Story time! When I decided to finish this story, while I wasn't working completely from scratch, I did lose my old outline and had to rethink how to wrap up everything, especially as I was scrapping the idea of a duology in favor of one massive story. Before I did anything else, I drafted the outline for this chapter - I didn't write it yet, and I wasn't sure it was going to be chapter 38, but I outlined how this confrontation would go, what had to happen, and worked my way backwards from this. It was one of the more labor intensive ways I've written anything before in my life, and I loved every second of it.
I hope you enjoy - and remember, the story is finished and the next chapter will be posted tomorrow. So don't curse my name too badly when you reach the end.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Where there is Balance
Alfred came to slowly, like he was wading through molasses. He felt warm and peaceful, but it was wrong. Like he was tangled up to tight in a blanket and had woken up too tired after too much rest.
He blinked his eyes open and didn't recognize the ground beneath his feet. He tried to catalogue his surroundings as sleep clung to him and made him drowsy, unfocused. First, the grass was neon blue, and he wondered briefly if he was still dreaming, as he didn't know of any place that had blue grass. Second, he had been on a mountain last time he checked that had nothing on it but snow. Third, his body was upright and held in place—when he tried to move his arms, he was met with resistance.
It was that last bit that jolted that last bits of sleep off him, his eyes snapping open.
There was, in fact, blue grass beneath his feet. He was no longer on a mountain, and he appeared to be tied to a pair of posts in the ground. There was enough slack in the chains holding him for him to sit down, but not much else. And all around him, there were piles upon piles of stones arranged and spiraling out beyond the clearing he was in. The white tents from the army-like set up around him stood out stark against the electric color of their surroundings.
It all came rushing back to him. Storming Braginski's castle. Getting separated from Arthur, then seeing his brother safe. Arthur stabbed and dying in Braginski's arms. Him agreeing to go with Ivan to save Arthur. And then nothing, as Braginski did something to him that made him lose consciousness.
The last thing he had seen was Arthur tossed aside and bleeding out on the ground. He gritted his teeth and pulled at the bindings trapping him again, letting out a grunt when they didn't relent against his efforts, even with his strength.
"Ah, I am afraid you will find your efforts pointless, Alfred," a voice echoed to his left. Alfred whipped his head around to glare as Braginski came into view. "Those chains have been infused with energy I have collected over the years. They will not yield to you."
"Collected? That's a laugh, try steal," Alfred sneered at him, pulling at the chains again as Braginski stepped closer to him. "But you're all about the lies so why not add another one, huh?"
"I do not lie, Alfred, no matter what falsehoods you might believe of me."
"Oh yeah?" Alfred pulled himself as far forward as he could and glared hotly at that smug bastard. "You said you'd spare Arthur if I came with you, and you left him bleeding out on the floor!"
"He was alive when we left. I am sure he has since been healed. I left Toris back in Ruthenia and to his own devices after…everything." Braginski trailed off, his eyes unfocused as his thoughts clearly went somewhere else. He shook it off though and frowned at Alfred. "I am sure your Arthur is alive and well. He will likely be here soon."
Alfred blinked and felt a cold pit form in his stomach. He knew Arthur and the others would figure out where they were and how to get here so they could stop Braginski and his followers, but it was worrying that Braginski seemed to know it too and was completely unconcerned. "You said you wouldn't need him, if I came with you."
"I did, and that is the truth," Braginski paused and gave Alfred a cold, knowing smile. "But it is also true that I knew taking you would be the catalyst needed to bring him here as well, of his own free will, to use his Talent for my purposes if it saves you. Love is so very predictable."
"He won't help you," Alfred shot back. It was not his best comeback, and it didn't sound all that convincing even to his own ears. And that was because Alfred knew it was bullshit. The patronizing smile and cluck Braginski responded with told him he knew it was bullshit too.
"I think we both know who the liar among us is now, Alfred," Ivan said. "He will because he wouldn't do anything less than you would to keep the one he loves safe, da? As I said, love, terribly predictable."
Alfred didn't say anything. He just clenched his fists so tight he wouldn't be surprised if he cut himself with his own nails and met Braginski's stare defiantly.
"This was not how I envisioned this moment unfolding, you know," Braginski continued when it was clear Alfred wasn't going to say anything else about Arthur. "I had believed for the longest time that ensuring my Vision would come to pass would rest solely on my shoulders, but then I found you, Alfred. You, who's Talent was so much like my own, and I began to hope, perhaps foolishly, that you would join me of your own choice."
