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Veni Vidi Vici	By : Saber007 Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy XV Views: 1503 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XV, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
I can't believe how long I've worked on this story and how big it's gotten. VVV is my longest work now and still going strong. Yeah!
I want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing. Dearest readers, you may not believe you all are a part of the writing process, but you are, so you deserve some recognition too. Sometimes you all point out things I never think of, or bring up interesting additions, or magically guess where I'm going with things. You all offer up support and encouragement. You show dedication and love. So again, thank you for joining the journey.
Totally unapologetic for how long these chapters keep churning out, even though it's agonizing to edit them.
Mandarin

Huangdi- Emperor. A self-invented title from Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China.
XV
"I know the feeling of a brand new weapon in your hands is invigorating, but please, do be careful. Both amateurs and experts can find themselves in dire situations." Imperatrix pleaded to Nyx and Lunafreya, the eager ones testing out their new equipment with childish zeal.
Genius came through with her order.
A versatile, silver longbow rimmed with glowing, gold accents of light-based runes was for Nyx. The item could switch between a bow firing energy arrows, to dual blades sharp and hot enough to cut through the thickest daemon hide.
On one side of the middle of the bow was a small indent for a crystal. For now, one was empty and the other filled with a yellow gem to power the weapon. At max, two elements could be infused into the arrows.
The young scientist was very proud of the new experiment, one of his first ventures into transformable weaponry.
A grey quarterstaff featuring two options of blades was for Lunafreya. On one end a trident and the other a spear-head, both retractable and summonable by twisting the handles. Both ends were color-coded. Violet around the gear for the spear, gold around the gear for the trident.
This weapon didn't have components for elemental effects since Imperatrix assumed the oracle would imbue the item with her own magic. No need to cause any interference between crystals and the girl's magic.
Both magitek weapons were lethal to humans and daemons alike.
Seeing the glaive and oracle's surprised faces morph into joyous ones upon deliverance of the equipment made the sum worth it. Protected and happy, that was how her companions should be.
"You should not be giving my sister a weapon anyway." Ravus crossed his arms, watching Lunafreya twirl the polearm efficiently, twisting the handle as shown to bring out the spear.
He was both impressed and disturbed to see her in this light. What happened to the little girl that depended on him?
Who was this woman?
She dressed somewhat like his sister, white laced dress, jewelry, messy ponytail…but there were new things. The oracle wore leggings underneath her dress for modesty and movement. Gone were the heels, replaced with flats. An arm guard covered the jagged scar she received from a Queen Bee.
His sister…but not…
"Would you have her defenseless?" Imperatrix asked rhetorically, bumping shoulders with the sour-puss. "Remember, you agreed to observe her skills. I assure you, my training is adequate for your standards."
It took a meltdown and Lunafreya threatening to sneak into the mine herself for the Elder Fleuret to agree and he didn't do it out of the kindness of his heart, but because he truly believed his sister was too weak to succeed.
How idiotic of him, looking at the girl with those dismissive eyes. It emboldened the oracle, not scared her off like it might have before.
Blind and stupid from sibling love, that would be Imperatrix as well if she didn't learn the value of listening. A closed-off person like Ravus wouldn't get how much he undermined himself with his behavior.
Hopefully, these days together would improve Fleuret relations.
"We shall see, Impera." The high commander refuted, entering the gated section before the Balouve Mines.
If Lunafreya collapsed from exhaustion before they cleared the dungeon, custody of her returned to him. The princess wouldn't stop him from taking his sister home and the girl, herself wouldn't pitch a fit about it.
Getting her home would be easier than he thought.
No way could his frail sibling clear the mines. He knew for a fact how difficult it was for her to do minor things and it was the reason he took so much time off from work to monitor her.
How many promotions did he mis out on thanks that? And what did he receive for his consideration? A sister's spite.
Ungrateful cherub.
Not that long ago, Lunafreya could barely complete her walks with Pryna and Umbra. How many times did the maids rush out to retrieve her after hearing the dogs bark? Finding the girl prone in the garden and unresponsive?
Too many times!
Church work dwindled to her delegating much of the tasks to the cardinals and making scarce appearances for mass. At this point, the Holy Mother would become the Holy Father from how much those black-garbed priests controlled the cathedral.
The only thing she didn't shirk on was her healing of Starscourge. That got her out of bed and into action no matter what, smile plastered on her face and kindness bursting from her countenance for every supplicant.
If for years his sister struggled to do these simple things without getting sick and weak, uninspired to even get out of bed, how could she accomplish a dungeon clearing?
Lunafreya mastering the dark caverns? The idea of it was absurd! Even some of his soldiers might have trouble with the daemons known to inhabit the crevices of caves.
No, this was his win. The blackmail plan was unnecessary.
"Did either of you hear a word I said?" The princess snapped her finger as she would when demanding her soldier's attention.
Nyx and Lunafreya startled, one guiltily collapsing their polearm and giving precedence to Imperatrix. The other one grinned breezily, bow slung over his shoulder.
"Yes, Mom. We heard you." The glaive drawled, wrangling the blonde around playfully. "I'm not gonna get the kiddo killed."
"You are both insufferable with this playacting." The oracle frowned too cutely for it to be considered anything but a pout, widening the "parents" smiles.
"Aww, she's hitting the rebellious phase." Nyx chortled as his captive fled.
"Oho? Has that not been her natural state?" The princess teased, gaining louder guffawing from him.
The glaive and princess trekked after the Lunafreya, mindful of the railroad tracks leading to the entrance of the mine where Ravus was clutching his prosthetic arm. His sister approached him, but he brushed her worry off.
With the last two joining the siblings, they all set forth into Balouve.
Abruptly, the atmosphere went from hot and sunny to dark and dank. Luminance came from the heavenly-blessed Fleurets, fair-haired angels glowing in the dark.
"Woah. Ravus does the glory thing too?" Nyx lifted his new visor sunglasses that let him see in the darkness, blinking at the Fleurets.
"Stop talking." He replied brusquely, inwardly seething over the useless abilities granted to him as blood of the first oracle.
Why were the boys not blessed with magic?
"Is this how we are to enter the mines?" Lunafreya fidgeted next to her brother.
The elevator was old and unlike anything she'd seen in the empire. Where were the buttons? Why did it look so old and rickety?
"Do not be afraid. It works." Imperatrix took one side of the doors while the high commander got the other end.
Both pulled open the doors, flinching at the loud screech produced by their efforts. Dust flew out when the elevator was fully propped open. Coughing ensued from this outflow.
"Ladies first." Nyx goaded, hand outstretched for the oracle to get on. "Unless you need Dad to hold your hand?"
"No thank you." She hurriedly rejected, stepping into the small space and holding up a hand to produce more light. "I am not afraid."
The glaive doubted that, but didn't push the matter. He got in next, oracle squished in between him and the high commander. Imperatrix hit the button for the lower floor on the nearby module, joining the cluttered batch. It was a tight fit with the four of them. They managed to get the doors closed again in the small space with a minimal amount of accidental elbowing and an ample amount of noise.
Conscious of the proximity of a sturdy body behind her, the princess clenched her jaw. She felt extremely skittish with Nyx lodged so close. Heart pounding and nerves bubbling, Imperatrix wanted off, fast, before she lost the ability to breathe.
Why was he making her so excitable? Did him holding her have such a profound effect on her emotions? No, no, it had to be the alcoholic kisses making her bask in immature giddiness!
His lips burned her…burned her bad!
Or was it…the dream? That scorching fantasy…
It got darker and colder as the elevator went down, potent enough that Lunafreya's magic dimmed to the soft ray of a lantern versus the blaze of a high beam. She fidgeted more, aware that her frazzled mind was affecting the magic more than the efficacy of shadow. Every creak of the metal and every second in the cramped space chilled the oracle.
Last time on an elevator…King Regis was with her. Bandaging his hand kept her mind off the confinement. She felt safe with him, reminded of good days, of a father gone too soon and at the edge of her memories. King Raphael…his face, voice, smell, everything about him eluded her…
There was nothing to distract her this time. She was trapped. Imprisonment was all the girl knew. She didn't want to go back to it!
No more locked doors!
"What's wrong kid?" Nyx took in the pale hand gripping his coat sleeve.
Lunafreya shut her eyes, a white statue. The light faded from her palm and it sunk to her side.
"Don't touch her!" Ravus hissed, plucking his sister from the glaive and gathering her into a familiar encirclement.
Sylleblossoms…he smelled like home…
His magic felt like home…
"Don't snatch her like that, jerk! She's not a toy!" He argued, getting up close to the high commander.
"My sister is of no concern to you!" The platinum blonde cradled Lunafreya closer, a choking hold.
"Stop it!" Imperatrix separated the males, rocking the elevator and swiftly ending the spat. "There will be no in-fighting like children."
The males scoffed, turning up their noses to the other.
Lunafreya's sudden depression went unquestioned, but Ravus did keep her in his embrace, rubbing her arm to add some heat to her skin. Unknown to him, she was recalling every instance of the elder Fleuret locking her in rooms as punishments.
The elevator finally coming to a halt saved the oracle from her misery. She was the first one off after the doors were plied open.
"Lunafreya do not wander too far ahead." Imperatrix hurried to keep up with the blonde. "Keep a level head if you wish to impress your brother."
She slowed down.
The mission. Focus on that. Not the confinement. Not the isolation. Not the mania.
"My apologies."
The princess smiled reassuringly. "Boys are aggravating. Just ignore them and you will preform spectacularly."
That wasn't why she dashed out, but better to let Imperatrix think so. The oracle nodded, readjusting her grip on the staff.
She could sense daemons.
"Shall I take the lead, or you?" Ravus put to the woman not dressed in white for once, as an imperial princess was supposed to be, but garbed in Persian silks of dusky violet.
She hardly looked Gralean like that. What was with all these womanly changes? First his sister and now his childhood menace.
All that long hair and embroidered fabrics were completely at odds with the boyish army brat he knew. So much change was giving him a headache.
Nyx snorted, muttering to himself. "This guy… I really had the wrong opinion of Impera. She's a saint compared to the rest."
Psychopath retainers, eccentric chancellors, freakish scientists, and big-headed commanders. Niflheim didn't have much going for it.
"I believe Lunafreya should take point." The princess proffered, laying an approving hand on the girl's shoulder. "She is the one you are assessing."
Ravus stared, as if the concept was so absurd he need not even voice his disbelief.
"Please stop being difficult." She in turn deadpanned.
"Fine. Put the squad's life in the hands of an amateur." The high commander conceded haughtily.
Ignoring the urge to slap a certain platinum-blonde, Imperatrix gestured for Lunafreya to go forward. She took the lead and the others formed around her.
They followed the train tracks, avoiding the carts, barrels, and supplies laid about. By the looks of the maker symbols, imperials already travelled through for stock.
Who was stationed in Lucis to complete this kind of work? The division had to be adequately skilled to brave a daemon dwelling.
Lunafreya screamed at a sudden loud whirring noise, ducking down for an attack that didn't come. Nyx had a similar reaction. Ravus and Imperatrix were the ones unsurprised, pointing out the cause.
A ventilation fan.
The glaive unsuccessfully laughed it off while the oracle sighed.
Another shock came soon.
Nyx shouted for everybody to move. A cart zipped by the four at breakneck speed. Females on one side and males on the other, the opposites gawked incredulously down the hall until the moving object couldn't be heard.
"I'm having second thoughts about this. Too scary movie for my liking." The glaive uttered, examining his surroundings for more bombshells.
"It cannot be that dangerous if soldiers were able to set up a supply line." Imperatrix deduced, becoming paranoid herself.
There was no way the cart could have moved on its own. No recent tracks were in the dirt when they entered, meaning only night creatures could have snuck behind them.
She could think of one branch of daemons mischievous and lunatic enough to run them over. The wicked little things brought to mind her own devious red head.
Funny how Ardyn could enact terrifying pranks on people, but he, himself abhorred scary movies. Especially anything of a psychedelic nature.
The walking contradiction.
"How did the cart move? I saw it locked in place." Lunafreya aired to the room. "Did we trip it?"
She looked down at the track for a lever or something. That was how they functioned right?
"Daemons, Luna." Ravus stated simply.
"Oh…I did sense them…"
"And you said nothing?"
She flushed, getting defensive. "They were further from us…and then…not. I was not sure what to make of it."
"Imps can teleport." The high commander informed her blandly. "This is basic information even the general populace knows. Have you truly learned as much as Imperatrix boasts?"
"More than I did with you." Lunafreya mouthed off, then froze as she realized who she'd done it too.
