The battle at the Shrine of Seals was long and bitter. While the Black Fang had mostly been decimated at this point, it had been a massive organization with hundreds of members; this last battle between the two forces had brought the remaining loyalists of the Fang out en masse. There were still more than enough left of the shadowy group to make it a challenge for the Lycians to get through in order to reach the shrine.
The Lycians had split up in two directions. A small faction of their man power went east, led by Lord Hector. Their goal was to choke off the reinforcements that were streaming down from the mountain forts in that area. Once they had those forts under control, they were to meet up with the main force at the Shrine of Seals.
The other, larger group went northwest to make a direct assault on the final Four Fang that was holed up in the shrine. Nino had begged both Lord Eliwood and Lady Lyn to allow her to go with the main group, even beseeching the army's tactician to let her join the others heading for the shrine. With the assurance of Legault - and, to a lesser degree, Jaffar - that Nino would be under their protection, the two lords agreed to her request.
While everyone fought their way through the horde of Black Fang, the three defected Fang members slipped between pockets of fighting to get to the shrine. There were only two swordsman guarding the entrance at the top of the stairs, and they were easily dispatched by the two assassins.
That left only one in the shrine itself.
Linus Reed paced like a wild thing caught in a cage, sword at the ready and muscles twitching with anticipation for the fight that had come to him. He hardly seemed to care anything for the men that collapsed at the steps in a steadily growing pool of blood, their throats slit by expert hands and blades. No, his eyes were drawn first to green hair, familiar features facing off with him in a way that was starkly undeniable for anything else but what it was.
Betrayal.
Wild, ferocious anger swept over his face, upper lip curled in a sharp-toothed snarl. "No!" he shouted, an amalgamation of some sort of hurt and an explosive rage as he leveled his blade at the girl he had called sister. "How dare you side with them! After everything they've done, all the evil they've caused, everything they have taken from us - you choose them over family?"
Nino looked close to tears, the corner of her lip wobbling in an effort to keep up a brave face. Jaffar had instantly stepped in front of the girl at the Mad Dog's reaction, ever the silent protector. Legault lingered off to the side, taking in the situation as coolly as he could.
This only served to agitate Linus further.
Manic eyes snapped to the Angel of Death, Linus slashed his blade in the other man's direction, a burst of light magic sizzling across Jaffar's forearm as he defended himself against the attack. "Jaffar, you traitorous scum! Repent your sins, dog, I'll bring the Fang's justice down on you with all the strength I have!"
Nino cried out in alarm, reaching for her tome hesitantly, but Legault stepped in before she could do anything. If he could prevent sibling from harming sibling here, he would - especially where Nino was involved. Dashing forward, he knocked the younger man's sword to the side, keeping it trapped beneath his own blade and the stone their boots. "Hello...Linus," he greeted with an air of casual conversation, getting closer to Linus than he particularly cared for given his state of mind.
Recognition and surprise flashed for a moment in those brown eyes Legault had known for so long, but it lasted only a moment. That uncontrollable anger surged back from the depths, and Linus used his shield to push the ex-Fang member away, easily overpowering Legault to free his sword. "Legault, you-! You disloyal filth! You, of all people, siding with these bastards?! You, who was by my father's side for so long, from the very beginning?!"
He seemed distracted from going on the assault, at least for the time being.
Legault took several steps back, close enough to speak with Linus, but far enough away to make a quick escape should he get violent again. Linus had always been fast to anger, to lashing out, but even this seemed...amplified. Legault couldn't entirely blame him for how he was acting; the Reed brothers were close, practically a package deal, and he could only imagine what it had been like to find out about Lloyd's death. "Linus, calm down. Your...Lloyd's murder...it wasn't by our hands," Legault tried to reason with the Mad Dog, his speech unceremoniously cut off when Linus took a wild swing at him. The ex-Fang member narrowly side-stepped the blade with a shout.
"Draw your sword, you whimpering coward! Fight me like a man! I promise you this, I will not miss again."
The words held a chilling finality, and the assassin didn't doubt the truth of them.
"I knew this would happen, and yet...here I am. Couldn't leave well enough, not when it came to you Reeds. Sentimentality is for fools...," Legault muttered to himself, and though he knew this had always been the most likely outcome, old memories had encouraged him to try anyways. Memories of the old Fang, the makeshift family of misfits they'd been for so long before Nergal had come into the picture and poisoned everything. The pride and ideals that Brendan lived, breathed, fought for. Watching both of the Reed brothers grow into their own, from boys with training swords to men wielding true weapons. Uhai sharing tales of his native Sacae and his tribe, using fire-cast shadows to aid in his stories as they all tried to keep warm in Bern's winters.
It had all been so strangely wonderful, something good and right that Legault never hoped to have in his life before Brendan offered him a place in the Black Fang.
How quickly had it all been ripped apart and tossed to the winds?
"Brother, please-" Nino was trying to fight out of Jaffar's hold, desperation clear in her voice, her eyes.
Legault let out a resigned sigh, bringing his sword up once more to meet the Mad Dog in battle.