"You really are crazy if you thought I would have ever willingly agreed to help you," Alfred mocked.
"As I said, it was a foolish, boyish hope," Braginski admitted.
"If you think I'm going to use my strength to help you now—"
"Your Talent is not strength, Alfred," Braginski interrupted, his purple eyes almost glowing. "You are so much more than that. You are a siphon for magic and energy, you bring it into yourself and make it your own so naturally you don't even realize it. You made it into strength, but it can be so much more. You are like me."
Alfred drew himself up to his full height and squared his shoulders. "I am nothing like you. Okay, I'm a magnet or whatever—fine. Pretty sure I'm not stealing people's Talent or energy and ruining their lives, like you have been doing for years."
"No, but you are like me in the ways that matter," Braginski continued. "And with your brother's empathy, I can channel your Talent with my own and change this world for the better. I had thought to use Kirkland's Talent to compel you to my side, but now, this is the better path. You will help me change this world, make Ruthenia whole, and to save you from the effort that will likely kill you, Kirkland will undo the Balance."
Alfred shook his head. "He won't do that."
Arthur wouldn't. He wouldn't. Not to save him, not if it meant dooming a bunch of other people.
Except.
Except…maybe he would.
Alfred knew Arthur, maybe better than anyone before him at this point. While Arthur was kind and loving and good, he was also selfish and impulsive and terrified of losing what was important to him. Half their fights in the beginning of their relationship had been because Arthur kept trying to keep Alfred at an arms' length or find reasons to not be together. All because, mostly, he was scared of being alone if it wasn't by his own choice. Alfred wanted to believe Arthur wouldn't do exactly what Braginski was saying he would, but he found he couldn't believe it completely. And that scared the shit out of him because if Braginski was saying using Alfred as a conduit would kill him, what about Arthur? And what about everyone else?
Alfred blinked back the wetness he felt building behind his eyes at his hopeless frustration. "Why the fuck are you doing this, Braginski? Destroying the Balance isn't going to make your homeland less shitty! It's just going to hurt a fuck ton of people!"
"Ruthenia was damned by fools who abused their power and the Balance, for all its purported fairness, let its people rot and wither away instead of fixing it," Braginski responded, sharply. "Sometimes, in order to fix something that is broken, we must first burn it down to start anew."
"And what if you're wrong? What if a whole lot of people just end up dead?"
"Then there will still be something new, for those remaining. Something to build a new, fair world from the ashes."
Alfred stared at Braginski and shook his head, disbelieving. Before he could say anything else though, a horn sounded in the air. Braginski sighed.
"I know you will never see the good I am doing, Alfred. But perhaps, should you survive, you and all of those suffering in Ruthenia will be able to enjoy it."
Braginski stepped close and place his hand over Alfred's forehead. That same feeling of sleepiness stole over him again, plunging him back down into darkness. With nothing but his fear and worry for company.
"We are ready."
Kiku's voice was a balm against the nerves Arthur felt buzzing under his skin. He nodded and followed him to join the rest of the crew. He was exhausted and heartsick, but also wanted to get everything started so they could leave.
He was tired of waiting.
Sunrise had come and gone and with it, they had said farewell to Sadiq.
Feliks had led the rites, setting the pyre they had built beside a particularly large boulder ablaze with enchanted fire Yao had spelled to burn hot and fast. Kiku had wrapped Sadiq in linens designed to keep any smells from escaping, lest the whole ceremony be ruined by the smell of burning flesh, and they had said their goodbyes. It had been cathartic and moving, but also like it was over too fast. No one felt like they had the time to mourn—there was too much still at stake for grief.
Arthur had struggled to keep his emotions at bay, nonetheless. Sadiq and he had not always gotten along, but he had still fought beside him and for him. He had still died for Arthur to give him a chance to do what was needed.
After the fire died, leaving only burnt wood and ashes, Alejandro took Sadiq's diamond knife, wiped free of Arthur's blood, and carved an epitaph Feliks dictated into the boulder as a final farewell.