"Ever onwards my friends!" Imperatrix declared, diverting a clash with her spirited posture.
Ravus twitched, sneer and laugh warping his face as he looked between the females.
"Wow. I thought your friend was joking about your habits. Guess not." Nyx regarded the princess unsurely.
Amused or gross-out, he couldn't decide. The mediator of the group appeared to feel the same way towards him from her withering appraisal.
So romantic how they managed to be on the same wavelength most the time.
"I will not be chastened by you. The idiot with a catchphrase for every encounter when we were in Insomnia." She challenged.
"I'm a hero, I get to do that!"
"And I am a princess, my status trumps yours! Therefore, my words are sacred, whereas yours are puerile."
"Six! You're just as vain as me, woman!"
"I was wrong to believe myself free from inane talk with this group." Ravus remarked, sweeping past the squabbling glaive and princess. "Was it not you who remonstrated 'in-fighting', Imperatrix?"
She held her tongue from issuing out more degrades to Nyx.
"I think we can make an exception for you." The Galahdian murmured, getting pushed for the comment. "C'mon! You know you want to."
Imperatrix shook her head, continuing to push him forward.
More caution seeped into the group's exploration. Carts mysteriously persisted in almost running them over in their advancement. Nyx's good hearing kept them ahead of the game, safe from being mowed down.
It was at the end of the second floor their tormentors finally showed.
"Of course it is Imps waylaying us." Ravus's metal arm glinted with energy as he electrocuted a daemon in his grasp, dismissive of its screeching.
These low level nuisances weren't worth drawing Alba Leonis.
Imperatrix was of a similar mindset. She didn't engage the enemy, permitting Lunafreya to handle the few tricksters. The girl defeated all but one.
"I don't think so buddy." Nyx loosed an arrow into the Imp that jumped off the railing to attack the oracle, turning it to miasma upon contact. "Hoh, this is awesome!"
He gave the bow another admiring, playing with the drawstring. Consider him a believer!
The glaive wanted to call bullshit when Genius explained the mechanics of an energy-based bow. Feats like that were only possible by Lucian artifacts magically enhanced by the royal family.
His obtuse mindset was officially debunked.
The Nephilim had their own mystics going on. Color him impressed.
"There is a way down over here." Imperatrix announced, kneeling by the rocks jutting out the ground to emit fire energy that colored the passage red.
"What are you doing?" Lunafreya bent next to the princess, tilting her head at the object being stuck into the magma portion of the stones.
Crimson liquid poured into a bottle from the siphon.
"Gathering the magic portion for our prestigious magitek." She carefully stored the bottle into the supply bag strapped to her, repeating the process for two more bottles.
"How do you use it?" The oracle thought people like Noctis, chosen ones by the gods, were the only people capable of using magic.
It never occurred to her that natural stores of the land could be harnessed and used. Did Ravus do this too? Was that how his arm worked?
Could everyone use magic like this?
"We imbue cores and crystals with this, which we then outfit in weapons, armor, airships, and other things for higher functioning. I, however, am not an expert on the matter. If you wish to know more, ask Izzy or Ardyn. They are the experts on alchemy."
"How fascinating." Lunafreya stared at her staff, looking for the mentioned crystal.
She wasn't the primary one intrigued. Nyx stored this new information, finding it not all that different from how they used the deposits.
A lot of Kingsglaive members used flasks containing magic as a quick solution in a fight when the mages weren't available. One little jar could unleash a blizzard, thunderstorm, or firestorm.
Dangerous stuff.
Lucky for him, Nyx was nifty enough with warps and combat that he didn't need to rely on flasks. There was also an incident were he accidentally froze his legs by dropping a bottle while training with Luche and Libertus. He then had to wait for Crowe to unfreeze him. The misfortune completely turned the man off from the volatile products.
Literals blue-balls wasn't fun. Those two clowned his ass for weeks over that mishap. Assholes.
Libertus…that oaf. What was he doing now? Drinking out their bar? Slouching in front of his tv?
He needed to call the lug…and his mom. Talking to her would be difficult as hell.
"Thank you for waiting. We can move on." Imperatrix stood.
The third floor held no carts accidents, but the level did catch Ravus off guard with water randomly pouring from the ceiling. He cursed at his spare clothing getting wet and saved the more creative expletives for his metallic arm being subjected to the liquid.
"Uh, is that thing gonna short-circuit and kill us all if it keeps getting wet?" Nyx probed after back-stepping a water leak. "We're like, primed for an electric bath."
The dirt had gave way to a knee-level pool that they were all wading through.
A condescending glare was given as an answer to the glaive.
"Everybody should keep a distance from the big guy. Don't wanna get fried."
Before Nyx could laugh at his joke, an Imp launched into him. He yelped, haphazardly firing as water softened his fall. The arrow managed to get the creature's arm and it teleported.
Since the passage was too narrow for Lunafreya's polearm, she called for the princess. Imperatrix used a short blade connected to her gauntlet to dispose of the Imp, ending the battle in seconds. The victorious woman held out a hand for her fallen comrade.
"No jokes, Princess?" He hopped up with her help, shrugging off the wetness.
No point in bitching about his soggy clothes after ragging on Ravus.
"I like you on your back." Imperatrix quipped without too much thought. "Now if only you would kneel."
Nyx barked out a laugh, fixing his visor to leer over the rim at her. "I think we've established who's the alpha, hun."
What did that mean? Obviously her. She was the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.
The high commander biding them forward forestalled the princess correcting the glaive.
At a junction they found more tracks.
"Wait for it." Nyx stood off to the side, comically waiting for a cart to come.
He got what he wanted and more. The passengers sprung out for a fight.
"Your flapping mouth tempts things again." The princess sighed, tired of the Imps interference.
"Give me a break! I don't want them showing up every second either!"
This time Ravus cleared the enemies in one swing of his rapier, re-sheathing the blade at the finale of the arc. "This is so tedious."
"Everyone has participated now." Lunafreya noted, hiding the look of awe for her brother's skills when he glanced her way. "Which way should we go?"
Two paths loomed before them.
"That is up to you. Command has been given to you." Imperatrix pronounced.
The oracle studied both ways, recounting the foes they faced. "We should…split up."
"Why? You do realize dividing a group lessens its strength?" The high commander badgered.
"Imps alone have appeared and I do not sense anything stronger. Even in twos we should be safe."
"Highly optimistic. There could be a number of things to go wrong that two people might not be able to handle. Your senses are not to be trusted either, daemons have a way of playing tricks on the mind."
Lunafreya iced over with fury at her brother's berating.
"Nevertheless, Imperatrix and I are capable enough to handle unforeseen complications. I do not oppose your suggestion." He flicked some dirt off his elegant frock. "The faster we finish, the better."
She lost the edge. Did he…try to critique her just then? Not belittle her? Far more abrasive than the princess, but it did sound like constructive advise.
"Should anything go wrong we have communication abilities." Imperatrix hit a button on her headgear, testing the connection. "The comm is stable."
The new model Genius gave her worked more efficiently than the spare from Nebula, which she'd chipped on the glass portion of the screen, earning the gunman's temporary ire. The tense moment of handing him the gear and receiving his frigid glower made her feel infinitely small.
Her communication and visual equipment also had the benefit of being a cute accessory.
Headgear shaped in the Aldercapt emblem, glorious dragons of white and black on the side, it appealed to her tastes. The beast's wings angled out as they were made the woman appear distinctly draconian, similar to the old generation of mortals that bore half-human, half-animal characteristics.
The lost period of demigods…the Mythic Age.
"Which way will you go?" Ravus asked the princess.
"Left I suppose." Imperatrix checked to see if Nyx had any complaints.
He shrugged. It went unsaid that the high commander would accompany the oracle.
"Right for us then." He went in the chosen direction, sister trailing behind him.
"Call on the comm if anything happens!" Imperatrix yelled before they got out of hearing range, pointing to her ear when Lunafreya looked back. "You remember how to use it?!"
"Yes, I remember!" The oracle poked at the basic earpiece and then gave a thumbs up as she'd been taught to do by Nyx.
She and Ravus disappeared and it darkened.
"You and me now, Impera."
"Yes, so no foolhardy actions, if it please you." The princess took the lead, arm ready to trigger the wrist blade.
"Me? Never!" He sniggered.
Not even a few minutes into walking the corridor, they were ambushed by an Imp springing out a stationary cart they approached. It knocked Imperatrix to the ground. She stabbed it before spindly fingers could touch her.
Nyx helped the woman to her feet with a little bit of wheedling and promptly got pushed for it, commencing a bout of tussling for a few minutes until she ran off with the glaive on her heels. Fortunate for them they weren't bothered during this impromptu game.
The two eventually slowed down, catching their bearing.
Now that they were alone, Nyx wondered if this was a good time to bring up something just as important as his condition. Though, this wasn't the best atmosphere.
He mussed his hair in frustration. Sitting on it was bothering him and the longer it went unacknowledged, the worse things could get.
"Hey, Impera?" The glaive called.
She came to a halt at the end of the hall. A large, lighted, factory section waited behind her.
His eyes widened and Nyx froze, previous topic abolished from his mind.
"What is it?" She whirled around, searching for whatever spooked the fearless man, but found nothing out of the ordinary. "What is wrong?"
"You didn't see that?!" He whispered frantically, grabbing her to crash their bodies to the wall, crouched and hidden from view of the terrifying enemy.
At the end of the tracks Nyx saw a black-clothed wraith waiting to kill them with a blade glinting off its shoulders.
"Saw what?"
"The goddam Grim Reaper!"
"That is impossible." Imperatrix worriedly assessed the man, laying a hand on his arm and feeling the disfigured skin underneath his coat. "Do you need to take a break?"
They'd been exploring for more than an hour. She needed to be more attentive of Nyx with his condition looming overhead. Who knew how much time he had left and accelerating that clock with these kinds of expeditions daunted her.
Alas…the glaive wasn't the type to sit around. Excluding him was useless, he'd find something else dangerous to do. Too much of busybody like her.
"I'm fine." The glaive took his eyes off the spot ahead to give her the stink eye. " I can't believe your pagan butt is trying to tell me a Death God doesn't exist."
"That is not what I meant. It is impossible because all the gods, save the Astrals, left this plane or died out. This is no longer the Age of Gods and Mythology." The princess moved her hand up his arm to squeeze his shoulder in retaliation, fingernails digging into the fabric. "And who are you calling 'pagan'? Do you not worship your lunar gods, Fenrir and Selene, hypocrite?"
Nyx clicked his tongue. "Score one for you."
The Insomnians gave him a hard time for believing outside the Six, but he refused to give up that aspect of Galahdian culture when he moved to the crown city. He left his home to protect it, not lose every trace of it and submerse himself in his new dwelling's customs.
Wasn't it enough he adopted the Astrals into his religion? He didn't need to give up his Galahdian traditions to recognize only them.
Imperatrix hummed exultantly.
"But I'm telling you, I saw him!" The glaive stepped towards the bridge, keeping vigilance for a robbed death-bringer.
"Let us hope you did not. You and I are unqualified to kill a deity."
Imperatrix found herself suspicious now from how grave her companion was in his defensive progress, bow at the ready for anything. Halfway across the elevated bridge of tracks, she glimpsed the fiend.
"Nyx!" She murmured, latching onto the back of his coat.
"See, see?! I told you so!"
The black wraith walked towards them, stepping into a beam of light cast by the ventilation fan.
Inhuman purple skin, a dark, intricate kimono, vaguely human features, and an unseemly long sword. Their enemy very much gave the impression of a murderous entity.
Paralyzed with fear, the glaive and princess couldn't move. Never before had either encountered this kind of foe. It came to a standstill in front of them, blade lifting off its shoulder.
The killer moment ended, cancelled by the adversary disappearing like it was never there. In its place was a mine cart to ram full speed into the frozen couple.
They flew from the impact. Nyx landed on top of Imperatrix, dazed from taking the brute of the collision.
Maniac cackling reverberated in the room from the Imps as they continued on their ride, intent to torment some more humans.
"Freaking evil shits! I'm gonna kill every last one!" The glaive shouted, enraged at the twisted game they were subjected to.
He coughed afterwards, chest aching from the hit.
"Nyx! Let me see if you broke something." The princess pressed her hands gently to his body, checking for tender spots.
"I'm cool, just winded." He assured at the end of his coughing fit, leaning on her shoulders and dipping his head to her height. "You're more than welcome to keep touching me though."
She had a retort prepared, but it died out. "Look out!"
The wraith swung its blade, missing a killing blow from Imperatrix's interference. It did succeed in knocking them off the bridge.
