Who are we when trapped in the dark?
Ruination: Return Chapter XIV
Depths Beneath Part VI
Lucian weaves through the tunnels, Fortune a step behind, but every turn leaves him feeling increasingly turned around.
He skids to a halt amidst a crossroads, the Black Mist thickening at the back of every entrance. He turns to Fortune, whose gaze is distant and slightly muddled.
"Where is the way out?" he demands, his voice seeming to snap her back to the present.
She blinks, whips her head around, and grimaces, "From here, the best bet would have been back the way we came."
"Hells," Lucian swears.
A shape lunges from the ground, and Lucian whirls, guns rising, and freezes as a blade prods at the base of his chin.
Another, jagged-edged and tied to a thick cord of rope, is pressed against Fortune's throat.
The figure emerges fully from the oddly liquid shade surrounding it, and he takes in a hunched and heavily scarred Buhru man. His eyes glow with eerie blue light, and the faintest bit of green burns where his pupils should have been.
"Pyke-" Fortune breathes, halting as the man presses the blade harder against her neck.
"Not now, traitor," the man growls, leaning towards Lucian. The barrels of both his guns are pressed against the man's forehead.
"You are Lucian?" Pyke rasps, and Lucian, fighting the instinct to pug two shots into the man's head, nods.
"Good, your wife sent me. We've got to go," Pyke said, pulling the knife against Lucian's chin back and sheathing it. The King is on his way."
Lucian glances at Fortune, still held at the end of Pyke's other blade.
'We know." Lucian states.
"Then you know we've got to get to the Old City quick as the wind," Pyrke drawls, "But first…"
He rounds fully on Fortune, the fire in his eyes intensifying.
"Your name is atop my List." he snarls, and Fortune smiles faintly, closing her eyes as if accepting whatever comes next.
The blade draws back, and Pyke swiftly flips it and punches forward, intent on running her through.
Lucian catches his wrist.
"No!" he bellows, and the blade stops right before it can sink through her clavicle, a shallow nick beading crimson.
Pyke's gaze snaps to Lucian, "That is a fool thing to do."
"We're on the same side here, and as you said, we are running out of time!" Lucian exclaims.
"You don't know what she's done, what she is." Pyke rasps.
"We all get lost pursuing a goal," Lucian returns, "Revenge, in particular, is quite blinding."
Pyke's eyes narrow.
"But you know that, don't you?" Lucian continues, "Your story caught my ears more than once; I just couldn't put a name to the tale until this moment."
Pyke's eyes flick to Fortune for a moment, and she grimaces, "I- I'm sorry."
"You're lucky the Lady hates him the most," Pyke growls, turning away from them both, "But you're still fools."
The ground before him ripples like water as he glances back at them, "Trust only gets you killed. Mind that now and come along."
"What a heartening comment," Fortune remarks, stepping towards the odd portal. Lucian catches her arm.
"Are you sure-" he begins, and she gives a flat, tired, almost deadened look.
"He wouldn't have been wrong to do it." she murmurs, smiling at him sadly, "I… let him in and…"
She pauses, shakes her head, and looks away. "You came here looking for him, so let's not lose him."
She slides her hand out of his grip and steps through. He is left alone for but a moment, chill air skittering across the back of his neck before stepping into the even colder portal before him.
Senna glances behind once again as they weave their way through the tunnels.
"Anything?' Yasuo asks from ahead of her.
"No," she returns, murmuring to herself, "Where is he…"
"You know," Graves huffs from the front of the pack, "Didn't think my day was gonna go like this."
"Too stressful for you?" Diana asks, moving without even a hint of strain despite matching the sprint pace the rest of them were on.
"You kidding?" Graves fires back. I'm glad for it. I thought I was gonna die slow, choked out by this Mist, or hung like a fish by Fortune. This, this is more my speed."
"Running away from danger?" Yasuo interjects.
"Usually the kind I caused," Graves amends, "And never in such… radiant and cryptic company. Can't say I didn't like firing something that actually packed the punch it shoulda though."
Senna opens her mouth but falters as a freezing jolt of fear shoots through her.
"He's here!" Isolde's voice whispers, and dozens of emotions crash into Senna, causing her to stumble.
