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Downtime

In the corner closest to the fireplace of a dusty tavern some ways from the Hakonesia mountains, sat two battle-weary revolutionaries hunched over a pair of drinks, their eyes keeping watch over a far younger third who, positively giddy in comparison, stood by the bar trying his luck with the weary barmaid who seemed just interested enough to give him a chance. The rest of the occupants were a mismatch of travellers looking for ale and a warm bed, regular patrons looking for regular evening relaxation and a few shifty individuals who were just looking. The barmaid suddenly let out a trill of unguarded laughter at the words from the charming young man stood opposite her, covering her mouth when a portion of those closest looked up at the sound. At the small table shared by the revolutionaries, the larger of the pair nudged his companion, gesturing to their wayward ally.

'He seems to be doing well' Botta muttered gruffly, though his pride was loud and clear to his superior, which drew a mild sigh from the shorter man.

'That woman is twenty years his senior' Yuan replied, trying and failing not to sound like such a damned prude '...and why isn't he tired. He should have crashed hours ago, instead he's looking for another... skirmish.'

'He did fight like an animal out there, so he'll be feeling somewhat invincible for a while at least...' the burly man conceded, and there was that fond tone again before he turned to his blue haired leader with almost child-like glee '...you know he caught Forcystus right in the eye with that last spell while we made our escape?'

'Yes. You both told me. Repeatedly...' Yuan returned deftly before dropping his voice a couple of octaves '...'it gave me just the opening I needed to slice the murdering bastard's arm off!'...right? Although I can't be sure, it was hard to hear the two of you over all the whooping and high-fiving' At this Botta elbowed him none too gently in the ribs, unimpressed by Yuan's apparent desire to rain all over his parade.

'Well I stand by the whooping, sir. The bastard deserved it.' the larger man answered, his tone taking a sombre turn 'I don't care if they call him a half-elven patriot, burning women and children alive all because of their blood not being the same as his is inexcusable...' there was a wet crunching of glass as he crushed the fragile mug of ale within his powerful hands. Botta shook the broken shards from his hands with a curse, picking a few of the stragglers out of the now open cuts in his palms, wrapping them in their companions' discarded black bandanna. A quick scan about the room told them none of the other patrons had noticed the larger man's sudden lapse in temper.

'He wasn't always like that, you know' Yuan restarted the conversation mildly, discreetly sweeping the glass from the table as though it was dust, though his tone held a measure of usually undetectable compassion 'He used to fight for the freedom of his race. For equality.' Botta bowed his head slightly, staring hard at the table edge.

'I know. I used to be part of his little band of vigilantes' he muttered, his eyes darting up to Yuan's briefly, gauging how his friend would take this information. To his credit, Yuan didn't show any surprise if he felt it, but he always had a firm grip on his outward emotions. The pair were once again distracted by a second burst of feminine laughter from the direction of the bar, looking up in time to see the barmaid leaning rather provocatively over the counter with her hands enveloped within those of their companion. The woman's interest had certainly increased, Yuan observed idly, along with the younger man's chances of further physical activity this evening he further noted with a slight shudder.

'You never mentioned this before' the blue haired man remarked by way of question, while subtly sliding over the half glass of ale abandoned by their otherwise occupied third. Judging by his modest success at the bar, it wasn't like the boy needed any more liquid courage. Botta apparantly agreed as he took the drink without hesitation, knocking back half of it in one swig.

'It never came up' he answered evasively with a non-committal shrug. Chancing a look back at Yuan to find him staring unblinkingly, he sighed in resignation and returned reluctantly to the topic he had previously buried for the past few decades.

'Fine... back when he was the leader of a small time gang of like-minded guys, I bought into his ideas that we shouldn't have to be treated like vermin by humans, simply because we were different.' he paused mid thought, as if considering trying to slip out of telling the story, but Yuan gestured lightly with the hand not wrapped around his drink.

'Understandable' he prompted, gently 'he really did want to put an end to persecution in the beginning, but sometimes these sort of plans take...unexpected turns.' Eased slightly by his commander's words, Botta drummed his fingertips on the tabletop to an uneasy rhythm.

'Don't I know it' the large man grumbled, crossing his arms to quell his own restlessness 'it started off as just talk in a bar just like this one, about how somebody should do something about all the shit we had to take from humans. That phase certainly didn't last long, as it became apparent that we weren't going to get any help by any other means than our own. So pretty soon somebody became us.' here he paused once more, and tossed off the last of the drink before him and signalled to the lone barmaid for another. The way she was now eyeing their comrade and twisting strand of his long red hair around her fingertips told him he'd be lucky to receive a refill by the end of the business year. Yuan followed his eye line and shook his head in exasperation.

