Fandom The Dragon Prince: Deep Trouble [Closed]

[Lucyfer]

Lethe didn’t really think she’d need help with plans to burn the body, but then again, she’d never built a pyre. She didn’t know how hot the flames needed to be to eradicate everything of use to the likes of Aaravos or Claudia. She bit the inside of her cheek, and sighed.

“I don’t suppose you know anything about pyres, do you?” likely not.

Lethe opted to explain, “A dark mage has many useful components.” So did the star-touched. She didn’t know how much of the latter would apply to Viren, but nonetheless, it was possible Aaravos would know a use. “I…don’t want him to become naught but ingredients for Aaravos or his daughter to use.”

He didn’t deserve that.

No one deserved that.

“I’ve never made a pyre for someone before, though. And I…don’t have the talents of fire.”

 

[cleopat]

Willow shrugged at the question, at first a bit confused as to why Lethe asked it, but soon everything was clarified. The potential to be used for ingredients…That would be horrific, especially if he didn’t want his body to be used in such a way.

No, she couldn’t imagine he did.

“I’ve made bonfires before. I’m sure it’s the same concept, just…bigger.” Big enough for an entire body. Willow took a slow, deep breath, not enjoying the conversation. “Making the fire is the easy part for me.”

They would just need to build the pyre. Preferably close to Viren’s body, so they wouldn’t have to drag it too far.

She bit her lip, wondering if her next thought was one she should ask. Oh well. “You seem to know Aaravos quite well. What…what exactly is he capable of?” But the elf had been the one to release Aaravos from his prison, after all of the warnings.

Nothing was ever easy.

 

[Lucyfer]

A bigger bonfire.

Lethe wasn’t sure that would be sufficient, but they’d have to try. She would have to find a way to make sure Aaravos couldn’t use Viren’s body for anything. It made her worry about what might become of her own body when she passed. She had been purified of dark magic, but she was touched by the star.

How useful was that?

The conversation derailed into a far less pleasant one. “He’s capable of defeating Sol Regem in his prime. Does that not say enough?” There were few Lethe could put in that position. She doubted even Avizandum could have done it. Zubeia certainly couldn’t stand up to him, and she doubted Luna, as well.

The only reason Sol Regem lost his place was because he was blinded and fell into a depression.

Even then…he could have led, if he hadn’t been sulking.

“Sol Regem is a far greater threat than Aaravos to everything that has been built.” Not that she knew how to deal with Aaravos after the fact, nor did she know what Aaravos would do, but he didn’t cause destruction and death like Sol Regem.

They would…have time.

In theory. “I’m not proud of myself for what I have done,” she said, “and I’ll accept whatever punishment is decided on by Zubeia when this is over, but there isn’t time to wait to deal with Sol Regem.”

 

[cleopat]

Willow remained silent at Lethe’s question. Anyone capable of defeating Sol Regem was one to fear.

And they had just released him from his prison.

She inwardly cringed at the mention of Zubeia and of punishment. She had just as much reason to be punished by Zubeia, so she really hoped to never meet the dragon in person. Not for the role she played in Domina Profundis’ death.

“That’s why you released him then, isn’t it? To defeat Sol Regem?” After everyone had been trying to stop that from ever happening…then she was the one who opened it. “How…how well do you two know each other? You seem to be very familiar with him.” But she didn’t even look that old! Not old enough to know Aaravos before his imprisonment.

“Were you two familiar with one another?”

 

[Lucyfer]

Lethe silently nodded. Her reasoning had never been in question. Sol Regem needed to go down, but they didn’t have the power to stop him. Perhaps, if she had time to look into it further…but there wasn’t time. Not with humanity and Xadia coming together, after so many years of conflict. There was so little time to preserve something so new.

So beautiful.

“I’m the one who tricked him into imprisonment,” Lethe confessed to Willow as she asked how she knew him. She shook her head, “I was the only one he would have trusted,” and now, no doubt, his trust in others was shattered completely.

She took a deep breath, “I won’t live long, I’m sure. Once he adjusts,” once he’d gotten through with whatever hell he wanted to put her through her. Then again, perhaps that would be long – she had let him suffer for centuries in prison, perhaps time would be his punishment, as well. “I’m all right with that. But Aaravos will have to be dealt with after Sol Regem. You…can’t trust him. All the time I knew him, he lied to me, tried to convince me that he wanted peace between everyone. He was the sowing discord the entire time.”

