Author's Notes: Sorry again for the long period of silence. I'm trying to get back to some regularity. Although this story has been finished for ages now, I haven't had any motivation to post or even write in a while now, so I'm trying to build back up after a period of creative hibernation.


A tower of work was awaiting him when he returned and he was glad for the distraction. It kept his mind off other things, although they would have to be dealt with soon. He was able to immerse himself and come with out a clear head as a result. An hour alone in the training yard and a shower afterward helped, too. And while he had a clear objective in mind for the time being, that wasn't going to make what he had to do any less painful.

There was a lot he had to take into account when dealing with Sodia. The war between the Empire and the Union had been going on for years. It was a bitter and devastating battle for both sides and it was likely that in spite of the fact that Flynn was trying to foster peace, Sodia still viewed Yuri as the enemy. And unlike knights of the Empire, the guildsmen of the Union, even their combatants, largely looked like regular people. The knights in many cases had to suspect anyone and everyone. And that alone wasn't easy. You couldn't turn your back on a villager for the fear that they might slip the blade of a knife between the plates of your armor and take you out in a second. Paranoia like that was bound to cause problems.

On that same note, Yuri had been working in conjunction with Flynn to stop Alexei. Whether or not Sodia trusted Yuri was irrelevant. He might have at one time been the enemy, but in that moment, Yuri had been on their side. And as an Imperial Knight, it was her duty to protect people. As a knight, she was not above the law. Rather, she was held to an even higher standard. That alone made the act she committed worse. Yuri had been on their side, and thereby under the protection of the knights. At the time, he was no different from a civilian.

She may have honestly believed that she was fulfilling her duty. He needed to hear the story from her before he made judgment. He also wanted to hear it from Yuri. He needed to know the timing of the attack to get an idea of the intent behind it. He could not let his feelings for Yuri, and his anger at Sodia, get in the way of delivering justice. The law said what the punishment for such a crime should be, but there were mitigating circumstances, and in order for justice to prevail, those needed to be taken into account. Being fair and just was hard when it was personal.

Flynn would hear her side first, and later, Yuri's, provided he was of sound enough mind to tell. His brief moment of consciousness on the beach had been plenty sound and accusatory, and its tone had been cold and resigned. He hated that. When Yuri was feeling better, they were going to talk.

Dawn broke when Sodia knocked on the door to his office, entering when he beckoned. He pushed back his long cold cup of coffee and prepared to take her statement.

Even when she was standing before him, he was calm. Or at least he was able to present himself that way.

"Sit down."

She did so, straight upright in the chair in front of his office desk. She was calm as well, so straight and still that she didn't tremble even the slightest.

"Tell me what happened at Zaude."

"After you took the hit for that guildsman, Alexei unlocked Zaude and unleashed the Adephagos. Lowell tried to finish him off, but Alexei knocked him into some machinery, which caused the apathetia to fall. Alexei was crushed as a result. During the confusion, I found Lowell on the edge of the platform. I waited for him to turn around before I stabbed him and pushed him over the edge. I then disposed of my knife and returned to your side." It was a very concise and straightforward retelling of her version of events. It did not paint the events in a light that was necessarily good for her. Rather, it was militaristic and objective view of what transpired.

"Why did you do it?" He stared down at his page of scrawling notes so that she wouldn't be privy to the fire in his eyes. At least his voice remained normal.

"Yuri Lowell is an enemy combatant. You almost died as a result of his actions. He cannot and should not be trusted."

"I was injured as a result of no one's actions but my own. I took the hit for him of my own free will."

"Why, Sir? You told me once before that he saved your life, but I cannot believe that a guildsman would do anything aside from save his own skin. The people of the guilds are traitors, those who have committed treason no different than Commandant Alexei and Lord Cumore. Why would you possibly give your own life in exchange for his?"

"Because he is my friend."

Sodia crinkled her nose, her lips pursed tightly. The answer didn't satisfy her. He doubted that any would. He could recognize that what she was doing here, the way she was responding here was not cold. It was what she truly believed, it was her pure dedication to what she believed was for the good of the Empire. That dedication was something he had always admired in her, and even now, he could appreciate it. But just because she believed that it was right, did not make it right.

"That aside, what you did was against the law. Not only that, it was against the very code you hold yourself to as a knight."

"I have no regret for my actions. I will accept my punishment as you see fit."

He suppressed a sigh, "Do you have anything else to say for yourself."

"Only that if given a second chance, I would have used my sword instead."

Flynn bit the inside of his lip hard, the salty warmth of blood coating his tongue and its metallic scent filling up his nose. He waited a long, tense moment in the silence before speaking. He knew what the law said, and that it was imperfect. "For the time being, you are under house arrest. You are hereby stripped of your rank as lieutenant, and once we have other matters settled, you are to be court marshaled."

"Yes, Sir." Sodia stood, but stayed there in front of his desk. "May I say one last thing? Not as your lieutenant, but as your former comrade."

