Happy 2022 all! It has been a looong time on this one I know (lots of stuff going on). I've had this one in the hopper for awhile-thought it needed some more polishing, but on a second look I'm happy with it. Hope you enjoy and stay safe out there!
Their odds weren't good. In fact, to Eostre's mind, they were nonexistent. How did one fight an immortal man? Well, out of all of them, Ardyn should know, she thought almost laughing out loud at the irony. Why the hell was he here in the first place? It made no sense. She had become a liability. She was nothing to him. Why would he come rescue her? It was not like she had time to ask him.
Ardyn and Reynardo were sizing each other up. In Ardyn's case, he was undoubtedly sizing Reynardo up as a threat. However, it was clear that Reynardo was assessing Ardyn with something more perverted in mind. Eostre wasn't about to leave Ardyn alone to face this. For whatever reason, he had come for her. The least she could do was…well something better than just running away and leaving him to his fate.
She instead hurried to his side. He did not seem too pleased about her efforts, given how he tensed up.
She wasn't about to back down though. "Give me one of your weapons. Anything," she ordered with clenched teeth, trying to keep her voice low so that Reynardo wouldn't hear her.
Reynardo evidently did, since his lips twisted into a smirk.
"By all means, give her one," Reynardo taunted. "Two against one are much better odds for you. Even if you will still lose. Then I get to sample both of you."
Eostre's fists clenched in fury that she had been overheard.
She should have known Ardyn enough by now to know what he would do next. With the look of a man who had had enough, he warped forward, jerked her into his arms, and ignoring any of her struggles, warped her to the door. Only to find it was locked.
He tried the knob in disbelief. "It would appear I did manage to trap myself," he mused bitterly with an accusing glare at Eostre.
Eostre, stung by the look, snapped back. "Don't blame me for this! You were the one who chose to come. Even if I have no idea why the hell you did."
"By all means, let's stop everything to give you the full story. Perhaps Reynardo will even let us get comfortable on his throne while we are at it," Ardyn sneered.
"Oh sorry. Am I interrupting," Reynardo drawled mockingly. He was already halfway across the room to them, approach, slow, measured-the stance of a man who knew he held all the cards and was in a position to savor the path to inevitable victory.
Ardyn knew that position well. It was a position he had been in when he fought King Regis during the Founders Day Ceremony thirty some years ago. If he had wanted Regis dead then, he would have done it. His main goal had been to drive the King to resurrect the Old Kings (mainly Somnus) to protect him, just so Ardyn could fight his traitorous brother and win.
Having the shoe on the other foot now wasn't welcome. Reynardo was indeed savoring things, advancing slowly with his sword drawn. He knew he could run Ardyn and Eostre through in a minute, but was relishing the chase.
For better or for worse, escape was out. Eostre was now forced to help Ardyn, or die alongside him. She swallowed her, even she could admit, bitchiness and began surveying the room for what they had to work with. It wasn't much. Other than the strip of carpet leading to the raised dais and the throne, the room/fighting space was devoid of furniture. There was plenty of open space around the throne though, so they would have room to manuver. The gaslight sconces on the wall gave them plenty of light, but wouldn't do much offensively or defensively.
There had to be a way out of this. Even if their foe was immortal, there were still two of them against him. She studied the throne, cushion ripped in half from where Ardyn had tried and failed to pin him. Her gaze returned to the shredded fabric of Reynardo's coat from where he had violently ripped out of the pin.
An idea came to her. It was a longshot at best, and would require teamwork from Ardyn, and a blade. It was all they had as it appeared they were out of time. Reynardo was standing only an arm's length or two away.
Ardyn turned sharply, keeping Eostre behind him to shield her from Reynardo's inevitable approach.
"Can I have that weapon now," Eostre asked from her position of illusory safety behind Ardyn.
"Fine," he replied tightly. "If nothing else, use it on yourself if you, have to," he added, summoning the pistol from the void and handing it to her.
Of all the weapons he had at his disposal, he had to give her the one that wouldn't work.
"Not that—your sword. Switch to something else." she demanded.
"Are you mad," Ardyn demanded incredulously. Not only was she demanding a weapon, she was making specific requests, and asking for his favorite weapon.
"Trust me, I need it," she begged earnestly.
Reynardo laughed derisively at her exchange with Ardyn. "Good call on rejecting the gun. They are so impersonal. Besides, the feeling of a bullet hitting your flesh is nowhere as good as the caress of a blade."
