We return… for troubling events.
Ruination: Return Chapter XII
Depths Beneath Part IV
"Sarah Fortune," Lucian remarks, standing as she and her followers approach.
"Lucian, the Crusading Sentinel," Fortune returns with a sardonic smile, her eyes flicking to Senna for a moment. "Quit a mess out there. Do you have anything to do with that?"
"Just in trying to stop it, heard something similar regarding you," he returns.
She laughs bitterly, shaking her head. "Well, it seems like we both failed to do what we set out to in the end. Though there was a bit of time, things actually calmed down enough to keep our heads above water."
"Viego was destroyed, but he's since returned, and he's ever more desperate to complete his quest," Senna interjects.
Senna looks her up and down, "That being, and mind telling me who this is Lucian?"
"My wife," Lucian remarks. Something odd flickers in Fortune's eyes that he can't quite make out.
"Senna," Fortune murmurs, looking at the other woman with the same stark expression. "You really managed it."
"Pardon?" Senna asks, glancing at her husband.
"Your husband was on the warpath the last time we met." Fortune remarks, "You were the sole goal on his mind; everything else was… just a distraction, let's say."
Senna squeezes Lucian's arm, and he smiles, but he is still trying to puzzle out the distant expression in Fortune's eyes. Is it…. melancholy?
"So what are you here for?" Fortune remarks, "No one enters this hell willingly."
"Viego, he's hunting down his bride," Yasuo remarks.
Fortune sneers and spits, staring up at the choking torrent of Black Mist above them, "All this over a woman he treated so harshly?"
Lucian quirks an eyebrow as Senna's hand digs deeper into his forearm.
"So it would seem," Diana states, and Sarah's eyes trace up her slowly, "I wish not to interrupt, but would this conversation not be had somewhere more secure?"
"This is my domain," Fortune remarks, holding her hands high, the bone necklace around her throat clacking against itself, "The specters aren't getting in here as long as I am still breathing. Also, who might you be, beautiful?"
Diana tilts her head slightly at the direct flirtation, "Diana."
Fortune smiles winningly and goes to speak, but Yasuo interrupts her, gesturing at the necklace.
"Sarah, isn't that… the talisman Gangplank wore, the one that the Isle corrupted?" Yasuo asks, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"It is quite a trophy, don't you think?" Fortune responds, grinning, and her crew mutters their agreement. "It proves once again that I am stronger than that old bastard."
She spits again, and Yasuo glances at Lucian, "Yes, but Viego-"
"Is the least of my problems right now," Fortune snaps, "Gangplank, however, is still out there, and this city is being torn apart at every angle. My city. So if you want help on your scavenger hunt, you're gonna help me, now let's get to strategizing and maybe a drink; y'all have to be parched."
She turns, her crew surging around her, except one, a gruff individual chomping on an unlit, half-burned cigar, an absolutely massive gun in his hands.
"You-" he begins, but a call from Fortune cuts him off.
"Graves! Get over here." Fortune demands.
He flinches and moves to follow, leaving the Sentinels staring at each other.
"Is she always-" Senna begins.
"Intense, flirtatious, driven?" Yasuo remarks, "Depends on the hour of the day, but yes."
"Can we truly trust this woman?" Diana asks, sheathing her blade, "Something about her rings… false."
"To lead a city like this, you have to learn how to manipulate things to your favor. Maybe she was hiding something, but she cared about this city more than anything the last time I met her—even more than her rivalry with the old pirate king," Lucian states, staring after her, catching her glance back, and looking directly at him with that same odd look. Longing? Jealousy? He couldn't place it.
"Hopefully, we can get her to see reason." he finishes, holstering his guns and following after her.
Senna grasps his hand.
"You okay?" he asks, glancing down at her, "Some of the things she said seemed to-"
"I'm fine. It's just… somethings she said didn't feel quite right." Senna remarks, tapping her chest, "To her."
"Oh?" Lucian asks.
"I don't know… Viego is a monster, he is, but I…" she pauses, her eyes tracing the panes of his face, before leaning up to kiss his cheek. "Never mind. Let's focus on the matter at hand."