"No!" Nino shouted, pulling away from Jaffar to run up to the two fighters. "Linus, stop, please...Please, listen to me!" She was trying so hard, clutching at the last, broken pieces of her family; holding on to the hope that if she just said the right words, her brother would understand - would join them , and fight the real enemy here.
But, now that she was standing before him, she was frightened of her brother. He'd never looked at her like this before, eyes crazed and teeth bared in an ugly snarl.
"I will kill all who aid my brother's killers...Nino, that includes you!" Linus hissed out, launching himself at the young girl.
The blow would have struck its mark, but Jaffar was quick to bodily remove her from Linus' path of attack, and his sword hit nothing but stone. As the silent assassin moved, so did Legault, his blade aimed for the Mad Dog's back. Linus was not taken off guard, though, and pivoted to face the former Fang member; Legault's sword hit Linus' shield, metal biting into wood before it was pulled back swiftly. They danced around each other in exchanging offense, back and forth, metal ringing off the walls of the shrine.
But then, Linus managed to get the upper hand, copying the same tactic Legault himself had used at the beginning of all this. He trapped the other man's weapon beneath his own, Linus roaring as he brought the edge of his shield down on the sword just short of the hilt, snapping the weakened metal in two. Legault swore, slashing up with the jagged remains of his weapon, carving a bloody line over Linus' face. The Mad Dog howled in pain, shield slipping from his grasp as he clutched a hand over the left side of his face, blood streaming from the wound.
This bought Legault enough time to retreat, discarding the now useless hilt of his sword in favor of his dagger.
"Grah...Bastard-!" Linus growled out, recovering fast in spite of the injury. Blood coated half of his face, his left eye ruined and blind, blood weeping from it like tears.
Legault couldn't help noting how the wound likened Linus even more to his father.
Linus made to charge forward in assault once more, but Jaffar appeared behind him like a specter, his wicked dagger slicing into the man's leg, severing muscles in order to hamstring the Mad Dog. The last of the Black Fang stumbled in his attack, choking out a harsh noise, something between pain and frustration that his body was starting to fail him. With his balance lost, and Linus now unable to catch himself on a lame leg, Legault took advantage of the opportunity the Angel of Death had given him.
His dagger plunged in expertly, buried in to the hilt with the aid of Linus' own momentum. Legault staggered under the sudden weight as Linus fell into him, a foot shifting back to maintain his footing. He could hear the younger man's sword clatter and skid across the floor, fingers losing their hold on the weapon. He could hear the man's breathing in his ear - wheezing, rasping, layered wetly with blood.
Still, not quite gone yet. Of course not, stubborn boy that he was.
"You...You make sure...she doesn't fuckin' cry...'bout me. Let 'er hate me...got that?" Linus spoke up, voice tired and heavy, words a struggle to force out past bloody lips. "Shouldn't cry...over...over a...lousy ass brother...like me."
Legault's eyes drifted over to Nino, who was awkwardly clinging onto Jaffar's arm, tears already being shed, and merely nodded at the request. It was something he couldn't uphold, nor did he have any intention to try, but what was one lie to a man who was steadily slipping away into death? Legault understood the intent behind it, at least, as misguided as it was.
Linus' weight only seemed to get heavier the longer they stood there, and Legault realized it was because the younger man couldn't even support himself on his one good leg, and was leaning against his support completely to remain upright at all. Legault shifted an arm around him; he could give the Mad Dog this in his final moments, let him stay standing to the last.
"Ha, looks like I've...lost. Just wanted...wanted...," Linus whispered, trailing off as the light in his eyes started to dim. He had enough strength left in him to raise an arm, fingers digging into the material at the back of Legault's cloak like a scared child would do to their mother's skirts for reassurance. Legault narrowed his eyes, willing himself to remain in control of his stoicism. But, he allowed himself this one, last weakness, bringing his hand up to rest at the back of Linus' head, fingers brushing through short hair in an attempt to be comforting in the man's last moments.
A garbled chuckle left the Mad Dog, blood coughing up onto Legault's shoulder. "Feels good...Gotta go now, though, Lloyd's...Lloyd's waitin'...He's waiting, he's wai...waitin' fo' me...Sorry, brother...'m tired, can't...keep up...wait for me, Lloyd...," he breathed out his last, no longer even speaking to Legault as his end came.
The grip on the back of his cloak went limp, and Legault slowly lowered Linus' body to the stone floor.
He'd watched this boy grow up into a young man, full of loyalty and brash ideals. A boy he could still remember roughhousing with his soft spoken brother, a boy that you could hear laughing in the halls no matter where you were in the Black Fang's keep, a boy that had been surprisingly gentle with a little girl that had been introduced to him as sister despite them not sharing any blood. The Reed brothers had been good, noble men, but Nergal's corrupted touch had led even them to their downfall.
Legault removed his dagger from the corpse before Nino could make her way over on shaky legs, Jaffar taking up his place as her shadow once again now that the threat was gone.
"No...No, my brother...My brothers are...," Nino sniffed, falling to her knees beside the bloody tatters of her last family, the sound of footsteps on the stairs marking the arrival of the rest of the army.
The cogs of destiny were cruel indeed, and kept on turning no matter how you wished to alter their mechanisms.