperials on foot before they even got there and each of them knew it.

“For now, at least,” Cleon murmured. If they could ever get in.

Yarrow had made his way back onto the table, away from the rough play Oma tried to engage him in. The sight of her moving towards the table was enough to shoo him to the other side before he stepped on any of the scripture.

“Was there anything else we found?” Cleon asked.

Kikiti considered the page she held open, but reconsidered Phoenix for another god instead.

“There was some stuff I found about Kirin,” Kikiti spoke up, though, judging by her slight shrug, she didn’t look entirely confident if it was helpful or not. “Accounts by nomads fleeing from persecutors through a valley. They claimed a tempest blocked those pursuing them from reaching them, and when the group tried to locate them, it was like they just vanished in the wind. A lot of them seemed to believe it was Kirin watching over them.”

“There’s a lot of stories about Kirin stepping in for others when they’re in danger. Sometimes always standing up to people too,” Kikiti mused, but then pouted. “But it doesn’t exactly pinpoint where Kirin’s temple would be. All I can think of is that valley, or somewhere extra windy…”

 

[Lucyfer]

‘The Temple has definitely changed shape.’ Hector understood that if it was there in Escander, everyone would know. Unless it was hidden in plain sight as something else. A tourist shop that sold Alexander figures? No, likely just a bar that had no idea of its purpose, history removed under layers of paint and wallpapers.

Nothing was sacred in Escander.

“There aren’t really any places we can get to right now,” Hector pointed out, “just wilderness, and even then we’re just hoping the Empire isn’t out that way. Apparently, they’re searching for these, too, and they’ve found some of them.” Anissa had provided plenty of information relating to that.

“Not that I’m saying we go to Escander now, but we’re going to need to come up with plans to get into Imperial cities in the very near future, because everywhere is Imperial territory now.” They couldn’t avoid it. The entire continent belonged to Amarum.

To Zariel, and Phoenix.

But Kikiti had one that might be more or less in the wilds. A valley, and a windy valley at that. ‘Sounds like Gemini.’ If only because of the way Garuda appeared, and left. Sudden, twisting winds.

But Gemini didn’t really intervene that way.

Gemini left destruction behind.

Reva hummed, but shook her head, “I know not of a valley such as you have mentioned. My journeys may not have taken me near it.”

Hector was about to say the same, but paused, and a quizzical look crossed his face before he looked towards Sesario, “Hey…isn’t there that mountainous region you prefer to fly around near Ibec, because the wind currents are always tricky?” Ibec was another area deep in Imperial territory, and now deeply controlled by it, if Zariel had claimed the life of Phoenix’s cleric.

Even so, this might be wilderness. Hector didn’t know if there was a civilization in this valley that the Empire would have any reason to station people in.

 

[Arcanist]

‘Of course they have,’ Cleon thought, rueful on the topic of temples, but that was to be expected. Zariel had been working on this longer than they had. The Empire had the resources, and even further reach with Ivocia now.

Hector, part of him loathed to admit, was right.

There was much he was right about. Or rather, practical about.

“The Imperials can close most of the gaps in the cities, but not every gap,” Cid commented. If smuggling routes and entry and exit points were anything to go by. Where one closed, a bunch more blew open somewhere else.

The wilderness, or perhaps the deep wilderness if this valley was anything to go by, would be easier to reach first.

Kikiti hummed at Reva’s lack of knowledge on such a valley, but she couldn’t blame her. The Zodiac were more real than what a few people believed, but that wasn’t to say the stories about them were as real as them. ‘Where else would Kirin’s temple be then?’

Some of them, despite them not knowing them really, felt like they would be much more obvious. Like a desert for Ifrit, which seemed apt enough in her head. But maybe she would be surprised.

Hope crept in when Hector enquired to Sesario about one particularly windy region.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sesario nodded, about to say before Hector came to that conclusion first. “The Sanvihn. Crossing it would cut down the time to get to Ibec, but its winds would do a number on any ship. I never fancied my chances going over it.” Even with his mysterious luck. “I can’t say if it’s any less dangerous on foot, but it’s better than crash landing.”

“Do you think we’d be able to get through it?”

“Dunno,” Sesario answered honestly, “but even if we got through the winds with some miracle, it’ll probably be a similar situation we encountered at Fenrir’s temple. We’ll need you, or if it comes down to it, Kirin, to pass through it. So, we better start thinking of creative ways to coax Libra out.”

 

[Lucyfer]

“We do not know for certain if the Zodiac themselves is required,” Reva noted.