Hecarim shrieked as the bone knife stabbed into his back and rent upwards, parting metal like butter.
"Get off me, gnat!" he bellows, bucking and rearing as the gaunt figure held on, drawing its blade back to stab again.
Ledros charges in, slamming into his enemy's side, sending him off kilter. However, his blade misses as Hecarim rears away, his front hooves colliding with Ledros's face.
Ledros flies back, skipping across the waves.
"I will not be bested-" He begins snarling.
"Again, you mean?" Ledros challenges, surging to his feet and racing back to his opponent. He grabs hold of the harpooner and chucks him off.
The Buhru man vanishes into the waves without even a ripple, vanishing from sight.
Hecarim rounds on Ledros, their weapons clashing heavily.
"Not this time." Hecarim growls, "You are not the only one that has grown."
The Black Mist begins drawing into him, new runes hastily carved into his armor flickering and fluttering, and he seems to grow, body beginning to shift and change, forcing Ledros back.
"What is-" Ledros begins, but Hecarim wraps a hand around his head and forces him down, dunking him beneath the waves, claws digging into his eyes.
"Let us see if we can finally quench your flame," Hecarim taunts, his form continuing to fluctuate as he raises his glaive.
And from behind him, Ledros spies the shadowed form of the harpooner, blade poised to stab down.
"I remember your face." the harpooner mutters.
Hecarim barely has time to turn before the blade carves clean through his arm, allowing Ledros to climb back atop the waves.
Hecarim snarls, but as the two round on him, he pulls back.
"You have no idea what is coming for you," Hecarim states, and then he is gone, vanishing back into the mist.
"Coward." Ledros spits.
The harpooner turns and glances up at him, eyes narrowing, the blade tensing in his hand.
"You look familiar," he mutters.
"I-" Ledros blinks as the harpooner leans upward, "Are you Pyke?"
"I am." he returns, "And you were one of the specters savaging the folk of this Town not so long ago."
"I… allowed myself to fall far in my desperation," Ledros agrees.
"You're lucky She has me playin' nice," Pyke states, glancing out across the waves.
"Sh-the Kraken Priestess?" Ledros asks.
"Ha, I don't answer to her." Pyke scoffs, tapping his blade against Ledros's armor, "You and I are under the same flag now."
"Nagakaboruos." Ledros mutters, "Do you know why I was searching for you?"
"You seek the Old City." Pyke remarks.
"If that is where Isolde's soul rests, then yes, I do." Ledros agrees.
"I can lead you to where the Weeping Queen's soul rests," Pyke states.
"Not yet. There are others I came with who seek her, Sentinels," Ledros states.
"Why ain't they here?" the harpooner demands.
"They went to seek help from the direction of the Kraken Priestess," Ledros explains, "A Sarah Fortune."
Pyke stares at him and scoffs, drawing his blade once more.
"Then, despite her claims to the contrary, Illaoi is blinded by sentiment," Pyke snarls, "They have no ally in Sarah Fortune, only trouble. Come."
The harpooner dives into the waves, vanishing from sight as an odd ripple cascades outwards.
Ledros steps forward and feels himself suddenly and viciously drawn downwards into darkness.
"So, as you all have clearly seen, we're in it worse than we've ever been before," Sarah states, gesturing down at the map splayed across an aged and ale-stained table.
"Luckily, the Buhru had enclaves and wards across the Isles, which has allowed us some breathing room." she continues, "But I don't know if it will be enough in the end."
"How's ending this coming, oh, mighty Sentinels?" she asks, glancing up at them.
"It has been… frustratingly slow going," Senna admits. "But we have made progress—a year without Viego, to start."
"Really, doesn't seem like much has changed," Sarah remarks, turning back to the map.
"If you help us find what we are after the attacks on Bilgewater would likely lessen, as we would be taking what they covet with us." Senna presses.
"The quicker we are gone, the quicker you can start fighting, not just surviving," Diana remarks, glaring about the room at the haggard, drained-looking band of pirates around them.
"We're doing more than surviving." Sarah states, narrowing her eyes, "The dead do not trouble me; it's-"
"Gangplank." Yasuo interjects, "Who, I am guessing, is likely part of the dead's siege here?"