And still, she didn’t know why.

“Don’t…let him trick you as well.”

 

[cleopat]

Willow gave Lethe a sympathetic look. To be the one who tricked him into imprisonment, when he trusted her. She had no reason to judge her, especially with what she knew of Aaravos. Sometimes, the uncomfortable had to be done to save others.

“Something tells me he would’ve killed you already if he wanted to,” she mused with macabre thoughts dancing around in her head. “But,” she shrugged, “I don’t know him. I only know enough to take your words seriously.” The way everyone talked about him, what little she’s seen, how Finnegrin seemed adamant in helping him…

None made her want to trust Aaravos, and she would trust the words of the one person in their group who knew him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to not let him trick me. But…it seems that Finnegrin is interested in him a little too much,” she said with a deep sigh.

 

[Lucyfer]

Lethe could take little hope from Willow’s words. Aaravos was now impossible to read, and even if it was not Aaravos’s hands that took the breath from her lungs, it would be Zubeia’s lightning. Death seemed certain. Death was always certain, but now it felt close.

Lethe touched the collar that still had not reacted to anything. Still, she wondered at its triggers. When it would snap. Finnegrin had suggested he would help. “Finnegrin is not charmed by him,” Lethe said softly. She did not say more. Finnegrin’s offer as a ‘lesser evil’ was an option, but if she said that to Willow?

Well, perhaps Willow would use it to be rid of Finnegrin, and that removed the option for Lethe to pick a lesser evil. She did not know if there was anything Finnegrin could do. She also did not know what he really wanted.

It wasn’t merely to be free of Aaravos – no, he’d expect more than that.

A bargain for another day. “His interest is wholly selfish.” She sighed as she forced her fingers away from the charm. “Aaravos will use it until Finnegrin is useless to him. He will use every….”

Her words stopped.

Viren was sitting up in the grass, quite obviously alive, and seeming just as surprised by it, as he seemed to be turning his hands over and over, and looking from them, to the sky. When he heard the steps, he got to his feet, “Aaravos lied!” the first words. "I'm free!"

‘…No.’

Lethe sensed the truth immediately.

A startouched being…worked on a different timeline. But the words caught in her throat for a moment at Viren’s momentary glee at finding that Aaravos lied.

‘He just didn’t know….’ And she hadn’t guessed.

 

[cleopat]

Willow did not doubt Lethe’s words. That Finnegrin’s interest is wholly selfish, and that Aaravos will use it until Finnegrin is of no use to him anymore. There was nothing Willow could do about that. Was there anything she wanted to do?

Why should she stop him from trying to get what he wanted from Aaravos? Last time she tried to stop him from making a stupid decision, she ended up in his servitude until either one of them died.

They were interrupted though by a rather unexpected sight - Viren sitting up in the grass, just as surprised as they were to see him there, alive. “What the fuck?”
Was this just another lie by Aaravos? A trick?

She couldn’t feel how the startouch arcana touched Viren as Lethe could feel. She just knew that something was afoot, mainly Aaravos.

“He did lie,” she repeated after Viren, going over to the man and kneeling in the grass before him, scanning for anything on him that could suggest he was still destined to die. But he looked…healthy. “How do you feel?”

 

[Lucyfer]

Willow didn’t know. How could she? She thought Aaravos lied, and perhaps that was something to keep in her mind. How then, to tell Viren, without telling her? Lethe’s brows knit together as Willow went over to examine the man.

Viren shook his head, “I—I don’t feel any different,” he confessed, “I feel fine. Oh—I need to see Claudia. I—”

“No,” Lethe denied him, as he stood. His look was harsh.

“I need to show her that we aren’t dependent on Aaravos, I need to convince her to turn from dark magic. It’s my daughter—”

“Aaravos didn’t lie,” Lethe breathed out, realizing there was no way to do this subtly. “Time flows…differently for the startouched, Viren. I should be dead of old age, but I am not. You should be dead, based on a time dependent factor. I don’t know how long you will last,” that was a truth. What was a day to the stars?