Hector nodded, “That’s been the factor with Phoenix,” he could admit that, from Anissa’s letter, “but we don’t know anything else. We may just need Kikiti, and with how dangerous the Sanvihn is – and that the Empire doesn’t have it marked – we might have a good chance checking that one.”

Reva couldn’t say it was a bad idea. Even if it was deep in Imperial territory, it was in a portion of it that was likely not heavily monitored. Getting there may be difficult, but it was an opportunity. If it proved impossible to get through it, then they would know one thing for certain: the zodiac was needed. “We can think of ways to coax Kirin out on the way, as well. Kirin is known for balance and justice.”

“Yeah, and Gemini is known for being indecisive, but that didn’t seem to impact Garuda appearing when Didymus made a clear decision.”

As Hector said it, he realized that probably did impact it. Didymus had been seemingly wavering on so much even in the short time that he knew him. He palmed his face, “Do we have to do the opposite?”

Reva shook her head, “No, I do not think so,” even hearing it aloud made her pause in consideration, “Perhaps it is overcoming a weakness of the Zodiac? If Gemini is indecisive, being decisive may have shown strength needed. Libra is known to try and keep peace, but by avoiding conflict and pleasing, not always by standing up to the problem.”

Hector didn’t like the sound of it. That would mean pushing Kikiti into an uncomfortable situation where she had to stand up – and likely, truly stand up, against a problem.

He couldn’t help but look at Sesario, and state monotonously, “You have to settle down.”

 

[Arcanist]

They were getting somewhere at least. It may be leading them towards rough, stormy Imperial territory, but it at least wasn’t a city. Yet.

Kikiti shifted, bunching her skirt up in her fists as the theories on how to awaken Kirin floated around the room. She could hear her mother's voice once insisting that she stand up to the taller kids by kicking them in the shins.

She couldn't use that method on the soldiers who took her classmate Mulino in for questioning on petty theft. Then she would have wound up in prison for a crime one of them actually committed.

“You won’t be alone when that happens,” Cleon offered his reassurance across to Kikiti. “Even if you have to be the one to confront whatever’s in front of us, we’ll be right there to support you.” The answer to Cleon was obvious, but he didn’t feel the need to say it.

“I know you will.” Kikiti’s smile was thankful, though, she did not release her skirt.

Stopping those soldiers now seemed much easier than standing up to the likes of the Empire.

Hector’s suggestion on settling down caused Sesario’s expression to crease, like he had passed rotten milk under his nose. “You’re beginning to sound like my mother. Guess I should pop the question to the next person I meet and hope they don’t mind settling with a fugitive.”

‘The boy is not far wrong.’

“Ah,” Sesario held up a finger, a gesture for Hector to wait before he could return a retort, “good of you to weigh in, Bahamut. I thought you’d be too proud to admit to Hector being right.”

A rumble. ‘I am, but my pride led to my fall from the stars, and l cannot deny his reasoning.’

“So…how do I propose I ‘settle down’ then?”

‘You must accept the burden you carry. It is the price of freedom.’ The boom in his head already felt out of his grasp.

Sesario desperately clung to it. “Can you be any more cryptic? What burden?”

‘Haven’t I already led you to it?’

“I—”

Too late. There and gone again, silence and a lingering absence remaining.

He remembered that he was not in his head, but in company. He caught Oma’s intense stare, creases of confusion in her face. She moved her eyes away to the others, gauging the most appropriate reaction. Sesario cleared his throat.

“So…apparently…I have some sort of ‘burden’ I need to accept. The cost of my freedom, or some other stupid riddle,” Sesario mumbled.

“Well,” Cleon pondered after a moment’s silence, “burdens are like heavy responsibilities. Being marked by Sagittarius is a heavy enough responsibility, so maybe there’s something in that you have to accept.”

“I haven’t any other choice but accept it,” Sesario’s words came off sharper, jaw set. “He’s already led me here. We’re a whole half of the Zodiac trying to figure all this out, so shouldn’t it be enough for him to stop hiding in my head?”

The answer, if anyone hadn’t gathered by then, was no.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘I think she’ll need to be alone.’

Hector didn’t say it, although he wanted to. He let Cleon offer the reassurance that Kikiti needed, even if she didn’t loosen up at all. Perhaps Kikiti knew, or suspected. After all, nothing she’d done yet had brought her to the point of Kirin interfering, and she had no doubt stood up to and for other things in her life.

Just as nothing had brought out Garuda, until Didymus was alone in his decision.

Was that a necessity?

Well, maybe not for Sesario, as he started to speak, informing them a bit of Bahamut’s response to Hector’s words. Hector couldn’t help but smirk at the fact he was right. “Maybe you should have just married the Empress,” not that anyone here would like that idea. Hector definitely didn’t, but if that would have solved the problem, damn it, why not?!