He wasn't sure he wanted to hear anything more, but he still replied with a short nod.

"I have the utmost hopes for you to be a great and just Commandant. It is my sincere desire. There is no one but you capable of this task. But no good will come of the guilds. No good will come of being friends with that mongrel. I hope that he will not be your destruction before you realize that."

"I'm disappointed in you," he let that slip while looking her straight in the eye. She had to know it anyway. "If we can't look past what we expect to see in other people, we have no hope of creating a peaceful future. At a time like this, with the Adephagos lurking above to devour us, working together is the only hope we have. The Empire and the Union. None of that will matter if the whole of Terca Lumireis is destroyed." He wished that he had only known all those words so much earlier, at the start of their journey. It would have saved him, and so many others, so much heartache.

He saw her, for a brief second, hold back a tremble of anger and bite down on her tongue rather than speak. She had something to say, but chose not to say it. Her eyes though, purple and cat-like, burned with intensity.

There was nothing further he could think to say, even though there were a million other thoughts that he would have liked to put into words about his anger and disappointment and feelings of betrayal. He left those to the back of his brain and pointed to the door. "You are dismissed." There was a strange permanence in his voice that time.

She left with the same silence that she had held.

It was a long time before he moved from his desk or made a single noise. The weight of her remorseless betrayal was too much to bear. He had trusted her implicitly. She was the first knight to be on his side, and was one of the few people he might have once considered a friend, if her being his comrade wasn't so much more important. She was a dutiful and diligent knight, but her hatred had blinded her and led her astray. He had such high hopes for her, such trust in her, and in the end, it was all for naught. It was too much.

Flynn turned breakfast away when the maid brought it, and once he collected himself, went to find Estellise. Maybe Yuri was up now, but Flynn wasn't exactly sure he wanted to see him yet, in spite of the worry that he been so prevalent in his chest for so long. There was still a lot to think over before he understood the rest of how he felt.


He hadn't been able to go back to sleep. No amount of tea or begging from Estelle could drive back the darkness long enough to let him rest. Every time he closed his eyes, he relived that moment on Zaude. Not sleeping was a far easier task.

The palace physician was surprised that he had survived. Apparently exposure and blood loss had almost taken him out. But why had he survived? Was it a desire to keep living?

Yuri wasn't so sure about that.

There were periods of privacy between Estelle's visits, bringing him food or anything else he needed, and checking on his state. He didn't see the rest of his party, with the exception of Repede, who never left his side. Estelle told him that they had split up to try and gather information until Yuri was well enough to get out of bed and try to find a way to defeat the Adephagos. That was a mountainous task that he was reminded of every time he glanced out the window.

Repede's head was ever in his lap, rising only every now and then to look at him before he would settle back in. With his partner around, Yuri was safe, but he was very quickly growing weary of being bedridden.

The room they put him in the palace was far grander than he expected them to afford to an injured guildsman, but he wondered if Estelle wasn't in part responsible for that. The silence that resounded through it and the hall outside were almost as unnerving as the things he saw when he tried to sleep. He could occasionally hear knights patrolling the halls outside, half wondering if they were there to keep him in, or if it was Sodia, coming to finish the job that she had started on top of Zaude. The wound still hurt, and he wasn't able to defend himself yet as far as he knew.

But a day passed and she never came for him. He couldn't say that that didn't relieve him. Occasionally, he would be startled by a knock on his door. It usually turned out to be Estelle, bringing him a meal or coming to check on his state. This time was different.

He was surprised to see the face of the imperial prince, but he didn't show it. "What do you want?"

"I merely came to check on you. Flynn and Estellise have both been in a tizzy over your condition." Ioder closed the door behind him and moved with slow steps to the bed.

"Don't worry. I won't be stinking up the palace for too much longer."

He walked closer to the bed, standing in front of the chair Estelle had been sitting in. Yuri kept his eyes on him the whole time, wary of his every move. "Nonsense. Stay as long as you like. You are a guest. After all, without your assistance, the capital never would have been retaken from Alexei."

"What did you come here for, then?" This was not the first time the prince approached him in private, and that alone made that hair on the back of Yuri's neck stand on end. There was something about Ioder that he didn't like, that he didn't trust, but he hadn't pinpointed it yet. His discomfort with it was even apparent to Repede, who lifted his head and watched Ioder just as carefully.

"I do have to wonder just how Flynn feels about you."

Before Yuri could jerk back, a smooth motion of Ioder's hand had a lock of his own hair between the prince's fingers. He did not tug or pull. Instead, those eyes, stark blue like the sky but colder than Flynn's, watched the strands slide slowly between the tips of his fingers and fall back into place.

"What are you getting at?"

"You were the first person he asked for when he regained consciousness, and he asked me personally about going to look for you. In so many words." Just before the last strands left his fingers, he reached out and tried to take hold of another lock.

Yuri avoided that time, glaring at him from the corner of the bed.

