He still dreams about it sometimes, the moment when he plunged his sword into his father's heart. It wasn't really Viren, of course, but Soren didn't know that, not until after the sword slipped between his ribs and his body hit the ground.

It wasn't really Viren, but Soren had stabbed him thinking it was.

In his dreams, normally it really is Viren. Sometimes, Claudia attacks him in her fury and grief. Sometimes, he lets her do it, and sometimes, he fights back. Sometimes, she just screams and cradles their father's body, and Soren watches as his stomach twists and twists.

He had one dream once where it wasn't Viren, but the real Viren was there too, and it was a test, and he told Soren that he failed and that he was a disappointment and that he should never have been born, and then he raised his staff over Soren's head while Soren knelt, frozen-

He doesn't like to think about that dream.

But Viren is dead. Not by Soren's hand, but from falling from the top of the Storm Spire. Viren has been dead for two years.

Except Viren is in front of him now, looking down at him as he kneels, and-

If this is another dream, he doesn't like this one very much either.

"You're dead," he whispers. "You're dead."

Claudia makes a bitter noise. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? You tried it yourself, after all."

Soren's mouth goes dry. Viren is frowning at him, his expression unreadable, and all Soren can think of is Aaravos's words in Callum's mouth, "The failed son, whose father wishes he had never been born."

"What do you mean?" Viren finally asks Claudia, looking up at her.

"During the fighting two years ago, I had an illusion of you on the battlefield," Claudia says. "And Soren stabbed it through the heart."

"He was going to kill King Ezran," Soren says desperately. "I'm a Crownguard. I- I had to-"

"You tried to kill our father!" Claudia yells, and she takes a step forward, but before she can get any closer, Viren steps between them.

"Claudia."

Viren would always do that, say their names in a way that he seemed to think explained everything he wanted from them. Soren had never understood it at all. Claudia always did. But Claudia and Viren had always been on the same page, in a book that Soren couldn't even find, let alone read. They had their dark magic, they had their research, they had so many similarities that bound them together, and Soren was forever on the outside, wishing he could find a way in.

Sometimes, Soren wished he'd gone with his mother, when his parents split all those years ago.

"Terry," Viren says, and the Earthblood elf perks up. Why he's working with Claudia and Viren when Soren is sure they've made no secret of their hatred for Xadians, Soren doesn't know, but he guesses it has something to do with the pet names he and Claudia were calling each other. In a happier world, he'd know about his sister's boyfriend, and he'd have a chance to give him the shovel talk, and maybe they could become friends themselves.

This is not that world.

"We'll need him to be able to walk," Viren says. "Can you adjust the bindings?"

"Walk?" Soren repeats. "Uh, where are we going?"

Viren doesn't respond. He hasn't said a single word to Soren, and Aaravos's words keep echoing louder and louder.

"You know exactly where we're going," Claudia says. "I bet it's the same place you're going. We're going to find out how to free Aaravos."

"Claudia," Viren says again, and Soren tries to figure out what he means by it. He's never been good at that, but he tries regardless. Viren sounds a bit sharp, but he always sounds sharp. He's holding out Claudia's bag. Soren hopes he means, Here's your bag. I was worried about you. I'm glad you're okay.

Then again, it's equally likely - probably more likely, actually - that he means, Don't share our plans with the prisoner.

The vines around Soren shift, and he rises to his feet. Viren starts walking, and the Earthblood elf grows a leash for Soren out of vines. "Uh, do you want to hold it?" he asks Claudia, holding it out.

Claudia's expression is like stone. "I do."

She's not gentle as she pulls him along, but to be fair, Soren thinks he'd probably be stumbling just as much even if she were. He's not quite connected to his body. His legs are right there, but they don't feel like his legs. He can hardly remember to move one in front of the other to walk.

He expects that's because he's thinking too hard about the figure at the front of their little group.

Viren is alive. Viren is alive. It's been two years, two years of peace, and now Viren is here to ruin all of it. He's back, somehow - because he was dead, he must have been dead, they never found the body but he died - and ready to pick up where he left off. He's back, and he's going to destroy everything.

Soren is a Crownguard. He'd loyal to his king. Viren is a threat to Ezran and Katolis, so he must be stopped.

Soren is here, so he must stop him.

He doesn't know how yet. He's never been much of a strategist. His father used to tell him to stick to his strengths and leave strategy to the others (with thinly veiled derision in his voice, but Soren isn't going to think about that), so he never learned much. He knows his way around a battlefield, knows how to use an enemy's weakness against them, knows how to lead a small group of soldiers to victory, but he doesn't know what to do here. He doesn't know how to outsmart Viren and Claudia, two of the smartest people he knows. He doesn't know how to stop them. He just knows he has to.

His best chance is if they run into the others on their way through the forest. He assumes that Viren and Claudia are also probably trying to get to Rex Igneous, so he just has to hope that his friends get there first. If they're still there when Viren and Claudia arrive, maybe they can stop them. They'd have a dragon on their side, after all.

Soren should have kept Squeaky with him instead of letting her go overnight. She could have eaten Viren. It would have cleaned everything up nicely, at least metaphorically. Maybe not physically, though. Soren assumes dragons make a mess when they eat.

He would be willing to clean up a mess if it means he wouldn't have to deal with Viren. Maybe that makes him a bad son, but Viren was a bad father first.

They'll stop him. For the sake of the whole world, they have to stop him.

After all, Soren thinks as his hands remember the feel of a sword on a dusty battlefield, he did it once before. He hated it, still hates to think about it, but if he has to...

If he has to, he'll do it again.