Glaive and princess screamed as they fell. Imperatrix used the other feature of her gauntlet, launching a hook to stop their fall. They swayed, crashing into the railing and then dangling precariously.
"Is that going to hold?" Nyx wheezed, holding onto the woman tightly.
He had the worst luck! Why was it he pretty much only got close to her in life or death situations?!
"It will…" She hissed out, jaw gritted stiffly. "But my arm will not!"
"Oh, shit. I did hear something pop." The glaive dropped his head onto her shoulder, exhaling morosely. "I hoped that noise came from my bag or yours."
She probably dislocated her shoulder when the wire caught them. Were it not for his weight, that might not have happened.
"Release the wire."
"N-No w-way." Imperatrix was huffing at this point, sweat gathering on her forehead.
"We're not that far from the ground. Besides." Nyx lifted his face, looking her directly in the eye. "Do you want to wait for that creep to cut the line?"
She sighed, getting a better grip on his waist and he in turn squeezed around her neck.
"This is backwards, you know? I'm supposed to be holding you."
"Brace yourself." Imperatrix flouted his bellyaching.
She clicked the button, ejecting the wire. They fell the rest of the way down, tucking into rolls and then battle ready positions out of habit. Their instincts were right.
More Imps materialized to terrorize them.
"Let's go you bastards! I've had enough of you." Nyx laid into the daemons with his bow-daggers.
Imperatrix drew her sword, blade movements slower since one arm pained her too much to use. She was still more than a match for the weak creatures.
Once cleared out, the princess clutched her aching arm.
"Your turn. Let Dad see."
She let Nyx examine her.
"Yup, that's dislocated." He grimaced, highly empathizing with the pain Imperatrix was about to undergo. "Want me to pop it in place?"
The glaive would take a bullet over a dislocation any day, which was no exaggeration because he'd experienced both. Plus the explosive shrapnel thing Luche used on him.
Uhh…
Maybe he needed to rethink that. Luche's gun was agony.
Dislocation or explosive bullet? Hard to pick.
"Have you done this before?"
"Too many times to count. People popped their shoulders repeatedly when practicing warping." Nyx led the princess to a stairway, making sure she was seated comfortably before getting in place for the procedure. "Warping actually came with a lot of risks."
"The few times I warped with you were the absolute worst! Why would anyone willingly subject themselves to that intense displacement and nausea?"
"Cause in the end it's pretty freaking swank to just dip around, shanking everyone before they realize what's happening."
"You make a good case." Imperatrix looked to make sure Nyx wasn't putting on airs and knew what he was doing. "I still would opt out of that skill."
Sadly, he wasn't a noob to this. There was no error in his posture.
"Don't I always, babe?" He winked for good measure, then got stone-faced. "You ready?"
The princess groaned, closed her eyes, compressed her jaw, and finally nodded.
Nyx expected a scream of the pitchiest magnitude at the end of his countdown and execution of the pop, but all Imperatrix let out was a muffled squeal that descended into whimpering. Opposite end of the spectrum like usual with her.
"Uh…it's okay. It's over." The glaive awkwardly patted the woman on the back. "Suck it up, hun."
He'd could've dealt with screaming or cursing, crying however, just stumped him. Crowe never cried, nor did Selena. Maybe he hung out with too many dudes. His experience with weeping woman was limited to ones left disappointed by him and they usually decided that injuring the flaky man was a better reaction to him cancelling future dates.
Imperatrix wasn't a quick fling or thorny attachment he wanted out of though.
"By the gods! Your bedside manner is horrendous!" She grouched, laying her head in Nyx's lap with the rest of her body bunched up in a fetal position, impatiently trembling through the pain.
Ardyn would've held her, cooing sweet things. Like he did at Aracheole. She didn't register much of it, but his soft tone and safe embrace said what she couldn't hear.
Goddammit it all…she was spoiled and ridiculous! But there was nothing wrong with wanting to be pampered by someone dear to the heart, no matter the age!
"Clearly you like my 'bedside manner'." The sexual undertone in that flooded her and the princess jolted up.
"You want to bring that up now?!"
"It's not like we're going anywhere. We gotta wait for Luna to heal you." Nyx lifted his visor since the fans from above were providing enough light to not need them. "Speaking of, let me call her on the line."
Dammit! Out of everyone present, how did she acquire the first critical injury?!
Saving Nyx of course! And he had the nerve to tease her most inappropriately!
"Fortuitous man…" She mumbled, retaking her seat.
Imperatrix endangered herself for his sake because he was significant to her. For the right people she would shoulder the world.
Unfortunately, she couldn't help him in the most momentous way.
"They're on their way. They found the elevator at the end of their section." Nyx sat down next to her. "I told them not to follow our path. Wouldn't want their souls getting reaped."
"That was no Shinigami, but a daemon."
"A daemon?! I've never seen one like that."
"In Yasu there are creatures similar to the one we encountered." Imperatrix thought hard on the pictures Euphemia's retainer showed her. "I believe that one was an Aramusha."
Kaguya spun wild tales of the legendary Daemon Five of Yasu.
Ronin, Yojimbo, Kengo, Aramusha, and Ayakashi. They were the slayers of man. Very rarely did people live to tell the tale of an encounter with one of the five.
Ayakashi in particular was shrouded in mystery, the most powerful and dangerous of them.
Thank the heavens that daemon wasn't the one to almost kill them.
"Daemons are almost as diverse as humans. You think you've seen them all and then see something new. What a crazy world!"
Imperatrix tensed at Nyx's observation. He hit very close to home without realizing it.
Nebula said she was abnormal for loving daemons…but did it count as unnatural if they were humans to begin with? Did all etches of humanity die out when they transformed? She wasn't sure. Some daemons didn't appear entirely monstrous, retaining semi-humanoid shapes. Their behavior switched between violent and uninterested, same as a humans.
They were so hard to pin down in her opinion. Dangerous or misunderstood?
Unanswered questions prevented Imperatrix from full-out killing any night prowlers she stumbled upon.
"Don't go exploring. You've only got one functioning arm." Nyx cautioned as he got up to follow the princess.
He couldn't make a sling out of anything and a potion might heal it wrong. She really didn't need to be moving around.
"I merely wish to inspect the wall. We did come here for ore." She smiled at the glittering bits of silver impeded in the rocks.
"You got tools to get them out?"
"Of course." Imperatrix slid the supply bag off, pulling out the necessary mining tools.
The glaive took what he needed. At the princess joining him, he made an obnoxious noise of refusal, physically spinning her around and pushing the woman away from labor.
"But it will go faster if I help you."
"Hell no! Sit down and be a girl for once." He regretted that as soon as it came out.
"I know you mean well, but do you hear the misogyny that flows like a current from you?"
"That was asshole of me. I own up to that." Nyx raised his hand in apology. He then bumped their foreheads together. "Please just sit down."
Flustered, she did as requested. The princess posted herself on top of a flat rock to observe the glaive and any potential ambushes.
Unbidden, her mind wandered to the tattoos hidden under Nyx's shirt after he took off the coat for ease of mobility.
Those inked paintings were nice to admire. She recalled a wolf flexing and moving with its master.
Tattooing her own body was out of the question, far too risqué for a princess. The most she could get away with was the multiple piercings in her ears. Those were highly illogical for a person in the military. Not to mention against regulation.
No on ever called her out on wearing multiple studs though and she didn't take them out despite the risk. Call it a small rebellion. If she couldn't have long hair, then Imperatrix would settle for body jewelry.
Ludicrous senators!
How did making her dress and behave like a boy accomplish anything?! Greedy throne-seeking fools just wanted to embarrass her and slight the emperor.
"Want me to take off my clothes? Cause you're eyeing the hellfire out of me." Nyx grinned roguishly at the woman combing through her hair with her fingers.
Her eyes were a fervid blue of quartzes. Just like the crystal of Lucis, numinous and flickering with hues.
The attention was very welcome. Playing it cool for the sake of everyone else not gossiping was alright, but she was a little too good at being normal. Her pretend skills were top notch.
"Nyx…since you want to get into this…" Imperatrix evaded the blatant come-on, giving him her full devotion this time because she hadn't been paying him any mind as he thought. "I am concerned about something and wish for clarification."
He dusted off his hands, depositing the latest batch of ore into the kit. "Go for it."
Count on the princess to go for the jugular. Her forthrightness would save him some sweating.
"You may not know this about me, associating it mainly with my father, but I am not a monogamous person." She frowned slightly, piecing together certain information. "You became intimate with me knowing I was beholden to someone else."
He was incredibly wrong as to who it was though. Certainly not Nebula, he was more or less a brother to her. A dysfunctional one…
She had many dysfunctional pseudo brothers…
"Answer me. Were your actions out of malicious envy for what was not yours or unquenchable affection for me?"
Her whole spiel was a lot to process for Nyx. One, cause it was long and he blanked out for some of it. Two, cause she spoke even more imperiously than King Regis and it annoyed him to decrypt her words.
Would it kill her to dumb down her speeches? How long would it take for Imperatrix talk like common folk?
She and Lunafreya still talked all high and mighty despite being around people that conversed normally. Nobody needed the fancy eloquence.
Did they have to be such princesses?
"Ugh, I barely got anything out of that!" The glaive rubbed his head, migraine forming. "You want to know if it was just sex or something more, yeah?"
"That is one aspect of it, yes, but—" The princess felt a shot of dread replace the exasperation as she fully registered what Nyx said. "What did you say?!"
He looked at her like a screw came loose in her brain. "I used simple words, unlike you. I know you heard me."
Why was she freaking out? Weren't they on the same page?
"We did not consummate anything!"
"Yes, we did."
"No! You stopped and that was the end of it." Imperatrix distinctly recalled that, followed by her sleeping.
Unless…the dream…
Oh…ohhhh…
"I did! Then you insisted you were fine and right there on the couch, we went at it." Now Nyx was highly upset. "Are you telling me you don't remember that?!"
She better be playing hard-to-get. He couldn't deal with them crashing and burning. The pining he'd been subjected to since meeting Imperatrix was unbearable.
There wasn't anyone else like her.
All the stupid shit he did to get her favor! The glaive wouldn't accept all that culminating in another failed relationship. He had too many of those under his belt already.
"N-No…I t-thought…" She covered her flaming face, whimpering from unconsciously using her injured arm.
"Watch it! Don't make it worse!" Nyx steadied her on the rock, temper cooling a bit at the reminder that she was in pain. "You really…don't remember?"
He was kneeled before her, insecure and every bit an animal prepared to flee. Another moment of real vulnerability he allowed her to witness.
Her heart permitted only honesty in return for this. "I thought that portion…a reverie, not reality. But if you say it is true, then I believe you."
"A dream?" Nyx snorted into her thigh, sputtering out. "Man, you're something else!"
This development would be news for Ardyn. The debauched man would want a detailed recounting of the incident.
How in the world had she confused it for sleepy illusions? Maybe her sobriety wasn't as firm as she assumed.
"Was this the other important discussion you wanted to have with me?" Overcome with an urge to touch him, Imperatrix ran her fingers through Nyx's shorter locks.
While his old hairstyle was rugged and reminded her of the Danes, she did like this new haircut, complimented by his beard. So striking and strong…
"Sort of…" He was distracted by her caressing his head and his illicit thoughts.
"What else—"
"I didn't use anything!" The glaive blurted out in a moment of clarity from the replay of their night, falling on his bottom to cradle his head for the impulsive stupidity the body could be guilty of. "Aw, shit…"
Flummoxed, Imperatrix didn't know what to say. She was confused.
Use what? Enhancements? Toys? Role-plays?
What a vague statement…
"If uh…if you turn out to be…" Nyx sporadically motioned to her body, losing his nerve at the end as the weight of it hit him.
First the cancer, then this. Damn, life was crazy!
"Please speak plainly. I do not understand." The princess's foot dug circles in the dirt, abstaining from any more flares of emotion from herself.
He and Ardyn did too much to her poor heart.
"I didn't use a condom, Impera."
"A what?"
"Are you fuc—" Nyx bounded up, blatantly gesturing to her stomach. "A condom! You know, the thing that prevents conception?!"
"Oh! It is a contraceptive?"
"How do you not know that?!" He was just shy of flipping out on her, because why was this line of conversation turning out to be more exhausting than his cancer topic?!
Slowly dying from an incurable disease? Easy peasy for him lay out to her. An unexpected pregnancy from a night of unprotected sex? Damned impossible and she kept throwing him for a loop!
"He doesn't use it, so why would I?!" Imperatrix countered in the same aggravated tone.