Here Rests Sadiq Adnan
Friend and Warrior
Shed Light Upon Him
The somber mood carried with them as they made their way back to camp and continued their last preparations before going after Ivan. They knew this was likely the last chance they had at stopping Ivan before he did irreversible damage. Arthur had not wanted to be near anyone, not even Matthew or Kiku, and so he had set himself apart and waited. Waited and ran his thoughts through all that could happen and all that could go wrong. He fiddled with the Fey pendant and thought about what he had seen and what the Balance had shown him. What it asked of him, just like what the Fey had asked of him.
He thought of Alfred and of when they were happy. The way his smile lit up his face and Arthur wonder what he had possibly done right in this life to deserve it.
He thought of the future they had talked about, of a life after all this, together.
He shook himself out of his thoughts and entered the tent after Kiku announced they were ready. They were all ready for this to be done as much as he was. No one was staying behind this time—Raivis was only fifteen, but he refused to be parted from Toris so even he was going—save for Oksana and her charges. Asmin had wanted to go, but Oksana had forbidden it. Natalia just glared hatefully at them all from her corner.
"Are we all here?" Yao asked, looking at Kiku for confirmation.
"Yes, Yao-sama, we are here and ready."
"Good. Then, this is how this will work." Yao clapped his hands and brought up a spelled piece of parchment. "This spell will create a temporary portal from here to one other place, meaning it will allow us to travel through space and time, not dissimilar to what Ivan can do, which I understand is a Talent he stole from this young man?"
He gestured towards Raivis. Toris placed a hand on the nervous lad's shoulder from where he was leaning into Feliks. "Yes."
"Right, so this will allow us to travel to the Barrens instantaneously. With Mr. Kirkland's help, I have been able to narrow down a specific region and from there, I only need one more thing to help narrow it down even further—I am going to pass the spell around, if you all could hold it, pressing a finger or something to the ink, yes yes like that."
The spelled parchment made its way around the room, Arthur included, as they all followed Yao's direction. Yao took it back after it made its way back to him.
"Thank you. I added a conditional piece to the spell. It should take us to a location nearby our 'friend', which should be Alfred as I assume none of us here view any of Ivan's supporters as such. It should latch onto him."
"Good, everyone ready then?" Seychelles called out. The sound of weapons being readied filled the tent in response. "Right—when you're ready, Master Yao."
Yao nodded and flung the spelled parchment into the air, whispering something in a language Arthur did not recognize. He thrust one of his arms up, spanned out wide, and stopped the parchment in midair, his fingers touching the ink of the spell. The sigil grew brighter and larger until the parchment burned away leaving only the sigil until it began to morph and form a circle in the middle of the tent. The circle grew until it reached the top of the tent and nearly the width of half of it, wide enough for several of their number to go through at once. Yao lowered his arm and nodded as the circle solidified and began to show a strange landscape on the other side—a landscape with blue grass that looked like what had started happening in Bulgar during the earthquake.
They did not waste anymore time.
In groups of three, they went through the portal, Arthur standing beside Matthew and Kiku as they crossed over, the sensation of walking through the spelled portal like walking through a fall of water. Arthur blinked involuntarily as he stepped through and instead of being in a tent in Ruthenia, he was surrounded by blue grass, silver and red trees blinking in the distance, dark clouds of purple and green covering the sky above him. Yao came through last, the portal remaining open after him, blinking in confusion as they found themselves looking at an expanse of nothing in front of them.
"I thought we were supposed to be deposited near Alfred," Matthew said shortly, glaring over at Yao, who shrugged.
"We were yes," he murmured considering. "Strange, maybe—"
"Hey! Finally made it, did you? We've been waiting here forever!" A familiar, brash voice called out.
"Matthias."
Arthur's head snapped behind him as he took in the familiar faces, surprise overtaking him as he took in the group of Nord elementals who were all staring bemusedly at them.
"Tino? Nikolai? What are—I thought you all couldn't leave the Nords!" Seychelles called out to them as they all made their way over, some giving more enthusiastic greetings than others as Seychelles herself threw her arms around Tino.
"Normally we can't, but the Balance called us to act, so here we are," Tino told them all kindly. He he lit up at the sight of Toris and Matthew and hurried over to hug them.
"Yeah, not much point in protecting the Nords from the Barrens if Ivan explodes the whole damn mess," Matthias chimed in. He clapped Gil on the back while Berwald grunted in agreement and accepted handshakes from Esther and Basch. Oskar buzzed around and smiled brightly.
