Fantasy Vampire Corps of Eldergaard

[jones573]

Gigi had been trying so hard to get away from the fledgling that she'd let Lanea come up behind her, and she cursed loudly as she tried to pull away from him as well.

She drove her elbow into his side, but she didn't continue her assault- Not necessarily because of the words he whispered, but because of how close he was to her neck, and the fact that the fledgling had managed to quite literally throw of Leo, and now had a tight hold of both her ankles.

"Prove it," she exhaled as little more than a quiet mutter, her lips forming the 'p' sound like a huff of frustration.

Why would he be on her side? She had no intention of trusting some stranger on word alone.

She was on her own, and this time- She was truly sunk.

She hadn't enjoyed being a hostage hot potato on her journey here, but she'd reassured herself that at least she was still headed in the right direction. She could take a few detours.

But now she was where she wanted to be, and she hadn't been planning on leaving so soon- And of course she hadn't worn her wings beneath her coat this time.

"The Admiral might be," she conceded haughtily, because she had blown a hole in the side of his ship, so. "But higher command would certainly prefer me alive," she pointed out, in the hopes they wouldn't kill her just for the simplicity of transit. The Admiral would probably not ovelry mourn the loss of praise or reward for bringing her in, so long as he felt his revenge had been gotten, but she was far more valuable alive than dead in the long run.

The fledgling had bound her legs together, and as he stood she noticed something slip to the ground. He must have pulled the silver pin out of his wrist, but his foot pushed it down beneath the soft earth as he stepped closer and bound her wrists. Then he threw her over his shoulders without so much of a warning, and Gigi's curiosity about the action- or rather, the inaction, of not telling the commanders that she had attacked him with pure silver and might have more - was forgotten by the way her head swam and the effort it took to stay conscious.

 

[Reynarda]

Georgiana and Rose might not have believed Lanea would kill the princess, but Alyx and Astrid absolutely did. They both immediately stopped fighting.

"Grigori," Astrid warned as if her rank still had some control over him.

Alyx let go of Maksim and lay on her stomach with her face resting on her forearms. She made a strange sound that was a cross between a frustrated scream and a sob, but it was so quiet, Maksim doubted anyone other than him had heard it. And really, he doubted he heard it because Alyx was pretty stoic most of the time.

But then Lanea asked if he was taking Alyx, and Maksim cursed quietly. He didn't want to take Alyx because, even after all their fighting, he still cared about her. And she was just going to escape again. But the admiral wanted Alyx back (probably just to ruin Astrid and he might flog Alyx to make himself feel better about his inadequacies as an admiral), and Maksim didn't want Lanea ratting him out to the admiral.

"She's not going to come quietly--we might be better off--"

"I'll come quietly if you leave my captain and my fledgling out of your reports," Alyx said, suddenly lifting her head from her arms.

Maksim wanted to shake her.

"And the two Allarians."

"You are demanding," Maksim muttered as he dragged her to her feet. "But fine. Deal." As he twisted a silver chain around her wrists, he hissed, "Want your scarf?"

Alyx shook her head.

Maksim paused and then hissed as the silver began to burn him. She was doing the blank thing where he couldn't read anything from her and it was freaking him out. Gripping her arm, he paused to pick up her scarf. Because she was going to take it with her and use it, dammit. He tied it around her waist. "Stop it with the blank thing," he hissed.

"Alyx, what are you doing?" Astrid demanded as Maksim hurried her past. "Alyx!"

Alyx shot Astrid and then Leo a smile. "Take care of each other."

Astrid thought about trying to go after them, but the vampires broke into a run as soon as they were clear of the doorway. She turned and let out a frustrated yell, the air around her turning into a cyclone. It fizzled out after whipping the trees around for a bit, and, her energy spent, Astrid sank to her knees. "I didn't even get to tell her that I'm on her side," she groaned.



"What?!" Lucia shrieked as Cyn explained. "Teo! Get Hendryk! Get the elders!"

She began shouting orders right and left. Then, she turned and took off down the corridor. Lucia burst into the garden to find three very distraught people, but no princess, and no military.

"What happened?!" Lucia demanded. "Where are they?!"

Astrid pushed herself up off the floor and turned to Lucia. "You had two guests kidnapped right out from under your nose," she said. "But don't worry. We're going to get them back. Rose, Leo, Cyn," she added as Cyn arrived. "We need to get the Nighthawk up and running. We're going to go get our friends. Again."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lanea didn't answer Gigi, because there was no way he could answer her. Saying 'prove it' was all well and good, but there was no way he could do that with the others here. Besides, he might have said he was on her side, but really, he was on Rose's side. He didn't know this princess, and he was frustrated at her for putting his partner in danger, but if something happened to her, Rose would take the fall for it. So he had to keep her safe, and get her back, even if it got him killed.

It would probably get him killed. God, he didn't want to die at thirty because of this stupid war he'd wanted no part in.

Once Maksim had Alyx restrained, he tossed Gigi over his shoulder, then tapped his fingers impatiently against his side and took off after Maksim and his fledgling.

Leo yelled in frustration as he was bucked off, and his eyes went wide when he realized that Alyx was being taken away, again, and he had no way to help her, again. He struggled to his feet, his muscles screaming at him, but there was no way he'd be able to take the bigger fledgling out, and Alyx wasn't even struggling.

"Please stop," he choked out, but then they were gone.

He stared after them, and his eyes welled up with tears that he couldn't help.

He didn't cry. He never, ever, ever cried, but Alyx had given up, had let herself be taken, and--

Soon Cyn was behind him, one hand on his back as he guided him gently down to the ground.

"Sol," he said, his voice soft as Leo choked on a sob. His hands were clenched in fists so tight that his nails were digging into his palms, but he couldn't focus on anything. The world around him was spinning and his sire was gone.

Rose finally pulled himself to his feet, the front of his shirt wet and tears streaked down his cheeks from the struggle of coughing up what was in his lungs. He took off his glasses and wiped his face with his sleeve, trying to get his emotions under control. This was the worst possible situation that could have occurred, but they could handle it. He looked to Astrid, watched her display of power, then put his glasses back on. He walked over and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, but she collected herself easily enough.

Leo looked up at her at her declaration, and he quickly wiped at his face. She was right. He couldn't afford to be upset, not right now, not with everybody watching. He sniffed as he wiped his nose, and then tried again to pull himself to his feet.

"Why're you so tired?" Cyn asked, concern obvious as he let Leo lean on him, and Leo sighed.

"I'll be fine. I'm just - not very good at magic, is all," he muttered. Cyn's eyes widened, because he hadn't even known that Leo /could/ use magic. He wondered when it was, and what it looked like, because surely he must have missed it. He imagined it must have been quite a display, but for the moment he just gripped his shoulder tightly.

When Astrid started barking orders, Rose couldn't help the slight uptick at the corner of his mouth.

"You're not our captain," he pointed out, though he sounded a bit fond. It had only been a day or so, but he could tell that Astrid meant well, and she definitely cared about Alyx. Her position was a precarious one, but between the recent events and their conversation earlier, he decided that he could trust her, at least a little.

Cyn's face was flushed with shame as he looked back towards the entrance they'd come from. he thought that if he had moved faster, or if he had gotten his message across sooner, maybe it wouldn't have come to this. But dwelling on it wasn't going to help anyone.

"Professor Robins had some stuff that I could prob'ly use, but it ain't gonna be easy," he warned. "Dependin' on how badly the battery's damaged, we could salvage 'er, though."

The tough part would be hull integrity and fixing the giant hole in the roof, but depending on the supplies he had, he could do it.

Leo, managing to have calmed down a bit, turned back to Lucia, his mouth a thin line.

"Elder Lucia, I'm sorry I can't bow right now because I'll fall over. But... Do we have access to your clan's resources for this endeavor? Your alliance reslies on the princess' safe return," he pointed out.

Rose could see his brother starting to make calculations and plans in his head as Leo distracted Lucia, and he took the chance to pull Astrid aside.

"We have one week," he said softly, keeping his voice low so that they wouldn't be overheard. "They're going to rendesvous with us in one week in Ludenberg. Alyx is probably going to be ok. But if you come with us, you know that you cannot be there as part of the Eldergaardian military. I'm trusting you as a person, because I know that you want to help your friend, but if we do this, you cannot go back. Are you ok with that?"

 

[Reynarda]

They ran through the halls of Clan Salazar's stronghold and out into the afternoon sun. They still had some more running to do, but Maksim could tell Alyx was getting tired. He called to the others for a quick pause then helped Alyx onto his back. This ran the risk of her deciding to try to strangle him with her bound wrists, but she was protesting about as much as a dead fish and carrying her any other way would slow him considerably because he wasn't that much bigger than she was. But he also didn't want either of the other two carrying her either. Once she was secure, he took off running in the direction of the waiting long shore boats.

As soon as they were aboard, Maksim told the magi to activate the wards. They shot him an annoyed glance because they didn't like being ordered around by a vampire, but they did it anyway. A magical canopy hummed to life overhead and the long shore boat lifted into the air. The ride was filled with thousands of unspoken words, and Maksim was grateful when it was over.

Maksim was angry that his plan had gone to hell. He was angry that Alyx had practically forced him to take her prisoner. And he was a little angry that he was back here, on the Griffin. But none of that was on his face when he grabbed an ensign and asked her where the admiral was. The ensign directed them to the bridge, and Maksim suppressed a groan. Admiral Jorgenson was less of a jerk when other people weren't watching--though, not by much.

He let the other two handle the princess and he dragged Alyx towards the bridge of the ship. Alyx wasn't exactly struggling, but she was being lackadaisical about picking up her feet. He dragged her up the gangway and onto the bridge.

Admiral Jorgenson was there looking at a map. He ignored them as they dropped their prisoners at their feet. After a moment or so, he looked up and eyed the prisoners.

"No Leon?"

Maksim swallowed, silently begging Lanea not to contradict him. "No, sir. Seems like she left her ship for some other reason."

Admiral Jorgenson grunted. "What about the little one?"

Maksim pointed at Alyx and raised his eyebrows just because he was not feeling like dealing with the Admiral's nonsense.

The admiral rolled his eyes. "No, you idiot, the engineer."

"Died in the crash," Maksim said, his tone fully confident that this was the truth.

"Well, you got the princess, anyway, so you're not entirely useless," Admiral Jorgenson muttered. The princess had told him her name, but he had forgotten it. He smiled down at her, a malicious glint in his eye. "Welcome back, my girl. We did keep your cell for you in the in event of your return."

The admiral glanced between the three vampires. "You got them, but can you keep them this time?"

"Aye, sir," Maksim said, his back tensing involuntarily at the lie.

Admiral Jorgenson stepped closer to his commander and loomed over him. Maksim wanted to shrink back in the hopes it would keep the admiral from striking him, but also Alyx was on her knees between them, and he didn't want to lend anymore truth to her groveling insult. So he stood perfectly still with his chin lifted.

"You had better, because I don't want to have to order the quartermaster--owch!" The admiral suddenly jumped back, keeping off one of his legs like it was injured.

"Looks like one of the wards misfired, sorry, Admiral," one of the ward magi said quickly.

