*A Grave Fate (FE9 OST)
**Along the Beach (Tales of Symphonia OST)
***The Mind of Izuka (FE10 OST)
HOW DARE THEY?! HOW FUCKING DARE THEY?! Of course, he was enraged by this turn of events, this scheme. In fact, his charge notwithstanding, he was literally always enraged at humans and the depths of selfish depravity to which they would sink. But this? This was absolutely unconscionable, even by their abysmally-low standards!
It truly had been a battle for the ages; standing with their king, heroic old Dheginsea in a final stand against the motley collection of heretics, hotheads, and arrogant beorc seeking to overturn the goddess' judgement itself. Now Kali, a Black Dragon warrior of Goldoa, found himself sprawled onto the cold ground of an unfamiliar land, every inch of his body burning with pain, his last memory being of the beorc gentleman with Altina's blade striking him.
However, the one thing in which he took comfort was the presence and survival of his brother, Surya, while somewhat worse for wear than he, his leaf-green hair matted with assorted debris, was still alive and mere paces from his position. Gingerly, Kali dragged himself over to his twin, checking for a pulse and finding it to his great relief. "Surya." he called. "Brother, are you alright?"
Groaning in pain, the younger brother slowly opened his eyes, just as confused as his twin. "Brother, where are we?" he inquired. "This isn't the tower."
"I've no idea. But we've got to find someone; a fellow tribesman, another laguz, even a beorc who knows what the hell he's doing and where we are would be better than this."
"Is that wise? I can barely stand, let alone transform to defend myself."
"I'm much the same, but we cannot simply stay here. If we do so, we will die; I'm as sure of that as the goddess herself."
"Wait a second! Brother, what's that? Did you hear that?"
"Damn, you may be even worse off than I'd thought!"
*Even had he a fraction of his strength with which to resist, the elder of the dragon brothers would have done well to heed the warning; with these words, a thick mesh net ensnared the twins, Kali struggling against the trap to the detriment of his remaining vitality.
"We've got them, milord!" called one of the soldiers, among the several clad in purple-black armor.
"Don't get too close!" instructed another soldier over Kali's curses and graphic threats of equally-graphic violence.
"Oh, shut up, you coward!" scolded a man, quite clearly his superior as demonstrated by both his casual language and fine clothing.
His subordinate stilling his tongue unlike his quarry, as he drove the sedative-laden syringe into Kali and Surya respectively, Duke Guillaume could scarcely believe that the ramblings about other worlds of his liege had some validity to them after all. Like every child on the continent, he'd heard tales of the legendary Dragon's Gate, but to actually have it confirmed was something else entirely. Nonetheless, Duke Lorraine was a very practical man, even in a time of war. Thanks to the king, Konrad had more gold than he knew what to do with and always welcomed more specimens and the duke was looking for an insurance policy to keep himself in said king's good graces. Perhaps a quid pro quo of sorts was in the making?*
**Perhaps due in no small part to the method's relative rarity in her home world, Selena was not a fan of travel by ship, let alone the sea in general. For Camilla however, she would endure it and do so with as close to a smile as she could manage. True, the cool ocean breeze was not unpleasant, but a man casting an extremely-large shadow, probably the largest in the world, had been putting a damper on her voyage as well. Leo had never liked her, Selena could deal with that; a lot of people disliked her. In fact, she could also deal with the outright hatred the most powerful man in the world held for her, despite her lady's continued adoration of her younger brother. But there was something truly monstrous, truly unnatural about the murderous venom even the king's mere gaze communicated, that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. The very last thing she was some shrinking violet, but the pure hostility and borderline madness in said gazes even made her consciously avoid him whenever possible. Not that she actually had anyone to confide in about these concerns.
"Do you like the sea, Selena?" inquired the princess.
"Not especially, but I don't hate it." replied Selena, lazily lounging on the ship's railing.
"I just adore the sea, especially in this kind of weather. The skies and waters are so clear and peaceful, no?"
"Yeah, they are."
Of course, the mysterious retainer knew her lady well enough to detect any nervousness and evasiveness, and this instance was no exception. "Lady Camilla, where exactly are we going?"
The smile with which Camilla responded, while serene and motherly as always, betrayed an ever-so-slight hint of unease. "Notre Sagesse, of course."
Selena tilted her head in confusion. "That's kind of an odd choice for a holiday, isn't it?" she asked.