Nikolai stepped up to Arthur and glanced around, his brow furrowed. "I thought the mercenary was with you."
"Sadiq is dead," Feliks said shortly. "Ivan killed him before taking Alfred."
Tino's face fell. "I'm so sorry."
"There'll be time for that later," Seychelles said brusquely. "Right now, we need to find Ivan and get Alfred back. Yao's spell was supposed to drop us near them but, evidently that didn't work."
"It did, actually," Yao said with an amused sniff. "It sought out 'friends'. I did not anticipate you would have five additional friends in the Barrens; the spell latched onto their energy instead of Alfred's."
"Well, bully for you, but that doesn't help us find Alfred," Matthew said shortly.
"No, but I can help," Tino said, a determined look on his kind face. "Nik and I, we can feel a concentration of, ah, wrongness I guess is the best word, to the east. It's been getting stronger as we've made our way in that direction, I know that's where Ivan is, likely with Alfred."
"Yes, along with a number of his Talentborn followers and a number of those without magic," Nikolai spoke up. "He's expecting a fight."
"Then let's give him one," Esther growled.
"They are not only here to fight us," Tino said. "Ivan's rupturing the Balance and they will also serve to shield him, so he has the time he needs. We should—we should expect them to do anything to protect him."
"Tino's right," Matthew chimed in. "Before Ivan killed—our friend, Eduard, he told Toris and I before he last left with Ivan that what he's doing is subverting the Balance, trying to break it. He's got energy and magic he's stolen stored in these stones we mined from the mountain, and he's been transferring it here. It's why the landscape looks so—off."
Arthur's eyes went wide, his breath catching silently as it all became so clear. The last piece of the puzzle clicking into place.
"Yes, the earth is—I can't describe it. The opposing magic and energy here is warring with each other, becoming more volatile, and that's rippling across the Balance," Tino added.
His Talent is not strength. He absorbs energy and magic around him, like a siphon. Why Ivan wanted Alfred.
"He wants to restore Ruthenia, that's his big Vision," Toris said.
Ivan will use your Alfred and destroy Us. You must stop it. What the Balance told him.
"And he is going to use Alfred's Talent to augment his own do it," Yao concluded sadly.
When you and others have your magic back, to help give the Earth back her magic too. His promise to the Fey.
He knew then, he knew exactly what he needed to do. How he was going to do all of it.
Stop Ivan, save Alfred and the Balance, and hold up his end of the bargain to the Fey.
All you must do, is what you are meant to do.
Provide balance.
"Arthur?"
Perhaps a simpler approach is all that is needed.
He jerked and looked over at Tino, who was looking at him in concern. Tino was not the only one. Matthew and Kiku had matching worried expressions, perhaps fearing the mention of Alfred's situation would send him inward. Seychelles and the others watched him more wary. Yao stared, perhaps putting the same picture together Arthur had, albeit with different pieces. It did not matter. Arthur straightened his spine and took a deep breath, steeling himself. He shook his head, warding off anymore concern or questions and nodded at Tino, motioning east.
He knew what he needed to do.
He just needed to get there.
"He's right, we need to get going," Nikolai said. "Who knows how much time we have before Ivan begins."
"Right," Tino said, eyes still worried as they looked at Arthur. He looked around and motioned for them to gather closer, then he lifted his arms, and they all were on a raised section of earth. "Oskar, Matthias, if you could."
They both headed to the edge and while Oskar spun up wind to make a gust while Matthias brought his arms together and called fire which spun around his arms like a turbine. When Tino started to move his arms, moving the earth and moving them forward, the fire and wind propelled them faster across the blue grass almost as a boat would. Arthur almost smiled as he watched the three of them work in tandem and sent them flying across the Barrens, remembering a conversation where Alfred had excitedly talked about inventing an airship one day that could do something just like this.
Arthur narrowed his eyes and kept them forward as they sped towards their fate.
The time had finally come.
Ivan felt the electric rush of anticipation as he made his final preparations for him to finally finish his mission and bring about his Vision. After centuries of planning and preparing, it was time for Ruthenia to be restored. And for the Balance to be undone, giving rise to something new in its stead. What that something was, Ivan did not know, but it would be better than before.
It would have to be.