Ardyn rolled his eyes in annoyance, whether at Eostre or at Reynardo it was difficult for her to tell. Regardless, he relinquished his sword to her and summoned his greatsword instead. One problem down, Eostre thought. Now she just had to get Ardyn to coordinate with her, without Reynardo getting wind of her plan. That was too tall an order. She'd just have to wait for the right moment. Assuming they were capable of reaching it.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Reynardo was giving them time. Despite being upon them, he was waiting for them to make the first move. It was clearly nothing to do with sportsmanship or giving them a fair chance. He was playing with them like a vicious cat did a mouse. As he had told her earlier, he had more fun when they fought back, just so he could subdue his prey completely.
Ardyn directed his full attention to Reynardo, now well within sword range. "I suppose your experience with bullets and blades differs from mine," he drawled. "When I was immortal I felt neither. How awful it must be to have an eternity where you feel pain," he taunted, evidently an attempt to goad Reynardo into an attack.
It failed. He merely scanned Ardyn's greatsword. "Ooh, yours is bigger," he chortled with glee, jumping back out of range.
"Careful. It just might snap yours in half," Ardyn countered mockingly.
The greatsword may actually work better here, Eostre realized. The bulky metal blade against Reynardo's rapier might cause their foe's weapon to snap. There was still no conceivable way to kill him, but at least Ardyn could get his weapon out of play.
However, in return, she'd have to stay out of the way. An uncontrolled lunge with a sword the size of Ardyn's would kill her in one swipe. She couldn't rely on his reflexes in the heat of battle to avoid her. Yet, if she played her cards right, and could get Ardyn to follow her instructions, she might not need to. She hovered near the throne, waiting for a moment to get Ardyn's attention.
At least Reynardo didn't appear to realize his danger. He lunged forward with a fencer's grace in an attempt to breach Ardyn's guard. Ardyn didn't let him, countering with his own blade with a grating clang of metal against metal. Ardyn pushed forward with all his might, pushing the rapier back. Just a little more force, and the flimsy sword should break.
Something finally gave way. Eostre heard the crack followed by a pained scream. However, it wasn't the sword that broke, but rather Reynardo's wrist. From her vantage point she was able to see that it was a compound fracture. The edge of the bone was sticking out of his skin.
Reynardo glanced at his injury unfazed. Eostre could only imagine how painful it had to be since he could still feel pain. Although with how offputting he was, he may actually be enjoying the pain, she thought with disgust.
Reynardo looked back to Ardyn and gave him a rueful smile. "I—never thought my arm would break before my sword did. Guess the merchant was right. Mythril is indestructible."
Ardyn's face tightened. A mythril blade was bad news. It was the strongest metal out there. Not even a greatsword could get through it. No wonder Reynardo's wrist had broken instead of the weapon. Even while he was thinking this, Reynardo returned to the throne, forcing Eostre to scuttle away.
Ardyn kept his gaze fixed on Eostre for the moment. She was still too close to Reynardo for comfort. He was evidently preparing to step in in case Reynardo was going to directly engage her. Now was the perfect time for the next phase of her plan, Eostre realized. She was behind Reynardo, and he was for the moment more focused on his injury.
She met Ardyn's gaze, then pointed at the corner of the room, following it up with a meaningful nod to the corner. He only stared back blankly. Eostre rolled her eyes in annoyance. It's not like she could say her plan out loud. The only advantage they had was to keep Reynardo in the dark, and if Ardyn was slow on the uptake, this wouldn't work.
The sharp sound snapped Eostre and Ardyn's attention back to the throne. Reynardo slammed his broken wrist down on the arm of the throne. They watched in morbid fascination as Reynardo used the force of the chair arm to force his broken bone back into alignment. Like somebody running into a wall to attempt to pop a dislocated shoulder back into place, the move appeared to work; at least judging from the nauseating grating crack of the bone popping back into place.
Reynardo shook his "injured" wrist to loosen the muscles and picked up his sword once more.
"Now, where were we? Oh yes, I remember," Reynardo taunted, lunging forward once more.
