Greetings All! Hope everyone is safe and well. I have a new chapter ready to go. Special shout out to new follower 47IzuniaShelby. Welcome aboard the train! Thanks for reading, everyone, and hope you enjoy.
"So, let me get this straight," Donatella replied coolly after Ardyn had laid his cards on the table. "You want me and my, associates, to protect that woman on the terrace and your cloned son?" The sultry innuendo-toned voice was gone, replaced with cool, clipped business-like ones. The blatant temptress was showing her true colors as the person who controlled the Altissian underworld.
"Yes," Ardyn replied, reverting back to his political skills he had used as Imperial Chancellor. "Be assured you won't be doing it alone. The Captain of the Guards has said he will assist if I could enlist your aid as well."
"So, the Captain of the Guards is a 'he'," Donatella replied archly. "If I didn't know better, I would think you know his identity as well. It might be dangerous to share that with me, you know."
Ardyn shrugged nonchalantly. "I figured you already know who he is, so I'd not have to worry about that. If I'm mistaken, I might be willing to reveal his identity to you if you will provide what I seek in exchange."
Donatella laughed. "If that's all you have to offer me in return for my generosity, I fear that won't get you much. I could simply have my associates, extract the information from you without having to agree to your terms."
"Do you really think they would succeed against a man who was imprisoned for two thousand years and has been through more pain than you and your associates will ever know," Ardyn replied darkly. "I admit I'm no longer immortal, but do not mistake me for someone fragile." To demonstrate his point, he summoned a dagger from the ether the Lucis Caelum clan could commune with and tossed it from hand to hand in a nonchalant gesture that was anything but.
Donatella kept her poker faced expression, but Ardyn noticed her shoulders tense, indicating his point was made. "As it happens Loqi and I are well acquainted," she replied, releasing the tension. "I have agreed to keep his secret if he does mine, and does not interfere with my business. So, in other words, if you want my help, you will need to offer me something other than the Captain of the Guard's identity."
"What is it that you want," Ardyn returned tightly, mind twirling with a mix of annoyance and unease at what she would demand of him.
"You have heard of Reynardo," she asked. At his assent she went on. "The main reason Altissia is unstable and can't rebuild is because of him. He has set himself up as a rival to my, businesses, creating alternate versions that are sordid imitations. Where I smuggle resources that are in short supply in and Altissia wines out, he smuggles drugs. Where I treat my courtesans like employees, he smuggles women in for more depraved purposes and treats them as slaves."
"Some would say you are still performing criminal activities," Ardyn stated, playing devil's advocate.
Donatella hissed in affront like an angry cat. "You don't get to compare the two of us! We are nothing alike and remember who you are and what you have done. Reynardo is also trying to set himself up as the new First Secretary so he can have even more power over his crimes and immunity from prosecution. He had the previous Captain of the Guards murdered in an attempt to pave the way for that. Right now, it's just me and Loqi holding him back, but he continues to undermine what little authority we have, framing me and my associates for the crimes he is committing, and destroying the guards's influence and authority. He needs to be dealt with."
Ardyn digested all of this in silence, and drew his own conclusions. He knew what was coming, but it would be up to Donatella to put it in words. He wouldn't make it that easy for her.
"I want you to, handle, him," she finally stated. "You do this, I will keep your kid and girlfriend safe. Reynardo will be a threat to them as well, so you would still benefit from this."
"Eostre is not my girlfriend or wife," Ardyn stated defensively, before remembering he should have ignored the response.
Donatella made a catlike smile. "Given what I saw, she soon will be," she taunted. "Do we have a deal?"
"Not quite," Ardyn returned, enjoying the fact that the crime boss was momentarily in his power. "You have not been explicit in your instructions. How do you want me to handle him?"
"I want him dead," she spat back, making her ruthlessness all too clear.
Ardyn smirked in triumph that he was able to get the obfuscating crime boss to admit something incriminating if overheard. "I certainly don't wish to sound like I will reject the terms, but why me? I am sure you have plenty of people willing and able to do it."
"I have tried several times before. Every time they have ended up dead or returned to assassinate me as part of a more generous deal they hatched with him. You are aligned to my cause to something other than financial reasons, and I believe you are more skilled than anyone I have."
"Who's to say I won't hatch a counter deal with him for protection of my allies," Ardyn returned rhetorically.
"You'd be a fool if you did. He will play you false the first chance he gets. And I don't think you want to trust a woman and kid anywhere near him. I could tell you stories about the reasons why that would disturb even you, but I won't. You have my terms. Do you accept?"
"How can I not," Ardyn oozed smoothly, offering his hand out for Donatella to shake.
"Proper etiquette dictates the woman offers her hand first," she replied coyly, taking his hand all the same.