"See that it doesn't happen again," Admiral Jorgenson snapped.

Maksim dropped his eyes to Alyx, who hadn't moved from her bowed position but somehow looked a bit smug. He nudged her with his foot both in thanks and also to tell her not to do that again. But, it also gave him a little hope. If she was still rebellious enough to screw with the ship's wards just to shock the admiral, he might be able to get her out of this dark cloud she was in.

"Well, since we have Commander Grigori with us for the time being, we might as well put his skills to use," the admiral continued, once he could walk on his leg again. "I want to know everything about this alliance the princess is forming. Any of the clans who are in on it will need to be punished."

Maksim quietly cursed his brothers for joining the alliance.

"I don't care who you start with, but start as soon as you can," Admiral Jorgenson was saying, and Maksim tried not to panic.

"Sir," he ventured carefully, knowing that he was on thin ice as it was. But he had to try. He put a bit of magic into his words. "Don't you think I should get my turn with Draya, first? You promised me last time."

Admiral Jorgenson blinked a few times before snorting. "Want a little revenge, Grivvin? Certainly. She'll all yours."

Maksim's lip quirked just a little bit. One of these days, the ward team would notice Admiral Jorgenson's anti-vampire-magic wards had failed a long time ago, but it wasn't this day.

"Dismissed. Take them to the brig."




Astrid wanted to cry, but she couldn't do that. She was the captain and people were counting on her. But she did appreciate Rose's comforting gesture.

"Yeah, well, someone's gotta organize you lot," she muttered when Rose reminded her she was only the captain of one third of the present group.

Lucia hardly even blinked at Leo drawing himself up and making demands. The others behind her frowned, but Lucia had come to terms with Leo being Alyx Draya's fledgling and was beginning to expect this sort of behavior from him. "Yes, of course. Whatever you need. Clan Salazar is at your service, young nephew."

When Rose pulled her aside, Astrid's expression changed between surprise and confusion and concern multiple times. She wanted to ask how he knew this--had he somehow made prior arrangements with the princess? Why Ludenberg? That was a seedy place. But she decided he was trusting her by revealing this information, so she would trust him by not asking where he got it. When he asked his question, she opened her mouth immediately, but then closed it. He was right, there was no going back. Astrid nodded slowly. "I'm going with you, and I'm getting Alyx back. Somebody's gotta look out for her since she won't look out for herself." Astrid fixed her eyes on Rose's. "This is what I want to do. I want to get my friend back--to hell with the consequences. This is the right thing to do."

Then her eyes drifted to Leo, and she sighed. He was trying so hard, and Astrid was a little angry at Alyx for not thinking what her giving up would do to Leo. She smiled at Rose. "Thanks for trusting me. I need to go check on my other vampire."

Astrid strode over to Leo and rested her hands on his shoulders. "I'm going to hug you," she announced, because she often found that it was best to tell a vampire that you were going to do anything related to physical affection. She pulled him into a hug and held him tightly. "We're going to get her back. She's not thinking clearly, alright? She didn't leave us. She thinks she's giving us the best shot at surviving. And she's wrong, but she's not trying to hurt you, okay? It's okay to be angry at her--I am. But I want you to know her actions are coming from a place of love even if this is the shittiest thing she's ever done."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lanea did not talk, either to Maksim or to Gigi the whole time that they were together. He was a bit worried - he didn't actually want Alyx to be punished, but he couldn't have given that away, because he wasn't entirely sure of Maksim's allegiances. So he was silent and stoic as they boarded the ship. He did set Georgiana down on her feet, though he kept a firm grip on her arm the whole time. He didn't look at her, and he didn't contradict any of Maksim's statements when they were brought before the admiral, until the last one.

"Sir, if I may, I'm better equipped to--" he began, but realization came upon him suddenly when he realized that Maksim was influencing his commander. He grit his teeth, because that was big information, and it would be helpful later on, so for now... He'd have to let him torture Alyx, or do whatever he wanted to do to her. He just hoped it was nothing too unsavory. His displeasure showed on his face, though, and he was rougher than he needed to be with Gigi as he grabbed her by the upper arm and led her down towards the brig.

He reputation preceeded him, clearly, and the other officers scattered out of his way, leaving them alone in the brig as he opened up the cell door. This was not his ship, and he didn't know if they had listening wards in here or not. He wasn't as skilled with ward magic as he was with his inherent magic, but he had learned how to feel out a room well enough. He closed his eyes for a second once Gigi was inside the cell, then breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing was off in the room.

"Sorry," he muttered, because he was pretty sure he'd left a bruise on her arm. It wouldn't be the only injury he'd have to inflict, which made him feel worse, but he could deal with it. He always did. "They're gonna expect me to wail on you a bit in here, so just go along with me, ok?"

He couldn't really get a good look at her from here, but he knew that she had hit her head. It would be better to clean it as quick as possible.

"Hold your breath for a second, ok? I'm gonna wash off your head, and then you're gonna cough loudly like you're drowning," he instructed, keeping his voice low as he twisted his fingers. The air above her liquified and dumped down onto her head, similar to how he had attacked Astrid earlier in the fight. It wasn't the best solution, but it would look more like he'd attacked her than if he did anything else, so.



Rose was very glad when Astrid didn't ask questions. She might be willing to renounce her position in the military, but that didn't mean that he wanted to give up Lanea's identity so easily. If she changed her mind and ratted him out, he'd never live with himself.

"Good. Don't make me regret it," he said with a small smile to show that he wasn't super serious about it.

He turned back to Cyn, patting him on the shoulder.

"You said that the professor had some stuff we could use in her lab, right?" he asked, and Cyn nodded.

"Yeah, probably. Should we go ask her?" he asked, and Rose nodded.

"See what you can get from her, and then we can see about asking for resources from the clans if we need them. We have about five days to do the major repairs - if we can get her up and running, that's all we really need."

Ludenberg was a pretty isolated place, after all, and he wanted at least a day to get there. Cyn nodded, then took off down the hall to where he remembered the lab being. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door, hoping that the professor wouldn't be too upset that they had failed the princess like that.



Leo nodded to Lucia, and he was relieved that they at least had allies here. Without Cyn to lean on, he was having trouble keeping too steady, but then Astrid was coming up behind him. He jumped when she hugged him, even though she'd warned him, but after a moment he just collapsed against her, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I just--" he began, not sure what words he wanted to say. "I know. I know that she's trying to help, but- She left us."

'She left me' was what he didn't say, and he bit his lower lip to hide the tremble in it. But Astrid was right, they were going to get her back. Then he could yell at her all he wanted, and then give her a hug and make her promise never to do anything like that ever again.

 

[jones573]

Gigi's efforts to stay conscious didn't come to much, judging by how the world kept jumping around her.

She'd seen the ground moving beneath her, without her legs making any effort. When she'd come to again, they were on some sort of small ship maybe- Most of her view was dominated by Maskim's fledgling, sitting across from her and staring. Or maybe he was just sitting there, it was hard to tell with the dark helmet and the way it blurred into two...

She woke again to find herself being carried through the halls of what was presumably the Griffin, cradled in someone's arms. The large fledgling probably, since Maskim was ahead of them dragging Alyx, and Lanea to their side. He was being a lot more gentle with her now, though that came to an end when they reached the bridge and she was dropped at the Admiral's feet. She went to her knees immediately, knowing that trying to stand was only going to result in her collapsing anyways.

She considered spitting at the Admiral or making some clever retort at his 'my girl' comment, but none came to mind quickly enough, and she settled for glaring at him through the blood that had crusted over her eye.

The corner of her mouth twitched up when Alyx attacked the old man- It probably wasn't a particularly smart way to spend what little energy the Commander might have left, but it was satisfying to witness.

She went along with Lanea willingly enough, trying to keep track of their location and notice anything that might be useful, though it was hard to know. She paid particular attention to where their path split from Maskim and his captive, aware that -strange as it was- Alyx was probably the only person on this ship that she did trust.

Maskim's fledgling stood in the hallway a moment longer when their routes diverged, and even with the mask, it seemed like he was looking at her- Maybe he suspected that she was going to try and make her way to Commander Draya at some point, and she looked away, trying to make it seem as though she was still just very disorientated. Which she was, so.

The cell- torture chamber, Gigi's mind helpfully supplied- was fairly empty and she fell into the lone chair without much protest. She was still tracing their route in her head when she realized he was speaking to her and - Oh. He'd claimed he was 'on her side', hadn't he?

It seemed an unlikely claim, and she had no idea what it had to do with holding her breath so- Her sputtering cough was very genuine indeed. She wheezed a few times more, and brought up her bound wrists to push at the damp hair that had fallen into her face.

"I just had a bath last night," she said dryly. She had no idea what sort of game he was playing here, but she was determined he wouldn't win easily.

 

[Reynarda]

Maksim pushed Alyx past the rows of cells and into the interrogation room. He closed the door behind them and removed the silver chain from her wrists while she looked around at the various chains and tools on the wall with little interest.

"Take a seat," Maksim said, waving at the table in the center of the room.

"You going to torture me, Max?" she asked as she pulled herself up onto the table.

"No, I'm going to yell at you, and you're going to listen, or I'm going to make you listen."

Alyx quirked her eyebrow at his anger. "Like you did with the admiral? How long have you been able to do that?"

"A while. We're not talking about me, we're talking about you and whatever the hell you think you're doing." Maksim took a deep breath and then glared at her. "I gave you an out! And instead of taking it, you volunteer to throw your life away!"

Alyx didn't argue, which was concerning.

"Did you not think Lanea and I would have no intentions of admitting to turning up without your captain or fledgling or you? No, you didn't." He jabbed a finger at her. "Because you're not thinking with your head. You're in this weird desperate protective haze and I need to know why."

Alyx drew her knees up and rested her chin on them. "I'm just trying to keep them safe."

Maksim groaned and started pacing. "Which is selfish--you realize that, right? You're so wrapped up in how much you care for them that you fail to realize they care just as much for you." He shook his head. "The look on Leon's face. She had a singular purpose and that was keeping you safe." Maksim paused in his pacing. "But you know what really got me? That look on your fledgling's face when you let me take you away. If any of my fledglings ever looked at me like that, I would cut my own heart out of my chest. He looked like the last person in the world who cared about him was abandoning him."

Maksim stole a glance at Alyx out of the corner of his eye. She looked fairly close to tears. He did feel bad about purposefully upsetting her, but he had to knock her out of this destructive spiral. And he wasn't lying about how Leo's expression had made him feel.

Maksim rounded on her. "What's his name? Leo, right? You gave up on Leo, Alyx. And you abandoned him. He needs you! He needs you, and instead you're wallowing in self-pity over what you can't do. All your talk about being a good sire, and you just leave your fledgling because that's easier than coming up with a plan. And for what? All your previous plans involved you getting out alive, so tell me, why the hell you have started sacrificing yourself like some bloody martyr?"

"The Allarians tried to surrender twice but the Supreme General refused. None of us are making it out of this war alive and I--" Alyx clapped a hand over her mouth, but a sob still escaped. "I couldn't even save Leo."