She'd always gotten injections since the pill option was time-consuming and easily forgettable with her demanding schedule. A simple poke into the skin and she was ninety-nine percent safe from unplanned pregnancies for three months.
So painless compared to chugging pills every morning.
Plus, the injection had the added benefit of reducing the monthly cycle output and its symptoms. All the females of the group got them.
Ardyn never had a need to use contraceptives since she was on one and the man took precaution a step further by repeatedly practicing coitus interruptus at the peak of their relations. It infuriated her that he did so, one due to the abrupt pain and second because it was downright insulting.
She wasn't some brothel whore to toss coins at, but a damned princess of royal blood and the woman he loved! She should be treated as such!
"I can't believe a princess is so irresponsible. Do you want to get pregnant?!" Nyx couldn't fathom a member of royalty not only being loose but also unsafe in their intimate life.
Imperatrix didn't know what a condom was…and Cloud never used it.
Holy hell! Things like this happened to commoners, not the upper echelon!
Wasn't sex outside of marriage a huge scandal for nobles? He knew Tenebrae was big on that shame stance from what Lunafreya told him when Nyx teased her too much about her virgin attributes and pending marriage to Prince Noctis.
What the heck was going on in Gralea?!
"U-Uh…umm…" The inquiry hurled Imperatrix into a fluster for the second time and she became mortified to the point it could be discerned despite her darker skin tone.
This wasn't the cute, small dusting she occasionally got when Nyx pushed her comfort zone, but a full display of someone exposed of their darkest, deepest, dirty laundry and wanting to crawl into a hole for it.
"Oh, my god! You do! You want a baby?" The glaive couldn't proceed, stuck between laughing or yelling.
The Fleurets running into the room staunched the conversation.
"Impera how could you be so foolish?!" Ravus took the words right out of Nyx's mouth.
The high commander hovered over the princess, scolds escaping by the minute as his sister put her hands to the injured shoulder for healing.
The glaive left them to it, dazed over the results of his talk. He mindlessly packed the kit.
Imperatrix wanted to have a baby! That was mind-blowing!
She shouldn't though, not while living around those asshole Niffs. They'd rub more of their villainous craziness on her.
Well…
The princess wouldn't be a terrible mother. She grew up with lots of siblings, the responsibility gene was ingrained in her. If not from that, than being in charge of a country would do it.
From the day he met her, Imperatrix looked out for Lunafreya, protecting the girl, guiding the girl, worrying over the girl. Doing all this when she didn't have to. For an imperial she was a lot nicer than expected.
Enemies-turned-reluctant-allies didn't usually mesh together, but the princess discredited that.
He was awful to her at first and so was Lunafreya. For the most part, Imperatrix was civil in the face of their hostility. Guilt probably played a big part in that, but so did her natural kindness.
No, no. Imperatrix had maternal instincts down-packed. She was a strong, patient, and gentle woman. Not at all a bad choice for the mother of his child.
Hold the front door! Why did he just think that?!
"Nyx do you need healing?" Lunafreya offered, glowing hand extended out towards him.
"N-No, I'm peachy." He flinched away from the magic.
Burning tingles ran up his arm to his temple and he flicked the limb, dispelling the phantom vision of flames. He flashed her an appreciative smile at the expression of hurt that crossed the oracle's face in a split second.
"Thanks for looking out, Luna."
"Of course."
After testing herself at the base, Lunafreya was eager to grow her powers. More excited than she could remember being. Potential was bursting within her body after receiving her mother's blessing. Songs flooded her mind, waiting to be crafted and release unto the world.
The melody in her heart wanted to surge out. It was such a profound thing to contain in her emptying vessel.
There was a coldness to her soul after having three pieces of it reclaimed by three of the Astrals, but this magic filled the barren space enough to give her strength.
Growth. This ascension was for Noctis and all of Eos. She'd seen more of it during this journey and seeing the beauty of the land heartened her.
Should this end in her death…than it was fair sacrifice to protect something so grand and vast.
"Let us not dither if no one else is indisposed." Ravus decreed, sticking closer to Imperatrix than before. "We shall not be splitting again."
"That was…a bad call on my part. Please accept my apologies." Lunafreya admitted to the princess, shocking her brother.
"It is alright. None of us could have anticipated that daemon." She patted the girl's cheek benignly. "Everyone be heedful for the Aramusha."
"How has that species appeared here in Lucis? It is native to Yasu." The high commander mussed quietly. "An absconder from the overthrow perhaps?"
"Very likely." Imperatrix responded just as lowly.
"Try not to freak out when you see it." Nyx goaded the whispering platinum blonde, spitefully looking forward to the stiff wetting himself in fright.
"A warning from experience?" His eyebrows and lips lifted in an exceptionally demeaning manner.
"No!" The glaive didn't go hysterical, just froze up. That didn't count so he wasn't lying.
Ravus smirked anyway. "Lucians frighten so effortlessly. How coddled you all are when it comes to daemons."
"What are you talking about? There are plenty of dangerous ones here."
"Compared to the empire? Not even close." The high commander sneered. "Even Accordo has more powerful nightlings. But I should not be cofounded. The Caelums presence on this land weakened them greatly."
Nyx didn't have a comeback for that. How could he when it was the truth?
Kingsglaive alone took care of daemon infested areas that popped up from the Wall's decreased range. Once upon a time, that crystalline dome used to cover the entire continent. Hard to believe, but it did.
Lucis was the safest place to live in Eos on account of the magic. That was sure to stir up loads of resentment in the other nations.
What did Niflheim have to complain about though? They at least had the oracle to create protective measures. Accordo had nothing.
"Says the guy who got his arm burned off by them." Nyx fired off at the end of another hateful spell from Ravus about Lucian vermin.
Lunafreya grabbed ahold of the nearest part of her brother before he could go for his sword. The elder Fleuret froze at the human flesh in contact with his prosthetic. Fear raced up his spine and the high commander jerked out the hold.
She lowered her arm, coolness in her tone. "No more bickering. It is childish."
With that laid down, the oracle walked off, head held high for the chance to chastise two people who frequently and unfairly belittled her.
"Luna…" Ravus said too faintly for anyone to catch, wishing she'd come back and he hadn't overreacted.
The high commander frowned at the glaive. This man was getting in the way. He was Lunafreya's brother and the one allowed to joke, comfort, and protect her.
He would not sanction anyone taking his role as elder brother.
"Ravus come along." Imperatrix beckoned, the last to stay.
The high commander walked up to her, snatching the supply kit off her shoulder and looping it around his.
"E-Excuse me, I—"
"Quiet! Though your arm may be healed, there is no need to add burdens to it."
The princess, knowledgeable of his abrasive sort of concern, beamed at Ravus. "Thank you, my friend."
He grunted.
Let them hurry this up and be done. Everyone present was getting on all trillion of his body's nerves.
XV
"Is this a mine or maze? I feel like I'll never see the sun again." Nyx complained, fingers numb form how many times he'd shot Imps.
They were everywhere and endless, causing heart attacks and mischief with every prank. Hatred towards them united him and Ravus.
A truce could be upheld in the common goal of Imp eradication.
When the fiends locked the doors and forced the group to climb back up levels to find an alternate route down, the males snapped, demolishing any set of daemons to materialize. Safe to say, they worked out their frustrations this way and the females were fine with letting them do so. Better to channel that negative energy at the opponents than each other.
"I'm so done with this place." The glaive kicked the ground, getting mud on his shoes.
All this mind-fuckery for silver, iron, gold, and some elemental deposits?! Not worth it!
Actually…
Who was he kidding? Totally worth it from an industrial standpoint. This place was money once the obnoxious Imps were disposed.
"There may come a time that you do not see the sun." Ravus replied ironically to an earlier grievance of the man.
His statement perturbed Lunafreya. Her foot slipped on the last rudder of the ladder.
"Luna!" He caught her and then sucked in a breath as the portion of the ladder she was on creaked, gave out a louder noise, and then detached from the main body in a clean cut.
The bisected piece cluttered noisily to the ground. Ravus held his sister tighter, nerves wired from a presence he sensed behind them.
Lunafreya would've lost her head if she hadn't accidentally fallen.
"It's the Aramusha! Prepare for combat!" Imperatrix ordered, sword out and shield extended from her left gauntlet.
This wasn't her Aurora set, but it was fairly close. More than enough for this battle. She would prove her mettle.
There in the illuminated room of silvery-blue stone columns, stood their daemonic opponent, watching, waiting for the next moment to strike.
The long katana of the enemy met the princess's xiphos, both exerting force to break the other's guard. She pushed, dragging the blade upward, knocking the taller creature off balance.
"Coming through!" Nyx slid in between the woman and daemon, bow in twin-dagger mode to slice along the kimono to purple skin.
The Aramusha growled, dissolving into mist.
Imperatrix eyes darted around for the foe. Spying nothing, she relied on instincts.
The air itself was charged with magic, power that she could sense after being exposed to high quantities of it from the covenant trials. Which was how the princess blocked a downward slash to her head, launching into a battle of swordplay with the samurai.
Ravus joined the exchange through a lunge to the back of the daemon, but found himself thwarted by its sheathe. High commander and princess were kept on their toes by the master swordsman simultaneously wielding his katana and sheathe as weapons.
"For the love of — this and the Red Giant are nightmares!" Ravus coughed out specks of blood from his kneeled position after a mighty jab to his stomach that tossed him backwards.
His old injuries were flaring up. Red seeped into his spare sweater. Moving to stand made his world spin.
"Curses!" He spat.
Imperatrix shrieked as the sash from the katana wrapped around her and the daemon flung the woman in a circle, concluding with her smashed into the ground and stunned.
"Impera!" Nyx missed twice trying to shoot the elusive swordsman to cover his downed ally, tucking into a hasty roll when it appeared right in front of him and almost severed the glaive in half. "Ah, shit! He's too fast!"
The Aramusha turned slowly, bending into a deadly stance. Ravus was in its sights.
"Keep away from my brother, foul beast!" Lunafreya felt the magic gathering and called forth the power.
A short aria gave birth to the impenetrable barrier from Titan's trial, shielding her prone sibling. However, the hastiness of the spell weakened it.
The death strike connected with the golden dome, shattering it into falling glass shards and knocking her back a few feet as if she'd been struck.
Had she sung instead of using a quick chant, it would've held. Still, it served its purpose of defense.
"L-Luna…I told y-you to stay back…" The high commander took a deep breath, indomitable will overcoming the physical setbacks of his damaged body and stood on shaky feet. "It's not safe…"
No one would harm his sister.
"I'm not a child to hide behind your back, brother." Lunafreya focused her magic into the staff, twisting it to summon the trident. "I am the oracle!"
The Aramusha hesitated to engage the radiant girl. Her light weakened it.
She thrusted the trident at the creature, fear in the backseat for courage. None in her company would fall to darkness while she held power in her body.
"Don't forget about defense, Luna!" Imperatrix's shield knocked the katana off course, leaving the daemon open for the blonde to stab it in the shoulder.
The swordsman yelled with its nonexistent mouth, stumbling backwards with the weapon impeded in its torso since the shorter girl lost her grip. Mist escaped from the wound and into the atmosphere, darkening the room with reddish-violet particles.
Angered, the Aramusha raised its blade, for it couldn't touch the light-attributed trident without hurting itself. The magic came too fast for Lunafreya to counter with another barrier.
Black liquid pooled out from its feet. From it spikes jutted out, skewering through the unarmed oracle's clothing and cutting her. In a wide arc, Imperatrix slashed the next batch of skweres aiming to kill the girl, blade next piercing into the inky pool. The princess's thumb smashed the button at the bottom of the hilt.
The sword shined as brightly as the trident, vanquishing the dark magic.
"How did you do that?!" Lunafreya gaped at the sword shimmering the most magnificent shade of gold and basking its owner in the same incandescence.
So pretty, like something out of a children's book.
"Magitek, Darling Girl." Imperatrix lost some of her mirth, noting the red streaks littering the oracle. "Fall back, support us from the rear."
Previously, Lunafreya might have disobeyed, but the younger Fleuret now trusted the princess more than she did in the beginning.
"Keep it at bay and I will sing to weaken it."
"Sing freely. The enemy shan't interrupt." Imperatrix promised, covering the blonde's retreat.
With the crystal in the middle of the steel emitting elemental power to the length of the blade, it would do double damage to the Aramusha. Genius's inventions were on par with the Lucian's armory.
Soon there would be no need to fear the dark or its children.
"What did I say about stealing the limelight, Impera?" Nyx taunted, shifty feet moving him swiftly, sporadically around the battlefield.