"True, but then, we are equals are we not? Partners in iniquity," Ardyn taunted back.
Donatella laughed. "Ends justify the means. And the more I have seen of you, I do believe you practice that creed the same as me. Let us return to the balcony. Your, um, cohort should be awake about now and ready to rip you and me a new one. Time to pay the piper."
The terrace was empty. And any comforting thoughts of it being because Eostre had woken up and returned to the party or to the Levelle were dispelled by the other occupant of the balcony. If you could call a dead guard an occupant.
The guard lay sprawled on the tiled floor, his head twisted in an unnatural ghoulish angle. Even to someone without medical knowledge, it would have been all too clear that his neck had been broken.
Ardyn turned sharply to Donatella. "You have already played me false," he hissed, drawing forth his sword this time, ready to use it.
It was only the look of shock on Donatella's face that stopped him from running her through. The fact that someone as imperturbable as she was able to have such a look indicated that she was not involved, and had had no clue.
She glanced uneasily between his sword and the dead body, evidently coming to terms with what had happened. While Ardyn was reevaluating his murderous instincts, Loqi appeared on the scene alongside a huffing and puffing guard, the latter evidently breathless from having discovered the body and hurrying off to report it to Loqi.
As Loqi evidently had already been informed about the situation, he was the only one currently not shocked by the developments. He knelt down to calmly investigate the body.
"It's Deluca. He's been garroted," he said flatly, gesturing to the telltale marks on the neck. He turned sharply to Donatella. "I assume the perp wasn't one of yours," he said, his hard voice indicating it better not have been.
"Of course not," she spat out. "I don't kill guards, and you know it."
"Spare me the bickering," Ardyn cut in. "Have you seen Eostre?"
Loqi for the first time looked troubled. "She has not been back in the ballroom since your little tryst," he replied matter of factly.
Ardyn let the fact that he had evidently been spied upon on the balcony pass—there were more pressing concerns. "Eostre didn't kill him and sneak away," he stated firmly. "I've fought her before—if you can call what she does fighting that is. Garroting is not her style even if she had a weapon to do it. So, if you were going to draw that conclusion, Captain…" he sneered.
Loqi put up his hands placatingly. "I know. She is a killer, but not that kind of killer. Based on the evidence before us, I assume she was taken by whoever killed Deluca."
It was the same disturbing conclusion Ardyn had drawn, but hearing it out loud made his blood run cold. Not because of fear for her, he told himself sharply—it was merely because it was a disruption of his plans. Although, the thoughts of what could happen to her next made him want to find her abductor and kill him.
"Care to tell me how such a foe could have overpowered your watchful guards and absconded with her without going back through the ballroom," he demanded of Loqi instead. "With how zealously you have been watching us, this should not have happened. Where is your lauded security," he demanded.
"Deluca was the only one watching her," Loqi replied. "She is nothing compared to you in the threat department."
"Oh, how flattering," Ardyn returned sarcastically.
"Are you going to keep arguing or do you want an answer," Donatella cut in, annoyed. "There is only one person I know of who could have done this: Mystios."
Loqi stiffened at the name.
A name that meant nothing to Ardyn. "Am I supposed to be frightened by that," he returned bitingly.
"You should be," Donatella returned. "He's a mercenary so ruthless he'd slice his mama's throat for a gil. He's a master of parkour and excels at getting in and out of places unseen. They might as well have named the Assassin's Festival for him."
Ardyn was unimpressed. "Parkour is all well and good, except when you have to carry the weight of a person. And Eostre is quite a handful." He couldn't help but remember Eostre's weight pressed against him a short time before and felt a flash of heat.
"If she was still unconscious, and any resistance was neutralized, he could have used a rope on her to lower her to a waiting gondola below," Loqi commented helpfully.
"If you are aware of this security risk, I am amazed you left a window open for it," Ardyn returned sarcastically.
"My goal is to keep people from getting in, not escaping," Loqi snapped back. "And when your foes practice parkour, or warping," he added with a pointed look to Ardyn, "your options are limited."
Ardyn let that pass. "Based on the little bit I know about Cosmos, I seriously doubt she would have hired him—he would be, too tainted for a creature like her," he mused aloud. Could Ignis have hired Mystios to apprehend Eostre? He doubted it—Ignis would be more likely to come for him, even if he was so far gone as to sacrifice his principles to hire a mercenary.
"This has Reynardo's name all over it," Donatella stated. "He no doubt hired him, but why? I can't see him dealing with this Cosmos woman for the same reason you just mentioned, Ardyn."
"At least we don't have to worry about him trying to traffic her," Loqi cut in. "She's too old and unattractive to bother with in that regard."
Donatella looked at him in contempt. "There is always that concern with him regardless of age or looks," she said sharply.