'Anyway' Botta started again diverting them back to their discussion 'we started off small. Offering protection as a service to the other half-elves living in the region. Free of charge of course' he made a face as though being paid to keep an ordinary citizen from being beaten to death in the street for a matter as trivial as their heritage left a bad taste in his mouth 'but there were donations after word got around. Anonymous of course, and nothing major, but it was enough to get us armed. That was about the time the local militia stopped ignoring us, and started seeing us as a threat. They figured we would never amount to anything more than a pack of wild dogs looking out for their own, but we became far more than that' a bitter smile crossed his face at the memory while Yuan listened, keeping his silence now that the man was rolling with his tale.

'For us it was a difficult, slow climb towards our goal, but to the humans?' Botta continued, letting out a sharp bark of humourless laughter 'It might as well have happened overnight. Suddenly we were organised, funded, and motivated. On top of that, word had been spreading like wildfire and our numbers were growing every day. But still, Forsystus kept his ideals. We never recruited anyone who was out for human blood, nobody who was too violent, nobody who would risk throwing away everything that we had built up for the sake of settling a grudge. Even so, we were getting bigger. There was talk amongst a few that we should form some sort of political party, so we could take our grievances right people, to the seats of power in Palmacosta or Luin, but they were shouted down by the rest, myself included, in favour of action. The majority of us felt that we'd taken oppression for long enough, and that it was time for a statement to the humans. Forcystus shut himself away for days, spoke to nobody, took council from nobody, while he came up with a plan. And come up with a plan he certainly did. I'll never forget the look in his eyes when he came out of that room. There was a righteous of fire there I honestly thought I'd still be taking my orders from to this day' the large man stopped abruptly for a moment, from the look on his face he was there, back on the day his life changed forever. He shook his head sharply, bringing his mind back to reality and continued resolutely.

'He told us we were going to liberate the half-elf prison in Iselia Forest' Botta stated, his voice low and his eyes locked with Yuan's, whose own widened in recognition. The angel opened his mouth to speak, but Botta cut him off sharply.

'Yes, I was involved in that attempted prison break, but no I did not take part in the aftermath that followed' the large man hissed, teeth grinding, fists clenching involuntarily 'I did not take any part in that bloodbath' there was a long silence as the implications hung over them like a sheet. Botta was now seething in a long forgotten rage, and perhaps for the first time, Yuan found himself utterly helpless to his comrade and dear friend's plight. Instinct guided his hand up to the man's broad shoulder where it gripped and shook roughly, forcing the him to look back at him with an almost mad expression.

'Of course you didn't, soldier Yuan remarked crisply, as calmly as he could muster 'that's not how you operate, and precisely why you are my Second and not still his.' Botta stared back at him, for a long moment, digesting his commander's words before taking a fortifying breath, reigning his formidable anger back into check.

'Yes, well...' the large man muttered, sounding slightly awkward, but far more relaxed, at which Yuan was justly relieved. His fingers went back to drumming on the table tunelessly once more before her inclined his head towards his friend, eyeing him shrewdly.

'What do you know of it?' he asked, not unkindly, his voice only a little off this time. Yuan drew his hand back beneath his cloak and met the broad man's gaze.

'I know that what came after was violent enough in nature that Iselia had it stricken from their records allowed it to pass out of regional memory' he replied evenly, offering Botta without words that he was free to offer his account, but was by no means obligated. The weary man, waved his hand irritably, as though his rather emotional moment was a thing of the past. The way the man could seamlessly compartmentalise like that had always been something Yuan had admired in the man.

'So you don't know exactly why, things turned the way they did?' Botta asked, and Yuan confirmed his suspicions by with a light shake of his head 'figures that's the part you wouldn't have heard about' he added ruefully.

'Basically, the humans running the 'prison' or 'torture camp' or whatever they called it, knew we were coming. Don't ask me how, they just knew. Only they didn't call for help, or even try to fortify their position' once again, the larger man paused briefly, turning the words he was about to say over in his mind. 'Instead they just executed every single soul they had locked up in there. Men, women, even the children, the youngest in that hell-hole couldn't have been over four winters old. The bodies were still smouldering when we arrived, and their heads all lined up on top of pikes at the edge of the compound.' he released a shuddering breath while, Yuan stared at him with a sick expression. He had seen much in the Kharlan War, but had long thought that such days were behind them. He shook away the image he never thought he would imagine again and focused on Botta who had almost soldiered on with his tale without him.