His followers had headed off and would keep him undisturbed for enough time for him to change this world for the better. He knew the crew of the Evangeline would be difficult to overcome, especially with the presence of the Nordic elementals he could feel singing through the air as they drew closer. But his loyal followers would do what was necessary. He hoped that most would live through the day—they deserved to see the paradise their work would bring—but he also knew it was unlikely. Most of the Talentborn who had travelled with him had willingly given Ivan their power for his final assault on the Balance, most of which he transferred to stones save for Vladimir's, which he would need.
They would be at a disadvantage as a result. The Nordic men all had full use of their Talents and the others were formidable fighters.
Ivan could also feel his old teacher's presence here as well, his magical signature unmistakably to Ivan after all these years. He had not quite worked out how he felt about it—he had ordered his death and yet, Yao had survived and continued his inexorable march on Ivan and all he had built and accomplished. All that he had once thought Master Yao wished to build and accomplish alongside him.
Dmitri dead and lost for nothing.
Yao here and marching against him as if their past meant nothing.
Natalia and Oksana not beside him as he had grown used to, maybe for the best. At least they could see their new world.
Eduard's fear-drenched face flashed through his mind and Ivan had to close his eyes against the clench of grief he felt at his absence.
He could not afford to falter now.
Ivan turned back to where Alfred was beginning to rouse from the stasis Ivan had placed him under, the chains clinking with movement as he started to wake.
It was time to work.
He stepped into Alfred's space as he stood up, groaning, his eyes unfocused and bright. Ivan brought Vladimir's Talent to the forefront as he sliced Alfred's forearm open with a knife. Alfred jerked and let out a hiss as Ivan covered his hand over the wound, soaking his palm in blood until he felt Matthew's empathy bind them together, like the snap of lock, Alfred's magic and energy mingling with his and strengthening him. The stones around them started to glow and pulse as he started to pull their energy and power into him.
"Braginski! Ivan! Don't do this!"
He could his skin burn and prickle as he brought it all in and the pain started to build. The connection he had forged between him and Alfred snapped tighter. Alfred let out a grunt of pain and inhaled shallowly. The stones surrounding Alfred started to go out as Ivan filled to the brim and they latched onto the nearest thing they could.
It was time.
"You-you can't—you'll—"
But whatever Alfred thought to say was lost as he screamed and Ivan plunged his hands in the earth and commanded the Barrens, Ruthenia, the world, to change.
-It is happening and We are breaking-
-People in Ruthenia marvel as magic rushes through the earth. People elsewhere scream as the earth tremors beneath their feet again. Seas churn and swell in violent waves towards the shores. Cyclones and thunder whip through the skies. Flowers grow in one place and die in others-
-The earth cracks here, at the epicenter, and wild energy, angry and feral, crackles up and out-
-The Fey cower and call desperately on a deal made-
-Screaming everywhere-
Arthur felt the moment Ivan started to forced magic into the earth again before the ground started to shake and crack around them violently. It felt like before, but not quite as painful. Not yet at least.
Tino cried out and dropped them all to the ground just as the white tents and gathering of Ivan's followers came into view on the horizon. His hands clenched hard in the ground for a moment before Berwald rushed over and picked him up, just as it cracked right where he had been, magic arcing out and up like lightning to the sky. Yao shouted and started directing the magic as best he could as it erupted around them, protecting and shielding them where he could as Ivan's followers approached them.
"He's doing it!" Tino shouted over the din from the crackling magic, the thunder echoing above them, and the yells of their attackers. "He's going to crack the world!"
"Not yet, he hasn't!" Seychelles cried out. She whipped around, despite the discomfort he knew she felt, and directed the Evangeline crew to arms. "Ladies and gents! Time to make these assholes pay!"
Varying cries went up in agreement before, as one, they got into formation to meet the onslaught. Arthur watched, feeling detached, as Alejandro, Rosa, and Esther moved as a unit and knocked back the first crash of Ivan's army.
Basch, Gilbert and Francis took up behind them, covering them and attacking as needed.
Feliks and Kiku moved faster than he could track, knives and claws quick and deadly.
Seychelles with Matthew and snipped off attackers that got around their defenses with well-timed shots. Matthew was using Alfred's pistols.
Toris was back behind Yao with Raivis, watching anxiously and firing off arrows while keeping an eye open for anyone getting hurt.
Yao was busy with trying to keep the wild magic from hitting anyone, but he was able to redirect some of it back into the battle, taking out multiple assailants at once.