And now she really was crying, and Maksim hadn't seen her cry for nineteen years--last time was also his fault--and he felt tears pricking in the corners of his own eyes. He clambered up onto the table and wrapped his arms around her. To his surprise, she turned and wrapped her arms around him. He held very still, realizing no one had touched him with anything other than malice in nearly three years. All the pain of the past three years welled up inside him, and a sob escaped.

But Alyx's sobs had quieted, and she shifted so that his head was on her shoulder instead of vice versa. She rested her left hand on the back of his head and her right trailed soothingly up and down his back. "It's okay, it's just me," she whispered. "You're safe with me."

Maksim kept his crying absolutely quiet out of habit. After a few minutes, he stilled and just enjoyed the comfort. She was still trailing her fingers along his back, and he realized instantly what she was really up to. She didn't have enough energy to be doing that.

"You know," Maksim said with his face still resting on her shoulder, "if you wanted to heal me, I can take my shirt off."

Alyx ignored him. "Whose kneecaps do I need to kick in?"

"I'm not upset about that. I'm upset that we'll never get our wedding night."

He expected Alyx to kick him off the table, but she just sighed. "You can't cover up your pain by being a prick."

"Yes, I can," Maksim muttered.

"What are we going to do?" Alyx asked.

"You're the strategy one," Maksim said, sitting back. "I'm the charming one."

Alyx nodded. "Let me think about it."

Maksim flopped dramatically across her lap. "Oh thank the stars. I didn't know if that would work." He grinned up at her. "We have some time. We could always make out."

Alyx pushed him off the table.

Maksim crashed to the floor with a yelp. "Well you're no fun," he muttered, pushing himself up.

"Could you try to feel out Lanea?" Alyx asked, dragging her sleeve across her eyes.

"'Feel up Lanea'?" Maksim asked. "I'm over here being faithful but you want me to feel up another man?"

Alyx glared at him. "I forgot how absolutely impossible you are. You are such a prick."

"Eh, I dunno Alyxi," Maksim sighed. "I guess. But he does torture people for fun. His whole family does."

Alyx shrugged. "Your whole family will sleep with anything that moves."

"Rude, and only Bast and I are the exceptions, so that doesn't really help your point." Maksim frowned. "Your eyes are starting to clear up. Rub them." At Alyx's confused look, he explained, "I want it to look like you were crying."

"I was crying," Alyx pointed out. But she had a feeling she knew where he was going with this. "You sure you want him to think you were in here hurting me?"

"If he is against us and he finds out we were in here consorting, he could rat us both out to the admiral." Maksim reached up and undid a few of the buttons of Alyx's coat and then shifted the coat around to make it look more rumpled.

"Stop it, I don't want him to think that!" Alyx said, slapping his hands away.

"He'd believe it more than anything else, especially since I don't really have any ideas for fake information I could have gotten out of you," Maksim said with a huff. "I'd rather him not think I'm like my brothers, either, but here we are. Maybe he'll feel bad for you and go easy on you when it's your turn for questioning." He paused. "I'm going to try to do something about that, but I don't know if I can."

"Silver! The princess!" Alyx swore, climbing off the table.

Maksim grabbed her before she could throw the door open and go rushing out. "Think with your head, blast it," he hissed. "Look like you had a really bad time. And give me your scarf. I'll energize it and bring it back."

Alyx did not want to do either of those things, but clearly they needed to work together. She untied her scarf and Maksim wrapped it around his waist. Pushing her hair over her face, she sagged towards the floor. Maksim caught her, and, putting on his best smug smirk, he dragged her out. The princess looked to be okay--if a little wet--when they made it to the cells, and Alyx hoped her presence would curb any of the more violent things Lanea might do otherwise. Maksim opened the cell next to the princess's and shoved Alyx in. Alyx allowed herself to trip and landed roughly with a small cry of pain. Maksim tossed Lanea a smug wink and strode out of the brig without a second glance.

Alyx curled into a ball and lay still, listening carefully to try to figure out what Lanea was doing to Georgiana. The only thing about Maksim taking her scarf was that she didn't have any reserves to try to stop Lanea if he started getting particularly nasty with his "questioning".




Astrid squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep the tears in. She cursed Alyx for doing this to her, but mostly for doing this to Leo. She wanted to insist that Alyx hadn't left them, but she had seen the look in Alyx's eyes. Alyx had thought she was going to die. She had just given up, and Astrid was begging her not to just give up. She needed to stay alive until they could get to her.

Astrid nodded. "I know. She... she wasn't thinking." She rubbed his back. "But we're going to get her back. Rose says they'll meet up with us in a week--I don't know how he knows and I'm not asking. But," she added. "You and I can't go back to the military after this. The three of us will have to figure out what we're doing after this, but we can't go back." She paused. "Not that you want to go back to the people who... you know. Took you. But it's been your normal for the past two years, so I just want you to be prepared. But, you'll be with me, and you'll be with Alyx, and we all be together, come what may."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lanea huffed as he opened the door to the cell. Man, she was in really bad shape, wasn't she?

"The admiral will probably object to me giving you first aid," he said with a grunt. He reached for her so he could look into her eyes, check for any obvious signs of concussion, but then he froze. He was used to being forceful with everything he did, and it helped to give the image that he was the big bad torturer that everybody said he was, but this was not the situation for it. He didn't want to actually scare her or anything.

"I don't want to talk too much until we're in the interrogation room. In here anyone can walk in. But I want to check if you're concussed. Can I...?" He waited for a sign of permission before he looked at her pupils. He couldn't see anything that would indicate permanent damage. He put his hands on her face as gently and slowly as he could to inspect the cut on her head, then quickly pulled back. "It bled a lot, but it doesn't look like it needs stitches."

He felt awkward. It was much easier to act tough and angry in front of others, but that wouldn't endear him to her. He knew she wouldn't trust him, because he was totally an enemy no matter how hard he looked at it. But he needed to at least make it clear that he wasn't going to hurt her...

The door to the brig opened then, and he made sure to tangle his hand in her hair, tugging her head back as gently as he could without it being obvious. He wouldn't bite, of course, but... The smell of blood was in the air from the wound on her forehead opening up again, so it least helped to lend credibility to the idea that he was hurting her.

He ignored Maksim as he came and went quickly enough, though he didn't like the wink that he gave him. He curled his upper lip in distaste, then spat on the floor beside him once the other vampire left.

Alyx was in the cell beside them, so he couldn't talk to the princess anymore. He doubted that she was a threat - she had always been a good person, and while they weren't super close before the war, he had always liked her. She wasn't quite as judgy as most of the other clans and their children.

He didn't want to hurt her, even less than he wanted to hurt Georgiana. But he needed to be sure of where she stood first.

"I've got no use of you until you're coherent," He grumbled as he let go of Gigi's hair and stepped back. He left the cell and turned to Alyx's, a frown on his face as he took in her appearance.

The frown grew more and more apparent when he realized the state of her clothes, and the fact that she looked like she had been crying. The wink that Maksim had given him made sense.

He was going to kill him. He was going to /kill/ him, rip him limb from limb until there was absolutely nothing left, and then he was going to kill him again...! There were lines that you didn't cross, no matter what the situation was. Lanea had tortured people, had hurt them over and over while they were begging him to stop, but he would never, ever, ever think of doing /that/.

His teeth were grinding so loud that it was audible, and his hands were clenched into tight fists. The anger was practically rolling off of him in waves, and the air around him literally began steaming as his magic reacted to his fury.

He wouldn't drown Maksim. He'd rip him to /shreds/ because he deserved it.

But he couldn't right now. He couldn't attack him in the middle of the ship, as much as he wanted to. Besides that, if this had really happened, then he needed to take care of the person in front of him first. He turned and headed to a corner of the brig, where he'd put his interrogation kit earlier in the expectation that he'd be taking care of the prisoners. It was an old trunk, small enough to be lugged around but large enough to hold most of his equipment. It was covered with the smell of old blood and rot, and he tossed it open violently.

There was a small case in the bottom, and he grabbed it before turning around and throwing open the door to Alyx's cell. He had to take another deep breath, calming down so that the air around him stopped steaming. It was hot, after all, and he didn't want to burn anybody. He had to get himself under control or he would just make things worse.

He walked over and knelt down next to her, opening up the case that was in his hand. Rather than the assorted instruments of torture inside that one would have inspected, there were instead a series of preserved herbs. He picked a purple flower from the bottom compartment and held it out to her, making sure not to get too close to make her uncomfortable.

"Chew that, but don't swallow it. It'll induce an immediate miscarriage, if you need it," he said, his words clipped.



Leo exhaled, all of the strength in his muscles leaving him as he leaned against Astrid bonelessly.

"Of course. Of course he has a plan," he muttered, rubbing his temples. Rose always had a plan. He shouldn't have ever been surprised. "I don't care about the military, or Eldergaard, or any of it."

He rubbed at his eyes, because god, he was going to start crying again. Rose had left the room, thankfully, and the other vampires seemed to be giving them a bit of space. He was grateful for it, because he didn't want anybody to look at him right now.

"I was supposed to die, back then," he whimpered, and in a way it felt good to finally say it, but in a way it also felt like the words were crushing him. "My father thought I wasn't worth the trouble anymore, so he sent me on a mission that would never succeed, with a crew that couldn't handle it, and-- And she helped me. She saved me from that."

He was trying very hard not to blubber.

"I don't want her to give up, I want to help her. I know it's childish but I do want us to stay together. I can't handle being alone again."

 

[jones573]

Gigi was still unsure of what Lanea was up to, but she supposed it would be odd for him to lie to her about a concussion, so that was probably true, and good news besides. She snarled at him when he yanked her hair back, though, if only on reflex because she hadn't been expecting it.

Even with her head pulled back at an angle, Gigi could see who had entered- Maskim, pushing Alyx into a cell, and his fledgling trailing behind him like a silent shadow. For a moment, she felt a surge of excitement- Would she and Alyx get a change to talk?

Her goals would be much easier with Alyx's help- To determine the likelihood of getting off this ship alive on their own terms, and if the likelihood was low... Taking the Griffin and its crew out of the sky, and out of the war.

(The more paranoid part of her dwelled on the fact that she had thought it likely that Maskim was Alyx's mysterious fiance, and it was highly suspicious he had shown up when he did in that garden, and that talking to Alyx about her plans could be a trap and- Gigi wasn't going to dismiss that more paranoid part of herself, she decided, but she wasn't going to let it run the show quite yet either.)

Maskim and his shadow left, and again Gigi got the impression that the fledgling was hesitant to leave- He lingered in the door to the hallway, looking in her direction, before the end of his invisible leash tugged at him and he hurried after his master. Maybe he had wanted to stay and watch the torture, she thought bitterly.

Once out of earshot and caught up to his commander, Fredrick spoke again. "Well. That could have gone better," he said dryly. "We need to get rid of Grigori, and soon," he advised, as if Maskim might somehow be unaware of that. If the other commander went back to his own ship, they could run the show themselves- And though their captives would hardly be 'safe', they'd be in substantially less danger without the famous torturer around.

----

"Coming, coming," the professor called, opening up the door to find Cyn there. Admittedly, Lucia's young niece had been following her directions exactly but Delilah was still glad she'd come to check- These results were very promising indeed, and she knew Gigi would be excited to hear of them. "Lost track of time, are we already reconvening-"

She froze when she actually looked at Cyn.