Viren paled. He had accepted death, only to embrace life – and hope – again, to have it dashed before him. He pursed his lips together. “I don’t see why that should keep me from my daughter.”

“Not…her. Aaravos,” Lethe said. “I can send you away from here, before anyone knows, but once Aaravos knows….”

It was obvious. That wouldn’t be a possibility anymore.

 

[cleopat]

Willow whipped her head to look at Lethe, her own stare full of questions and slight anger as to why she would deny Viren his opportunity to go see his daughter, with how things ended between the two the previous night.

Not that she got the full picture, given how at the time, she was worried about if Finnegrin would kill her in his anger.

Wha-...Startouched?

Her gaze shot back to Viren, looking over him as if she could see any speck of that…startouch magic on him, that Lethe accused him of being right then.

“But…how is that even possible?” Could a human become attuned to such magic? Sure, some would question the very same about her. A half human, inheriting the magic her earthblood mother had. But he was a full human. And being startouched was so exceedingly rare. Lethe was the first elf she met with the arcana.

She was hardly worried about Aaravos finding out at that moment. She was more concerned over the how.. How was this possible. “I don’t understand.”

 

[Lucyfer]

“Anyone, can learn any arcanum,” Lethe answered, “It’s a matter of understanding it. Understanding the stars is…exceedingly difficult,” and Lethe wished more than once she could forget it. It had come at her worst moment. It had not filled her with hope in the least – rather the opposite.

Viren glanced down, letting out a frustrated sound, before looking back up at Lethe, fists clenching at his side, “He is going to use Claudia.”

There was no denying that.

“He is. But you may be able to save her in another way, if you return the others. You may be able to help them prepare to deal with Aaravos.”

“I don’t know how to deal with him!” Viren snapped, swiping his hand in front of himself, before faltering, “…but I’m still destined to die. Aaravos can still use that, and hold Claudia with that.” The struggle was obvious. Viren didn’t want to leave his daughter, but he had doubts on helping her.

Lethe opened a portal to his side. “It goes to my home. You can take what you need, and set out.” She couldn’t send him to the boat. Odds were, it had moved since they were last on it.

“Why don’t you just run away?”

“I…my portals close before I can go through them. I never quite mastered teleporting myself,” she admitted. She’d never exactly had anyone to teach her.

Viren wouldn’t, either.

She glanced at Willow. “You can go, as well.”

 

[cleopat]

Anyone could learn any arcanum….Could I learn another? Could I prove that I’m not some worthless halfbreed?

She could become more, potentially. Be capable of more. Knowing the earth arcanum wasn’t anything to scoff at, but she still never felt like she was enough. Good enough.

She refocused back on the lamenting human, feeling sympathy for him and the choices he had to make. There was no doubt that Aaravos could indeed use Claudia to force Viren into doing what he wanted, and Lethe offered him a way out.

And, in turn, offered her a way out, which startled her. Her wide eyes stared at the portal, at Lethe, then back at the portal. Pucca was nearby, sniffing the ground for any bugs she could pick up at eat for a tasty breakfast. She could just grab Pucca and leave her current problem behind her.

But she hesitated. Willow looked behind her, as if expecting Finnegrin to be watching, though most likely he was still at their temporary shelter, sleeping or waking up. She still worried about Drake, and if her decision would have repercussions on him later, however later that may be.

She always acted before she thought, and it always led her to deeper troubles.

“I’ll stay,” she decided. Was that the right decision? It had to be. “Please, get out of here while you still can,” she urged Viren.

 

[Lucyfer]

Willow chose to stay. Lethe considered it a terrible decision, but then, she was biased. Given a chance, she’d run. If she could have gone through her own portal, she would have been gone last night. She would have been gone as soon as she appeared in Elarion.

Viren, however, decided to have some sense. He nodded, slowly. He wasn’t sure what to do, other than find a way back to Soren, but he would find that path. “Thank you,” he said, before he went through the portal.

Lethe closed it after him. “Should you change your mind,” she offered to Willow, “you need only tell me,” it was no trouble to make the portals, and Willow could vanish from all of this, remain uninvolved.

It’d be better for her.

But it wasn’t Lethe’s choice to make for her.

“As far as the others need to know, Viren is dead.”