And the Nordish contingent, well, they were something else entirely.
Tino, as recovered as he was going to be, was surfing on the ground as if it were waves on the water and flinging large clods of earth while Nikolai stood behind him and pulled water out of the air, sending it crashing down on their enemy. Berwald was changing the water remnants into ice and firing them as if they were bullets as some tried to get close to Tino and Nikolai. Matthias was up in the air with Oskar, shooting off fireballs that Oskar would catch in gales of wind and send down as a flaming tornado. The pair of them reminded him of dragons from Fey tales he read as a boy.
"Arthur!" He blinked and looked over at Matthew. "Go! Find Alfred and stop Ivan! We'll take care of this."
The Fey pendant in his pocket burned hot, urging him to act as much as Matthew's words did. He closed his eyes and reached out to his Voice and the wild energy all around him.
-Take me to the center, where these ripples begin-
Almost desperately, he felt the air swirl in front of him and form a portal, not unlike the one Yao had spelled to bring them to the Barrens. Arthur took a deep breath and stepped through it, Matthew's face disappearing as it closed behind him and he stepped into a clearing, the echoes of the battle gone, dull stones scattered all around his feet.
And there, just in front of him, were Ivan and Alfred.
Arthur's eyes fell immediately, like a moth to a flame, on Alfred. He looked pale and limp where he was bound between a pair of posts, and most horrifyingly, he looked old.
Ancient.
Like he was a hundred and twenty-one and not twenty-one.
He looked as if he could already be dead, but then his head lifted, arduously, and his eyes, still so blue, caught him. They widened in dismay as he recognized Arthur.
"Arthur, no!" His voice was frail and hoarse. "Don't…don't do what he…wants!"
The irony of Alfred repeating nearly exactly what Arthur had begged of him not a day ago, and the fact that Arthur was going to disregard him as much as Alfred had, was not lost on him. He tried to smile reassuringly at him, but he couldn't. Not when Alfred had been drained and looked like a withered shell of himself, only alive due to the vastness of his Talent. With effort, Arthur tore his eyes away from Alfred, doing his best to ignore his cries and renewed struggles, and refocused on Ivan. On Ivan, whose hands were still buried deep in the earth. He smiled at him, his eyes just as purple and eerily lit as they had the first time he had seen them.
He had been expected, it seemed.
"Arthur Kirkland," Ivan greeted as he rose, his dirt-covered hands coming with him. "When I found you in your little bookshop, I had no idea how much our destinies would become entwined. But here you are, witness and instrument."
Arthur tilted his chin up and clenched his jaw, hands balling into fists tight at his side.
"I am glad to see you recovered. Alfred worried, all that blood," Ivan clucked his tongue at him as he stepped forward. Alfred's struggles were weak, but constant in Arthur's peripheral vision. "Tell me, did your companion, the mercenary, survive?"
Arthur shook his head and kept his eyes on Ivan and not on the minute slumping of Alfred's shoulders at the mention of Sadiq's fate.
"Ah, well, Toris is only so powerful. Not like us." Ivan towered over him. Arthur had to crane his neck up to keep eye contact. "I understand what it is to lose someone to a greater purpose."
Arthur sneered at that, which infuriatingly, only made Ivan laugh.
"So spirited, even after your defeat and loss. Even with the man you love crippled and dying!" Ivan walked around Arthur, his presence looming behind him but giving him an unobstructed view of Alfred again. "He is very strong, but as I feared, his role in my Vision has taken its toll on him. He will not survive the rebirth of this world."
Alfred shook his head and called out his name again, guttural and rasping, pulling weakly at the chains binding him.
"But you know this," Ivan continued, his voice a whisper in Arthur's ear. "It is why you've come here and not immediately attacked me with your Voice. Just as he saved you, you wish to save him, but you do not know enough of your own Talent to guarantee killing me won't kill him too, not connected as we are."
Ivan will use your Alfred and destroy Us.
"But I know of what your Talent can do," Ivan continued. "It can restore Ruthenia the same as my efforts can. It can undo the Balance and make something new."
"Artie…honey…please don't…"
"Even though you and your friends have done nothing but try and destroy everything I have built towards and sacrificed to achieve, I will still offer you this chance to save him."
All you must do, is what you are meant to do.