"Senna?" Diana asks, immediately at her side, "What is it?"
"I—" Senna murmurs, trying to catch her breath as a wave of worry, fear, grief, and anger roils within her. Then, a flare of protectiveness and deep, deep down, a mourning haunt her soul.
"How much further?" Yasuo demands.
"Shouldn't be long," Graves remarks, scratching his chin as he looks at Senna, "What's wrong with her?"
"Viego's closing in," Senna says, looking up at the rest of them, "He might already be in the Old City; we need to go now."
"Can't get there without Pyke," Yasuo mutters, swearing under his breath, "And he's still hunting Lucian. I can double back, even if this place is a damned maze."
A pang goes through Senna's chest.
"I can go," Ledros offers, "The walls are of little consequence to me if I wish."
"It…no, we need to get to the sea caves," Senna states.
"But-" Yasuo begins.
"I know, but that is where we are expected to be; for all we know, they're waiting." Senna interrupts, clutching at her chest as another pang goes through her, "Graves."
"Right, like I said, just a bit further." the merc states, shouldering his rifle and ushering them to keep after him.
Yasuo stares at Senna for a moment but continues forward, Ledros a step behind, though his eyes linger on the light flaring in the center of her chest.
"Are you okay?" Diana demands.
"No," Senna answers, "But we need to keep moving."
"Are… Senna, are you not guarded by the Bearded Lady?" Diana asks as Senna starts to move past her, dragging her hand along the wall as she waits for the distracting pain in her chest to subside.
Senna flicks her eyes to the ground, "I-"
As the doubts and fears burble within her mind, a deeper chill caresses her fingertips, almost gently. She glances up and recoils as thin tendrils of Black Mist, almost like fingers, had begun to close around her hand.
Diana places a hand on Senna's shoulder, and the radiance in her eyes brightens for but a moment.
"My radiance may not be so great as the Serpent nor match the gilded light of your weapons, but I hope that it can gird you all the same." she offers, and in that moment, Senna feels more serene than she has in some time.
"Thank you," Senna states.
"Not all gods demand obedience; some need simply offer their hand; if it ever becomes too much again, I will be glad to offer my assistance," Diana returns, smiling slightly, "Now, let us not lose our companions."
Senna nods, adjusts her cannon, and runs after the others. Diana's silver light is a boon against the darkness.
Yasuo is the first into the room, moving around Graves, sword drawn, eyes and ears straining for any hint of danger.
He glances back, looking at Senna, sticking close to Diana, and briefly allows the various worries fluttering about his mind to come to the surface.
She… is not protected. Not like she should be.
How much of the Mist has she drawn in, and why is it affecting her differently than before?
And is this a sign of things to come?
"Are you alright?" he asks instead, and she gives him a reassuring smile.
"Better, for now." she returns.
"What is-" he pauses as the air ripples behind him, a warning.
"Weapons up," he says, whirling towards the disturbance, blade rising, wind spinning around his feet.
And then lowers it slightly as Pyke steps out of the wall.
"Found'em," he growls, shifting to the side and eying Yasuo's drawn blade appreciatively.
Lucian steps out and rushes to Senna with a sigh of relief. The pair wraps each other in a tight embrace.
"You okay?' he asks.
"Yes," Senna responds, her voice muffled against his chest, "Are you?"
"Yes, we're b-" Lucian begins.
"We?" Yasuo interjects.
'Mhm." a taunt voice remarks behind him. He whirls, his blade rising as he sees Sarah standing before him.
"You." he murmurs, looking at Lucian, "What is she doing here?'
" She tried to kill us!" Graves cries, "She's with the Mistwalkes!"
He was pointing his cannon at her, Diana and Ledros also raising their blades slowly. Senna pulls away from Lucian, looking at him critically.
"It was a trap, but not for us," Lucian states, "It was for Thresh."
"What?" Senna demands.
"It… was a deal, a bargain I made," Sarah states, drawing all their eyes.
"With who?" Yasuo demands, "For what?"
"With Viego." Fortune states, "And what do you think."
"Revenge?" Yasuo asks, glare deepening when she looks away.