"What's happened," she asked, already setting off back towards the main hall with a brisk pace, assuming Cyn would follow and fill her in. "What has that damned girl done now," she muttered, assuming Gigi had said the wrong thing to the wrong person and started some international crisis.

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx felt Lanea's attention switch to her as he stepped from Georgiana's cell. She tensed. What was he going to do? She didn't want to cower in fear, but his stare was getting more and more unnerving, and then she was getting hotter, and he was grinding his teeth, and the scent of Georgiana’s blood was thick in the air.

She had wanted to face this with as much defiance as possible, but Lanea was stomping around and throwing things open. When the door to her own cell banged open, Alyx reflexively threw her arms over her head. Why was he so angry? What had she done to make him so angry?

She had been thinking she was going to be tough and not scream in front of Georgiana, but she decided that her main goal was to not tell him anything. She was going to let herself scream. All that mattered was keeping her friends safe.

But then he was holding something out to her and... miscarriage?

Her eyes going wide, Alyx swore. He wasn't angry at her at all. He had read all the signs Maksim had wanted him to read, and he was furious. At Maksim. Because she had been right and Maksim needed to stop thinking everyone was a terrible person. She didn’t need Grivvin magic to see that Lanea was going to murder that stupid, stupid idiot. Her insides went cold. She uncurled from her protective ball and scrambled to her knees, her hands held out to try to placate him. "Bloody silver, no, no, no, look it's not what you think! He would never--oh fangs, please don't hurt him."

Alyx stopped, realizing she sounded like she was defending her abusive fiancé. She took a deep breath and let it out. "Lanea, Maksim is many things--the primary of which is a dumbass--but he would never, ever do that to anyone, least of all me. He's actually very respectful and backs off when I ask him to. He's not like the rest of his clan." Alyx cast about desperately. What would make him believe her? "Look, if you want to examine me to make sure, you can." The thought made her want to squirm, but if it would keep him from murdering her stupid-ass mostly-betrothed, she would endure it. She glanced down at the flower. "But keep that for someone who needs it. I don't."


Maksim strode away from the brig with a slight smile on his face. Yeah, the plan hadn’t gone as well as he would have liked. And yeah, Lanea was here. But he was pretty sure he and Alyx were no longer in a fight. Probably. Dang, maybe he should have asked.

He glanced back at Fredrick and sighed. “Yes, well. You don’t need to be so negative.” Maksim shoved his hands into his pockets. “Well, you got any ideas? Because he’s gonna be here until the admiral get the information he wants.”




When Leo sagged against her, Astrid glanced around. Cyn and Rose were gone, and the vampires had finally left. She and Leo were alone. Astrid shifted and slowly sank to the floor, hugging Leo close.

She opened her mouth to protest when he said he should have died, but his next sentence caused her to choke on her words. His father... sent him to die? Did Alyx know? No, she couldn't. She would have hunted down Leo's father and murdered him if she did. And Astrid remembered the battle. Alyx had been the only vampire at the time, but her plan had compensated. And then she had given the survivors a choice. Astrid had been standing behind her, and she remembered the battered kid who looked way too young for this war. The kid whose turning hadn't gone right. The kid who seemed to be hiding behind miles and miles of walls had slowly begun to flourish under Alyx's constant care.

Astrid's tears finally spilled over, and she held Leo tightly. She had grown closer to Leo over the past few days, but she had always had a soft spot for the "baby" of the squadron. And how could anyone give up on him? How could anyone abandon him?

"It's not childish," Astrid said, giving up on trying to hide her own tears. "And you are helping her. If anything will keep her going, it will be her desire to get back to you. Because you and Alyx... you two have a very special bond. And maybe she lost sight of it for a bit, but she'll remember. Because she needs you, too."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

At first, Lanea was a bit surprised that she had defended him. He supposed that he shouldn't have been. That sort of thing happened all the time. But for some reason he was still shocked that she would tell him not to hurt somebody who would--

Oh. The more she explained, the more he understood. They were testing him. Or mocking him. Either way, it left a sour taste in his mouth and a bad twist in his stomach, but he was only a little bit surprised. Nobody trusted clan Grigori, ever. And had he really given them reason to trust him? He had played up his role in order to protect himself and his secrets, but he had thought, at least, that some of the other commanders would be able to tell that he was acting.

It hurt a little bit, but it was at least a hurt that he was used to. He closed his eyes for a second and stood up, his cheeks darkening with colour.

"No, I'm not going to- you don't have to do that," he muttered, partially because he would never do something so invasive when she was uncomfortable, and partially because /he/ was uncomfortable with even the idea of that. He would do it if she had needed it, or if she was injured, but.

He frowned as he looked back at the door, then stepped out of the cell. He dug around in his pocket, pulling out a small stone on a string and hanging it on the doorknob. A soundproofing ward, so that nothing would get out of the room. It would be a bit suspicious if anybody saw it, since they weren't really in the interrogation room proper, but he could explain it away easily enough. He did usually use it to keep screams from coming out of his workshop.

Once the door was secure he locked it and turned around. Now that both prisoners were in here, he could at least trust that they'd have a bit of time to themselves before the other officers came back. He knew Alyx's reputation in the military, and while he didn't know all the details, he knew that she of all people would, at the very least, not rat him out. Not even to protect him, per say, but because she was stubborn and hated doing what she was told.

"We have probably ten minutes before somebody comes back," he said, switching to his business mode as he turned to Gigi's cell again. "I'm not going to promise I won't hurt either of you. I'll go as easy on you as I can, but I need to convince the admiral I'm making some progress, so I'm going to need to leave marks. I can give you something to help with the pain..." He glanced at Gigi and the obvious mistrust she'd shown him so far. "...But you don't have to take it if you don't trust me."

God, this was a mess. He scrubbed his hands over his face, because there was no way he would ever be able to come back from this. He'd have to flee the country and never ever see his family or friends ever again. He was scared, honestly, in a way that he hadn't been in a very long time. He had been trying his best to hide it, but it was finally starting to catch up with him a bit. He turned to Georgiana and frowned.

"I gave Rose a message before we left. In one week we're going to meet up with him, and he's going to get you back across the Allarian border. I don't care if you don't trust me. If I have to knock you out and get you on that ship, I will do it, but it'll be a lot easier on both of us if we work together," he explained, then glanced at Alyx. "Alyxzandra, I can take you with us, but I can't go back to Salazar. You'll have to make your own way to the mountains once we land in Ludenberg. The admiral's going to kill you anyways, and if you rat me out to him, he's just going to kill both of us. I want to trust you. Can I trust you?"

He was lying, somewhat. Depending on her reaction, he had an herb he could force her to take that would confuse her, mess with her short term memory a bit. He didn't want to use it, though; it was a hell of a bad trip, and he knew from experience.


Cyn caught up with Delilah's stride easily enough, and he took a shuddering breath.

"The military broke in. We trieda stop 'em, but they overpowered us- They took the princess and commander Draya," he said, and the shame was clear in his words. He had been absolutely useless to stop them. "I... Rose said he's got a plan, but we needa repair our ship. I can prob'ly do somethin' with some o' the tech you got in that room and a few days. Can I do that?"



Leo clung to Astrid tightly, and for a moment he just cried. He hadn't cried in years, and he felt like all the emotions he'd been building up over and over finally just came pouring out. He had nothing coherent enough to say anymore, and he just clung to her tightly. Her words meant a lot. He wanted to believe them. But he was also so tired, and after a few minutes of crying himself out, he found that he didn't have the strength to keep his eyes open anymore.

Rose returned then, having kept his distance for their conversation to give them privacy. He eyed Leo in Astrid's arms, and walked over to them.

"We should get him back to his room," he said softly. "We all need to take a rest and eat something. Cyn is probably already planning what we can salvage from the ship, and how we can get it back in the air. Right now the most important thing we can do is rest."

 

[jones573]

Gigi listened as Lanea spoke, trying to decide if she believed him or not.

"You're Rose's man," she concluded. "Or so you claim- Tell me something about him," she said suspiciously. She hadn't exactly been paying attention, but she was pretty sure Lanea had been attacking Rose without holding back.

A week, though- That didn't fit her timeline. Not that she had really had any hope of meeting her timeline as it was.

-----

"Wonder where I learnt that from," Freddy returned- He'd been an optimist before he became on of Maskim's squadron. "Create a crisis he needs to be elsewhere for? Push him off deck?"

-----

"Sonofa-," Delilah swore, stopping suddenly as Cyn caught her up to speed. "Bert would have my head," she muttered. He'd always accused her of being less than attentive when it came to the security of her noble students- One in particular.

"Yes, of course, go for it, stop traipsing around after me, boy," she snapped at Cyn, waving him back in the direction they'd come- As if it was his fault she'd started off in one direction without listening to what he had to say.

"Shit-shit-shit," she said to herself- She could probably do the science by herself, and maybe even convince the clan leaders it was necessary. A raid in a clan's home would certainly rattle them. But she probably couldn't do it in a way that would encourage further relations, and she certainly didn't have the authority to negotiate on behalf of the Allarian fledglings, and determine what would happen to them after the war.

 

[Reynarda]

For a second, Alyx caught the hurt in Lanea's expression. She frowned, confused. He had thought... what? That she would know he wasn't who he pretended to be? She had always felt there was more to him than the mask he wore--they all wore masks. But how could she know he hadn't gotten worn down by the military? After all, Astrid had been very wet, and that water could have--oh, silver. She had been wet. He could have just put the water in her lungs. But he didn't. This could have been because he didn't want to get in trouble for killing the Supreme General's daughter, but Alyx felt that it might have been because Astrid was her friend.

Alyx felt terrible. She had upset him, and now he was feeling foolish for correctly reading what they had wanted him to read. Except that he was actually a good person and had cared. He wasn't what he pretended to be at all. He was just trying to survive like the rest of them.

She opened her mouth to apologize, but he was already backing out of the cell. She flinched as the door closed--curses, her nerves were shot--and slowly got to her feet. Though she was exhausted from the day and didn't even have any reserves to draw on, she still felt a bit uncomfortable sitting when he was standing. He was just so dang tall.

Alyx nodded as he explained he would still have to hurt them, but something about knowing he wasn't enjoying it made it easier. She was about to ask when he planned on starting and could she please have some blood first when he suddenly started looking very distressed. He looked... scared?

Alyx nearly asked him if he were alright but his next words stopped the question in her throat. Rose? Lanea Grigori knew Rose Barlowe? Hadn't they been beating each other up? And he had put water in Rose's lungs.

But maybe he was Rose's informant? It would explain how Rose knew so much about the vampire commanders because he freaking knew one. So, he was helping the princess escape then? No, he was doing it himself. At first, she thought maybe Rose was paying him or something, but then he said that he was going to drag Georgiana to the rendezvous point whether she liked it or not. Why? Why he be so desperate to get Georgiana to Rose? Then, Alyx remembered her discussion with Rose about choices. Rose had mentioned someone would be punished if the princess had been recaptured by Astrid. Would they punish Rose and Cyn--hell, even Leo--if they went back to Allaria without Georgiana? So, Lanea was worried about Rose? But if they caught him--no, he wasn't just worried, he was sacrificing everything for Rose. He couldn't go back to Salazar, he couldn't go back anywhere. No wonder he was so scared. He must really care about Rose.