No, it wasn’t as easy as marrying someone. Hector knew that.

A burden.

One Sesario hadn’t accepted.

Hector laughed at Sesario’s response, “Name one burden you’ve ever accepted,” he stated, “One.” Sesario ran from everything. He ran from his title, his family, he was even running from Bahamut. “Accepting it doesn’t mean just acknowledging it exists, you know,” but if they didn’t know which burden he had to accept, pointing that out was a moot point. Still, it had to be said.

Reva let out a breath into the moment, “If we assess all the weaknesses remaining, there is your weakness, as well, Hector.”

Hector scoffed at that. “Are we sure Alexander won’t just show up in Escander?”

“We are not,” she stated, “his temple may be there, but we cannot be certain that Alexander will be triggered merely by the temple, or location. Virgos are known to have weaknesses in asking for help, and in being critical of others,” which was on full display right then.

Hector gave Reva a dull stare, “I can ask for help, and I do. It isn’t my fault most of my asking for help is pointing out how others can do better, for everyone’s sake.”

Reva arched a brow.

Hector didn’t flinch or take his words back to examine them.

 

[Arcanist]

Sesario opened his mouth to tell Hector exactly what kind of burden he accepted, though, closed it when the kid added more conditions as to what a burden was. He’d have gone on to joke how devilishly handsome he was, but Reva made a pretty good effort at steering the conversation away from him.

He smirked at Reva’s astute observation. “You ask for help as much as I ‘accept my burdens’,” Sesario quoted with his fingers, “you don’t even let me tinker at the ship if there’s something you just can’t get right with it.”

Arguably, because he would ruin Hector’s perfect machinations. Not that he could fault that entirely. He worked hard, maybe overzealously so, but he had been like that ever since Sesario took him on. He felt he had to prove himself.

He never did tell him he didn’t have to keep doing that with him.

“Maybe I should have married Zariel. We’d have been miserable, but we could have been miserable together,” Sesario mockingly lamented. Though, that wouldn’t have mattered. Only the advantages of that kind of pairing did, and one he squandered, as he did the rest of his so-called engagements.

“Perish the thought,” Cid grunted, and he heard a small hum from Cleon, possibly in agreement. He loathed the Empire, but he loathed the idea of Sesario moaning about marriage. It was not difficult to imagine where Cleon’s agreement stemmed from.

Cleon was contemplative after that agreement, though, he piqued up again to agree with Reva’s original hypothesis. “Overcoming weakness seems to be the most plausible reason to bring the Zodiac forth. If it was like that for Gemini, and there’s patterns lining up between us and the Twelve…”

Kikiti was the next to hum and contemplate. “I mean, I suppose, but” she glanced at Oma. “Fenrir hasn’t been awakened from Oma leaving the fae. You know, her comfort zone, what she knows best. Taurus is known to stick in their comfort zone if they can.”

The woman pouted and grumbled, “Not Oma’s choice. I go home if Titania not say I have to go.” She might as well have been held hostage by these people! But they were not unkind, as far as she saw. Perhaps to each other, but not her.

“Well, maybe it has to be Oma’s decision then,” Cleon suggested, “if us taking her away from her comfort hasn’t triggered anything.” He looked at Reva then, and asked, “I know you said Leviathan never explained why he came to you, and only that Mist seemed to trigger that. But shouldn’t there be more to that, given what we’ve discussed?”

Cleon could not think of Reva’s weaknesses. His fondness of her made it hard to see much fault with her, but he knew enough that she was not flawless. He could only think of how far off she seemed sometimes, and her selflessness – though, he found that to be more an admirable quality than a weakness.

 

[Lucyfer]

Hector cringed at the idea of Sesario marrying Zariel – even if there were merits to it at that moment. Although, if it could have been avoided, that would have been better. If they could have avoided killing Zariel, that would have been the best possible route…but they failed there, and now they were in this situation.

Dwelling on the past didn’t fix it.

It came to Oma, though, and Reva nodded her agreement. “A conscious choice. One the person makes themselves. Didymus no doubt made other decisions in his life that were hard, but perhaps, they were not entirely his own,” Reva noted, though frowned as she looked down. Leviathan had not come to her in that way.

Well, he had. She had lost her mind to the Mist. Pisces were dreamers. Was it her decision even then, to go beyond the borders of the woods, that stirred Leviathan? And when she was unable to do that, had he arisen to make sure the dream would be accomplished – if not that day, another day?

Was it the pisces inability to follow through on dreams?