"You do not intend to bring her with us, do you?" Diana remarks, looking at Lucian with a critical glare.
"I-" Lucian begins, but Fortune cuts him off.
"The deal fell through." Sarah remarks, "And I wasn't in my right mind making it. Lucian saved me."
"And Thresh?" Senna demands.
"He escaped," Lucian remarks and Yasuo sees his hands unconsciously flex.
"How did you even capture him in the first place?" Senna demands.
"That…" Lucian begins, his expression muddled, "Can wait, we need to move Viego's-"
"Here, we know." Senna finishes, her eyes narrowing as she looks between him and Venture.
"I can't believe you would just let him in after everything we went through." Yasuo growls, glaring intensely at Sarah, "All so you could finally be rid of-"
"It wasn't about that I could get rid of!" Sarah shouts fury in her eyes, hands almost twitching down to her pistols. His sword shifts upwards at her throat, but she doesn't move forward.
She deflates as the rest of the party stares at her, "It was what I could get back. My ma…"
She looks up at Yasuo, "Do you have any idea the lengths someone would go to get their loved one back?!"
"I… no." Yasuo returns.
"Right, because you never stopped running from your past." Fortune snaps, and he grimaces, "But I couldn't! It sits like an anchor in my heart every day of my life that I lost her, that I couldn't save her, couldn't do anything! Fuck killing that old bastard, getting her back, that… that is what I want more than anything."
"He understands that," Sarah remarks, "Viego, and so does that one."
She points at Lucian.
"You are so lucky," she remarks, looking to Senna, then to Lucian, and then away.
"I know." Senna returns softly.
"So, I'm sorry," Sarah states.
Yasuo looks to the others, who seem a mixture of judgemental and saddened.
"Love is a powerful motivator." Ledros murmurs, lowering his blade, "And one that Viego knows how to wield as a weapon most effectively."
The silence that followed was broken by Pyke snorting and spitting a wad of seawater out of the side of his mouth.
"Y'all done?" he demands, looking around at them.
No one speaks up.
"That's good because we've burned enough oil on this back-and-forth," he growls, casting a hand towards the lapping waves. "And our way to the Old City is waiting."
The water erupted into the air as a vast semi-reptilian, semi-piscine form emerged, a bellowing roar echoing through the caverns.
It lowers its head and opens its mouth wide, opening both eyes to reveal them glowing like Pykes.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Diana demands.
"Take your last gasp of clean air now," Yasuo warns, stepping after Pyke as he approaches the startlingly docile sea beast, "The stink of fish is gonna cling to you for days."
"That's our way to the City?" Graves demands.
Pyke looks back at him, "You got a way to breathe underwater, forgetting the Mist creeping through the depths?"
"No, he doesn't, but he can stay here if he wants, with the specters and my men," Fortune remarks, moving towards the beast, ignoring the critical looks from Yasuo, Graves, and Diana, "Let's go deprive that skinny bastard of his 'prize.'"
Graves opens his mouth to protest but watches a curious Diana and an undaunted Ledros shift past him toward the beast's open maw.
"There better be things down there I can hurt!" Graves barks, following after them in a huff, "Or pinch. 'Stay behind' she says, I'll show her something or another…"
Lucian shares a look with Senna.
"Follow me into the belly of the beast?" he asks, holding out his hand.
She smiles, though a sadness touches her eyes, "Always."
He kisses her forehead, and they move past Pyke into the maw, which clamps shut behind them, enveloping the party in briny blackness.
She feels the beast dip beneath the waves, settling down in a strangely fitting groove in its lower jaw. Lucian's hand is her only source of connection in this utter darkness.
And as they sink, the chill feeling in her chest grows all the heavier.
"Don't worry. I'm coming," she murmurs.
And scene!
So, you know how I said this chapter would likely be the last of this arc? Well, I lied, it seems. But I swear, the next will be the end, and then the party will reunite to head to Ixtal and whatever mysteries and dangers that entails.
Hope folks that are sticking around are still enjoying it!
As always, comments, questions, and critiques are appreciated.
I'm also thinking about working on some of my other older works again, but it wouldn't be often. If any folks reading this have taken a look at any of those, let me know what you think.
This has been VerBeeker, signing off!