"So I believe. The coward refuses to show his face." Sarah returns, tapping her fingers angrily on the table as she gazes across the map.
"Wait, you haven't even seen him?" Lucian demands, leaning across the table towards her, "Sarah, I-"
"Not recently, but he is here." Sarah snaps, and Senna sees the pirates around them tense, but she can't quite place if it is in fear or reading for a fight, the one with the cigar. Graves was staring at her with a distant look in his eyes.
"Where?" Lucian demands.
"He was in the city right before everything kicked off, bleeding Mist like a stuck whale," she returns, pointing towards her pistol at the Slaughter Docks on the map.
"Gathering Jagged Hooks to his cause and anyone else who was… upset with my way of handling things," she remarks with a cold smile.
"What happened?" Yasuo asks.
"We fought, and he ran, still had a bit of the Monk's Blessing, so he couldn't touch me." Sarah states with a smirk, "I burned his ship to the waterline and found this amongst the ashes.
She taps the necklace.
"The first of many trophies." her smile turned predatory, and Senna shared a look with Diana, who pursed her lips.
"If he's vanished into the Mists, he could be anywhere." Lucian notes, "And you're letting yourself be distracted from the greater picture besides."
"That man murdered my mother, took everything from me, my life, my cause has been his undoing." Sarah states, standing tall, "You of all people should understand… even if you got your wishes granted."
She sent a look towards Senna that was unreadable, the mixture of emotions too knotted to pick apart.
Lucian grimaces, "Sarah, please. We need your help, and we are willing to help you in turn, but we need to focus on the most important facets at hand."
"Right, like I haven't heard stories of you all popping up like a miracle and then vanishing quick as your work is done, not the tough fighting, not the long haul." she bites back.
"From who?" Yasuo demands, pausing to take a sip of the provided drink.
She stares at him for a moment silently.
Yasuo stares at her for several moments longer and then sits forward, staring at her intently. " I've been waiting to bring this up, but where is the Crown, Fortune?"
"Back to last name basis so quickly, Swordsman," she returns, glaring heavily at them.
"You're acting like we're a lot less than friends at the moment, so, yeah." Yasuo returns. "We bled together. We won and lost together. We lost our friends and made it out of the Isles together, and that crown was a pretty massive part of that whole adventure! Viego's going to be after it, just like anything else that could have an iota of connection to his bride, so if it's here, let us take it so we can keep it even farther from his reach."
"You don't trust me with it?" she demands, though she looks momentarily ashamed at the mention of all she and Yasuo lost together.
"I'm not saying that, but you want some heat off your city, your people; giving it to us would do you a world of good," Yasuo states.
"What we are doing is trying to make the long haul unnecessary, and we have returned when needed plenty of times, like in Silvermere." Lucian challenges.
She blinks, looking away from them, "I hadn't heard of that."
"Maybe you are listening to the wrong people," Diana states, her eyes narrowingly probingly.
"Maybe I have." she agrees, looking at Yasuo, "It's gone."
"What?!" Yasuo exclaims, knocking his chair back and surging towards Fortune, aghast. Several of her men go to draw their weapons, but she raises a hand to stop them.
"I thought... I came to think Illaoi, or Pyke, or perhaps even you had ferried it away without saying anything, as I become as the former so winningly 'erroneously preoccupied." she states.
"Well, clearly, you're wrong." Yasuo snaps.
"Clearly, I can not tell you where it went, not that I have had the time to look with the Ruination breathing down my neck every moment like a starving dog." Sarah fires back.
"I... then what is he even after here?" Yasuo demands.
"Regardless of what it is, we need to get to it first. Help us now, and you'll have the Sentinels at your side later. Our forces have grown considerably, and we can even give you Relicstone if that is what it takes." Senna offers, stepping forth.
"With that, the wraiths your people clear our will stay gone." Lucian finishes, Senna squeezing his shoulder appreciatively.
Several of Fortune's crew began to mutter their agreement, but a raised hand from Fortune silences them.
She runs her hands along the necklace, staring at each of the Sentinels in turn.
"I don't have time for later, nor am I waiting for my own miracle." Sarah states, glancing up and locking eyes with Lucian, "I make my way on my terms."