She did not know, and Leviathan did not speak to her thoughts. “He does not say,” Reva sighed, “but the weakness of Pisces is dreaming. Dreaming, and not acting on dreams,” a wane smile, “The day we met I was pursuing a dream, in a way. I knew that She was damaged, and I ventured to the edge of Her grounds. I would have gone beyond it. I dreamed of going beyond it, before I left Her embrace. The Mist stopped me. It was the Mist, also, that had damaged her.”

She sighed, “I think perhaps it was that pursuit of a dream. Failing in it, not by my own intentions, that perhaps brought him out, and put me on the course to fulfill the dream of leaving.” She shook her head, “it is all I can think to fit the pattern, unless the twelve are simply drawn by Mist, and any could be drawn out that way.”

“If that were the case, Zariel would know,” Hector stated, as if he knew the inner workings of the experiments the Empire was going through with.

Reva nodded her agreement, despite her own lack of knowledge, “Yes. I agree.” So it was not merely the Mist.

 

[Arcanist]

A conscious choice. More like an illusion of choice, Sesario though, Do or don’t. Make your god come forth or don’t. If you didn’t, well, one less body to fight Ophiuchus, and possibly death.
It was more ‘do the right thing’, for it was the only choice they had. Each of theirs were simply all unique.

“A push towards it,” Kikiti nodded, smiled, though, only in understanding, “You got yourself there, but it just took that extra nudge. It was probably just as big a step for Leviathan too.” Given as Reva said, Pisces as dreamers.

The Mist became a point of contention again. It seemed everywhere, all encompassing, and yet, so little was known about it other than its effects.

Well, that they knew. Hector suggested, and Reva agreed, that Zariel would probably know more on that. There was plenty Zariel didn’t know, but still knew more than them, Cleon thought ruefully. Though, most of her life seemed devoted to uncovering such secrets. He understood now why such things took years to discover.

Cid leafed through whatever manuscript he had in front of him as if a half-hearted skim would reveal all there was to the matter. “There hasn’t been anything I’ve read here that mentions or resembles anything close to Mist,” he murmured, “at least, so far. Hard to say for certain if it does have any effect, unless the Empire knew otherwise.”

“It’s a relatively new phenomenon. Well,” Sesario added, “if you think the last century or so new. Still don’t know where it exactly came from, or if it’s always been here, just dormant.” Though, there was a link between it and the Twelve, even if it was not so direct.

“Let’s break for a moment,” Cleon suggested after a moment, “and then we’ll continue and see what else we can find here.” Regardless of whether the others wished to rest their eyes from the tomes, he rose from his seat. “I’m going to step outside,” he said, and cast his eyes back to Reva, an obvious suggestion that she should join him.

 

[Lucyfer]

“Mist is new to us, as well,” Reva noted, “we would not have established a link in such time. We can hardly research it,” though they had all learned the devastating impact on viera – which further prevented research into it. It drove them mad. Humans – the Empire – could know more.

Did know more.

Even if it wasn’t the magical answer to drawing out the Twelve. Otherwise, Oleander would have burst onto the scene with Ixion when they arrived at Ucantis.

But Cleon was tired of research. Hector’s rueful look didn’t go unnoticed by Reva, nor did Cleon’s own silent invitation. She closed her own book, “Really?” Hector gave her an irritated look, clearly thinking she was better than this.

“A restful mind comes to new conclusions.” Reva stated, a fact she knew well, before she would follow Cleon out, leaving Hector to mutter something he likely thought she couldn’t hear.

“No one is taking this seriously.”

Reva heard, of course, but her ear only twitched as if casting the words off as she followed Cleon outside. It irritated her that she could hear Hector, but still not the Woods. It did make reading a bit stifling.

The library used to be alive with Her guidance.

“What is on your mind?” she inquired, once they were outside, and indeed, unbothered by the others and their stifling presence. Hector, at any rate, certainly was not the best help in some of these matters.

 

[Arcanist]

No, of course, certainly not to the viera. It really did fall to the Empire to make any headway on this research.

Which they would, Sesario was sure, if their research teams were anything to go by, or so he heard.

As Cleon made his way out for his impromptu break, Reva flattered him by following him, ever a loyal shadow behind him. Oma had watched them, almost tempted to follow, but was brought back to distraction by Yarrow pawing at her for attention. Definitely no desire for further research.

Sesario’s eyes regretfully returned to the text below him, as if something new he hadn’t noticed would suddenly reveal itself and solve their predicament.

Fuck the Twelve. They made this shit hard for being so desperate to save the world.

That same desperation was heard in Hector, under layers of his criticism.