 

[cleopat]

Willow watched Viren disappear with some envy. Oh how she wanted to join him in portaling somewhere completely far away, but she couldn’t. She knew deep down that she couldn’t and not constantly wonder about her consequences.

She had to face her own punishment until she could figure out another way out of her servitude that wouldn’t put anyone else in jeopardy.

“Thank you,” she said to Lethe with a small smile. The offer was greatly appreciated. That she still had one way out, while she and Lethe were still together, should she change her mind. While she didn’t know if that would happen, it was still a nice thought.

But for now…

“I understand.” The word didn’t need to get back to Aaravos that Viren was still out there somewhere. “Are we to say that his body just…crumbled to ash or something? And disappeared in the wind?” Oh poor Claudia…she was already going through it. To lie to her about her father, that would be heartbreaking.

But it was for the best. Aaravos didn’t need to know.

 

[Lucyfer]

Lethe didn’t know how the body should have perished, but something so dramatic as that felt wrong. Likely, Viren would have just…died. Aaravos knew his spell; that was one potential problem. If Viren was meant to go a certain way, then any deviance from it would be wrong.

“We were going to burn him, right?” Lethe asked, “We ought to make the pyre.”

Make it convincing.

“I don’t think he would have just crumbled into ashes, even if he is being kept alive by magic. I imagine he would have just…died, like anyone else.” And so the need to try and do away with him. They could claim the pyre worked. “Let’s get the wood and get it started.”

 

[cleopat]

Willow nodded. “We’ll need a lot of sticks.” Yes, a pyre. They had talked about that. A pyre so his body couldn’t be used for parts for dark magic. She didn’t think Claudia would stoop so low as to do that to her father’s body, but Aaravos…he would.

She thought he would do anything to achieve his end goal.

Willow helped gather the necessary amount of kindling to create a pyre that theoretically would be able to burn a body the size of Viren’s. She remembered the last time she had to create a pyre for a burial.

Her mother, whose spirit now lived free in Xadia, hopefully now at peace she couldn’t find in her life. Peace that now Willow was destined to never find.

As soon as they finished building the pyre, Willow set to creating the fire that burned the pyre and the theoretical body of Viren. No doubt if anyone was asleep or weren’t looking for them, they would be awake and wondering what was burning now. “In actuality, it would take some time to completely burn someone of Viren’s size, but…maybe no one will question it.” Hopefully.

She doubted Finnegrin or Claudia would, but Aaravos?

 

[Lucyfer]

Lethe knew that Aaravos was likely to question, “They don’t need to know how long it’s been burning either, do they?” who was to say it wasn’t at the stroke of midnight? Aaravos slept. He may have even slept last night, though Lethe didn’t know for sure. She hadn’t slept, so she didn’t know if he’d done so. If he would have tried to enter her dreams if he did.

The sight did rouse some.

Finnegrin approached, not long awake, and looking quite disheveled as he approached in the clothes he’d slept in, Deadwood following behind him, “The ‘ell is this?” he asked in sleep-slurred speech.

“A pyre,” Lethe answered.

Finnegrin blinked once. Twice. It was clear he was confused a moment, but that didn’t last thanks to a blood-curdling shriek and then Claudia running forward, recognizing the structure. She’d seen enough pyres from Katolis. “NO! No—No!” she might have run to pull burning wood off, but Lethe reached to catch her.

She caught a wrist, and was shoved roughly away, what grip she had lost immediately as she stumbled backwards. Still, it had stopped Claudia for the second needed. “What did you do?”

“Lass, he was dead,” Finnegrin said, mind caught up enough, “they only did what they ought. Bit rude not to tell the poor girl and let’er see his face,” but then, what did it really matter?

Claudia’s fists clenched in hopeless fury, indeed, infuriated by not having the proof, infuriated to wake to fire, and to have this stark, cold reminder, of everything that had gone wrong. She turned back to the pyre, trembling, before dissolving into a wail and crumbling to her knees.

 

[cleopat]

Finnegrin was the first to approach. She let Lethe answer his question, and soon after she did, Claudia came running forward with a shriek that pierced Willow’s heart. Knowing her father was alive, while they played him dead, felt crueler than anything she had ever done.

The girl wanted her father, and they were to play pretend that he was dead, knowing he was wherever Lethe dropped him off at.