Plan B then, Ardyn thought, crossing blades with Reynardo once more. However, what was plan B? Whatever it was, he'd have to be quick about it. The greatsword wasn't one of his favorite weapons to use. You had to be as muscular as a weightlifter to use the heavy sword properly and sustain use. He had always called it the "meathead weapon" for this reason. He could use it for short periods of time, primarily as a shield against projectiles like he had done when escaping Insomnia, but its use in a fencing match wasn't something he felt comfortable doing for very long. He could already feel his arms beginning to tire.
Damn Eostre! She'd better have a good idea in play to make it worth it. And pointing meaningfully at the corner didn't qualify. He could see her out of the corner of his eye, hovering near the corner she had pointed at, alternating between pointing her sword at Reynardo and to the wall. She wanted Reynardo over there for some reason? What was she thinking? Still, at least she had an idea. He was fresh out.
Pushing against the mythril sword was useless. He couldn't get Reynardo to give up ground that way. He knew what he had to do. He warped behind Reynardo in an attempt to backstab. Reynardo turned and caught the attempted blow with his blade at the last second and unleashed a graceful but brutal counterattack forcing Ardyn backward.
All the part of the plan, Ardyn reminded himself as he gave up ground. He didn't like it one bit, but if Eostre had a plan…
"And here I thought you were going to fight beside your man," Reynardo taunted to Eostre as he relentlessly forced Ardyn back. "Where is that spunk you had before? You might as well just kneel before me right now and save us all some effort."
"Wouldn't that ruin your fun," Eostre taunted back.
In other circumstances, Ardyn might have been amused. She really was quite, intriguing when she showed spirit. However, in this case, Ardyn gritted his teeth. He didn't need her goading him right now. If Reynardo took the bait and began attacking her instead, it would ruin Ardyn's part of the plan. Not to mention he'd have to rush to her defense. There was no way in hell she could defend herself against an evidently trained fencer.
Fortunately, Reynardo only had eyes for Ardyn. He ignored the taunt, continuing to relentlessly push Ardyn back.
Ardyn felt the wall at his back. Ok. He had done his part of the bargain. He met Eostre's gaze. She nodded, ready for whatever she was planning. He repeated his move from earlier, warping behind Reynardo in an attempt to backstab.
Reynardo laughed derisively as he jumped back to avoid. "Really, your repertoire of moves is quite limited. I expected so much better from you."
Jumping back had forced him into the corner. Eostre was lunging his way, attempting to strike him from the side. Reynardo whipped around, ready to counter her move.
"Pin him now," Eostre ordered, meeting Reynardo's blade with her borrowed one.
It was evidently taking all of her strength to keep the blade from getting past her guard. Ardyn didn't have time to question what she was thinking or why she thought pinning him to the wall with his blade would be any different than pinning him to the throne had been. Ardyn thrust forward, the greatsword impaling Reynardo through the stomach, the width of it almost slicing him fully in half. The force of the blow embedded the greatsword a few inches into the stone wall.
Even as he screamed in agony, Eostre slid past his guard, impaling him sideways, pinning him to the wall beside him. Now Ardyn saw what she was planning. Reynardo was pinned from two directions into the stone wall like a bug on a board. It would be almost impossible for Reynardo to rip himself out from the pin now. Just to be sure, Ardyn shoved Eostre's borrowed sword even further into the wall.
"Rip yourself out of that, pervert," Eostre spat out at their (at least momentarily) incapacitated foe.
"You, bitch," Reynardo grated out.
"Language," Ardyn taunted. "Now, do I call this a victory? Technically I haven't killed you yet."
The look on Reynardo's face changed from agonized to smug. "You might want to hold off on your victory pose," Reynardo replied.
Eostre cried out in alarm a second before Ardyn heard the rasp of metal. Before Ardyn could even feel any pain, he noticed the tip of a sword sticking out of his stomach. He had been stabbed in the back, he realized in dazed surprise. The blade was abruptly ripped out, causing him to groan in pain before dropping to his knees and falling forward onto the marble floor, splashing into his own puddle of blood.
He needed to see who had stabbed him. He needed to protect Eostre from the new threat. However, he couldn't move. The icy cold marble floor was freezing him in place.
"Your Majesty," Eostre gasped out, sounding like she was far away. "What have you done?"
The familiar voice replied with an unfamiliar cold, righteous arrogance, "ridding the world of darkness."
Noctis was here and had stabbed him, Ardyn realized, stunned. His hands slipped in his own blood as he struggled to rise, causing him to collapse back down again. He had to confront him. Eostre would need his help. He just, needed a minute to rest…black oblivion took him.