“Hector,” Sesario expressed an exasperation in his voice that was rarely noted, “take it easy, will you? You’re all wrapped up like a coiled spring.” He was used to Hector’s judgement, often brushing off the harshest of his criticisms without much of a second thought. It was different now though, in the company of others, after a shitty few days.

Kikiti bristled at Sesario’s comment, and she squeaked, “Look, it’s fine, we can carry on with this ourselves for the time being. It’s not as if we’ve lost all momentum.” She thought he heard the grunt from Cid, given two of them had walked out. She tried not to cringe at her attempts to smooth over sharp tongues and keep the peace of the situation.

Peacekeepers had to be optimistic, even if they didn’t always feel it.

~***~
Cleon thought he heard muttering from the boy on his way out. He could not make out the words, not half as well as Reva, but he imagined it was another criticism. It wore on him, but it meant all the more reason to step out for air.

He considered which of his thoughts to offload to Reva and which one she could best comfort him on. “It should be me asking you that,” Cleon instead turned her question back to her. He had plenty on his mind, but it didn’t feel right for Reva to pick at his thoughts when she had enough of her own to contend with.

“I can understand how difficult this all Is for you. But I still wanted to check in with you.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Perhaps Reva was indeed the one to worry more about. Even she understood why Cleon would think that, and she could not deny some truth to it. The difference, of course, came in their years, and the many times Reva had imagined so many scenarios of returning. True, she did not think it would ever happen, but who did not imagine scenarios of impossible situations?

‘Pisces the Dreamer.’

Who dreamt more than a viera, forbidden from seeing the world?

Who dreamt more than a viera, banished from home?

So, Reva smiled, and shook her head, hair tossing with the gesture, “There is much on my mind, but nothing useful,” she said, “It is…hard to be here, and not hear Her.” To know that She spoke, but Reva’s hearing could no longer pick up on it. It wasn’t even an intentional thing from Her. She spoke.

Reva simply could not hear, even as she tilted her head up to look through the sunlight passing through the leaves. It was a posture familiar to many viera, a way of trying to become attuned when overwhelmed – because even here, Her voice could be drowned out by so many other sounds.

But this was not the case.

“I can hear the absence.” And though the smile trembled, it held, softened, as Reva let out a breath. “I have known it would be so,” she stated, simple acceptance, as her gaze returned to Cleon, “But this is new to you. This situation is new to us all.”

And he held, in a way, the unenviable position as leader. Reva did not know if he saw it or not.

 

[Arcanist]

He could not imagine the pain that Reva felt here, how monumental it was. Cleon missed home terribly, but the pain of it was fresh and sharp in his heart. Reva’s was a different ache, no doubt, a kind where it was buried, and when it resurfaced, it was almost paralysing.

Cleon raised his own head as if somehow, he would hear Her speak. He didn’t understand the sanctity of the Voice when he was younger, or that Reva’s home had such an entity. He blamed himself for his childish curiosity upsetting her, until he knew differently.

Part of him wished he hadn’t brought her here to avoid seeing her upset and longing.

Cleon could not help but look down when Reva looked at him. “I know,” he agreed. It was all new. There was no book in the world that could advise him on what to do, as much as wished it.

There was much he could have done, should have done. He carved some of the path he travelled down, and he led everyone down it, whether they agreed to it or not.

“I used to wonder if the Twelve ever made mistakes,” he said, his thumb running over the golden freckles on his hand, “and I figured they did, if Asura chose me for this. I thought that even before all of this started.” He wondered if she was just stuck with him, and it was never her choice.

Cleon sighed, and he stared ahead at the strange serenity of these woods and its inhabitants. He felt he stood at odds, what with the chaos he wrought. He had dozens of questions, doubts, swimming in his head, and all he could think to ask was, “What have I done, Reva?”

And he looked at her, finally, unsure if he wanted the truth, or if he wanted reassurance.

 

[Lucyfer]

Reva immediately began to shake her head as Cleon suggested that Asura made a mistake in choosing him. Of course, they didn’t know, truly, why any of them were chosen other than being born at the right time. Still, there would have been options across the world. “Asura did not make a mistake,” although now they could see the Twelve were not infallible.

One needed to only look at Phoenix to know that.

Phoenix had turned on everyone and everything in his quest for revenge on Ophiuchus, the one that slew him. The woman he chose was molded perfectly for the role. The other Eleven had not the wherewithal to prepare others. They didn’t go down dynastic lines.

“That you feel and understand the pressure of your role, is evidence Asura did not choose poorly. You will rise to the situation. It is not your fault you were not aware of what was going on,” in some ways, perhaps it was Inara’s, but not even Reva knew what was going on. Zariel played it close to the heart.