She said nothing to Finnegrin’s words, but could only turn away as another stab of pain pierced her heart with Claudia’s wail. Where were her own tears when her mother died, when she stood next to her pyre? When she accepted that her own father was never coming back for her, while her mother hoped on? She remained numb at both. Tears weren’t going to bring them back.

Another joined them, appearing near Lethe as he looked on at the pyre. He had been deep in thought the entire night, and most of the early morning, carefully plotting his next step. Painfully recollecting where he had been imprisoned for centuries.

How cruel were the archdragons and the elves responsible for his imprisonment, that they dropped him directly in the middle of the crater he filled with his own tears, mourning the loss of his daughter? In the very crater she created?

That merely flamed his desire for revenge even higher. Did Lethe know?

“Fool. He could have prevented this,” said Aaravos, staring into the fire. He didn’t remember the smoke filling the very air for long, and yet Viren’s body was gone.

Was he truly that out of it in thought?

It didn’t escape him that a pyre was built for Viren. He knew the reason. Clever. But annoying. “I suppose it was your idea for the pyre,” he directed the question at Lethe.

 

[Lucyfer]

Lethe gave a single nod to him, and stated it aloud, “Better to burn a body than let Aaravos use one for parts.” Careful words, not indicating a body was truly burned. Only the reason she would have one burned. She wasn't willing to test a direct lie with the collar right then. That got Claudia’s attention even through her wails, and she lifted her head, tears streaking her face still, and snot sliding from her nose.

“What—what do you mean?”

“I am sorry. There were reasons I could not give you time to see your father,” Lethe bowed her head. “I did not want Aaravos to disgrace him further.” Easy omissions. Having Aaravos find Viren alive would have done much the same.

“Bah,” Finnegrin waved that off, “They’re dead, what do they care what happens to their bodies?” Well, some cared very much – at least while they were alive enough to express it. Finnegrin didn’t know what happened after death, but he knew it didn’t involve the body in any way. “If he could have been useful as parts, we shoulda let him be.”

Claudia seemed to struggle with it. Pragmatism, made hard by years of practice, wanted to agree with Finnegrin. Her father would want to continue to help, wouldn’t he? Yet, he had chosen death. Death! He’d abandoned her. He wouldn’t have wanted his body desecrated, and it was Katolis’s way to burn the dead.

Again, she pursed her lips, uncertain how she felt on it.

Uncertainty was enough for Lethe to consider a small victory.

“Shouldn’t let a pyre go to waste, either. May as well cook some food over it.”

Lethe’s nose wrinkled in disgust. If it was a real pyre, she would never. And so she wasn’t about to agree to it now, knowing it was a false one. “I’ll pass.” She had no reason to linger and moved to leave the area.

She’d rather starve than eat anything cooked on a pyre – so she’d have to maintain that, and find something else, if they truly intended to feast off of it.

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos tilted his head, thoughts swirling with the words that seemed so carefully chosen. Better to burn a body than let Aaravos use one for parts.

It seemed so…planned. Almost rehearsed.

But her necklace did not indicate that she held nefarious thoughts.

And how utterly absurd that they thought he would defile the body in any way! No, that honor would’ve fallen to Claudia, in teaching her more about dark magic.

He hardly paid any attention to the comment of cooking food over the fire. It wouldn’t have phased him regardless. How many bizarre and disgusting things had he seen over the years? Instead, he followed Lethe as she left the area.

“Tell me, do you think so little of me that you think I would use Viren’s body for some nefarious purpose? Me?” The elf that had lived thousands of years and had mastered all of the arcanum?

Well, he didn’t really want her to answer that. He knew what the answer would be.

“I trust you slept well,” Aaravos said, as if making light conversation. As if nothing was wrong. “Soon we’ll be near Sol Regem, and I would hate to see anything happen to you.”


Willow wrinkled her nose in disgust at the comment. Cooking food over a pyre? How absurd! Even if there was no body, it was the thought that still left a sour taste in her mouth.

She would remain next to the pyre though, and once she felt enough had burned, she would use her magic to put out the fire with stones and sand and anything else nearby that could snuff a fire.