Alyx blinked, realizing Lanea had asked her a question. What had it been? She nodded. "Yes, you can trust me. I owe no allegiance to the admiral."

Alyx hesitated. Georgiana was wanting proof, but she felt it was fairly obvious. And she didn't want to step on the princess's toes, but... well. Alyx swallowed. "If Rose is going to be there, there's a chance my secondborn will be with him. And possibly..." She paused, and took a deep, shuddering breath. She would never, ever ask Astrid to choose her over her family and her country and all she had worked for her entire life, but stars, she prayed her friend would come for her. "Maybe... my captain? I don't know. I don't know, I just really, really hope so."

Alyx squeezed her eyes shut tight. She could feel the helplessness welling up inside her, but she fought it down. She had to get back to Astrid and Leo. "But there's something you need to know--and maybe Rose already told you? But the Supreme General refused the Allarian's surrender twice. None of us are going back home if we can't figure out a way to stop this. And we've got to do something." She lifted her eyes to his, the beginnings of the start of a plan taking shape in her mind. "The princess has some ideas, and..." Alyx glanced at Georgiana and shrugged. "They need some work but maybe... I don't know. I don't really know what I'm saying. Rose will probably stick with the princess, and I might end up as well, and maybe... you could come with us?"



"Why do I even talk to you? You're such a killjoy." Maksim rolled his eyes as they took a left and descended further into the hold. He snorted. " Push him off? Six months and you still haven't figured out how wards work? Besides, he is bigger than me, in case you didn't notice."

The glowstones were dimmer down here, but the wards hummed louder. He pushed open the door to the vampire barracks and flicked his eyes over the rows of bunks. It was cramped, but complaining about it would only get him put in there with them. He counted nineteen and had a moment of panic before he remembered Fredrick was following him around like an annoying mouthy shadow.

Maksim stepped inside and over to one of the bunks and checked on the injured one--Yenn, her name was. Her pulse was stronger, so that was good. Just because it wasn't like losing part of his heart, that didn't mean he wanted her to die. But she needed to heal before the admiral declared her dead weight and ordered Maksim to end her suffering. He skimmed his fingers over Alyx's scarf, wishing he could activate the healing wards in it. Maybe he could ask her. She would probably let him use it for his fledgling--no, she needed it. Especially if he couldn't stop Lanea from torturing her.

"Has she been given blood?" he asked the fledgling assigned to keep an eye on her. The man nodded, and Maksim straightened with a sigh. This was never going to end. Fledglings would die, he'd have to turn new ones, and then finally, one day, something would happen, and he wouldn't be there to turn anyone anymore.

No, they would figure something out. They would stop this war. Somehow. They had to, or it would kill them all.

"Come on, if you're going to follow me around, at least make yourself useful," Maksim said, leaving the barracks. "Let's go get the prisoners something to eat."

Maksim thought as they walked. "The crisis idea has potential. The admiral has described his captain as being... mmm, how to put this nicely? A disaster waiting to happen? The admiral was less kind with his word choice, but she is a lady, so I won't use his language. We could claim his ship is on fire or something. I think he's a little fond of her. Might send him running back? But his ship is also pretty close, so that might not work unless his captain actually caught her own ship on fire."



Astrid held Leo tightly, doubtlessly getting his hair very wet with her own tears. Alyx should be here, doing this. It wasn't that Astrid didn't want to be there for Leo, but she knew that Alyx was much closer to him, and he would feel better with her comforting him. And she needed to know this. She needed to know what hell Leo had been living. But Astrid worried that his panic about being left again was the only reason he had opened up and he might not do it again. And this was not Astrid's story to tell. This was Leo's. So she would keep it to herself and hope Alyx hadn't shattered the trust of her own fledgling.

She looked up as Rose returned, sure her face was tear-streaked and her hair plastered to her head from Commander Grigori's attack. But he was right. Sniffing, Astrid nodded. Feeling protective of Leo, she scooped him up in her arms and cradled him against her chest. He was more spunk than hard muscle and she was taller than him, so he wasn't that heavy.

"We should see if the vampires can move the ship here. They probably can with their earth magic. You or Cyn may need to ask them. I'm technically under Leo's protection now, so I'd rather keep as low a profile as I can."

She shifted her grip on Leo and turned and strode from the garden. On the way back to the room, she caught one of the vampires and requested blood be sent for Alyx's fledgling. Leo was going to be starving when he woke up, and she might need to help him drink it depending on how weak he was.

She managed to get the door open with her foot and slipped inside. She laid Leo down on his bed and pulled his boots off. Glancing at Alyx's empty bed, she felt a pang shoot through her chest as she noticed Alyx's nicely folded commander's coat resting there. She thought about stuffing it somewhere that Leo wouldn't be able to see, but then she also thought it might smell like her. Maybe it was a weird thing to do, but Astrid draped Alyx's coat over Leo. Maybe it would help him sleep better.

Astrid eyed him for a second, watching the very slow rise and fall of his chest. "Screw it," she muttered, and pushed her bed to his.

It was probably a stupid thing to do--sleep next to a hungry vampire--but Astrid didn't care. He was hurting, and she wasn't going to let him wake up alone. She kicked her own boots off and crawled into bed next to him.

It was going to be okay. They were going to get Alyx back. Then they would have to figure out what to do next. But they would do it together.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lanea tried very, very hard not to turn red when Georgiana called him Rose's man. She had meant that in a strictly professional sense, obviously. It would be /stupid/ to get embarrassed about something that was true. Professionally. Because they were working together. Professionally.

She wanted proof that he knew him. That was easy, and not easy at the same time. Lanea knew a lot of things about Rose that he could tell her, but the problem was, he didn't know how much /she/ knew. Did she know his whole past? About his siblings, and his boss, who was not as big of an asshole as he could be but was still kind of an asshole? He could tell her about the work that they had been doing together, but he didn't dare, even with the silencing ward up. Maybe he could talk about something physical. The tattoos? He never showed his tattoos in a professional setting if he could help it, but maybe she would know about them anyways? Lanea licked his lips, then decided that was his best bet.

"He has a tattoo on his back of a dragon going up a waterfall," he said, then stopped. In order for her to know about that, she'd have had to seen him shirtless. Shit. He immediately backpedaled. "I mean, he also has one on his leg, of, uh, a fish, and there's the flowers around his bad arm-- Look, I know you don't trust me, but if you could just, ask me a question about him that would be easier."

He was grateful when Alyx offered a distraction. He breathed out a sigh of relief, turning his attention back to her.

"Your fledgling... The one who attacked Maksim's guy, right?" he asked. He didn't know if Rose would let a kid like that come with him to a place like Ludenberg, but it was possible. Or rather, if Alyx's fledgling was anything like her, he would probably be impossible to leave behind. At the mention of the other person, though, he couldn't hide the way his shoulders stiffened.

He knew she was Alyx's friend. And Rose had been with her when he came across them, and he had been holding her hand, but not in his 'this is a person i'm going to murder' way. So maybe he trusted her? Or at least he didn't see her as an immediate threat.

"I don't trust her," he warned. She was too close to the Supreme General, and far too close to the military for his liking. But then, he wasn't supposed to trust the Allarians either, so... "But you know her better than I do. If you trust her, then I'll at least trust /you/."

He could do that. And besides that, he trusted Rose not to bring along somebody he thought would put them all in danger.

When told about the failed surrenders, his shoulders stiffened and he let out a low hiss of air. He had suspected. Rose hadn't told him that much, but he had put together clues from their conversations and the knowledge he got from Petra. She wasn't exactly as guarded as most of the other captains, and she had him proofread her reports before she sent them off anyways. Still, to hear it as fact was upsetting, and he clenched his fists tight before releasing them.

He hadn't ever thought that he would see his family again anyways. To hear it spoken hurt, but it was a dull pain rather than the knife that it had been for Alyx.

"We can't talk about this now," he said finally, because the longer they talked, the more they risked somebody finding the door locked and asking questions. He glanced to Gigi. They would have expected him to start working on her by now. He could say that she was concussed and incapable of giving good information, but then the admiral might order her disposal. If he tried to put things off, then he could get in trouble and lose his chance entirely. After a moment, he made his decision.

"Princess, I'm going to say you were concussed when you hit your head, that we can't trust any information you'll give us is accurate until tomorrow, at least. I can't put things off forever, but I'll be back to talk tonight. Please don't blow any holes in the ship again until then." He said the last word with a slight uptick in the corner of his mouth, but his expression was still tight. He'd have to school himself before he went back out again, but right before he unlocked the door, he turned back to Alyx.

"Maksim really didn't do anything, did he?" he asked, eyes narrowed. "I mean, I trust that he didn't... You know. This ship is under his command, and I can't keep him out, but should I try?"



Rose politely did not mention Astrid or Leo's distress, and only nodded along to her suggestions. He'd have to find Lucia and discuss the situation with her in more detail. They had a very limited timeframe to work with, and they would need to be fast. It was unlikely they'd be able to start physical work today, but if they could at least get the ship moved, that would be helpful.


Cyn startled when Delilah stopped short, and then snapped at him. While she was not at all like Lady Bicksley, the curt tone immediately had him bowing his head and turning on his heel with a quick apology. When somebody spoke to him like that, it meant that he should not be there at all, and while it had been years since he had been a house servant, muscle memory was a hell of a thing.

He hardly even realized when he'd made it back to the lab, and he stared at the machinery room for a moment. He wouldn't be able to know what they needed for the ship until he got a better look at it, but... Going out today, when the military were still in the immediate area was risky. He could do a complete inventory of what they had available, and that way, at least, he would know what they /could/ do.

 

[jones573]

"It's supposed to be going up the waterfall, huh," Gigi said. "I thought it was just... Adjacent."

People in her usual social circle didn't really have tattoos, so sure. She'd looked a bit. They were cool.

"I'll believe you know Rose," she said after a moment's hesitation, rather than admit that she was having difficulty thinking up a question that would actually determine if she could trust him or not. "And I'll believe you aren't loyal to Jorgenson," she added. "But I'm going to keep being wary of you," she warned him, which she thought was only fair.

She frowned when Alyx mentioned Leo and Astrid might come too, but kept her silence for the time being.

"Your ship is safe. For now," Gigi allowed. She actually did need to rest a bit, so she hadn't been planning to even start scheming anything destructive until she felt a bit better.

Once he was gone, she sighed deeply, letting her eyes closed.

"I am sorry, that you got dragged into this," she offered quietly to Alyx. "I always knew this was going to get messy no matter what happened," she admitted. "But I didn't imagine it would be this bad."


Fredrick shrugged. It had been a flippant suggestion anyways, even if it would have been satisfying to push Grigori off something very high in the air. In the barracks, he said little. He felt badly for Yenn, of course, and for all of them. But he also knew his... Unwillingness to fall into line had not made him popular among his 'siblings', and he tried to keep to himself as much as possible. He also lived with the fear that one of them might recognize him someday, and who knows what they would do with that information. He hadn't trusted Maksim at the beginning- still didn't entirely, if he was being honest- but the fact that his identity had remained a secret between himself and the commander had certainly gone a long way.

