—
"What the hell?" Cortez demanded, weapon turning on Loqi.
Loqi's mind was reeling – buzzing with a thousand thoughts per second. It wasn't just Loqi and himself that Ardyn had brought into the room with Cortez. He'd brought… a damned party.
All of Cortez's people that had been locked in the other parts of the base… Ravus… all of the Argentum boys…
What the devil was this? And why did Ravus look so calm about it?
Echo pulled and arrow and it leveled at Cortez's head as Evan rushed to Loqi's side, wordlessly helping him up. Ravus linked his arms behind his back and took a step forwards so he was directly in front of Cortez.
"Cortez, I presume?"
Cortez stopped frantically flicking his gaze around the room to stop on the elder Fleuret. "…Your Highness."
Loqi grimaced as he got on his feet. He and Ravus weren't exactly to the stage of best friends, but he knew what a sore topic Ravus' rank still was for him. Not all wounds healed fully over a few short years. Ravus had that title ripped from him, and finally being addressed properly but by someone so unseemly had to sting. Cortez had just done himself no favors.
Ravus' expression was sour.
…Well, it was always sour, but it was particularly so right now.
"For someone claiming to hold me and my sister in high regard, you've caused us a quite a lot of… inconvenience…" Ravus' berating faltered as he spotted Fita, his expression shifting from annoyance to genuine anger in less than a moment.
Cortez swallowed. "…We would not have harmed her had she not–"
Ravus' hand went to the hilt of his sword, poised to draw it at a moment's noticed. "You will stand down. Now."
"But Highness–"
"If you are so keen on my leadership then you will do as I order," Ravus snapped.
Cortez's people were seeming antsy, looking to him for guidance.
The room was powder keg. If one person was set off…
"But Highness, what of our people? You of anyone saw how they have suffered in the crosshairs of the Lucian and Imperial war! Is that what you wish to happen again? If the others stay in power–"
Ravus' lip curled. "Do not lecture me on the state of Tenebrae during the war! You are correct – I am well familiar with the finer details. I watched my mother burn before my eyes. Do you think I initially made the decision to work with Lucians and Imperials lightly? It matters not now. Tenebrae is no more. Lucis is no more. Niflheim is no more. What of that do you find so difficult to grasp? I lead the people of Lestullum. That is the nation on which I focus. You will find no champion of Tenebrae in myself or my sister. We stand for all."
Cortez was speechless, his expression shattered.
Ravus let his words hang in the air for a few moments before continuing. "Now… if you could set you weapons down, I'm most interested in ending this without further bloodshed."
Loqi wasn't. He wanted a lot of bloodshed. He wanted Cortez's head on a platter.
But Ravus had succeeded with his goal – even without Cortez's go ahead, his people were laying down their arms.
One after another… until Cortez himself was the only one left.
Try it, Loqi willed him. Just try to make a move.
But Cortez swallowed, his gaze falling to the floor as he lowered his gun.
Loqi huffed quietly. Bastard. Why should he get to live when Fita didn't?
He hated this man. He hated him more than he'd ever hated anyone.
Ardyn started clapping slowly. "Oh, bravo. A perfect example of negotiation!"
Ravus rolled his eyes, gesturing Dino. "The weapons, if you would. Evan, untie the others."
"Yeh, that'd be nice!" Petra spoke up for the first time.
Loqi nearly flinched at his tone. He'd grown very accustomed to hearing Petra's voice over the last few years. The raw edge he had at the moment was never a good sign for his emotional state. Loqi only heard that tone before when Petra had been forced into exiling Scourge-infected citizens.
"I must admit… I'm quite curious to know what you'll do with this lot." Ardyn gestured at Cortez's group. "Certainly, you can't let them go, but do you really want to devote such precious resources to prisoners?"
"I can't say I'm overly fond of the idea of prisoners either," Loqi growled, eyes narrowed as he watched Petra dart over to Fita's side as soon as he was free.