“If you want a fire for food, you just need to ask. I can make a fire that isn’t burning over a body.” Not that this one was. But. Still. Had to pretend Viren was dead and ashes.

 

[Lucyfer]

Aaravos’s question may have been rhetorical, but Lethe still gave him a dull stare and an answer for it, “Yes, I do.” She knew how he saw the world around him. She knew he could make ingredients of anything and everything around.

Sol Regem could be bested without using Viren for parts.

“I did not sleep,” she answered, looking away, “but I will keep my distance. I know I will only be a hindrance if Sol Regem sees me,” she’d become a target, and likely, be killed rather quick for it. She shouldn’t be anywhere near Sol Regem. “What is your plan for him?” she still didn’t know that.

Aaravos had all night, though. Certainly, he’d concocted something by now, if he hadn’t known earlier. He was usually quick on these things, even if his charm wouldn’t succeed here. Sol Regem was far beyond falling for that.

All the dragons were.

~***~

Willow didn’t speak of food, and Lethe and the startouched elf left the area. Finnegrin huffed, “Deadwood, go hunt something down, would you?” he asked, and Deadwood let out a grumble, before trekking off.

He’d stay by the fire, even as Claudia continued to sniffle and weep to herself. No comfort for the poor lass, it seemed. What a group she’d wound up. At least now she’d be certain to look out for herself. Probably the best lesson this venture could have taught her, or so Finnegrin assumed.

Willow doused the fire before Deadwood returned, but he didn’t get to complain. Willow promised another fire. “We’ll need it when Deadwood gets back. He’ll find something hearty to eat with all those vegetables and fruits you’ve dug up.”

Hopefully.

Elarion couldn’t be totally dead, right?

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos did want Lethe to keep her distance from Sol Regem, but for reasons he didn’t think she would even fathom. Or believe. His plans for killing the dragon certainly didn’t involve her getting in the way, but rather far away from danger.

“You, Claudia, and that half-elf are all likely to be quick targets to Sol Regem, but don’t think that that will make any of you a hindrance. In fact, it could perhaps create the perfect distraction.” That meant Sol Regem would have to see any one of them first before he noticed Aaravos.

Once Sol Regem knew that Aaravos was freed and right there, all attacks would most likely be focused on him.

“My plan is to bring a swift end to Sol Regem’s life. Ideally I would be able to do that by myself, but I do not know how centuries spent in that prison affected my capabilities.” He rose a hand in front of him, squeezed it into a fist, and relaxed it once more. He didn’t feel weak, but a battle was an entirely different thing.

No matter what, he would ultimately get what he wanted, even if it required more waiting for his strength to return.

~~~

Willow hummed in understanding. Creating another fire, a much smaller one for cooking, would be of no issue.

But she couldn't even find it in herself to be hungry.

Her gaze strayed from the dwindling fire, drawn by the soft weeping noises she heard coming from Claudia. Her heart pained in realization that Claudia was dealing with this alone. Didn’t she know all too well how that felt? Dealing with the grief of losing a parent, alone, and at a young age.

She slowly walked over to the younger girl, and sat down next to her, knees drawn up to her chest. Willow didn’t say anything at first, unsure of what there was to say. “I know it probably won’t be helpful, but I know all too well what you’re going through.”

Except they were lying to Claudia, and her father still lived.

“If…if you need someone to talk to, you can come talk to me.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Lethe did not like where Aaravos’s thoughts were going, and she took a step back, glaring at him. “You will not use them as bait for Sol Regem!” Which left only herself, if that was his plan, “They’ve been through enough, and Willow isn’t any part of this!”

Claudia was, there was no denying that, but she had already lost so much, and they were hiding so much more from her. No, Lethe wouldn’t see her suffer anymore, which led to the obvious conclusion: her.

But she’d been prepared to sacrifice herself from the start. Nothing about that changed now, except a sigh and a defeated slump, “I’ll play distraction if you need it, but even wounded, I doubt I could have escaped his wrath,” and Sol Regem wasn’t wounded any longer. He was fully healed. His flight was restored, his sight was restored, and with it all of his might. He would crush armies.

He'd devastate humanity.

What hadn’t she given to protect humanity? What was her life compared to theirs?

Nothing at all. And she had to hope they would find a way to preserve it, even against Aaravos.

~***~

Claudia felt a spark of anger as the woman sat down besides her, claiming to understand. Briefly, Claudia turned that glare on her, with her green hair, and elfish features, and felt another wave of pain hit as she thought of Terry.

Everyone left her.

Everyone chose to leave her, and she buried her face into her own knees with a heavier breath, and spat out the words, “Your mother and father chose to leave you?” she asked, bitter, but also yearning to be understood at once, “your lover, and your brother?” her arms wrapped tighter around her legs.

“My father didn’t want to be here so much he chose death over staying with me,” it was an oversimplification, but she didn’t care. She was abandoned. All of them could have stayed with her, and all of them chose not to.

“Everyone leaves in the end, lass. No use crying over it.” Finnegrin commented, “You’ll learn,” she was learning now, “No one’s worth all that care, all that pain.” He’d learned, too.

But Claudia didn’t respond to his goading comments.

 

[cleopat]

Aaravos tilted his head at Lethe’s outburst with curiosity shining in his eyes. “Oh, but didn’t they all agree to be a part of this by helping free me from that prison? You included, my dear.” He didn’t know the extent of how Willow helped, but he knew of Lethe’s, Claudia’s, and Finnegrin’s contributions.

They each had their own role they could play, with their unique sets of talents.

But as Lethe offered herself as bait, Aaravos frowned in contempt of the idea. “You are so eager to get yourself hurt or killed to save them, yet they are not wholly innocent either, are they?” No, he knew they weren’t. They were there with him, weren’t they?

“But I won’t see you hurt,” he admitted. “If you are made bait, you may put yourself in further harm’s way and do something…stupid.” On purpose, even. “I can’t have that.”