"Use your Voice, Arthur Kirkland. Use it to finish what I have started, and I will sever the connection to him. His Talent will let him absorb the energy around him and restore him. You can save him."
Provide balance.
Ivan had circled back around, staring down at Arthur, eyes expectant. Knowing. Waiting for the answer he knew Arthur would give. Arthur dropped his head and did not disappoint him as he nodded, blocking out the anguished cry he heard from Alfred. Ivan let out a satisfied noise and took hold of Arthur's shoulder, the power and energy he was still carrying burning him through his shirt.
But Ivan did not know everything, the bloody tosser.
He did not know Arthur clenched his hands so hard he felt his nails break the skin and stain his palms with blood. He did not know that Arthur had seen how the leylines linking magic and energy together could be forged and changed between people, courtesy of his near-death induced vision with the Balance. He did not know that by establishing the tie to Alfred, he opened himself up to someone else Talentborn tapping into Ivan's own Talents, stolen or otherwise. He did not know Arthur was willing to risk everything, himself and Alfred included, if it meant he could put a stop to his madness.
Arthur jerked back and brought both of blood-covered palms up to cradle Ivan's face, his Voice practically roaring up the moment he tapped into everything he contained within. He smiled viciously, teeth bared and eyes cold, as he saw the flicker of confusion pass over Ivan's face. Arthur could feel Alfred's Talent vibrating through the connection, emboldening him, encouraging him.
Provide balance.
Arthur brought every bit of his will to bear and let his Voice roll through and out him.
-Give It All Back-
And then…
…all over the continent, all over the world, the shaking had stopped, but the damage and the fear remained. Frozen, unsure what was happening, knowing whatever it was, they were on the precipice.
Scales tipping, unsure where they would fall.
But then, a rush of power, of magic. Like a relieved inhale after drowning.
In Spandow, a pair of twins gasped and were whole, one's mind restored, and the other's memory returned along with an inherited energy buzzing under their skin.
In Vindobana, a woman helping shelter the wounded in a mansion gasped and sprouted flowers through the floor. A few rooms over, a young girl cried as the years reversed and she was her own age again, staring at her unwrinkled face, knowing her brother and their friends had won.
In Grecia, a fisherman found his arms growing and expanding in a way they had not in a decade, and he immediately began using them to help rescue those who had fallen into the flooded waterways during the earthquake.
Off the coast of España, on the small islands of Portus Cale, a young chef tasted the sharp, iron tang of blood on his tongue after not tasting anything for years, his Talent giving him a glimpse into his own family history, and he cried.
North of Zhongguo, a young singer felt the croaks of her voice flutter away and the Talent-touched tones of her voice returned.
In Lotharingia, a brother and sister pair of shopkeepers felt their forgotten Talents flood back. The young blonde woman stumbled as she read the lewd thoughts of her customer while the tall blond man nearly fell off a ladder as he reached for an item and it floated up to him.
Hundreds of children felt their youth restored, some now adults, some still young, all crying. Not all had survived, and those that weren't there any longer, their energy burst into the world, bringing new life everywhere it landed.
In the Barrens, a host of friends felt their Talents return, some dropping down in surprise and others in pain as physical aspects came roaring back. They all whooped with joy as their belief in their friend had been rewarded.
And at the center of it all, a former bookshop owner felt a tickle in his throat as the red band around it faded…
…and Arthur held onto Ivan through it all, through the draining rush of power that pulled from Ivan and pushed through Arthur out into the world, heading where all lost things search for. Heading home.
Ivan, who had been screaming so loud to start had choked off into silence as time went on, his face frozen in rage, disbelief, and agony. Arthur did not waver, even as he felt a strange flutter of guilt at what he was doing to Ivan—he deserved none of Arthur's pity, but he could not seem to stop it as he watched Ivan's youthful face begin to line and age. Arthur risked a glance around Ivan's shoulder and saw Alfred standing taller, stronger, hair shining a burnished gold and his youthful face watching him with wonder.
Arthur was not sure how long it took. He felt connected to everything and nothing, all at once. Both the orchestrator of his actions and a simple vehicle for them at the same time. The flow of time had gone a bit sideways, and with it, him as well.
Eventually, what was once a flood slowed to a trickle and then, nothing at all.
Arthur ripped himself away and fell to the ground as Ivan collapsed to his knees. He looked old, but not incapable, so Arthur scooted away, putting space between them. Arthur took a deep, heavy breath, pausing when he realized he could hear it. His hand went up to circle around his throat and he inhaled in, hearing the noise that made too.