Leander must have, as well.

Sure, everyone knew Zariel was presumably chosen by Phoenix, but there hadn’t been proof. And even then, for what reason?

Reva was chosen by Leviathan, but she hadn’t known why.

“You have protected yourself, and you have protected others. You have sought allies, and you have found them,” Reva told Cleon. “Yes, you have lost allies, as well,” Didymus would remain a major point of contention, “and it is not everyone that agrees with everything, but you will learn to listen to the dissent and use it to improve,” as irksome as Hector could be, he made points in his dissent.

His dissent wasn’t merely to upset people.

“You have taken people to a safe place, where they can begin to figure out the next steps. And that is what we will do. We will rest. We will regroup. We will decide on a plan,” she kept her voice calm, encouraging, “no matter what is ahead, you will lead them, and you will find your way. You will meet Asura, and you will understand what she saw in you. What everyone in there sees in you.”

For even Prince Sesario was deferring and letting Cleon lead.

“You are not a mere reflection of greatness as some say the moon is. You are great. You will be great. Even if you wane right now. You will grow full in time.”

 

[Arcanist]

Of course, Reva denied the thought that his destiny as a mistake. He expected that, and that was why he kept such insecurities locked in the darkest corners of his mind, rarely spoken aloud.

Reva did not leave the insistence with those words alone. He was silent as she listed the deeds, his actions, the good and the bad. He tried to believe all that she spoke to him, for they were all things that had happened, not merely words to shield his ego. Much that had happened, long before him, with the Twelve, Ophiuchus, was out of his hands. He wondered if their choice of the Marked were out of their hands too.

Despite such words of encouragement, doubt remained as he learned it always would. The ‘what-ifs’ of every decision, every moment, since he fled his home. He knew thinking on the past did not change his present, and still, he ruminated, and he thought, ‘but what if…?’

“So much of what I have done has been based on the advice or suggestions of others,” Cleon pointed out. “When have I decided anything, for any of us, without input?”

He was not so blind to the few steps he took to protecting himself, to protecting the others. He wanted to protect them, not only because he was obliged to after involving them all in some way or another, but because he wanted to. He would not want to see harm come to any of them, disagreements or otherwise.

“I want to be great. I want to be everything people see in me, and I want to believe every word you tell me that someday I will be half as good at any of this as I am right now. I know you speak truthfully as you always have. I just,” there was a sharp breath in, and a pause, before he finished, “I just don’t feel great. I’m afraid I might never feel that way.”

Showing vulnerability was a choice. It was a state he kept well-guarded, or at least, as well-guarded as he could, from people. It was not so much of a choice with Reva, who always seemed to know something was wrong.

And she always did know what to say, even if Cleon didn’t always believe her words.

 

[Lucyfer]

“Why do you perceive turning to others with expertise as bad?” Reva inquired as Cleon bemoaned not making his own decisions, eyes almost owlish in the way they stared at him, “It is a leader’s responsibility to make decisions. It is not a leader’s responsibility to do so recklessly. You are fortunate to have others willing to aid you in those decisions, so you can come to the best conclusion.”

He had Sesario and Hector now, both travelers of a sort, with knowledge in that realm, knowledge of Rozari, piloting, even some additional knowledge of the Twelve in the way Bahamut spoke to Sesario, and additional knowledge of Escander. They even had a contact in Anissa, who was with Zariel.

There was Kikiti, with her knowledge in magic and sewing, and lalafell culture, that could come in handy one day.

Oma, who had fae knowledge, and perhaps even hunting, hiding, and other sorts of things. She was also clearly a combatant, and would aid in that realm.

Reva herself had years on all of them, and her own traveling experience, as well as that of the viera experience. She had a zodiac for years, as well, and she could hope her time in a guarding role proved useful.

Reva smiled, just a little, “Doubt is not a bad thing. Fear is not a bad thing. It is only when they make you indecisive that they become a negative. But when they make you seek answers and explore opportunities, they are doing what they should be doing. You have not frozen,” a truth, even if he had not always acted well.

No one was perfect.

“We are on the run right now. It is…not a position one feels great in,” she confessed, “it is hard. Everyone is restless. But it is not bad. You have given them time to explore their own doubts, and you can explore yours, to come to decisions that will prove good,” she rephrased, “Great.”

That was what he wanted.

It was within his grasp.

 

[Arcanist]

Cleon opened his mouth to answer, and promptly closed it again, almost avoiding Reva's owlish eyes. Plenty of reasons, he would have answered, but they all stemmed from how he was as a person. That he was quiet, sensitive, riddled with the same doubts thrown at him even now far past his childhood.