"It's strange that he would pick someone like you. A relationship with a guildsman won't look good to the Imperial Council. I wonder if he's thought about how his career could suffer by fraternizing with you.

Yuri didn't like what he was suggesting, both about Flynn and how he may or may not have felt. Commandant was a position where Flynn could succeed, excel, and become the hero he was meant to be, the hero that Yuri only dreamed that he himself could be. And Yuri had no intention of ruining that chance for him, even if deep inside, he was bitter. He had known for years that being a 'hero' was simply not something he was cut out for.

"I'm certain, however, that if he's too perfect and pure for you, there are plenty of others far less burdened by the life their position affords them who could admire you just the same."

"I'm not interested."

"Do take some time to think it over. Perhaps you'll change your mind. I trust Flynn and believe that there is no better person for the position of Commandant. Regardless of your answer, I will do nothing against him."

Yuri didn't believe that he could trust that.

"But even without my influence, his career could be at stake. Please keep that in mind."

It wasn't like Yuri hadn't been considering that for a while now.

Thankfully, a knock at the door pulled Ioder away and he answered it. Standing there was someone else he wasn't exactly ready to see. He swore under his breath as Flynn entered.

"Your Highness, what brings you here?"

"Oh, I just thought that I'd stop in to check on our guest." He smiled so pleasantly at Flynn, but Yuri knew that there was a cunning and subversive nature just beyond that well rehearsed facade. "But I see you were as well." He motioned slightly to the tray in Flynn's hands.

"Yes. Lady Estellise asked me to bring this up."

"I see. Well, I'll leave you two alone, then." Ioder stepped out into the hall, flashing Yuri as sly and sultry gaze when Flynn looked away. The look in those eyes made him shiver as soon as the prince walked out of sight down the hall. And now he was left alone with Flynn.

"I brought you some dinner." Flynn set the tray down on the bedside table.

"I'm not hungry."

"Lady Estellise asked that I be sure that you eat." There was a strange quiet to his voice, and his eyes even seemed different. He slumped into the chair beside the bed. His hands fumbled in the air a moment before he allowed them to sag in the space between his legs. "So, how are you feeling?"

The pressure at his wound had subsided a bit, and he was recovering from the exposure from treading water for those few days, but all of that didn't exactly make him feel better. Less pain was good, but the pain wasn't over. Yuri found himself without a witty response and with far less sarcasm in him that he liked. "Fine," was all he could muster. It wasn't enough for Flynn.

"I have taken measures to correct Sodia's behavior and I wish to apologize for what she did." Flynn slumped low, elbows on his knees, shining eyes boring holes in the carpeted floor.

"Can't say I blame her." Yuri took a slice of bread from the tray and proceeded to nibble on it to keep his stomach from devouring itself.

Flynn's eyes flew up, narrowed with anger barely withheld in his voice. "What do you mean?"

"She only did what she thought was right, didn't she? I'm still the enemy in her eyes after all." He said that easily enough, squashing the tremor in his voice that the fear of the suddenness and permanence of death instilled in him. He had never been a stranger to death, but he was still shaken from that. "I mean, I told her once to take a stab at me. I didn't think she's take it so literally."

"How can you joke at the time like this?" Why did that make it sound like Flynn was just as shaken as Yuri was?

"Ha ha. Yeah, it's really funny that I'm laid up like this. All because your little lieutenant couldn't keep it in her sheath."

Flynn face went red, mouth open like he was fumbling for an argument, but Yuri went on before he could find it.

"It's the same with all you Imperials. If it doesn't think like you do, it's the enemy. Strike it down before they can strike you first. This whole war started because the lot of you got too full of yourselves and started amassing weapons. What sort of defense does a common person have against the monstrosities like the Heracles."

"T-That's not the point here! The point is-!"

"What do you teach these knights anyway?! Because they're sure not taking a page from your 'let's make friendly' handbook!"

"Yuri!"
"Face it, Flynn! No one would have cared if she managed to finish the job! I wish she would have!" Those words came like venomous fire, burning through the coldness of the sea that still lingered below his skin.

"You don't get to say 'Do it right next time' like you're ready to just give up!" Finally, Flynn found the words and his argument, and they cut Yuri deep.

"We were worried about you." After that came a much softer, barely a whisper, "I was worried about you."

Yuri simply didn't have a response for that and only knew that for some reason, that it was tying his stomach in knots."I'm tired."

The silence that followed those two simple words was dark and cold and quiet. Neither dared ripple its surface for a long moment while their tempers calmed. What could be said about that? Had they surprised each other? Yuri was certainly surprised, and he was largely disliking these little outbursts of truth from Flynn. He didn't want to know how Flynn felt about him. He didn't care what Ioder thought. It was just better not to get tangled up in this mess.

Flynn left without another word, closing the door in a stiff and controlled motion. If he wanted to slam it, he just should have and saved Yuri the trouble of having to listen to the silence go on.

Yuri knew one thing. He didn't want to be here anymore.