Red arrows hit their marks more frequently with the daemon preoccupied with the princess. The high commander finally rejoined the fray, supporting Imperatrix where he could and keeping the daemon a wide berth from the oracle.
"Ask not the sparrow how the great eagle soars!" She shouted over the clanging of blades.
"What?!" He scrunched up his face into the biggest expression of dumbfounded.
Astounding to all present, the Aramusha laughed, a deep, gravelly sound that chilled the bones.
"Did it…understand that word vomit?" The glaive thought he'd seen it all.
A daemon laughing? What the actual fu…
"I hate you, Impera. So much." Ravus intoned bleakly at how energized the samurai now seemed from the princess's words. "Stop watching those blasted cartoons with Tempesta!"
"Don't say such a horrible thing to me! I'm your sister!" She whined, stabbed to the heart by the jest.
"In-law." He corrected.
"That doesn't matter! We are bound still by lo—"
The Aramusha lunged. A beautiful song began.
Three battled the one, following the tempo of the hymn. A collision of cooperative force.
Imperatrix bounced off the wall, grabbing ahold of the trident and pulling it out in her descent. Ravus sliced the limp arm off, arrow flying past his head to disintegrate the severed appendage.
"That is the second arm you have dismembered." The princess sheathed her sword, distancing herself to aim the polearm at the daemon. "Sensitive much?"
Her barb got the high commander to ball his mechanical fist, electricity sparking off it. "Do you wish to duel? I will crush you, most savagely."
"I would not deprive Furia of a husband." She extended her arm and pulled back the trident, tensing up for the right moment to throw.
"You vainglorious—" Ravus fired lightning at the Aramusha, missing from it converting into its mist form.
The song reached its zenith. Appearing from the vapor, the daemon howled at the ball of light imitating the sun in its floating radiance.
"Now's the time to kill it!" Nyx spun the dial encircling the crystal.
He tugged the empowered arrow back, grunting from the heat and force of it.
Recognizing the charging of a death blow, the samurai sprinted towards the glaive. Imperatrix tossed the trident. It speared through the target's chest.
Vulnerable and on the brink of defeat, Nyx finished off the creature. His shot blew off its head with a sharp noise. The headless body sank to the floor, evaporating into smog by the magic sun's rays.
A trident clamoring to the stone floor signaled the end of the battle.
"Oh, yeah. I still got it." Nyx bent over, puffing out the adrenaline. "Caner ain't got nothing on me…"
Another song, sweeter and happier, filled the room. Injuries healed, but the fatigue remained.
"What say you, Ravus? Is she the weak, sick girl you knew?" Imperatrix returned the trident to its staff mode, pride gracing her features as she gazed upon the oracle.
The elder Fleuret huffed, arms crossed and lips sealed shut.
He didn't recognize his sister. There wasn't any flicker of hesitance or fear when she faced him or daemons. An assurance of bravery varnished her instead.
Not once did she listen to his commands to stay back, jumping into the fray at every opportunity. From her reckless battlelust he expected a resulting hard lesson of pain and tears, her running to him for safeguarding, which he'd gladly give, but it never happened.
His moment of being the heroic knight to his little sister never came.
She could defend herself…and him…
Who was this woman? Where had the little girl gone?
Lunafreya needed him…right?
"Can we get out of here now? We've got everything on grocery list." Nyx drank water out of his canteen, pouring some of it on his face.
They'd gone as deep into the mine as possible, collecting so much that the ingredient bag was about to burst. Plus they stuffed more materials into each of their travel packs.
The quest was more than done.
"Yes, we ought to return. Who knows what diabolics the chancellor has gotten into in our absence." Imperatrix checked her phone, but there was no change on the flower background.
With no bar signal in Balouve, messages or phone calls wouldn't come through. The time on the device specified they'd been below ground for seven hours, from morning to evening, scavenging.
The Besithias probably finished their objective and were on route to Costlemark in the jeep.
"Pryna and Umbra will be restless and hungry after being in the ship for so long. I doubt the chancellor would feed them." Lunafreya brooded.
Her dogs didn't like the man, always barking and growling at him. She didn't like him much either, but so far he hadn't done anything to earn their wrath. Why did the divine messengers dislike Ardyn so?
She stopped, feeling a brush of powerful magic. A narrow opening in a silver stone beckoned her. The oracle could fit into gap by going sideways, step by step to the destination.
Something was behind this tricky path…and it called to her…
Putting a hand on the smooth rock, images of a tomb entered her mind.
The Clever! Noctis's birthright laid beyond!
"Luna do not go forward." Ravus sensed the magic and his mechanical arm jolted him with pain.
The daemon inside screamed in fear.
"B-Brother?" She dropped all thoughts of the Royal Arm, a spell weaving together to soothe the sibling groaning in agony.
"Don't!" He was too late to prevent Lunafreya from pressing her healer's hands to his chest.
While the oracle thought she was helping, she in fact made it worse. The elder's gasps increased. The younger didn't understand why his pain wouldn't recede. She imparted more light, more of herself to incite the other's latent magic.
Ravus became lost, taken back to the burning of Fenestala, to the torment of joining the military, to the disgrace of the Lucii's judgment, to the visions of Lunafreya's death.
The daemon showed the worst of his memories.
"I don't know what's wrong!" She exclaimed to her companions at her brother's worsened condition, clamming up at the dark sensation she got from touching the metal as he crumpled into her. "What is this?!"
The high commander elbowed her off, delirious and panting. The voice quieted, as did the pictures.
Nobody said anything or moved, taunt with confusion and not wanting to set off the firecracker. Ravus gave no explanation, rising to leave. Imperatrix and Nyx let him climb the stairs, sensing his off nature.
"I've come to the conclusion all of you are crazy." The glaive nodded, holding out a hand to help the oracle up.
She took it after a beat.
Lunafreya did indeed feel like she was insane. How else could she describe sensing powerful darkness in her light-born brother?
More formidable than Starscourge…no! It was more like the final stage, victim on the cusp of transforming.
Ravus bore no thorn-like striations and he was fully human. Different appearance with his colorless hair and heterochromatic eyes, but still her suffocating brother that she loved and loathed.
How could he feel like a daemon?
XV
"Your brother is not likely to say this, but you preformed stunningly." Imperatrix smiled, sitting beside the oracle on the bench.
Sun gone down, the group of four waited for the chancellor to arrive.
The area proved too cluttered and uneven for the princess to land the ship near the mines. Hence, the red headed talker was delegated to chauffeur, providing a drop-off and a pickup.
It would've been simpler for Ardyn to loan them his car, but the man didn't trust Nyx or Ravus with his precious Vixen. Even though both of them had licenses to corroborate their certified good driving skills.
Lunafreya and Imperatrix weren't given any form of consideration as drivers by the chancellor during the discussion. One of them was so sheltered that it was a huge gamble to put her behind the wheel. The other…promised destruction if she were to drive.
No matter how much coaching Ardyn gave her, the princess persisted in ineptly operating a vehicle, and that in itself was a miraculous feat.
He tried teaching Imperatrix many things to no avail.
"I have reached this point thanks to you." Lunafreya raised her gaze from her fold hands, returning the happy air.
"I had my doubts in the beginning. You were impetuous with the idea of your invulnerability. How swift it was proven wrong." Imperatrix leaned on her clasped hands, contemplative of the change in her apprentice. "The Archaean opened your eyes? Reminded you of a human's mortality?"
She choked on her breath, squeezing the fabric of her dress. Minuscule and easy to miss, her head tilted forward in silent agreement.
Failure of her duty as oracle rattled Lunafreya's confidence. Laying defenseless in the chasm, molten rocks falling towards them, friends lost and hurt, and buried among the rubble…
Her first real instance of fear since the attack on Tenebrae. No, she was more afraid in that moment than any other in her life.
Humans were one thing. The gods were another.
Lunafreya shivered.
That fear…was this what the imperials felt? What regular people felt?
For the barest second she associated horror instead of worship towards the Astrals. Humans were ants before them and they wove so much destruction with the most minimal of actions. Shouldn't they have more consideration for humans if they were the protectors of it?
By her hand Lestallum suffered terrible damage. Titan's tremors rocked the land. Ramuh, thankfully always had a benevolent stance towards humans. His trial occurred far from civilization and the worst inconvenience of it was the storms a few cities had to deal with.
Shiva…
The oracle had no idea how her covenant with the Glacian affected the world. Was the price the everlasting blizzard? Was she responsible for all those people suffering?
Why were the gods laying so much destruction on her conscience? They were corrupting her to the same level as the imperials.
No! These thoughts were blasphemous!
The Six loved humanity! They were to be adored and above reproach. That was the way!
"Once, there was a frog who was born in a well." Imperatrix began in a calming voice, luring Lunafreya out a conflict of the mind. "The frog was very proud of the fact that he was the biggest creature in the well. As a result, the frog believed he was invincible."
The oracle knew this wasn't a random story. Comparing her to an amphibian was a little uncomplimentary. Better to listen to this than continue her heretical line of thinking.
The lights of the parking lot came on at the loss of final light. Ravus and Nyx edged closer to the illumination, eyes about for a red convertible.
"One day, he made up his mind to leave the well. Eventually, he ended up in the ocean and realized, in the grand scheme of things, he was smaller than he thought." The princess brushed hair from the girl's cheek with her knuckle, lacking any superiority in her softness. "Do not be discouraged. Adversity humbles us at every stage. It is a lesson forgotten and remembered."
Sense finally worked its way into Lunafreya's mind, keeping her from doing any life-threatening stunts. The level-headness she showed in their battles was proof of her growth.
"When you spoke like this to me before, it irritated me. Now, I find it comforting." The oracle sighed, memories of young Noctis coming to mind. "How are you so strong?"
She wanted to say more, but didn't push her luck.
How was the princess so pure, when everything around her was so rotten?
Imperatrix didn't deserve her callousness, not when she tried so hard to do good. She kept her word to Regis, helping his son when presented the chance at the base. She'd helped her too, teaching Lunafreya the basics of combat, survival skills, and regular day-to-day skills.
They weren't enemies.
"Do not think that of me. You have seen me weak and honestly…that is my true self."
The bawling mess hiding behind her hands, unwilling to face reality, that was her. Tired and afraid of the weight on her shoulders as a princess, that was her.
A thin veneer of denial…how craven of her.
From Insomnia to Longwythe, her mess of emotions was the truth. Twice more at the bases when she broke down on separate occasions in Ardyn's arms.
Strong? Imperatrix felt pitiful most the time. That incessant inner wail of inadequacy drove her to quell the vulnerability. She was the living embodiment of a "strong front".
A lie to the self told enough times could make a believer out of anyone.
"I falter, I fall, I fail. No different from anyone else, Lunafreya." Imperatrix sighed. "Moreso even, when I have not the luxury for it."
Too many people relied on her to fail, but she let them down anyway. She couldn't save everyone, couldn't satisfy everyone. Sometimes…the failure made achievement seem impossible.
The princess could be a disgrace to the family every so often.
In the air of despair, words tumbled out of the oracle's mouth. "In battle you are far more familiar with me."
The princess's despondency morphed to shock and then innocent hopefulness.
"Would you continue that trend outside of spars and skirmishes?" She managed to say kindly, mild nervousness in her gut for encroaching into new territory.
She'd never gone past courteous with anyone. The servants treated her as a princess and nothing more, never conversing in a personal manner with her. Some blame could be laid on her feet for that.
Lunafreya was often paranoid that Ravus had the servants spying on her and reporting to him. How else could he know so much when he was away all the time?
The citizens revered her too much as the oracle and head of the church to do more than sing praises and bow to her. Speaking with them beyond their health was almost impossible. Doubly impossible with the foreign arrivals seeking her blessings, who couldn't get past the ideal of a messiah when interacting with her.
Her life was so cold and secluded.
As much as she reviled the Aldercapt family, she secretly hoped that when Furia came to live with them the second princess would become a friend to her. The bewitching girl was all charm and smiles to Lunafreya, but for some reason…it didn't really feel like her sister-in-law wanted to be her friend.
One minute Furia could be perfectly cordial to her and then sweetly derisive in the next, beguiling smile making the person second-guess the moment of acidity and writing it off as an impossibility.
The second princess was so confusing.
Lunafreya had no idea what it was like to have a friend besides Noctis. But could he be considered one of those with how tender she thought of him? With the prevailing sense of duty and destiny hanging between them?
Her relationship with the little lamb went beyond mundane terminology as friends or lovers. They were fated, Noctis and her.
Their string would most likely end in tragedy…that was the way in all the books, right?