Her lover chuckled fondly. "Nothing gets past you, does it Selena, my dear?" Camilla replied distantly. "Yes, it is, but sometimes one just feels like a change of scenery."
As they disembarked from at the port that evening, Selena noticed a number of oddities surrounding the princess' behavior, not least of which was her dismissal of any security outside of herself, the circular route across town on which she insisted, and her conscious avoidance of the occupation troops, finally culminating in an exchange in an alleyway well into town. "Lady Camilla, is there something wrong?" she inquired urgently. "You've been behaving strangely for hours now, especially since we got into town."
Turning abruptly on her heel, Camilla's expression turned to one of complete and utter seriousness. "Do you love me, Selena?" asked the princess in response. "Enough that you would do anything for me?"
"Of course I do! What kind of question is that?!"
"Then I need you to promise me, to swear on both of our lives, that you'll never breath a word of what we're doing or why we're here, to anyone. Not to Azura, not even to Corrine, and especially not to my brother."
"Yes, I swear it. Not a word about it leaves my lips. But I have no idea WHY we're here in the first place, milady."
"You'll see."
Several more minutes of walking took the couple to the very edge of the port town, well away from any prying eyes. From there, the princess led her beloved retainer further up a rocky, sloping hillside, a few more minutes of traversing this inconvenient terrain finding them facing a grotto sequestered away in the hillside. While she would not have noticed it at first glance, a sanctuary lay beyond the unassuming arches, its entryway overseen by a kindly-looking elderly woman in plain black clothing. "Ah, welcome back, milady." the woman greeted. "It has been too long."
"Well, things have been rather...busy as of late," reminded Camilla sadly. "but it is always nice to see you as always, Sister Agnes. I trust he's doing well?"
The old woman smiled softly. "But of course. Naturally, you'll want to see him with your own eyes."
The princess noticeably towering over her, Selena had no need to lower her head as she entered the ancient monastery, the intricate masonry and solemn, dignified atmosphere of the interior more than a little familiar to her. No, it couldn't be, she told herself incredulously. And the architecture was not the only thing about which she was mildly confused. "You've been dancing around it for hours, milady." prefaced Selena crossly. "What exactly are we doing here anyway?"
The traveler shortly received an answer to her question, however far less directly than she was expecting. No, Selena's answer came in the form of Sister Agnes emerging from one of the interior corridors holding a toddler, no older than a year or so, in her arms, Camilla beaming fondly at the boy before picking him up herself, ruffling his teal hair affectionately. "And how is Auntie Camilla's brave, strong boy today?" the princess babbled, bringing a rare bout of laughter from the lad's inexplicably-serious visage.
Her nephew having tuckered himself out for the most part, Camilla turned to her champion, eyes heavy with concern. "And now you know." she said, her tone somewhere between relief and worry. "My brother's most precious secret - this Selena, is my nephew, Siegbert."**
"Your...nephew?!"
She knew that Krakenburg, like any castle, had its secrets and certainly more of them. Nonetheless, the boy's very existence and the secrecy under which he was raised, did confirm a good deal for Selena. "Knew it all along." she remarked, attempting to play down her own sense of vindication. "From the very beginning, I knew your brother and his retainer were fucking-"
Selena gave the nun an apologetic wince. "Sorry."
Agnes merely smiled graciously, recalling her memory of the young parents. "Prince Xander was never a particularly happy man. Despite her mannerisms to the contrary, Lady Peri was even less so than he." she remarked wistfully. "Oh, but when those two were with the boy! How that all changed! It was not exactly an easy birth, but I must say; I had never seen such joy on either of their faces the first time they held young Siegbert in their arms!"
Abruptly shaken from the nostalgia of her brother, Camilla read the slightly-quizzical expression on her redhead's face. "Father did not approve of their affair in the least."
"Wait a second, he must have had a million - well, bastards." the interloper replied indignantly. "Where did he get off forcing your nephew away from his parents?!"
The princess' expression turned downcast. "That's just it, sweetie." Camilla resumed sadly. "Myself and Sister Agnes included, there are very few who know that Peri, was in fact, legitimately his wife and my sister-in-law."
"Therefore..." began Selena quizzically, hoping to receive an answer from her lady.
"By the succession law in place, it would mean that I'm holding the rightful king of Nohr in my arms while my brother is actually a pretender - a usurper."