Ardyn tensed. That was something he had not even thought of. "It does not matter," he said firmly. "I owe Reynardo a little visit anyway. I will get her back in the process," he said tightly.
"I appreciate your enthusiasm," Donatella replied. "But aren't you forgetting about your clone/son? If they have gone for Eostre, they may go for him too."
Ardyn's hands clenched in impotent frustration. He was being forced to make a choice, an unpalatable one. Although why it should bother him this time was a mystery—he had always been able to keep an emotional distance simply because he never cared about either party. He backed off from that thought—it certainly wasn't that he cared this time. It was simply that he didn't want Cosmos, or anyone possibly working with her, to have Eostre or Lux.
But then, by Loqi and Donatella's accounts and his own conclusions, Reynardo wasn't working with Cosmos…there was a loophole there he could exploit. A loophole the Bringer of Darkness Ardyn would have leapt at. Logically, Eostre's plight was unrelated to his main plan to thwart Cosmos. In that regard, any rescue attempt would be a waste of his time. In a word, Eostre was now a liability. He should forget her, and return to protect Lux. Blood (or cloned cells) were thicker than water, as they say…
But he wasn't going to. For whatever reasons, he hadn't forgotten Eostre in ten years of darkness—he wasn't about to now. And besides, Lux was his clone—he knew how to take care of himself. The boy had pitted his wits against a sadistic fire God and had lived to tell the tale.
"As you said, Loqi," Ardyn firmly replied. "Parkour and warping are a similar threat. That means I am the only one with the skills to handle Mystios. Anyone, even your incompetent guards, can keep an eye on Lux—only I can handle Mystios."
"Unless somebody even worse is going after Lux," Loqi replied darkly. "But never fear, my guards will handle it."
Donatella snorted derisively. "You mean the same guards that failed here? He would be better with my associates than anything you can muster."
Loqi huffed. "You're lucky I haven't arrested every single one of them already."
"You do that, and you will find every one of your foes finding their way into your bedroom in the middle of the night," she snapped back.
"You mean like those courtesans of yours try to," Loqi returned with fastidious disgust.
"Hah! You wish," Donatella returned.
"Fine! How about your people and mine work together on helping the kid out," Loqi replied in annoyance, fed up with the conversation.
Just as fed up as Ardyn was. "At least tell me where Reynardo lives before you have at each other," he cut in mockingly.
That stopped Donatella and Loqi cold.
"He lives on an island in the lagoon," Donatella replied, recovering her dignity. "An island said to be cursed. If you can't catch up to Mystios before he reaches the open water, good luck getting there. No sailor or gondolier will take you."
Ardyn laughed derisively. "Cursed island, eh—sounds just like Angelguard to me. I daresay I can handle it. Would you care for me to bring Reynardo's head back, or will my word that he is dead suffice?"
For one moment, it looked like Donatella would throw up. "Your—word will suffice in this case," she replied falteringly.
Ardyn simply turned and warped away in pursuit of the deadly mercenary and that man's probable employer, leaving Donatella, Loqi, and what was left of Deluca on the balcony.
"Wow, Donatella. I never thought I'd see you turn green at the mere mention of a severed head. Isn't that part of your stock in trade," Loqi taunted.
Donatella had had enough this night, and Loqi's barbed comments were the last straw. She reached out and slapped Loqi across the face, the sound seeming to echo across the canal. Donatella stepped back, shocked at her own actions, only to stumble upon the dead arm sprawled along the ground. She had just stepped on the dead body, she thought in horror, falling back towards the railing and the canal twenty feet below.
Loqi threw an arm around her waist, pulling her back to safety with a force that pulled her against him, chest to chest. She stared up at him, startled, for one disturbing moment, feeling like she was at his mercy. A feeling she had resolved to never have with anyone again.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to strike out at you," she said with genuine contrition.
"It's better that than your, associates, I suppose," Loqi replied coolly. "Just, don't ever do it again. If you get physical with me, I just might get physical back."
Something told Donatella he meant something other than a strike. She nodded, retreating to the safety of the ballroom. "My associates will be at the Levelle in 10 minutes. They'll meet yours whenever they see fit to arrive," she stated as her parting shot.
Loqi couldn't resist getting some of his own back. "Mine are already there," he called out smugly to her retreating form.
I (finally and a couple years late) got Assassins Creed Odyssey for Christmas-guess some of that rubbed off here. But as FFXV canon gave us the Assassins Festival (I miss that, and wish they brought it back to the PC edition), I figure that works here :) Hope you don't mind all the OC's I'm adding in. Altissia didn't have that many characters in the main game, and we didn't get to spend that much time there, so I'm viewing it as kind of a blank slate to branch out in. For those missing the "canon" characters, don't worry, they still have a part to play here. Anyway, till next time!