Friends…she wanted to deem these new people as her first friends. She could at least have that.
"You must do the same for me then, Luna." Imperatrix couldn't stop herself from giggling, delighted to hear her shortened name from the girl.
Now everyone in the group referenced her in closeness.
"What spell are you two weaving?" Nyx inserted himself into the conversation after hearing the twittering, lopsided grin an accusation in itself. "Giggling girls are never a good thing. Unless you're gossiping about my greatness."
Imperatrix said something insulting in French, which Lunafreya tittered at and then scolded the princess for saying something outrageous in her language.
"It really gets on my nerves that you all can speak different languages." The glaive crossed his arms, put out like a child bullied out a game everyone was playing.
"If you are that jealous, I could teach you." The woman of white hair suggested in English.
"How many languages do you know?" He heard her go into at least three, and of course the common tongue of Lucis, so four under her belt.
She leaned backwards into the bench, mulling over the repertoire of linguistics she built up over the years.
"Fourteen." Imperatrix at last answered.
"What?! You've got to be messing with me!" Nyx exclaimed. "That's not even realistic!"
How were there even that many in Eos?!
"Some have gone dead though with the fall of their civilization. And after the fifth or sixth, learning others is not as daunting."
Yasu fell to its neighboring island. Their official language went from Japanese to Mandarin. The Huangdi of Guang Guo erased the conquered nation's identity, rewriting it with the Guang way.
Euphemia's retainer, Kaguya was the last trace of Yasugi royalty and culture. A sad, beautiful relic they took in with open arms for the wrong done to her.
Greek, Arabic, and Russian were just about never spoken anymore since the major countries were lost to snow and ice.
The lower sects in Gralea used to speak Greek, but the expanded portion of the city was wiped out in the avalanche. Latin became not only the language of the nobles, but of all the remaining denizens of the fortress.
Kazimir was the last guardian of Russian, but with Daneinar and Fellfin its nearest allies, the Russian tongue was losing importance to Danish and Finish. The Czar and his royal court were the only ones to communicate in the mother tongue when she visited the city of spiral domes and cathedrals.
The same situation of loss occurred with Egypt, but the country couldn't sustain itself and merged back with Persia. Arabic lost to Farsi. The Pharaoh wasn't happy about the merger at all, but at least the Shah at the time allowed them to retain autonomy.
The current rulers of Egypt and Persia were at odds. Ismail wanted the Gyptian royals to marry into the Persian dynasty, but Cleopatra wanted them to remain co-rulers. An ongoing headache for years and a complete pain to Imperatrix while she stayed in her maternal homeland.
Her cousins didn't get along about anything and stuck her in the middle of every argument. It got to the point where the princess found every menial task she could to get out of the palace.
"If you think my linguistics are remarkable, then the chancellor's are unbelievable. He knows every language of this time period and even ones from well before." Imperatrix shared in a moderately boastful way.
Ardyn's depth of knowledge amazed her. He was sage underneath all that foolery.
"He did speak French very sophisticatedly. I might have believed him one of my countrymen if I did not know better." Lunafreya supplemented begrudgingly.
Disparaged her for not knowing more. He was right on that account, but who was he to tell her? He was no oracle.
"I fancy the same of his Farsi, it is unfathomably aristocratic. Which is a puzzle since he has no ties to the dynasty."
"Much about him is an enigma."
Imperatrix nodded.
Where was he from? Did he have family? What was his past?
All these unknowns she held conjectures to, but no concrete answers. The princess wanted them solved, the man unveiled to her.
"Hey, uh, Impera?"
She gave her attention to Nyx, who pointed to the ruined house off to the side. Lunafreya had left to chat with her brother.
"Can we…talk?"
"How intriguing. Men usually do not like that." Imperatrix jibed.
"I aim to be one of a kind." The glaive shuffled in place, sticking out his hand to the woman.
She stared at it, bashful at the prospect of touching him with the truth swimming around in the back of her head.
No wonder his embrace tickled her heart yesterday. Her body knew what her mind didn't.
"C'mon, I don't bite."
"Yes you do, wolf." She alleged.
Imperatrix took his offer, breathing deeply at how her stomach simmered from him interlocking their fingers and leading the way.
"I know for fact I didn't give you any hickeys. Can't say the same for my neck." Nyx playfully snapped his teeth at her. "Next time though, babe."
"Next…time?" She murmured, heart skipping a beat.
Inside the dim house with no roof, the princess and glaive huddled close, near the window where they could see the Fleuret siblings in a discussion.
"Have you been thinking about me as much as I've been thinking about you?" Nyx began with a ragged exhale, cornering Imperatrix with his intense gaze and proximity. He held her face in his gloved hands. "You drive me insane."
Ever since he jogged her memory, the most irrational thoughts and scenarios kept popping into his brain. Like audio on replay, the possibility of their night of passion creating something, occupied him.
Maybe dying slowly and painfully was the culprit for his sudden, illogical yearning for a tiny munchkin crafted from a part of him. He didn't want to disappear with no legacy, no reminder that he existed on this planet. That was the only justification when there were so many snags that came with parenthood, especially when the parents had equally complicated situations.
He was a hunter from Galahd, a Lucian soldier. She was a Nephilim princess, a commander in the army.
Their worlds didn't mix, weren't supposed to mix, but somehow their parties converged in the hunting grounds.
"Nyx…our night was one singularity. If you…kiss me now…you are making a conscious choice." Imperatrix lost the rest of her words at the glaive leaning in so close that their breaths mingled, noses and foreheads connected.
"You talk too much." He closed the space.
The princess immediately responded, moving her lips against his, tingled to her belly by this wild, obtuse, fatalistic man. The brave, loyal, altruistic man that she clung to by the lapels of his jacket, bringing him body to body with her.
His tongue stroked her lip and she granted him access, moan muffled into the consuming kiss. Hands travelled down from her face to her shoulders, down more, settling on her hips and grinding them into the opposite pair. She did her own adventuring underneath his shirt, mapping the hard muscles he earned in training, getting a groan out of the man for the leather material tickling his rough skin.
Neither wanted to stop, but air controlled them, making prolonged kissing difficult.
At the separation, Imperatrix admired her second heart, enthralled by his handsome face aglow from the lamplights. She traced along the spider-webbed scars, from face to hand, and twined their fingers once more.
How could she have ever thought of it as a fantasy?
"Hang on, hang on! We've both been drinking." Nyx panted heavily, leaping off the couch and holding up his loose pants. "If we're going to do this, it needs to be when we're sober."
He didn't want this to be like all the other times, ending in both parties going their separate ways, a backdrop in the other's memories. Those were at least the amicable endings.
A bad conclusion to this was the princess hating him in the morning for taking advantage of her. He pushed and demanded her affections, more than she was probably used to or comfortable with from guys like him, but the glaive wouldn't actually do anything scummy to this woman.
His attraction went beyond the physical.
Imperatrix crawled along the couch to the armrest, laying on her back upon reaching her destination. She gave the glaive the most enticing upside-down bedroom eyes that made him groan huskily.
"Do I seem inebriated to you?"
Sprawled sexily on the couch, hair splayed over the armrest, and leg waving in the air, the woman knew exactly what she was doing.
Nyx licked his lips, tasting the cherry flavor from Imperatrix's lipstick. Some more of it was scattered across his neck and chest from her love bites and kisses.
"Why now? You've been fighting me. All this hot and cold is confusing!" He looked around the hotel room, searching for his shirt and belt. "Trying to make your boyfriend jealous?"
"Because I wanted to do the courting, not receive it!" She tittered, imagining her flaming lover. "He might be a little envious, but ultimately I believe my Devious Darling might want you as well."
Ardyn knew before she did that Nyx would be in this position and he seemed highly interested in the eventuality. The dirty deviant enjoyed listening to her recount almost being seduced by her next lover.
Furia was right. He liked both rather one or the other.
"W-What?! Oh, my god! You're more of a freak than I thought." In the wake of this bombshell, Nyx let go of his pants, revealing the low boxers and his evident arousal. "I didn't see that coming with Cloud."
The princess hummed appreciatively at the new sight. "Oh, Darling…you are excellent to look upon."
Not as tall as Ardyn, but fit like a fighter. Not as much hair for the woman to tangle her fingers in. His chin was unshaven and the glaive's body was shaggier than her first. The trail from navel to boxers was new.
"Can I touch you more?" Imperatrix reached out to Nyx.
The glaive approached, bending over to lean in near her face. "You can do that and more when there's no alcohol in your system. Then I'll have you heady and breathless like you've never been before, baby."
"No, I want that now." She moved too quickly, capturing his lips for an upside-down kiss.
"I-Imp-Impera! You're not—"
"I'm in the right state of mind." He kept pulling away from her and the princess had to sit up to continue her pecks to his face. "Stay still!"
"Yeah, right. Don't give me orders."
"Gods, you're so annoying!" Since he wouldn't accept tributes to his face, Imperatrix gave them to his neck.
"So the fuck are you! High-maintenance princess!" The glaive groaned gruffly, losing the battle of wills the more she touched him. He slipped his hands under her dress to grip the woman's thighs. "Ah, you feel good."
He couldn't keep up the resistance, finally letting her kiss where she wanted.
"Don't talk to me about a demanding personality, pompous glaive!" She cried out, arching into him at the first tease to her center.
Her complaints morphed to moans.
"That's better, baby. You sound so much prettier like that."
He got her panties off earlier and that tempting heat led to him stopping, knowing if contact was made, the breaks wouldn't work.
Fuck the breaks now.
He gave her an out she stomped on it. Imperatrix wanted him and he wanted her. Why deny either of them?
"Nyx…ahh…" She unconsciously switched tongues, rocking into the languid strokes and clinging to the man.
"I've fantasied about doing this to you for a while. Even way back when we first met." Nyx admitted, furious pace stimulating her into incoherency. "I kinda hoped you'd talk to me at the party. We'd have snuck away and fucked in some random room."
Imperatrix nibbled on his ear, pressing them together, digging into his scalp with her nails. Her legs were beginning to buckle in the telltale signs of a climax.
She was so into the moment and making the best noises that Nyx wanted to bend her over the couch, but he restrained himself from that scenario.
Imperatrix wasn't one of those women to him.
He still couldn't understand any of what she was saying, guessing that it had to be complimentary from her passionate tone.
"You were gorgeous…even with that boyish cut. Kept distracting me until Luna came to talk." The glaive breathed in her scent, mussing the straightened white rays in the process. He was getting extremely riled and taking it out on her jewel, not that she was objective from the moaning. "I saw you en route to me and figured it was my chance, but then the chancellor snatched you up."
Out of the foreign sounds, he did pick up the red fiend's name. He didn't like that.
"Nyx!" Imperatrix yelled in protest of him terminating his work right when she was ready.
"Prove you're not drunk. Give me the show you refused before." The glaive made himself comfortable on the couch.
"Are you serious? Those two things have nothing to do with each other!"
"Better hurry up or I'll leave you hanging like you've done to me."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Okay, Impera the Hardheaded. I warned you."
She expected him to walk out or something. The woman was unprepared for him to reach inside his boxers, stroking himself with the hand that had just pleasured her, finding little resistance in the endeavor from previous damp undertakings.
He was doing this right in front of her! Imperatrix lost all form of umbrage, beguiled with the show.
Nyx sighed, reclining on the couch with his eyes closed, focused on his task. "I've done this a couple of times because of you. What's one more?"
The princess got unbearably hot from the voyeuristic look into the glaive's life. She wanted to watch him, whisper in his ear, and maybe take over. Be the one to incite mind-numbing pleasure in the cocky Galahdian.
Ardyn hardly ever let her touch him in the most intimate place. So shy and loathing of receiving love, more prone to receiving a crueler version of love and playing the repentant sinner. A wasted sense of discontent about himself that she couldn't get rid of.
One of these days…he'd learn to love himself, by her hand or something else.
"Is this what you want, Darling?" Imperatrix crooned heatedly, stripping off the silver party dress.
She wanted him inside her more than an exploration of the contours of his gift.
"Look who can be a good girl." Nyx smirked, slowing down his motions and twirling a finger for her to spin. "Don't call me 'Darling' though. You call everybody that."
She spun slowly on the base of her heels, detaching the bra and tossing it in the process. "What do you want to be called?"
"Daddy?"
"No! A million times no!"
"Worth a shot." He shrugged, biting his lip as the princess came to the end of her circle and stood in all her glory before him. "Got damn…" The glaive gave a last good effort in his self-help and then leered at Imperatrix. "Surprise me then…and come here."