As the pieces of the puzzle all mentally clicked into place, Selena got absolutely no gratification from solving it whatsoever, her stomach twisting instead into particularly anxious knots. She had absolutely no reason to doubt her lady's account, therefore she knew fully well that the boy's life (as well as those anywhere near him) were in grave and immediate danger should his existence become known to Krakenburg's new master. She had no doubt that Mad King Leonard would snuff out her life on the slightest provocation and relish doing so; Selena was not one hundred percent certain that he would go so far to dispose of his own flesh and blood, but the aforementioned inhumanly-hateful stares and increasingly odd behavior made it very likely indeed, to say nothing of his minions.
He was a proud man by his own admission and (much like any good Nohrian should) viewed the savages as, at best, a resource to be exploited and then disposed of when no longer required. But before anything else, Duke Matteo of Toscana's training had been primarily as a diplomat, which required often holding one's tongue and paying one's hosts insincere complements (or in his case, outright deceptions more often than not) when one may be thinking the exact opposite. Still, it did not exactly hurt that said savage addressed him man-to-man, even if his legs were killing him from sitting on the cushions.
"Lord Kentaro, I must commend your dedication and loyalty." said the duke. "With our troubles with your northern neighbors, most nations would look for any and all opportunities to escape our alliance."
The young man sitting across from Matteo, his visage somehow both youthfully optimistic and hardened, gave a light bow with his neck. "It would be our honor to remain your allies." he said dutifully. "The tribal heathens scarcely know what's good for them, but I look forward to many years of cooperation with the great King Leonard of Nohr. But before I sign this treaty of cooperation, I want to confirm our conditions one last time."
From his robes, Matteo produced a letter, emblazoned with his liege's seal and began to recite his take on Mokushu's main demands. "Izumo is as good as your territory as far as we are concerned. If you so choose, the Wind Tribe savages as well, but we'd advise against that for the time being, at least until our other 'friends' have mostly dealt with them. And finally-"
In contrast to his youthful, almost-innocent expression, the young daimyo's countenance turned vicious. "The absolute annihilation of the treacherous Saizo clan." he finished for Matteo. "For the cowardly, cold-blooded murder of my father, only such a punishment can be fitting. And we can count on the aid of the Nohrian army for pest control?"
"Of course. And as we in Nohr are not exactly running a poorhouse, if your young men require some targets against which to sharpen their skills, as well as their blades, feel free to-"
"Yes, yes, whatever you need."
After giving his own signature, Matteo literally bit his cheeks to keep from conceding his absolute glee at the diplomatic coup. Stupid savages! Do they even read the entire treaties, he wondered smugly. Of course, said treaties with these vermin were more akin to suggestions as opposed to binding agreements; in other words, the second the terms became an inconvenience for Windmire, the treaties ceased to be worth the paper upon which they were printed. Surely, he had to have put one over that smug old buzzard knight this time!
When Kali awoke several days later from whatever vile substance that beorc injected him with, while slightly more of his strength had returned, he took no comfort in this fact. Restrained in an unusually-warm cell with bars of stronger steel than he'd ever seen in his centuries overlooking an open-air area, the warrior found himself cursing once more his lack of strength to transform and rip the bars in two, as well as the humans who had imprisoned him like some sort of beast.
Indeed, the one thing which gave hm even the slightest comfort was the cell adjacent to his, visible by a gap in the bricks just wide enough for a man to peer through.
"This is not good, this is not good, this is not good." chanted Surya worriedly, as if a mantra to transport them back home. "Where are we now, Brother?"
"Once again, I have no idea." replied the elder twin. "But like you said, it can't be anywhere good."
"Are we going to die, Kali?"
"I don't think so, at least not yet. They wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of bringing us up to this tower if they just wanted to kill us."
"I know it's considered childish to say so but, damn it, Brother! I'm scared!"
Kali smiled benevolently at his twin, reaching to sweep the hair from his eyes like when they were children before his impediment by the brick barrier. "Don't worry, Surya." he reassured. "If it comes down to it, I'll protect you, just like when we were boys."
"Really?!" answered Surya, some of the old spark returning to his gaze.
"Of course. Even though the blue-haired beorc and the journey here took most of my strength, I know my body. By this time tomorrow, I should be able to transform and-"
"Be quiet! Someone's coming!"