"Arthur!" He looked up as Alfred pulled himself free of the chains and sprinted towards him. He looked healthy and so, so alive. Arthur pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the thankful tears that stung at his eyes, and ran towards Alfred.
"Alfred!" He laughed as Alfred nearly tripped over his own feet at hearing Arthur's voice out loud, but that laugh was swallowed up into a grunt as Alfred crashed into him, hugging him tight and tucking has face in Arthur's neck. "You idiotic, brave, fool of a man! Why would you willingly trade yourself for me? You are an utter and complete git!"
"The first words you say to me out loud and they're mostly insults?" Alfred laughed. His voice was as watery as his eyes when he pulled his face out from Arthur's neck. He shook his head helplessly and pressed a hard kiss to Arthur's lips, clutching at his face. "Also, you don't get to yell at me for pulling the sacrifice-act when you came and did the same damn thing!"
"I can and I will, you daft buffoon," Arthur whispered, eyes scouring over every inch of Alfred he could see, making sure he truly was whole.
"You know, your voice is deeper than I thought it would be," Alfred said. "I couldn't really tell from your voice in my head, not really, not like this."
"Yes, well, it's not my fault you envisioned something else," Arthur scoffed, embarrassed. For what, he was not sure, he felt giddy and shaken and self-conscious of his own voice. Alfred just rolled his eyes and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"I'm saying I like it, you doofus."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
Arthur smiled at Alfred and drank him in, leaning into his touch when Alfred's hands moved through his no doubt filthy hair. He could have stayed there soaking in Alfred for an age, but unfortunately, fate was not that kind.
The earth began to shake again, and they both flinched as a crack of wild magic shot up from the ground near them and into the sky. Arthur could hear Ivan chuckling behind him, thoroughly ruining what was left of their moment, and Alfred's eyes went dark and angry. He stomped over to Ivan and hauled him up by the lapels of his coat. Ivan's wizened face was gleeful as it looked around them, at the storm still raging, the Balance still cracking, and the rumbles reverberating from the ground. Arthur looked around as the crevasses got wider and the arcs of corrupted magic and energy entrenched and ensnared together in the earth got bigger.
In his pocket, the pendant burned.
"How do we stop it?" Alfred shouted, shaking Ivan for good measure.
"You cannot," Ivan cackled softly. "My Vision will still come to pass, the world made anew, without a Balance to interfere and ruin lives. Even for all your Arthur's power, he was not able to stop what I have done!"
Alfred dropped Ivan back to the ground, eyes round and worried as he came back to Arthur. "We need to do something, Artie, we can't just—"
"Alfred."
"He can't win! We can do something maybe, or maybe Yao can—"
"Alfred!"
"What?!"
"It's all right, love. We don't need Yao. I know what to do." Arthur cupped Alfred's cheek in his hand and bringing him gently in to press a soft kiss to his lips, tears pricking his eyes again, hating himself for what he was about to do. "I love you."
"Arthur, what—?" Alfred's eyes went wide as Arthur pushed him away and used his Voice like he had to get here.
"Send him to his brother." A portal opened behind Alfred and passed over him and then he was transported away, leaving just him and Ivan.
"You, you think you can stop this?" Ivan chuckled weakly. "You could not before. All you did was send the Talents and energy back to where it came from. You cannot do this. You are not skilled enough."
Perhaps a simpler approach is all that is needed.
"I wasn't trying to before, you wanker," Arthur growled as he knelt to the ground and dug his hands into the earth, reaching out with his Voice at the raging maelstrom he found there, feeling it push and pull at his own magic, exhausted and depleted. "And I'll bloody well show you what I can do."
"Change!"
The world went white and as the magic in Voice ripped through him and tamed the wild energy exploding around them, reached out and felt the frayed presence of the Balance, he closed his eyes and knew no more.
Portus Cale - The Roman-Celtic place name Portus Cale was a city where present-day Vila Nova de Gaia now stands, at the mouth of the River Douro in the north of what is now Portugal.
Character Cameos (in order of appearance):
Grecian fisherman – Greece/Heracles
Chef in Portus Cale – Portugal
Singer in Zhongguo – Taiwan
Shop owners in Lotharingia – Belgium and Netherlands