"Then you're a fool," Senna states, losing her patience. Fortune bristles and all eyes in the room turn to her, "And we are wasting our time. I am not here to further your vendetta. I am here trying to save my oldest friend and the entire blighted world. So what you are going to do in this moment is point us in the direction of Pyke so we can go back to doing what matters."
Sarah stares at her in silence for several moments, Senna watching Lucian's hands fall to his pistols as across the table Fortune's people lay hands on their own. Diana stands, staring imperious and unafraid, while Yasuo sighs, partially unsheathing his blade.
"Is everything we went through really not worth even a little bit of help?" he asks, looking to Sarah, who seems to be freed from her angry stupor by his words.
"I-fine." Fortune sighs, turning to the man to her left, "Rafen, lead them below to the sea caves that should give them quick access to the sea and closer to finding the damned harpooner."
"Ye-" he begins, but the cigar-toting man in the back coughs.
"Rafen's got a lot to figure, Missy Fortune, why don't I do it." he offers.
Sarah stares at him, "Ever eager, aren't we, Graves."
The man nods, though Senna can see sweat begin to bead on his brow for some reason.
"Fine. Take them below, so we can all get back to…" she pauses, looking at Senna with a barely hidden sneer, "What matters."
"Right, this way, folks." the man states, nodding for them to follow as he pushes open the double doors behind them.
Yasuo hangs back as the others funnel past, Lucian shaking his head as he meets Senna's eyes.
"Pushing folks away isn't going to win you anything, Sarah." Yasuo states, "Though we both learned that on the Isle."
"Yet where is everyone, hm?" she fires back, "Dead or unwilling to help me. So go back to being gone, Yasuo. I'm fine as I am."
She turns back to the map, bending over it.
Yasuo's hand clenches, but he nods, downing his drink in one go, "Thanks for the drink, at least."
She doesn't even look up at him.
Outside in the halls, Yasuo growls in frustration.
"I can't believe this." he mutters, "She's acting like…"
"A fool, as Senna aptly put it," Diana states, ignoring the dirty look one of the passing pirates shoots her.
"She's not anything like I remember." Lucian states, "There are facets, but…"
"Perhaps you only knew what she wanted you to see." Senna offers, her husband grimacing and nodding, "What… did you see?"
Lucian blinks and knits his eyebrows together.
She is not sure what prompts the question.
But before Lucian can answer, Graves turns back to look at them as they turn a corner.
"There's something you folks need to see. Because you're right, there is something plenty wrong with Fortune."
"Oh?" Yasuo demands, "And who are you?"
"Just call me Graves, and I ain't one of hers if you're wondering, and I agree, the big picture is damn near invisible to that one, and I can show you why."
The others look to Senna.
"Lead on then," she states.
Graves looks around the corner, checking for any of Fortune's people. Seeing no one, he waves the Sentinels after him.
He hopes this works the way he wants.
He needs out, and these folk are likely gonna be his best bet.
"Where are you taking us, ruffian?" the towering, pale lady asks.
"Keep it down," he admonishes, flinching slightly at the writhing glare she sends towards him, "And trust me, where you're going now is better than where Fortune wanted me to take you, Miss…"
"What do you mean?" Lucian demands.
"Right, names can wait; I mean, she wanted Rafen to take you to her dungeon." Graves states.
"That would not have ended well for him," the tall lady says.
"If he were alone, which he wouldn't have been." Graves notes.
"I do not fear pirates. The Ruination and my life besides has shown me far worse," she remarks.
"That… alright." Graves mutters, sufficiently chided.
"She wants us as prisoners, why?" Senna demands.
"Because everyone not working for her is working against her. You called her out in front of her whole crew. That wasn't gonna stand." Grave returns.
"The world is unraveling all around her, and she's worried about appearances?!" Senna cries.
"Hush it down!" Graves hisses.
Senna shoots him a scathing look.
This was a fun bunch.
"She really is nothing like I remember," Lucian states.
"Just tell us plainly." Yasuo demands, "What is going on?"
"Why tell when I can show y'all," he states, gesturing ahead to a heavy iron door.