***Surely enough, Surya's famously sensitive ears had detected a conversation coming from the stairwell leading up to the tower, Kali shortly picking up on it as well.
"-the harm in it? It's not like the beasts are likely to survive it anyway." came a deep, cruel voice. "But still, my debacle for the king's coronation present was almost as bad as Pietro's, so I am not complaining about this."
"While you are not a man of science yourself, Duke Parma," came a simpering, nasal voice. "I'm glad you've come to see the benefits of my research. After all, His Majesty is said to consider wyverns quite majestic."
Unlocked by the soldier standing guard on the other side, from the room's only entrance emerged a pale, greasy-haired man, his tone of voice even more unpleasant than his appearance. To his right stood a man, tall, blond and muscular, clad in decadent robes of red, an appropriately-luxurious dagger on his hip.
"Sir Konrad, have you need of the specimens?" inquired one of the axemen on guard apprehensively. "Because we may-"
"Just the weaker one will do for now." interrupted the researcher. "Duke Alexei's tribute to the king is long overdue."
"Idiot!" growled the duke. "Are you trying to ruin my reputation entirely? You've got your gold, now bring me what you've promised!"
Kali would have bristled at this slight, but the casual, dehumanizing language and his brother's pleading gaze back at him as he was led to the room's center told him that nothing good could come of this encounter. But exactly how bad, was to be the most appalling thing he'd ever had the misfortune to witness in his life.
"What are you doing?" asked Surya feebly, struggling slightly against the soldiers and his bonds. "Please, don't touch me with that."
"Oh, you silly subhumans and your squeamishness." said Konrad, pushing a syringe of some horrible, purple liquid into the younger twin's neck. "Be proud! You're making a great sacrifice for great progress."***
*At this slur and attack on his brother, Kali would have loved nothing more than to rip the bars from their foundation and disembowel the disgusting little human and his patron, but was interrupted by something apart from the bars, that was impassable: Almost immediately after his injection, Surya fell to his knees and began to scream in absolute agony, as though every nerve in his body were pierced by white-hot needles. Even the "scientist's" expression of absolute glee could not tear his eyes from the sight of his brother's torment, Surya momentarily glancing balefully at his brother, the older twin futilely grasping for him from between the bars. Almost unbelievably, Surya's body was enveloped by a sickly-purple aura, his screams and pleas for reprieve becoming somehow more intense as a series of sickly crunching noises echoed throughout the tower.
As the screams transitioned to feral roars of pain, the purple aura and sickly crunching both subsided and Kali, upon seeing the end result, came to the horrified realization that the great, half-story high, black wyvern now attempting to escape his captors' chains, was in fact, his brother, scarcely paying the noble any mind as he helplessly reached for his twin one last time.
"It's absolutely marvelous!" congratulated the the duke. "He's marvelous! I'll have Matteo's position once I present this to King Leonard!"
"While he's a bit...unruly, I'm sure it's nothing an old wyvern champion like you cannot handle."
As one of the soldiers was maimed affixing the great harness to Surya, the duke tossed a considerable bag of gold at Konrad's feet. "That's twice your asking price!" he informed joyfully, saddling up on the new mount.
As the noble dragon-napped his twin, forcing him off into the unfamiliar skies, Kali's sadness and despair at the loss of his brother and his home blended seamlessly into one new and very familiar sensation. It was rumored that had the Mad King's War not ended when it had, their king would have destroyed Daein for this exact same crime against their people and his kin. Now, Kali understood on every level exactly how his liege must have been feeling, the only thing saving that...butcher's windpipe from being crushed in his grip were the guards pulling Kali's free arm off him.
"So King Leonard, huh?" began the warrior, sounding slightly-crazed from the rage and despair. "Once I get out of here, I'm going rescue my brother and burn EVERY LAST FUCKING ONE of you humans-"
Konrad chuckled smugly as he produced yet another syringe, injecting Kali himself with some sort of bright-red solution. "Once you get out of here, you'll be a fine servant for His Majesty." he simpered. "Or rather, a weapon. After all, if the savages become too uppity..."
Konrad simply punctuated this thought with a sinister, knowing chuckle as the Goldoan warrior fell to his knees, feverish and dizzy. Damn them, he thought as he passed out, Damn them all! "Somehow, someway. I'll see you saved, Surya."