Heels clicked on the floor with her advance.
"You're better than anything I've imagined." Nyx moved his hand slowly up her leg, over the stomach, freezing the inspection at the indents in the skin. "What the… Are these bullet wounds?"
Instead of clarifying the traumatic incident, the princess positioned her foot on the glaive's chest, pushing him back. He automatically grabbed her by the ankle.
"Will you help me with them, Hero? You did such a good job before."
Dumbstruck for a second, the man gaped.
"Well? I'm waiting, my Hero."
"I like that, baby." Nyx unstrapped the heel, repeating the method for the other, and then hissing when the princess straddled his lap.
She took up the mantle of stroking him, softer hands drawing a different kind of sigh from the glaive.
"Oh, I really like that. Keep going."
Imperatrix smooched his forehead, then lower to the crease in between his eyebrows, lower to his nose, lower to his lips, each one softening Nyx's temperament and hardening his arousal. The glaive let out a needy exhale, compressing the princess to his taunt chest and lifting her so he could wriggle out the boxers and kick them off.
"Nyx…oh, Nyx… I want to feel you." She mewled in his ear, yearning to drop on the freed portion of him. "For so long…I have wanted you."
She really had lusted after him from an early start and only fought him on the matter because he wouldn't let her be in charge of the flirtations and was too fast. But why be prideful on the matter anymore?
Nyx wasn't Ardyn, wasn't patience, but impulsivity. Imperatrix would give his way a try while she had the chance.
"Could've had me a lot sooner, stubborn woman." The man returned to investigating the make of his fantasy woman.
Tall and willowy, moderate breasts, decent curvature at the hips, beautiful, dark skin, and long hair curtaining his face. Contrasting all these assists were the scars. Lots of thin, pink lines along her arms from blades and the burn she got from the golem was in the final stage of healing. A long gash at the back of her neck extending diagonally to the middle of her back, drew Nyx's notice.
"Not the average princess at all…" He mumbled, caressing Imperatrix's neck with his lips, sympathetic to the hardships one could face in life.
He was rough with her lots of times in the beginning…probably adding to the collection. Those dickish brethren of his from Galahd definitively left a blemish on her skin with that arrowhead. He could feel the hollow in flesh on her back.
"Where has my bold hero gone? Getting shy, lover?" Imperatrix baited him, coyly sinking nearer to his pride and joy.
"Shy? Me? You're nuts." Just like that the hunter was distracted out of a gloom and into lust. "I'll be nice and let you thank your hero for saving your life multiple times."
She scoffed in disbelief. He grinned cheekily, arms resting on top of the couch. Nyx waited for Imperatrix to lower herself on him.
"Go on, ungrateful woman."
"Unbelievable! You get on my nerves!" The princess slammed onto him, more to unravel him than herself, but enveloping the man entirely in one go affected her more than him, evident by her shuddering pause. "I'll show you."
He laid his head back, issuing a breathy chortle. "C'mon then! Ride away, Imperial Princess."
Imperatrix clicked her tongue. She gripped onto his shoulders, moving passionately. Forget gentle, she'd make him shout out in bliss. Ardyn deserved sweet, not this domineering wretch.
"I see you're taking my preference into account." Nyx bit at the thumb near his mouth, salaciously sucking on it. "Fast and hard, Impera. You can do it."
The way she was riding him was the work of a professional control-freak proud of their perfected maneuver. By far this was the best sample of experience he'd undergone with a woman on top.
Good to see she wasn't all talk, clearly he underestimated the things a prim princess could get into with her boyfriend.
He matched her fiery bounces, panting laboriously each time she came down and went up, their middle ground of collision lighting up his insides to that coil of gratification dying to explode. Her hand wrenched through his hair, clutching at the dark locks.
"God damn, you love this haircut." Nyx's mouth clamped shut and his head dropped back at the princess switching to rolling, the slower pace absorbing him more intensely. "Fuck, Impera."
She pressed her chest to his, dawdling motions sapping the release her partner was so close to obtaining. "How do you like that, Hero? Being an instant from superb ecstasy and having it ripped away?"
The glaive didn't approve the superior attitude, nor her trying to one-up him for earlier.
"I knew nice wasn't the course to go with you." He picked Imperatrix up, transitioning to him on top and her on bottom. "Someone's gotta be strict with your pampered self."
"You need to be reined in too!"
"Look how that worked out for you."
Her argument went out the window at the surge of him reconnecting them and wasting no time to carry out his motto. She gushed out whimpers, toes curling and back lurching.
His definition of fast and hard was sensational!
"Nyx, ahh…aha… Nyx!" Imperatrix gasped out, head hanging off the armrest from how hard he thrusted into her.
"That's right. Let everyone know who's fucking you right now, Princess."
"N-Not…f-fucking…"
That got him to let up, pulling the woman onto the cushions for Nyx to collide his mouth with hers.
She probably wanted to use the other, more intimate term for this. What he felt for her was way different than anything connecting him to the other women in his past.
Was it…was the feeling love?
Love or lust? Maybe…both?
"Damn, you're about to come." Nyx hissed from the tightness, wildly chasing his own release.
He wanted a joint experience with her. Maybe he was enamored, magical event happening under his nose without his say so.
"Darling come closer!" Imperatrix wrapped her arms and legs around the glaive rushing her to the top.
"No, no, use one of the others!" He dictated, squeezing her hips for leverage since her hold didn't give him room to grasp the couch anymore.
"Hero, my hero."
"Yeah, baby. That's good, you're so good!"
Imperatrix found herself snug to his neck, losing the ability to speak for the long dive from height to plummet, into waves of wonder. Nyx let inclination take over, moaning incoherently as his body unwound harder and sharper than he ever recalled doing with previous partners.
The princess was the first to collapse, arm and leg hanging indolently off the side of the couch. She fought for air, dizzy and overheated. She could feel her hair curling and sticking to her body.
The glaive laid on her rising and falling chest, slap-stick happy at the end of a months-long dry spell. He was as breathless as his accomplice, stomach clenching and unclenching painfully at the end of its exertion.
It could've been minutes or hours that they laid like that.
Drowsily, Imperatrix caressed from the top of Nyx's head to the end of his neck in a cycle, smitten with his heat and feel.
Lighter and shorter than Ardyn. Younger and far less markings on his skin. An entirely different story to add to her own.
So warm and precious to her.
"Leave…or stay. It is up to you, my willful hero." The princess purred affectionately.
"Leaving the decision to me?" He sat up, regrettably exiting the cocoon of elation. "What man in his right mind would turn you down?"
In his old life, he would've been the dumbass to say no. Before, he was broken like that, but now his head was back in working order. Messing up whatever they had was the last thing he wanted.
Nyx slipped his arm under her legs and around her shoulder, carrying her to the bed.
"I'm not sleeping nude though, too cold for that."
He redressed, tossing the dress and lingerie to the woman burying into the sheets. She loudly disapproved of this, but put the clothes on for his sake, changing underneath the covers.
A click and the room changed from the yellowish of lightbulbs to the dark of night. The floor creaked and then the bed did.
"Hi, baby." Nyx greeted in the hiding place of covers. "You're such a kid, you know?"
"And you are not?"
"Obviously not from how I got you screaming. Only a man can do that."
"Shut up!" Imperatrix punched him twice, going for a third, but the glaive wrangled her into being spooned by him.
"Don't be like that, hunny-bunny." He nuzzled her overly affectionately, patronizing in his specialized way.
"Ugh. I do not appreciate this generation's vernacular." She sighed, wriggling until comfortable against this new body that would become a recurrent feature in her bed. "Goodnight, buffoon."
"Keep that up and it won't be." Nyx blew in her ear. "Remind you of the sleeping bag? You were so ready for me."
"Nyx, I mean it. Shut up." Imperatrix finally stopped moving, laying her head on the glaive's outstretched arm. "Just let me enjoy this…without your commentary."
She felt the grin on her head. Idiot.
Nyx Ulric…her second consort.
"I must've done so well, you could only rationalize it as a dream."
"Nothing I say or do dwindles your ego. In a sense, that is impressive." Imperatrix rolled her eyes, shoving the glaive off in good humor. "I applaud your self-assurance."
He preened under the praise. "You 'applaud' a lot about me."
The two looked out the window at the sound of a car's arrival. Lunafreya called for them.
"Hello, hello! A fine evening to you all, weary dungeon crawlers." Ardyn cheered over the radio song, waving spiritedly at the four crowding around Vixen. "Find everything you need?"
"Yes, we did." The princess opened the front door, taking the spot she knew the others were debating over who would get the misfortune of sitting by the chancellor.
She, however, had no issue being next to him.
"What is this?" Imperatrix picked at the plastic covering on the seat.
"Pardon me, Your Highness, but…" Ardyn gave them all a swift study. "You're all a mess. Can't have Vixen all grimy and mucky."
She blushed at once more presenting an unfit image of herself before this man she dearly wanted to impress at all times. Even though she knew how stupid that was, it didn't stop her from seeking an image of refinement before her suitors.
Got damn it! Nyx had kissed her when she was grubby!
How awful!
The chancellor caught Imperatrix's internal meltdown and flashed a smile her way, scooting over to take the bag from the princess and set it on the floor. She got in, sullenly shutting the door.
"Won't you all get in? I promise you'll leave with all your body parts intact." Ardyn jested.
"Someone can't afford to lose any more." Nyx muttered.
"You do not look that much better than me." Ravus disputed with a pointed examination of the scarred-lining.
"Oh, my! This pairing must've been volatile."
"You have no idea." Imperatrix grumbled to Ardyn.
"Please get in the car and be civil." Lunafreya's chilled blankness left no room for contention.
Three bodies piled into the back. The oracle was unfortunately lodged between two hotheads. Their squeaky movements on the plastic made the driver snort his amusement into the wheel.
The car swerved around the parking lot, heading for the Setzer.
"I was so dreadfully bored, all by my lonesome on the ship! Do marvel me with exploits of your adventure in the underbelly of the land."
Imperatrix catered to his appeal, beginning the tale. Not long into it, Nyx threw in his two cents, embellishing his proficiency against the mighty Aramusha. Ravus was right there to mow down the falsities, slandering the glaive with every word. Lunafreya was then forced to add her voice, rebutting the fanciful and the malicious for pragmatic segments.
By the end everyone chattered to Ardyn about their perspective of the events. He snickered to himself.
Ah, the simplicity of conversation. How wonderful and lively.
Truly a simple pleasure taken for granted by mortals. They knew not the torment of forced silence from captivity.
A solitary prison could be maddening.
XV
"Euphie did so well. Venus too." Imperatrix smiled at the computer monitor.
The videoplay of her sister's speech concluded with the younger princesses waving to the crowds as they departed the dais with their retainers. Thunderous applause from the onlookers and laudable commentary from the news reporters were what they deserved. It took guts to execute public speaking.
Euphemia did the actual speech with the youngest Aldercapt standing attentively nearby, but it still counted for Venus. She spooked frequently and the girl was still a child. Points to her for upholding the duties of royalty.
"I have been gone too long…"
Euphemia was becoming so pretty in her maturing age. Long snowy hair that she wore half up in dual buns on the sides of her head and the rest cascading down. The front tresses framed her face neatly, highlighting bright emerald eyes and a carefree expression.
Some things were the same. Still sporting those gothic white and black dresses and clumsy-footing all over the place.
She tripped right into her intended's arms at the end of her descent from the platform. The stunt would've appeared romantic to the crowd, but to those that knew her, it was an exasperation.
Soon she'd be seventeen…and then eighteen. The legal age of adulthood. Another sister gone from the nest to live amongst her wedded family.
Furia was given to Tenebrae and Euphemia would be given to Daneinar. Siegfried better honor the second princess as the main wife if he chose to take others.
Venus was finally gaining weight. She was such a small child, petrified by everything from her previous upbringing. Her brown hair converted to the Aldercapt white, trimmed into a graduated bob and bangs.
She at least dressed the part of a princess in her puffy gown and cape in shades of white and pink, tiara crowning her head. So cute and innocent.
Too long…
Imperatrix had not laid eyes on them since the departure from Gralea.
"Have you called your sisters? The youngest two have gone back to school." Ardyn added some finishing touches to his sketch of Imperatrix, blowing off the extra bits of lead.
From his floor status on the bridge, the chancellor passed the hour drawing. His paramour watching internet postings of the royal tour provided the best vision of storage, familial love.
Imperatrix was a human well versed in the different aspects of love. Was it any wonder he adhered to her, seeking out even a fragment of her ever broadening affections?