Graves reaches the door and pulls it, glancing aside as he reveals the room. The Sentinels look at it in a mixture of disgust and shock.
Blood, fresh and old pools in the middle of the floor, and around it, candles burning with green flames cast warped shadows across the walls.
A horrid mosaic of flesh, each marked with a barbed anchor tattoo, covered the back wall.
"The person you called friend." Graves remarks, "She ain't been here for quite some time."
"This is…" Yasuo breaths.
"Monstrous," Diana finishes, drawing her blade.
"The Mists, they ain't never been kind to us here in Bilgewater," Graves remarks, "But I ain't ever seen them make someone do something like this."
"This Harrowing is different; it hollows you out and draws all the negative to the surface," Senna remarks, "Everything you fight to keep down until all you have left is your worst aspects, and then it sinks in, making you believe the Ruined King has all the answers. That his desires will all you feel complete."
"That's what she has been keeping buried?" Yasuo demands, gesturing to the grotesque "tapestry".
"Actually…" a voice remarks, the group whirling to see Fortune stalking towards them, her eyes glowing the same eerie green as the candles, "That was a gift."
She looks at Graves and shakes her head in disappointment, "I warned you what I would do if you betrayed me, Malcolm."
His mouth dries as he fumbles for his gun.
"A gift?!" Senna demands.
A chuckle echoes from the other side of the hall, and Graves turns to see a skeletal face wreathed in flames staring at him from the shadows.
"Proof that with my help, we could achieve all she ever wanted." Thresh remarks.
"It was an interesting offer," Fortune admits, Black Mist flaring from the necklace as she steps closer to the party, her crew eyes a glow emerging from the shadows behind her.
Lucian draws his pistols, pointing at each of the figures, while the others draw their weapons and circle up.
"I thought you were stronger than this." Lucian challenges, his eyes burrowing into Fortune, "Since when was the Queen of Bilgewater such an easy puppet!"
She falters for a moment.
"I wouldn't have done that." Graves remarks.
"Is there a way out of here?" Senna demands, looking up at him.
He nods, but Fortune cuts him off.
"I'm no one's puppet, Lucian," she remarks, drawing her pistols, "I thought you, of all people, would understand the powerful drive of revenge."
"When it comes to taking down the folks that wronged us." she continues, and she fires.
But her shot goes wide, striking a surprised Thresh in the center of the face.
"Sara-" Yasuo begins, only for her to fire again at the floor.
There is a flash as gunpowder hidden amongst the dust ignites, and the entire floor beneath gives way with a calamitous explosion.
And the party is sent falling into dust and Black Mist-touched darkness.
"Damn it, Damn it," Yasuo mutters, rolling as he lands and looking around for the others.
The Black Mist began to congeal around him, whispers trying to worm their way into his mind.
"Dig all you want, you will find me long hardened to my old failures." he barks, as a shape began to coalesce before him.
"What about new ones?" a soft voice asks, and his heart stops as the Mist parts and sees Ahri, wounded and with Black Mist seeping from her eyes.
Lucian lands hard, gasping for air as more rubble rains down all around him.
"What-" he begins, glancing up as the rubble shifts and a figure rises.
Thresh.
The two lock eyes, and their weapons rise.
Senna lands, Graves slamming to the ground with a moan directly behind her, and Diana lands on her feet without a sound.
"What now?" Diana demands.
"Trouble, most likely." Grave remarks as he pushes himself to his feet.
"Yasuo?! Lucian?!" Senna calls.
A dark chuckle sounds from the darkness.
"They are preoccupied," a deep, thickly accented voice remarks.
Diana draws her blade; Graves pumps his gun, and Senna readies her cannon.
The Black Mist parts and the looming figure of Pantheon emerges, Karthus and Draven a step behind.
"Hello again," Pantheon states, a predatory, inhuman smile passing across his face
And scene!
Well, that's not good, is it?
I return to grant a chapter before I return to SCP writing. Which, if folks wanna take a look, I have finished my 8k entry: Gods You Be. Go read!
Next time, conflict and an offer made in deepest darkness!
As always, comments, questions, and critiques are appreciated. This has been VerBeeker, signing off!