'I still don't understand the why behind it...' he muttered, turning to Yuan with something akin to desperation '...why would they have done that if they knew we were coming for the prisoners? What did they think was going to happen? I suppose I don't need to tell you that was the the precise hour, minute and second that Forcystus snapped. But I'll never forget how calmly he lost all semblance of compassion and gave into the burning hatred that had always lain his skin. 'Plan's changed' he said to us, 'plan's changed', just like that. Right before he tore that wall down to its very foundations. He told the others to drag out the humans from inside, kicking and screaming. Now they seemed to understand what was about to happen to them. Once they were all out, one of them made for the trees, and with a flick of his hand, the wind picked up and Forcystus sent him into the sky. All I could do was stare while the others cheered like this was the start of something great, and to them I guess it was. I definitely recognised a few faces out in his personal guard tonight. Anyway, the second that guy went up in the air, I knew how things would play out from then on. So I turned around, and marched right back out of there, and that seemed enough for him to start handing out the crazy, anyway. I could still hear him cursing my name some quarter mile through the forest. 'Traitor', 'coward', that sort of thing. Then it just sort of tapered off into laughter as the humans started screaming again.' at the conclusion of is tale, Botta ran a large hand through his spiked hair with a pensive expression. His blue haired companion opened his mouth to comment, but decided against it and remained quiet.

'The rest, as they say, is history' he finished, looking around himself as though suddenly bored, giving Yuan another opportunity to silently marval at the powerful man's eccentric, but no less remarkable method of storing his memories and emotions in a way that kept him not only competent, but dare he say it, optimistic?. Beside him, Botta's mind had indeed moved onto more important matters, such as where the drink he had asked for some time ago had gotten to. The words voicing his frustration had almost travelled from his brain to his mouth when their third companion finally decided to grace them with his presence sauntered over to the table, slamming down two frothing mugs of dark ale.

'Drinks are on me, pop's' Zelos grinned, smugly at Botta, who clipped the almost-eighteen year old across the temple while pulling one of the glasses towards himself.

'They better be, boy' he growled, in full parent mode, Yuan noted with amusement 'where was this an hour ago?'

'Settle down, old man' the redhead fired back, his grin widening, the slight redness to his cheeks showing the two older men that he himself had indulged just a little more than he ought to, perhaps, Yuan thought suspiciously, it was the doing of that barmaid. Peering around Zelos, he saw that the woman was watching his 'son' with a predatory gleam in her eye while pretending to clean a murky glass. The redhead caught his assessing gaze and, completely misinterpreting it, sent a jaunty wave in her direction, which she returned with a pawing gesture like a house cat reaching for an unsuspecting mouse.

'Looks like I made an impression, huh?' Zelos said a little proudly, as Botta guffawed loudly while Yuan placed his face in his hands.

'Play hard to get, Zelos, please. Just this once?' he muttered, fully aware of the plea in his voice.

'Kid fought a hard battle today, Boss, no harm in... unwinding is there?' Botta supplied, helpful as usual when it came to reigning in the young Wilder. He clapped the young man on the shoulder before giving him a light shove away from the table. Embarrassed at practically being told without words to run along, Zelos bobbed hesitantly on the spot, looking at Yuan, who gave in with a sigh and a 'do what you want' shrug. The redhead gave a sloppy salute and excused himself, settling back into a confident enough saunter as he returned to the bar where he was promptly taken by the hand and led off up the stairs behind the counter. With the tavern having emptied sometime during their talk, Botta bounded to his feet, showing just where Zelos had learned some of his enthusiasm from. With nobody to stop him, the large man swaggered behind the bar, returning with a pair of dusty wine bottles. Yuan couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the man's antics.

'You show your true colours, number two' he smirked, as Botta uncorked the first bottle, 'sending your son off to run interference while you feed your habit? Disgraceful.'

'I think you'll find its our son, and our habit, sir' the tall man countered with a lazy salute of his own, almost upsetting the second bottle 'besides. I left some gald back there, it's not like I'm stealing from her'

'Of course' Yuan scoffed, nonetheless accepting one of the offered bottles 'because that's the unethical part'

'Well we threw gald away on a room with three single beds when clearly we'll only be using two of them' Botta snorted, before his blue haired companion caught a wicked gleam in his eye 'unless...'

'Unless what...' Yuan prompted, then immediately felt stupid for allowing himself to be suckered in.

'Unless you want to push the three together and we can have a good ol' time of our own?' the brute asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Yuan stared at him, expressionless. Botta stared back, throwing in a few obscene gestures to really get his point across. They stared at each other for a long moment, each trying to contain their laughter with varying degrees of success.

'...We'll see' Yuan answered as seriously as he could while Botta almost inhaled his wine bottle in surprise. The blue haired man mentally chalked himself a mark in the win column on the scoreboard kept between the family of three, while Botta howled with laughter.

'Well played...' Botta conceded, once he had himself under control

'I thought so' Yuan returned deftly, a smug grin of his own stretched unguarded across his face. The two fell into a companionable silence, as they often did while alone, both thinking a similar pair of thoughts. While they were each thankful for having a familial unit as strong as they did, they both privately hoped that the wooden boards above them were thick enough to keep back the unmistakable and unfortunately inevitable sounds from the room above containing their absentee son and his new friend.

There were some things no parent had any business hearing.

It's been a while but here we are again. Yet another Renegade-family piece starring my favourite three guys. Things got a little dark for a while, but not too much I'm hoping, but that's really up to you.

Thanks for reading.