"I've been being very useful," he pointed out as they continued. It wasn't his fault that he'd struggled in the fight- Freddy was used to fighting humans. He had never been expected to fight other fledglings before, and Leo's presence had been unexpected.

"He's hiding something," he said of Grigori after a moment. "People- They mask their intentions around you if they know how, so you can't get the upperhand on them," he said. "As a precaution. But he's- I don't know? More intentional about it. It's more than just a personal defense."

At least, Freddy was pretty sure it was- He didn't have his sire's years of experience with magic, especially of this kind. But he paid close attention, trying to read not just motivations, but the motivations behind those motivations. And something about Lanea Grigori was... Off.

"I was thinking more... The Allarians have sent someone after Gi- The princess," he corrected himself as he spun some imaginary crisis. "Someone who would know more than she does, and be a more valuable interrogation target."

It would have the added benefit of making Gigi seem more valued, and less likely to be disposed of.

"If we had access to a radio, I could fake a communication to that end, but of course we haven't," he mused, trying to think of something else.

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx frowned slightly when Lanea began trying to prove he knew Rose. Of all the things... his tattoos? Alyx would have said something like "He has a little brother named Cyn" or "He would do anything for his cause--even kill my fledgling" or something. And she had seen the one on his leg because her fledgling sort of bit him, but she hadn't seen the dragon--though, admittedly, she appreciated that particular tattoo.

Alyx glanced at Georgiana, silently asking her to let Lanea off the hook. It was very obvious they were good friends. And anyway, she was glad Rose had a good friend. Rose was pretty decent as humans went, and she was glad Lanea had a good friend, too. It was sort of like her and Astrid, in a way. Except it was a little different because she wasn't Astrid's informant.

Alyx nodded when Lanea asked about her fledgling. It was good to talk about him, but it also hurt. "Leo," she said, "is his name."

Lanea seemed skeptical, but she just smiled. She wasn't about to reveal that Leo and Rose knew each other. She trusted Lanea, but she didn't need to throw information about.

Alyx nodded when Lanea said he didn't trust Astrid. That was fair. "At the very least, she won't rat us out," she explained.

She watched him carefully when she told him about the Supreme General's shady doings. He was upset--good. That meant she could trust him. She nodded when he decided it was getting too dangerous. Who knew who could come down the hall to gawk at the prisoners?

At his question, Alyx smiled slightly. "No, he didn't. I'm sorry we deceived and worried you. He assumes everyone is like his older siblings, and I was too stressed to think of a better plan. And anyway, he's energizing my scarf for me, and I'd like it back before you start your, uh, interrogations."

Once he was gone, Alyx slid to the floor and leaned against the hull of the ship. She snorted. "I got myself in this mess, Princess, not you. We're just lucky we've ended up with Maksim and Lanea." She paused. She was still annoyed at Georgiana, but she no longer wanted to drop-kick her into a volcano. "Are you okay? If you can wriggle over here, I should be able to untie you."




"Oh have you been?" Maksim snorted. "What did you do? Draya's fledgling is like half your size--but yes," he added quickly before Fredrick could point out he hadn't done much better when the even smaller sire, "they are a feisty lot, Clan Draya. They don't know when to quit."

Maksim nodded slowly as he considered what Fredrick said. "More intentional? Like how Clan Draya does it? Theirs is just pure stubbornness--oh, perhaps you didn't notice. When we go back into the cells, get a look at Draya. She'll have her guard up. It looks like a wall of stubborn--in my opinion, anyway." Maksim was doing his best to at least teach Fredrick a little since he did have his magic, but he had never really been taught himself, so he didn't know if he was doing it right. "But, yes, Lanea is hiding quite a bit. Plus, he enjoys torturing people."

Maksim hummed as he thought. "Well, you would know more who that would be than I would. I still can't keep track of all your siblings, and I have more than you do. And no, we don't have a radio. Too bad I'm not sure if we could influence him. He might just break us in half over his knee if we tried that--well, me, anyway. You're a bit bigger than me. Might take him a few tries to break you in half."

Maksim strode into the galley. The cook and his helpers gave him a dark look. "Haven't you been allotted your blood for the week?"

"We're here to get it for the prisoners. Admiral's orders," Maksim added, hoping the admiral had not sent word to the galley that the prisoners were not to be fed.

The cook irritably gestured to the ice box that held the extra stores of blood they had taken from the last set of prisoners they executed.

"Get something for the princess," Maksim told Fredrick, nodding to the food the cook and his helpers were preparing for the evening mess. He knew a lot more about humans than he had three years ago, but that didn't mean he knew enough to figure out what the princess would need.

He grabbed blood from the ice box and groaned. It was frigid. "Can one of you heat this?" Maksim asked, doing his best to be charming.

The cook glared at him. "They're a prisoner, ain't they? They can drink it cold."

Maksim almost forced him to heat it, but then he realized he might want to save his magic for something more worthwhile. Maybe if he hugged it really tight on the way there. He shot the cook a dark look and gestured for Fredrick to follow him.

Maksim held the bottle of blood tightly to his chest. It was freezing, but he had to warm it somehow. He rounded a corner and almost smacked into Lanea. Maksim immediately stopped hugging the cold blood. He was, after all, supposed to be taking advantage of Alyx, not trying to warm blood for her.

"Done so soon?" Maksim asked, returning to his smug malicious voice. "Or were they too worn out from the day's excitement?"

He watched carefully, but Fredrick was right. Lanea was very good at hiding his intentions and motivations. Maksim felt a little panicky and part of him wanted to dig to see if Lanea had hurt Alyx.

He glanced down at Lanea's wound. "Looks like the big one got you with some silver. You might want to take a look at that."





Lucia swept back into the room just a few moments after Astrid had left with Leo. She frowned, half-expecting to see Leo still in there. But Rose was there, so she strode over to him. He was in charge of the princess's safety, after all, so he might know.

"Mr. Barlowe, have you seen Leo of Clan Draya? Or, if you haven't, perhaps you know. Our services were requested by my young nephew, and we would like to get to work as soon as possible. Do you know of anything my clan to do to aid in your rescue mission?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Good. It was good to know that Maksim and Alyx had worked together. Lanea still didn't trust him, at least not near as much as he trusted her, but at least he wasn't actively out to hurt her or anything.

Once he was out of the room he did press a hand to his side and grunted. Rose was, admittedly, very good at what he did, and he had missed everything vital, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He'd gone shallow on purpose, though. Once he stitched it up and got some blood in him, it would heal just fine. Besides, he had put water in Rose's lungs, even if he made sure to expel it all properly right afterwards. They were even.

He made sure to school his expression as he walked down the hall, running into Maksim and his fledgling. He eyed the blood bag in Maksim's hands and the food tray Frederick was holding, but he was very careful about hiding his relief. He redirected it, instead, projecting relief that he could finally get his wound treated, maybe get something to eat. It was a trick he'd learned before, not just for dealing with spirit magic, but for lying in general. If you put yourself in the mindset that it was real, it was generally easier to fool people.

He eyed his bloody hand, mostly his own blood from his wound, but a bit of Georgiana's from when he had inspected her forehead. It was smeared across his thumb, and he licked it off absently.

"Princess hit her head pretty hard, it'd be useless to work on her until tomorrow," he explained with a lazy shrug. "I figured you'd want a go at your fiancee, so I thought I'd leave her to you. Knock yourself out."

His lip curled up when Maksim mentioned his wound and the 'big one', but it was easier to write it off as general annoyance.

"Yeah, well, wasn't as bad as what happened to your face, anyways," he shot back with a smug smirk. Was he being too mean? He didn't actually enjoy acting like this, though he put on the front well enough. But if he wasn't mean, it would be easier for people to see through him, and he didn't trust Maksim enough to let him know the truth. He supposed he could do nothing about it if Alyx told him, but for now he was going to keep up the front. "Funny how nobody seems to know exactly how that happened. Everyone I asked had a different story."

His eyes flitted briefly to Frederick, and then back to Maksim. He knew that Alyx tended to be more proper with her fledglings than most of the commanders, but he had no idea how Maksim treated his. They seemed pretty broken and obedient enough. Lord knew he wasn't nearly as attached to his, if they lasted more than a month. But Petra was very particular about her squad, and if people couldn't meet her demands, she had no use for them.

It was his least favourite trait of hers, though he sort of understood where it came from. He wished she'd grow out of it, though.

"Anyways, this might be your ship, but the admiral made that princess /my/ prisoner, so don't go touching my things. I'll figure out what to do with her in the morning." As if on cue he yawned, showing off a bit more fang than was generally polite.

He would normally return to his own ship for the evening, but it would be a pain to travel all the way back at night without alerting anyone, so he figured he'd head to the infirm and get his side looked at, then wander around for a bit.



Rose looked up as Lucia approached him, glancing back down the hallway where Astrid had taken Leo.

"Leo is tired from the fight earlier," he explained. "He's returned to his room for some rest. He is... Understandably upset over what happened."

He didn't want to make Leo appear weak, but it wouldn't do if he seemed callous, either.

He thought back about what Astrid said earlier, and then he nodded his head.

"The ship that we came in, would it be possible to retrieve it? It was mostly in one piece, but it's rather far out to walk to. We're going to try and repair it - my brother has already gone to see Professor Robins to see what resources she has available. Other than the retrieval, it's unlikely that we'll be able to do much more today." It was already well into the afternoon, and soon evening would be upon them. "We need to take stock of what we need to repair and how. I'm sure that Hyacinth will have a clearer idea of what all needs to be done tomorrow."

 

[jones573]

"Eh," Gigi shrugged. "I'll be a good, docile captive for now."

The restraints weren't hurting her, and if someone came by, she didn't want to give them any reason to be suspicious or think to separate her and Alyx. Also, she was pretty sure she couldn't wiggle over there, at least not without falling a lot and generally making herself feel worse, and look stupid.

"If you and Leo can get to Allaria," she said hesitantly. "I have connections in Leomor. They can get you new identities, and passage across the sea," she offered.





Fredrick pilfered food as quickly as he could- Hard cheese and harder crackers, some baked beans, a bread roll and tin cup of water. Not exactly fine dining, but this was a military ship, not a cruise. And Gigi was a prisoner, so. He figured he probably should have taken less, but the kitchen staff was too busy glaring at his sire to pay him much mind. "Thank you," he said with a polite nod as they exited. It was habit.

He shouldn't have been surprised that they ran into Commander Grigori, really. But he could smell Gigi's blood on the man- He knew exactly what it smelled like now, having spent the flight back to the ship doing his absolute best not to think about it, and how much better it smelled than that of the wounded vampires, and how hungry he was... And the asshole had to go and lick it.

His hands clenched around the tray he was holding.