He wet his lips and sighed. "I'm afraid. Afraid to make the hard decisions I know I need to make. It feels easier for someone to do that for me. There would always be that honesty with Reva, because she dug to the heart of him to find that truth anyway. It did not make it any easier to admit, even if she had the wisdom to understand.

But that did not make a leader as Reva described. Leaders considered all their options and moved forward as they best saw fit to, even with the cries of the opposition ringing in their ears.

"I suppose it's a little like mother and her advisors," Cleon admitted, even if she did let slip her grievances on their advice, much like he did with his companions. "She never did make decisions without all their input." Even if she did not always agree with their suggestions, but knew to put her transgressions aside if they were the best options.

Stubbornly, sometimes decided otherwise, based on her judgement.

And even then, Reva had been with his mother advising her too, he knew. It was a comfort to know she was still here to advise him too.

Cleon did not interrupt. He listened, and he knew these things that Reva spoke of. He simply needed to be reminded as leaders often had to be. "I hope I can be more decisive then, going forward. This won't be forever. There's always a turn. I just need to find that turn, and be all the greater for it." He declared, more for his own sake than Reva's.

Cleon could not help but share his own small smile as he looked back at Reva. "I would thank you, but I owe you much more than that for all you've done for me up until now." He only wished he could do more for her. What she did was always a step beyond duty.

Even coming back here was a difficult choice, but one she still made, even if deep down, she wanted to for her own reasons.

 

[Lucyfer]

Fear was an understandable motive, and fear was not bad. Reva could say as much, but she let Cleon gather his thoughts, and gave him space to finish his answer. He started to understand, remembering his mother and her advisors, and vowing to be more decisive. He offered thanks – but not quite.

She chuckled and shook her head, “I do not act for gratitude or favor,” she said, “you are my friend. It is enough.” She did not need anything in turn. Of course, she was aware that by retaining his favor, his friendship, she would have much once he was restored to his throne in Ucantis, but that was not the reason she wanted it back.

It was not the reason she stood by his side.

She knew how to make other ways of life, and likely would, one day.

She was a wanderer at heart, and Cleon would not keep her forever locked up in Ucantis if she chose to venture to other lands. Nor would he forbid her return, as the viera did, if she ought to leave.

“You will find the turn, but perhaps, rest is in order? It does more for the mind than reading and bickering endlessly, sometimes,” it let thoughts and fears settled, and allowed greater ideas to form from them. “It was a long road to get here.”

She did not know how long, truly, the viera would see fit to let them rest. ‘Rest, not stay.’ The words still echoed in her mind. She was still outcast here. The generosity would not last. And they were not listening to her about the threat, either.

 

[Arcanist]

Cleon smiled. No, Reva did not advise or follow for reward from him. He imagined most would not have travelled such lengths for him either. But it certainly did not mean she would not receive a just reward for her loyalty if he – when – he returned to Ucantis.

He could not hold onto her forever, he knew that, but he couldn’t imagine not having her by his side. Selfishly, he didn’t want to. Reva was one of the last things of home he still had.

Cleon felt the goosebumps rise on his arms, but not for the chill. He was used to Reva’s eyes on him constantly, the startling beauty of them that most regarded an oddity. Even if he could not see them, her sistren’s held wariness and judgement, much different from Reva’s and understandably so. Their time here was finite and he would hate to see it wasted.

“Perhaps some rest would help, but I’m wary of overstaying our welcome.” He cringed. It was no welcome. He continued, “I’ll suggest it to the others. Anyone who does can take that rest, but otherwise, we should continue with finding out all we can.”

Hector could at least keep reading to his heart’s desire if he so wished.

“Yourself included,” Cleon added, but he wished to emphasize it, even if Reva already knew it.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘Every second we overstay.’ Reva did not say as much. Cleon knew it, as he knew any second could be their last. It would be when She said, though She had allowed their entry, and allowed their stay. Would she not allow some rest? How many days, how many nights?

It was unknown.

Reva wished she could answer as much, but she could no longer hear Her. She could not barter with Her. All she could say, was, “She has allowed our stay. Until She says otherwise, we are welcome,” no matter the eyes of the viera. They listened to Her. It was why any viera who could no longer hear her, could no longer remain.

Except, in this very, very rare occurrence.

Even so, she would let Cleon give the option, and see if he took it. “Do you wish to propose it now?” she could have moved to step in, to open the way for him, but she waited. Being away was also good for clearing the mind, and she did not know if he was ready to rejoin the others. If he had spoken all he needed to speak.

“If not, there are places I could show you. She changes, but She changes slowly.”

Just a hint of a fond smile.

They were allowed here.