Dear Astrals… With the business of taking care of the boys and forming the trade route, Loqi hadn't realized just how codependent the three of them were on each other. Loqi hadn't even given any orders or talked anything over with Fita and Petra in so long because they all already knew what to do. Crestholm had been a well-oiled machine of efficiency lately.
And now… Now Loqi didn't even know what he needed to do. The worry of taking care of the city with that dynamic no longer there was so overwhelming Loqi didn't even know if he had enough room left in his head to mourn.
The unsaid reliance was… irreplaceable.
"And what would you purpose we do?" Ravus arched an eyebrow at Loqi.
"Execution, most likely," Cortez spat at Loqi.
Loqi glared at him. "Not usually my preference, but you're well worth making an exception for."
Cortez barked out a laugh. "An exception? As though those weren't carried out before the darkness under your command? Probably a few carried out personally, too!"
Damn it all. Why did he have to be right?
"I've moved on from that life!" Loqi roared. "Everyone has moved on! Except, evidently, you! You are the one who will not let the errors of the past die!"
"You don't just get to wipe away your sins because the world grew too busy to remember them!" Cortez yelled back.
Ardyn heaved a tired sigh. "My word, this is tedious! Shall I annihilate him for you?"
"Ohhhh, I would so like it if you did," Loqi said without a second thought. Loqi would not have the slightest protest if Ardyn decided to–
"Very well then!" Ardyn said chipperly, flicking his wrist.
Wait, what–
Cortez shrieked in agony as Ardyn's twisted dark magic blasted into him and started devouring him.
"Cortez!" Tyrell shouted in horror.
"Ardyn!" Ravus screamed in protest.
"What?" Ardyn spread his arms innocently as Cortez fell over most definitely dead, scourge having overtaken half his body already. "I was merely doing as directed!"
"I didn't think you were serious!" Loqi shot back, although it was more out of surprise than anything else.
"By the Astrals…" Marion said, blatantly horrified.
And then chaos erupted.
Most of the kidnappers were still frozen, but Fermont went for the weapon he'd put down before, and Marquez and Marion bolted for the door, apparently forgetting that the base was still locked down.
Fools. All of them.
The long sword Ardyn summoned to hand cut through Fermont's throat before he even got close.
Loqi took a step back from the carnage instinctively. Maybe something within him should have objected to this on a moral level, but he just wasn't feeling that charitable today. Not after being drugged and dragged like an animal for days and then losing one of the closest people to him.
An arrow struck Marquez right through the back of the head.
Loqi blinked, snapping out of his apathetic daze.
"Echo, no!" Loqi signaled for him to stand down, making him pause as he was drawing back a second arrow.
Echo tilted his head in obvious question.
Sweet Astrals…
He hadn't hesitated. He hadn't pondered. He probably hadn't spared a thought at all.
Because that's what Loqi had been having him do – shoot at whatever someone else was trying to kill. That was useful against daemons. But Echo taking a human lives without blinking…
Loqi had made a mistake, he realized. It didn't matter if these people deserved to die or not. Echo needed to learn how to make distinctions when he was fighting.
…What else had Loqi neglected?
"Ardyn!" Ravus roared above the rest of the insanity.
Oh. Loqi had zoned out again…
…There was blood everywhere now. The fight was over. All of Cortez's people were dead. Slaughtered.
Loqi still didn't care.
He felt… off.
Probably an adrenaline crash plus some after effects of whatever drug they'd kept him on for days.
"Dude! They surrendered!" Prompto yelled, gesturing wildly at the bodies.
Ardyn sighed. "Really, I don't see what the big deal is." He brushed at some stray drops of blood that landed on his coat. "Are you going to shed tears over them after they took the life of one of your own? Might I remind you that without my help, you'd likely have lost all your friends before you were even able to reach this place!"
Ravus said something else. Prompto said something else.
Loqi didn't care to tune in.
Ardyn was right – he'd be shedding no tears.
But… there was much he needed to think about.
Like how to mend the massive tear that had just be been ripped through their lives.
—