He tried to focus on reading the commander, examining his intentions- Like Maskim said, Alyx tended to project a 'wall' to hide her intentions, much thicker and higher than others he'd met with similar techniques. But Grigori... He was open with his intentions, but he wasn't honest. He didn't want to raise suspicion, and at first glance he didn't. But like a big cat using his markings to blend in with the tall grasses, he shifted and moved his thoughts, and the unassuming, peaceful landscape was anything but.

He was hiding something and he was hiding that he was hiding it, and it made Fredrick crazy. Or mostly crazy- He'd been doing a decent enough job holding onto himself until Grigori flashed his fangs.

He shoved the tray he'd been carrying into Maskim's not-ready hands, the water sloshing over the sides of the cup, and lunged at the Commander. "You sonuva-"

The other man was a bit taller, and probably would have won in a physical fight- But Fredrick had surprise on his side, and rage.

He threw Lanea up against the wall, his arm as a crossbar against the Commander's shoulders. "How dare you threaten her," he snarled angrily. "She is-"

Shit. What was he doing?

"A princess, and you will respect her as such," he continued in a growl, trying to tamp down his anger before it ruined everything even more than it already had.

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx shrugged. The princess could suit herself. And anyway, her bindings wouldn't physically burn her skin. Alyx winced. Lanea would probably have to use silver on her to make sure it left marks, and she was not looking forward to it. But a week. She could endure it for a week.

Alyx slid her eyes to Georgiana at her offer. It would be so much easier to take Leo and run. They could get away, and he would be safe. But she shook her head. "Oh, I want to, Princess," she admitted. "But I can't. I can't abandon Astrid or my other fledglings or my brother or my clan." She rubbed her forehead. "Maybe Leo would--no." She sighed. Maksim was right. She forgot that other people cared for her just as much as she cared for him. "I don't think I can get him to leave. And as much as it kills me to put him in danger, I can't just let this happen. I have to do something."

She leaned her head against hull and stretched out one leg. It was a little more of an open position than she would have preferred given that she and Georgiana weren't exactly friends, but she needed the princess to trust her. "We didn't ever get to the round-table discussion. Those are fun." She chuckled. "They probably would have been a bit more polite seeing as you're not a vampire, but it would have been a joy to watch regardless." Alyx grinned, showing off just a hint of fang. "You could use some practice, I'm sure. So, your plans. How would severing magical bonds--I suppose you mean the fledgling/sire bond?--or limiting the number of fledglings we create give us a leg up? As I see it, you'll only ensure my cousins--the commanders--end up flogged into unconsciousness or dead."



Maksim allowed his eyes to narrow at Lanea. It would have been so much easier to pretend he was enjoying taking advantage of one of their prisoners if he and that prisoner weren't in a relationship that was supposed to be built on mutual trust. And Lanea had to go and remind him that he knew they were engaged--well, mostly engaged, as Alyx would have reminded him. And this was something Dominik would do, and Maksim hated it.

He was glad when the topic switched to his face. Lanea was correct. He had taken great pleasure in telling multiple different stories. The admiral thought Alyx had done it because at least she was known for being dangerous. The ship's healer thought it had been silver shrapnel. Various officers thought it been anything from a ward gone wrong or even an attempt on his life by a mysterious assassin. He hadn't told anyone that a pint-sized human engineer had melted his silver wedding ring on his face. Maksim was still annoyed at himself for underestimating the engineer.

"Well, you never did ask me," Maksim pointed out, trying to think of some absolutely ridiculous story that was obviously made up and would annoy Lanea. It actually might be hilarious to tell Lanea the truth because he probably would think it was a lie.

He scowled when Lanea reminded him that the admiral had given the princess to him. But, here was an opportunity. If he just acted like Dominik, he could sound like a very possessive fiancé. He hated talking about Alyx like this--and if she ever found out, she would probably threaten to cut off his ears or something--but, it might keep her safe. "Don't touch my things, and I--"

But suddenly there was a tray in his hands, and Maksim swore as he dropped Alyx's blood onto it and almost lost the beans. He was not prepared for what happened next, and he swore again. If they got caught fighting, he was going to get flogged again, and he was so done with Fredrick getting him flogged. And, if they didn't get caught, Lanea might murder Fredrick. Though that would solve a lot of his problems, he didn't want Fredrick to die.

Maksim set the tray down behind him because there was no way they were getting back into the galley. Then he tried to wedge himself between them--which was probably stupid as they were both bigger and more muscly than he was.

"Fredrick," Maksim growled in the tone of a sire and pushing magic into his words. "Back off. Now."

He was not actually sure that this would work as Fredrick was annoyingly good at throwing his magic off, but he wasn't sure of what else to do.




Lucia nodded. "Of course. I see his sire was taken, as well. That must have been painful for him," she said, with honest sympathy. Just because she didn't much care for either Alyx or Leo, that didn't mean she didn't feel for them. Being separated like that was difficult.

At his request, she nodded. It would be relatively easy--in procedure, though not in practice--to move the ship here. "Yes, we can do that." She paused. She didn't want to sound like she was weak or making excuses, but they would need to know. "Though it is a simple task, it will take time and several of my best magi. It might not arrive here until later tonight. I am sorry for any inconvenience this could cause."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Lanea couldn't hide his genuine surprise when Frederick attacked him. He grunted as he was thrown back against the wall, and for a moment he didn't know how to react.

How would the big bad torturer react? He would probably kill the fledgling for even daring to touch him, but Lanea didn't /want/ to do that. He was tired of killing and hurting people, and pretending that he enjoyed it was exhausting. But he could not afford to break his character, not with only a week left in the military. He had to keep it up to avoid suspicion, and then--

Then he would get Georgiana to Rose, and then he would run.

He tried not to think about that. Thinking about Rose always lowered his defenses, and he couldn't let these two pick up on his plan. He tried to project his thoughts to something else. Annoyance, and anger, that Frederick was pinning him. Confusion, because he didn't know /why/ he was pinning him for some princess he didn't know. Oh, wait, he was Allarian, right? That explained it. Love of country and crown and all that bullshit. Lanea didn't have to fake his sneer as he dumped cold water over him.

"Cool your head," he growled, and then Maksim was in between them. He didn't fight back, partially because he didn't want to actually hurt Frederick, and partially because he sort of understood where he was coming from, in a weird way where he knew but he couldn't actually understand it. Why care about royalty? It wasn't like they were related, or even friends. But annoyance was a good emotion to cling to, so he amplified it.

"I don't care if she's the goddamned queen," he grumbled as he got his hands on Frederick's chest and pushed him back. Not gently, because he would never be gentle, but not hard enough to send him flying. "She's a prisoner, and one that's been given to me. It's my job to make her talk, and I don't want you two screwing it up because you have no idea what the hell you're doing."

Which was... sort of true. Lanea wasn't /proud/ of his clan's heritage, necessarily, but he was confident in it. He was better at interrogation than any other person on this ship, and he knew the best ways to hurt and manipulate a person without actually breaking them down completely. People who were like Maksim got overzealous and took it too far too fast, and he hated that. It ticked him off, that people thought sadism was enough to torture someone. It was more than that, and he allowed his anger to show on his face for a moment before he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

His side was still bleeding, and he was tired. He wanted to go home. He wanted to go back to Petra and make sure that she ate her supper, because she was a petulent child who wouldn't eat food prepared by the actual cook. He wanted to go back to Rose and make sure that he hadn't lost weight again, because he hadn't seen him in /months/ and he was honestly lonely. He wanted physical contact that wasn't hurting people, but the only two people he could get that from were not on this ship.

He tried his best to tamp down on those thoughts. He tried thinking, instead, about going to the infirm and taking a nap. Not about how much he wanted to cuddle with his boyfriend - oh, right. Thinking about sex would definitely make them back off, wouldn't it? He projected the sort of thing he saw going on in Ludenberg - women dancing naked in cages, being surrounded by girls in a shitty club, the thought that he wanted to go on leave already and get his dick wet. It was the exact opposite of what he was actually into, but it was what people would expect that he was into, so it was fine.



Rose nodded. He had expected that it would take longer, but knowing that the wreck would be here by tonight was reassuring.

"That is excellent, elder Lucia. Thank you, truly. The princess will no doubt appreciate your assistance in her rescue, and I will be sure to let her know how helpful you've been," he said. "As I said, we will not start repairs until tomorrow, so having it here tonight is fine. As for now, I am... a bit tired. Would it be a bother to ask for another change of clothes? Commander Grigori did a good job at soaking these."

 

[jones573]

Gigi nodded. There was a reason she hadn't included Astrid in that offer- Because if Astrid made it to Allaria, Gigi would have her held captive as a prisoner, so. But she shouldn't have been surprised that Alyx would prefer to stay in Eldergaard.

Gigi snorted. "You think I'm gonna have a chance to use that practice? Let's be realistic," she sighed. Maybe nothing would go wrong in the next week. Maybe Lanea would get them out safely, and connect them with Rose. Maybe Rose could get them back to Clan Salazar's home. Maybe the clan elders would still be there. It was a lot of maybe's.

"What can I 'give up' about the clans that will be... less than useful," she asked. The Admiral would need 'progress' on her interrogation, and she'd prefer to disclose information that he already knew or suspected, and mitigate the damage. "Obviously the introduction were rushed and I can hardly recall everyone who was in attendance," she feigned, though of course she remembered perfectly. "But. If I name a separatist clan- There's no one he can hurt with any sort of immediacy?"

Whereas if she said that Maskim's clan had attended- That would certainly result in trouble for him. Something to keep in mind, if he turned out to be less... Cooperative than Alyx indicated he might.




The cold water stung, but Maskim's words stung even more, wrapping their way into his mind and around his willpower before he could fight them. He dropped Grigori and stepped back automatically, and now he was just as angry at his own commander.

"She probably doesn't even know anything," he snapped bitterly. "You call it 'interrogation' but the only answer anyone gets is confirmation that you get off on cruelty-"

He needed to calm down, he knew, trying to take deep breathes to steady himself. He needed to think about what was best for Gigi in the long term, and walk away.

He was going to walk away.

Except then he glanced at Grigori's mind, and spun around to punch the man instead.

"You sick fuck, don't you ever think about Georgie like that again," he spat, his fist aiming at Lanea's jaw.

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx arched an eyebrow. "Giving up hope is the easiest way to lose," she said. "But perhaps you're just too afraid to see if you can answer one lone vampire's questions?" She smirked a little. "And here I thought you wanted my insight."

"Yeah, rat out the separatist clans," Alyx said with a snicker. "There's nothing the military can do short of storming their fortresses, and you don't want to attack a vampire fortress when you've already got another war. Don't name the two with commanders." She considered, tapping her fingers on her knee. "You could give known stuff--their clan magic, approximate clan size, that sort of thing. You could babble about their fortress, if you wanted. It would be interesting, but ultimately useless as long as you didn't describe their wards or defenses." Alyx chuckled. "But I doubt you noticed their wards. That might be something I could give Lanea--typical wards, not ones specific to their clan." Sighing, she rubbed her eyes. "The admiral is going to expect Linea get more information out of you because you're a princess. We might need to play up you not knowing much--he'd expect it. Oh! Talk about science. The admiral's eyes will glaze right over when Lanea tells him about that."