Ardyn Izunia…the most unlovable creature on Eos.
Abandoned and betrayed by the very ones meant to love him unconditionally. Once he knew storage, but he lost her companionship, growing bitter in her absence.
If his family couldn't love him, why should anyone else?
"Euphie now messages me for help with her math homework and I am terrible at it." Imperatrix frowned, slumping in the chair. "My mind can scarcely conjure up the lessons from military prep school. Sadly, I am of no use to her."
After a summer —not really a summer with snow — the princesses returned to Gralea for the school year. The third sister was a junior in high school. Venus couldn't handle the exposure of elementary school children and her education was lacking from her…disadvantageous youth before the coming to live in the palace. Home tutoring was the arrangement for her.
"I am no use to them either, but I am fond of the art projects and the literature assignments they ask for help with." Ardyn tapped a pencil against his chin. "Education is so fascinating, acutely different from my day."
In those ancient days, the rich and common-born males were educated. Only high-born females with doting fathers received tutelage. Most of it went to waste since those very same fathers married their daughters off to husbands that then restricted them to household adornments.
Women had come a long way from those dark ages.
He was fortunate enough to receive tutors in his youth, on account of who his father was. His mother was barely literate, more suited to trouble and diversions than a classroom, which was a shame since she was afford the rare chance of education through the monastery.
She caused so much trouble for her fellow sisters of the black hoods.
Although, much of his higher learning occurred well after his original life. The human lifespan, frankly wasn't nearly enough time to learn and retain anything. On top of that, most of their days were lost to sleeping and working. How did mortals manage to get anything done in their short activity window?
The chancellor could hardly fathom how he managed to save so many and wreck himself so badly. He was a slouch in those days, whipped into action by Musa and Tellus, two glory-seeking, adrenaline-junkie siblings.
When he wasn't healing people, following godly decrees, or hunting Divine Arms, Ardyn delighted in snoozing on Musa's lap while she read some lost tome, fingers occasionally scratching through his hair. Tellus would then join the pile, laying on top of him and clocking out.
The three of them were symbiotic.
"Our generations are not so gapped. Unless you were raised somewhere dated, which I doubt." Imperatrix turned off the monitor, stretching out her body after sitting for an hour.
Bad sleeping habits were growing on her from this unexpectedly long journey. The princess let the others turn in after dinner while she flew the ship to Costlemark Tower.
Leaving the vessel on autopilot for the trip was perfectly fine. Except the program couldn't maneuver the ship against airborne threats.
Daemons weren't restricted to land.
"Oh? Have you determined my origins?" Ardyn put the pencil in the case, pocketing the set.
"Yes. A long time ago."
"You sound so sure, that I am tempted to give you a penalty if answered incorrectly."
"And if I am right, will you present me a reward?" Imperatrix crawled towards the chancellor to lean on his bended knees.
He opted out of sleeping to keep her company.
"Anything you want, my dear."
"I stand by my previous edict as Imperatrix Mundi, your empress."
"I see. Answers are the key." He humored her with a flick to the nose, eyes narrowing in warning. "Unveil the beast if you dare, Musa."
She tenderly met his eye, communicating wordlessly how much the answer wouldn't change her feelings. "You are Lucian, my darling first love. Dare I say…an Insomnian."
Ardyn knew too much about the Caelums and his refined features were of that secluded garden at the corner of the world. His accent though…didn't match any that she heard while in the city. It didn't seem to fit any one place in this world.
The man being an important Lucian would also explain why her father took him in at a young age and ignored all grievances about the red head, elevating the foreigner to illustrious heights. Iedolas's favors were given generously, but Ardyn's ascension was unnaturally swift and held for decades with no sign of declining.
"Ardyn?" Imperatrix called when he stayed stoic, no dramatic flare, no clapping, and no mockery.
He was blank, the empty span of a canvas.
"Did they…" She swallowed the lump in her throat, sadness for him causing her to scoot in between his legs and hug the man. "Did they hurt you? Are your wounds from them? Is that the basis of your anger, your resentment for the Lucians?"
His mutilated body could be one answer to the personal vendetta he harbored against the crown city and its royal family.
How dare they do those things to him!
How old had he been? No more than a boy to suffer through torture. Nothing he did could possibly have merited nailed hands, strangulation, and whippings.
What was his crime?!
"From time to time…you are too clever for your own good, Imperatrix." Ardyn refused to look at her.
Broiling acridity better suited for the inanimate technology around them. She didn't warrant his ugliness.
Technically speaking the country wasn't called Lucis when he was born, nor was the capital called Insomnia.
Time raked at his memories. He couldn't say what the place was called now, only that it was a fairly nice place to live. His hubristic father made sure his patron city was nothing to scoff at.
Why even care what his home city was called at this point? Insignificant details as those were tossed to the abyss.
"As promised, what would you like to know?"
Considering she was half-right, Ardyn didn't have to reward the bundle shifting to lay against him, but of course he spoiled her silly in exchange for causing her ample anguish through his machinations.
"What is this?" Imperatrix carefully plucked the stray paper out the man's hand. It clearly wasn't the drawing of her he'd been busy with.
He hummed distractedly, glancing down. The chancellor tensed, journal dropped to the floor as he grabbed the princess's wrists.
"Darling?" Imperatrix bent her head upwards, mesmerized by molten, seraphic gold.
The silver-tongued master struggled to voice a response, coiling his arms around his paramour and sagging into her once he took his eyes off the picture.
How sentimental of him to bring out that particular page when unpleasant thoughts clouded his mind.
Family…how eternally poisonous they could be. Their miserable brush could alter a person and from there a cycle of misery began.
People were products of circumstance.
"Is this to be your prize?"
"If…if you wish to tell me…"
Ardyn heaved a sigh, uttering out in a watery and cracked tone. "It is…a household portrait. I drew it a long time ago."
She moved the paper closer to her face, marveling at the physical insight into his life.
Three figures. A mother, father, and little boy. Strangely, the chancellor didn't include himself in the scenic account.
The paper was crumpled but smooth, like the owner periodically balled it up in his fist, at the last minute deeming it too important to discard, flattening out the fit of rage to preserve the sacred memory. There were also dark spots on the brown paper, randomly spaced about. Remnants of teardrops hitting the vellum and leaving its mark.
A very old piece of history.
How many times did Ardyn look at it and cry?
"Your mother is beautiful. You take very much after her." Imperatrix prompted to appease him, reaching behind to caress the man's cheek.
Colored in, the woman shared her son's vivid, elusive locks, but hers were more of a burgundy-brown than Ardyn's bleeding-sunset crimson that could shine violet in the dark. That look of mischievous features was another hallmark of their relation. She imagined the mother passed on a jolly nature to her children.
"She is so distant to me now… A wisp of nostalgia."
"What about your father and…brother?" The princess guessed the second connection, assured that she was correct since the boy didn't look like Ardyn.
The father and son were similar with that dark, spiky hair shaded with blue tints. There was a severity to them. Or as much as a chubby-faced child could produce. They differed in eye color though, green for the boy, to match his mother, and violet for the man.
Where did Ardyn's amber eyes come from then?
"I wish I could forget them." The red head snarled out.
Imperatrix gasped from how confined she became, breathing impeded from the chancellor's fit.
"A-Ar-Ardyn, too tight!"
He flinched, letting go all at once and retreating to hit the pilot's chair. She caught her breath, putting the loose page in the journal and then offering it to the man. He stared disdainfully at the old present.
She pushed too far. No more questions.
"I will pry no more. Please take it."
"For this day." Ardyn huffed out a derisive chuckle, relenting in his bad mood to flick his fingers in a motion for her come closer.
The princess let out a tiny smile at him taking the journal, widening her mirth when he lightly smacked her on the nose with it.
"Are we there yet? These old bones don't need to be on the cold floor." The chancellor threw out his arms dramatically, laying down with his great coat billowing out in a black halo.
He covered his eyes with the fedora.
"You are old." She agreed teasingly, lying on top of him.
"You're not supposed to agree! Have some sensitivity, Your Highness." Ardyn lifted the hat to pout at her.
"Why? You tell me I am filthy all the time."
"You're a naughty little princess. It's my duty to remind you so." He inhaled deeply into the top of her pretty head. "But you clean up so well. I love how you smell after a shower."
She'd braided her hair again, but that was quickly undone by him once they were alone. Her conditioner was a lovely scent, along with the body soaps.
There were so many marvels in this age that he would've died for in his.
"Ahhh…I miss taking baths with you. Shame there's none on this ship."
Once there was a giant, sparkling, marble bath that Musa adored using any time they visited her uncle in Gralea. She'd toss roses and other flowers into the water, bathing like some tantalizing goddess. Whether it was the steam or her, Ardyn was faintish with euphoria from the experiences.
"Even if there were, we would not fit in them." Imperatrix rolled to rest on his arm instead when his rumbling laughter came close to displacing her. "You are so tall…only a pool fits you."
Her bath was bigger than average and gave them the freedom to move around. He took advantage of that, corralling the princess into copulation within the floral water until they tired and finally used the bath for its purpose.
"You'd best stop making that lustful face. I might be tempted to have you in this public setting, where any of your companions could walk in and see the crown princess being ravaged by the chancellor."
"They might actually die of shock. None of them like you."
"Oh, how mean of you to say!" Ardyn scoffed, smoothing a hand along his chin. "I might have to quit shaving, my feelings are so hurt! Go back to the stubble and eventual beard."
Before he adopted the new style to fit in at the empire, the red head presented himself differently. Long hair tied back and falling into his face, a beard, and white robes of a traveling healer.
Every morning after she finished grooming herself, Musa would tend to him, brushing his hair and trimming his facial hair. Sometimes she reveled in having a bearded partner, saying it made him appear less foreign to her since everyone in the Persian kingdom had them. Other times she got vexed and sheared it off, religiously using a blade every few days for a clean cut to reveal his youthfulness.
So fickle was she. Now his ladylove took one stance.
"You will not! Fresh and clean is the vogue of my consort." Imperatrix insisted imperiously, flicking the hat off his face once more. "You asked of me for long hair and I ask this of you. A fair trade."
"Hmm, not really. Mine requires daily maintenance."
She gave him the blandest stare possible, twirling her curly hair in her fingers. "There is no comparison to be made. You know nothing of daily upkeep."
The princess had forgotten it as well after a long period of chin-length hair, and if she was lucky to miss a few haircuts, shoulder-length. Now that the thick tresses were grown to her back, she was re-educating herself in hair-care.
"Oh, my Dearest." Ardyn claimed some of the moonlight strands, kissing the sweet smelling treasure that he fancied could be cotton candy if only she used that brand of products he bought her. Shame she liked the peppermint one better. "Do your eyes deceive you? For mine is curly as well."
"Don't even! That's not curly, it's wavy!"
She glowered at the flyaway reds that wouldn't defy gravity so much if he combed his hair more often. They were messy from him driving his car with the roof down all the time and then being bunched under his hat. Disorderly flames from the man running around like a bored child needing to be entertained at all hours of the day.
No other descriptions did the red mantle justice.
"Not even wavy, completely chaotic! That is your hair, Ardyn Izunia."
"My, my, if I didn't love you so, I might get offended from these heinous accusations." He smiled snidely, pinching the woman's cheek. "Aren't you lucky, lovely, little princess?"
She climbed back on top. Red mixed with white in her shortening the distance between their faces. While Imperatrix was trying to make a point by physically comparing their hair, the chancellor arrived at another.
"This brings back memories." Ardyn nuzzled his nose into hers, expression wicked. "Tighten my scarf and have away, my dear."
The Norduscaen Base was history, the first shift of him returned to the princess's grace.
"Another time. We must re-visit our tent discussion." She sat up since his mind went elsewhere, balanced on his lap as he rose as well.
"I'd have thought that erased from your mind. Drugs do that." The chancellor raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"Re-evaluating surreal moments has been an objective of today."
Nyx made sure of that.
"Go on, I'm intrigued."
More than intrigued, downright enflamed at a new avenue to explore in his two millennium-long period on Eos. Things could get boring after a while.
Imperatrix loosely draped her arms over Ardyn's broad shoulders, flirtation coming to the front. "Nyx was an experience."
He made a noise of surprise, interest peaked and petitioned sensually. "Do tell, Dearest Musa. I thought this day might never come."
Two slots filled of her golden-three rule.
The chancellor bit off his gloves, calloused hands roaming over and under her nightwear. She whispered a provocative tale in her lover's ear, egged on by his quivering groans.
Two.
Blessed stars, Imperatrix now possessed two consorts. The Eros and Agape of the set.
- 18
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