And so far as Reva knew, they were not condemned to a singular location.

 

[Arcanist]

Until She – the forest, he understood, but still, he could not quite fathom the entity – told them to leave. They had a little bit of time at least.

Cleon couldn’t help but cock his head, just slightly, at Reva asking if he wanted to suggest rest now to the others. It was the most logical thing to do, so they weren’t all stuck reading for Twelve knew how long without a break.

And then came her suggestion, followed by a small smile.

Cleon raised an eyebrow and glanced to the entrance back into the library. He knew he had to face the others again, that was a surety. But he wouldn’t complain with being away just a little longer, to clear his head a little more. He looked back at Reva again and nodded. “It wouldn’t hurt to have a short tour.”

He begged Reva for stories of her home before he knew the heavy burden that came with it. Once, he believed he would never step foot in it. Now, he stood, even on borrowed time, but still he stood in her home. He would be a fool not to see the rest of it when he may never have a chance to set foot in viera territory again.

Cleon walked over to Reva and he smiled. “I’d like to see the places you spoke of with my own eyes.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Reva knew that Cleon would accept. How could he not? It would be his only time to see the forest, after all. And so, Reva inclined her head and turned away to lead him. From the library, she knew the path to one of the larger trees – not that it was hard to see it, from anywhere, but may of the trees were large, and branched out.



This one, Reva knew well, and she led Cleon to the vine that grew around it, wide and sturdy. It had been cultivated to grow upon the tree, a symbiotic relationship, so that the viera could use it as a path up the tree. “Careful,” she cautioned Cleon, “there is railing of a sort,” an ivy that grew close, along the path, could be grabbed if one slipped.

Reva’s footing was sure, as she used the vine to reach some of the higher branches of the tree. These, too, had been cultivated in ways. They grew outwards from the tree, but the branches that grew upon them were directed in their growth, crafting floors sturdy enough to walk upon, mesh-like in the way the leaves and branches came together to allow sunlight to trickle down through them. On some branches, homes and gazebos could be seen crafted, as well.

It was not to any home that she took him, but to an area where the branches meshed together, crafting a bridge from one tree to another. “Here,” she moved her arm out as she came to the center of that natural bridge, “the view is still here,” it was not as high as possible, but the view ahead towards the icy mountains was clear, “I could always see beyond home, to the mountains.”

She saw the Mist this way, too.

She still saw it.

Even so, for a moment, she could ignore it, taken back to a view so familiar it hurt to know she would not see it again, and perhaps, should not have seen it even now. “I told you I would come here, to see the world when I was young. This was my world.”

Just a touch of what was beyond, but to her? This had been so much.

 

[Arcanist]

Cleon followed Reva without question, more than content for her to lead the way. He followed her along the path she gestured to, taking in just how large all the trees around them really were.

She first led him to a tree, just as large and towering as the rest of them. Though, it stood out, at least from trees he was used to seeing, with the ivy intertwined in such a way to make a path up to the tree. Reva alerted to the vine that extended up with the path, and he nodded. Though, he watched Reva take a few steps before he braved the path himself.

Cleon's steps were far less assured than Reva's, each one deliberate, so not to slip and make a baffoon of himself. Though all the while, he took more of his surroundings in. It was not just a forest with viera living in it, but it was lived in by the viera. There were homes and places within and around these trees. Every structure breathed and yet provided all at the same time.

It felt somehow sacrilegious to step here. He supposed it was, considering they were all outsiders. They hadn't walked much further when Reva pointed out the view beyond the bridge they stood on.

Cleon let his jaw slacken as he walked closer, almost as if he would get an even better view that way. The sunlight against the mountains made them blindly white, a whole other source of light. There was something about the natural world being so much larger than him that strangely comforted him. He could only stare behind this window into the world beyond this forest and wonder how anyone here didn't think of leaving.

Except Reva did.

"To think at the time this was all you knew," Cleon whispered, still in awe of it. "That you didn't know how expansive this world really was. All the people who inhabited it." Her world, though it was hers, was so inconsequential to the rest of it. Just like his own. "I used to think, when I was barely able to see over the ledge of the window from the highest point in the castle, that the forests stretching beyond the city was all there was. I thought we lived at the edge of the world with all the trees there were." Cleon chuckled a little, though, there was something bittersweet in it. "And then I remember getting taller, and looking out of the same window and wondering, is that it? Is that all there is? And yet I never felt the need to leave and see what was really out there."

It was only when he stared more out at the view that he took in the blanket of Mist on the horizon, and he frowned. He knew it had been there from Reva’s time here, but even still it prevailed. “Do you think the Mist has gotten worse here?"