Maksim had found that his magic depended entirely on how people thought. Different people thought in different ways. For Alyx, her thoughts were nebulous, so he would just sort of get a feeling of her intentions whenever she felt comfortable enough to let her guard down. The admiral was an auditory sort of person, so Maksim would sort of "hear" his desires and motivations. Lanea seemed to be a visual person, and he was flashing images as fast as a fire mage light show. Maksim couldn't hardly grab onto any of them to try to see if he was going to murder Fredrick.

Maksim stumbled back with Fredrick and kept himself between them--partially to keep Fredrick back and partially to hopefully deter Lanea. He didn't need to turn around and look at him to know Fredrick was furious with him, but he didn't care. Fredrick shouldn't have attacked Lanea. He glared at Lanea, but he didn't exactly disagree with him. His skills made interrogations easier, but he hated watching people torture people. It made him sick. But having built a reputation as a sadist, he couldn't really pretend otherwise. So he growled at the insult.

But, Lanea was backing down, so Maksim slowly began to relax--well, not really relax, but more like not prepare for a fight. They were walking away. Good. He was still watching Lanea, so he caught a few flashes--just simple desires, like wanting to rest, wanting comfort. But then, instead of the simple desires, Maksim got slammed upside the face with naked women, and he let out a yelp and immediately shut his eyes very tightly. He shuddered, trying to get the icky feeling out of his insides. It was like being around his siblings--gross. Except, most of them did not discriminate based on gender. Ugh, why did people like that sort of stuff? It made his insides squirm. And now it was in his head and it would haunt his nightmares.

But then his stupid fledgling turned around and punched Lanea, and Maksim growled in frustration. They were going to kill each other, and then he was going to have to explain why one of his fledglings and a commander were dead, and the admiral would probably think they were fighting over women--which, to be fair, was true, but not in the way he would think--and then he would probably just kill the prisoners since the interrogator was dead.

"Stop it!" Maksim growled, though he was too stressed to use his magic with any skill. He could influence people fairly well without them noticing, but not when emotions were high. "You're going to get her killed, you idiot!" He wasn't sure which "her" he meant, but it hardly mattered.




Lucia smiled and dipped her head in acknowledgement of Rose's thanks. She was revealed that placating them had thus far been relatively easy despite the princess going missing out of a place that had promised her safety. When he made his request, she nodded again.

"I will have new clothes sent to both your rooms," she said. Lucia glanced at the table. Only one tea cup was empty. "As well as food. I'm sure you're all hungry. Please, if there is anything else my clan can do, do not hesitate to ask. We are at your service."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Freddy's words were ones he was used to. They stung, like they always did, but he could handle them. He had handled them growing up, and he could handle them now. But there was one thing that he /couldn't/ handle.

He had projected images loosely, no faces attached, because he just wanted them to back off. But Frederick had misinterpreted, and he was accusing Lanea of thinking that way about Georgiana. His prisoner. He thought that he would lay hands on his prisoner. He couldn't deny that he was going to hurt her. He was going to be as gentle as possible, but he was going to hurt her. But he would never, ever, /ever/ touch her that way against her will.

He remembered his mother crying every time she hugged him growing up. He remembered how those in his clan had been nice to him, but always distant, like he was inherently dirty. He remembered his grandmother comforting his mother when she didn't think he could hear, telling her that it wasn't her fault she had ended up with an unwanted child because of a man's heartless actions.

Clan Grigori was supposed to end with his mother's generation. They were never supposed to have another child after the vampire/Eldergaard war. There was a reason why he had gotten so horribly angry when he thought of what Maksim had potentially done to Alyx, and the idea that /he/ would do that to /anyone/ made his blood boil.

He couldn't control his fury as he was punched, and the air around him began steaming. He wasn't supposed to be angry about this. He wouldn't normally care, no matter what anybody accused him of, or what anybody said. He could easily shrug off the jokes that he was a sadist, or that he liked hurting people, that he was inherently terrible because of his clan and what he did. He could deal with those all day without batting an eye, but the idea that he was a rapist infuriated him.

The sting in his jaw hurt. He would have a very sizable bruise there, but he hardly felt it as he grabbed Frederick by the collar of his shirt and, this time, threw him up against the wall. He wanted to punch him back. He wanted to punch him so bad.

"Don't you ever, /ever/ think that I would touch a prisoner like that!" He snarled, his voice cracking slightly. This was bad, he was breaking character. The only time he had ever broken character before was when somebody threatened Rose, and he had been able to blame his anger on his usual moodiness. "I would /never/ do that to /anyone/! I don't care what you think of me, what you say to me, but don't /ever/ say that again!"

His shoulders were shaking. He needed to get out of here. He was making a mess of everything, and he felt like he was going to have a panic attack. He couldn't do that, not here. He had been so good, for three whole years he had managed to fool everyone into thinking that he was the monster they thought he was, and he was ruining it.

He didn't punch him. His hands were shaking too much and he couldn't concentrate. God, he felt like he was going to throw up. He let go of Frederick's shirt and stepped back. He didn't care if he attacked him again. He needed to get away from them, he needed to calm down.

He turned on his heel and ran. He didn't know or /care/ where he was going, he just needed to get away.



Rose was grateful that the Salazar clan were good hosts. He could use some food, and he was certain that Cyn would also be hungry once he finished in the lab.

"Thank you, Elder Lucia," he said politely. "For now, I think I will retire to my room. If you have need of me for anything, please don't hesitate to retrieve me."

 

[jones573]

"I've never been the optimist of my family," Gigi admitted. "And I do value your insight- I just think we should shift focus to our more... Immediate priorities."

"The science is interesting," she grumbled. "The way that magic impacts and interacts with the functioning of a body is fascinating," she protested. Of course Eldergaardians wouldn't think so- Most people in Allaria didn't seem to think so either. "I would want to study it even if it wasn't... Such a pressing concern."




Grigori was stronger than Fredrick, which was made clear when Freddy's back hit the wall. But more surprising than the attack was the wave of unexpected emotion coming off the Commander- Freddy instinctually turned away from the force of it, and slumped back against the wall.

He stayed slumped until Grigori had left, unsure of what he himself was feeling. A bit badly, he supposed, because it was clear he had been wrong about Lanea on that particular point, though he still hated the man. Mostly he felt ashamed- Maskim was right. He'd put their plan, and Gigi and Alyx, in danger. He was still the reckless idiot he'd always been, unwilling to hold his tongue even when he knew the stakes.

"I'm sorry, sire," he mumbled quietly, which was about as much submission as he ever showed to his Commander. "I'll- I'll do better," he promised, though he wasn't sure if he could.

 

[Reynarda]

"I'm not an optimist either," Alyx muttered. But Georgiana was right. She was looking too far ahead. She needed to focus on the here and now. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Alyx wasn't really sure how Georgiana felt about her. To be fair, she hadn't shown the princess much of anything except her nasty side, so she really should pull those walls down and show that she could be nice when she wanted to be. It made her a little uncomfortable, because she still wasn't sure how she felt about Georgiana, but they needed to work together to get out of this alive.

Alyx chuckled. "I don't doubt the science is fascinating. But the military sees it sort of as... perhaps the way most Allarians see magic?" She shifted her leg. "I used to like that sort of stuff, before the war. I loved watching animals. When one of the dragons near my home had a clutch of eggs, I would sneak up really close to her and just watch her care for her eggs. Learned a lot. They breathe on their eggs to keep them warm. It was really cool."



A lot of things flashed across Maksim's magical vision. Instantly, he realized he and Fredrick had made a grave mistake. When Lanea yelled, Maksim flinched back, reflexively throwing his hands up to protect his head. He wasn't yelling at him, Maksim tried to remind himself as he lowered his arms. Lanea did not look good. He looked like he was about to be sick. Maksim cursed quietly. What had they done?

He dove out of the way as Lanea suddenly took off. He should go after him--no, not after what he had pretended to do to Alyx. But he couldn't leave him like that. There was only one person that Lanea might be alright with, and she was locked in a cell. But he couldn't leave him like that.

Maksim shifted back and forth on his feet. He glanced down at Fredrick. Now was so not the time for him to be all submissive. But, being called "sire" sparked an idea in his mind.

He swore. "Give me your--no. Take the food to your sister. I'll be right back."

Swearing repeatedly, Maksim took off down the hall. He burst into the vampire barracks, grabbed a smallish spare red coat off a peg, and went running back up the stairs. He ran back past where the fight had been and exploded into the brig.

"Alyx!"

Alyx was on her feet instantly. "What?!"

Maksim threw open the cell. "It's Lanea--switch your coat with this one."

"Max!" Alyx hissed, immediately seeing his plan. "If we get caught--"

Maksim's eyes were wide. "Lanea looked real bad, Alyx, I think we accidentally uncovered something. I can't--my clan--but you can. They won't look twice."

But Alyx had already started shedding her clan colored-coat and snatched the vampire squadron coat. As she buttoned it, Maksim wrapped her scarf around her neck and pulled the hood up. The scarf was warm, and she could feel energy moving through her veins. It had way more energy than it should have, so Maksim must have been using magic.

"This is crazy," she hissed, though that seemed to be her only complaint as he adjusted her hood to hide her face.

"Good luck kiss?"

Slipping past him, Alyx called over her shoulder, "You're such a prick!"

Maksim swatted at her butt as she ran off but purposefully missed. He shot Georgiana a grin. "She doesn't mean that. She is secretly madly in love with me. Oh, silver!"

Spinning, he grabbed some chalk from a pouch on his belt. "Fre-Fledgling! Stand guard. If anyone asks, Grigori and Draya are in the interrogation room and they are not to be disturbed. Influence them if you have to."

Maksim began drawing runes on the interrogation room door. This was a terrible plan. They were going to get caught, and all three of them were going to get executed. This was something Alyx would come up with, only it would work for her because she had the luck of a devil. But he could not live with himself knowing what he had just done to Lanea. It made him feel sick. He hadn't known. He would never--stupid, stupid, stupid. He really needed to get over his habit of assuming everyone was trash. Apparently not all clans were evil.

He eyed his ward. That would keep people out of the interrogation room so they couldn't see he was lying. No one else should come down into the brig--the admiral would be wanting to firmly blame the vampires if anyone escaped. Alyx would be fine. It would be fine.

He turned and glared at Fredrick. "Are you going to start listening to me, now? Or are you going to keep being a hothead?"

Alyx had no idea how far Lanea had gotten or where he would go on a ship that was not his own. She didn't even know him that well. But she had seen how upset Maksim had been, so that was all she needed. She jogged lightly until she was out of the deeper hold and more likely to run into other people. She slowed to a purposeful walk, hunching her shoulders and keeping her head down. The one person she passed didn't even look at her. She supposed people didn't actually pay attention to what Maksim's fledglings looked like--they just saw the red uniform. She turned towards the cargo bay, guessing he wouldn't go topside if he were upset.

"Lanea?" she hissed far too low for any human ear to pick up. "I'm going to walk around looking for you until I find you, so you might as well whistle or something. Lanea? I'm really tired, so if you don't want me to pass out and get caught, you might as well let me know where you are. Lanea?"




Lucia smiled and nodded. "Yes, you need rest, I'm sure. I will send for you if we have any issues."