~~~

Willow ignored Finnigrin’s goading, despite how much she believed what he said. She didn’t even look his way, but instead she focused on the grass in front of her.

“My father left me when I was young. My mother might as well have left me.” Oh she could feel Claudia’s anger quite well, but that sorrow she also knew all too well. “I never had a sibling that I knew of, but there was an old lover who died,” back when she was younger, naive, and fell in love with someone who didn’t think her strange or an abomination.

She understood Claudia’s pain, but instead of lashing out, Willow just buried it all deep within herself for years.

“This feeling sucks, to put it bluntly. Sometimes the only person you can rely on is yourself, sometimes people will come and go from your life when you need them the most.” Willow brushed a hand on the ground against the grass, allowing the soft sensation to soothe her. “But don’t let that jade you. Other people will come into your life and stay.”

 

[Lucyfer]

“I don’t care if they played a role, and I don’t care if they aren’t innocent,” no one was, Lethe knew that too well. She knew what Finnegrin had offered her, as well, yet she refused to tell Aaravos that someone in his midst was scheming. He likely anticipated it from everyone, now. It would only be a matter of time before Finnegrin was found out.

But he seemed against letting her be bait.

“If you cannot have me be hurt, then don’t fail.”

A simple statement, a tall command – but he wouldn’t be free if Lethe hadn’t fully believed he could handle Sol Regem. And she did; even without a distraction, she believed Aaravos could succeed, but if someone had to be at risk, it ought to be her. “I at least know more of what I’m dealing with in him. And I willfully set you free. The others don’t know you, they don’t know what they were doing.”

Claudia may have been seeking it, but she didn’t know. The others, like Finnegrin? Conveniently present.

Their lives shouldn’t be on the line for their ignorance.

~***~

Claudia knew what Willow was trying to do. She even wanted to believe it, but how could she? If parents left, siblings, lovers, friends – who stayed? ‘No one.’ Perhaps there was some truth in what was told by Finnegrin, but she hated that!

She didn’t want to be alone.

“And who’s stayed in your life?” Claudia couldn’t help but demand after Willow listed off everyone who left, but tried to insist others stayed, “Who’s been with you forever, who do you trust is never going to leave?”

It sure as hell wasn’t Finnegrin or Deadwood, who she could hear the lumbering steps of returning, carrying with him a dead deer, that he took a seat and began to prepare, once Finnegrin handed him a knife.

Finnegrin didn’t chime in that Willow had dug herself a hole with that question; she already knew there was no one to go back to. But the smirk on his lips said plenty towards that sentiment. There were reasons she was stuck with him.