The palace fire was nowhere near contained when Seth finally managed to get to the top of the cliff. He fought his way through the security barrier and rushed for his brother when he spotted the man, and it took everything he had not to burst into tears just for the sight of him, “What happened to you!?” He asked in a panic, gesturing at the top-naked figure with his chest bound – again.

  With his flight-suit peeled to the waist, and the sleeves tied to keep them out of the way, Furion looked at himself again. There were bandages holding a large pad to his left side, and it was obvious that the wound was a heavy bleeder, “I took a direct hit. It’s fine now.”

  “It’s fine!?” The teen gestured at the state of the Captain’s armor not too far away, “It has a dent. Do you know how hard you had to have been hit for this to get a dent?”

  Furion deadpanned, “Yeah. I do, actually.”

  “Why does it smell like pond-scum?”

  “Cuz I was knocked into the lake and it took a minute for me to figure out what direction to go to resurface.” The elder Rydell answered, and shook his head, “I’m just waiting for a ride to take me and my armor to the Buckler.”

  “What happened up here? Everything was normal and then it all just blew up!” Seth asked frantically, getting himself worked-up all over again, “Does this have anything to do with that meeting Iresha went to yesterday!?”

  “Probably?”

  “Is he okay!? He won’t answer my calls!”

  Curious Sargonian eyes were watching, and quite-obviously eavesdropping. Furion was well-aware of them, and pulled his brother close to whisper to the teen’s ear, “…I can’t explain much. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that Prince Iresha wasn’t here when the blast happened. If he’s not answering your calls, it’s because he’s chosen not to.”

  Seth stared incredulously, “What do you mean, wasn’t here? Where was he? Where IS he?”

  “I like I said, I can’t explain much. I probably shouldn’t have even told you THAT. Everyone here thinks the whole royal family just got wiped out.” Furion stood upright again, and pressed a hand to the sting of his wound, “Just keep your head down for a little while. There’s going to be a lot happening really quickly.”

  “What about Miss Ren? And Mr. Gabriel? And Mr. J’ard…? They were all here, weren’t they?”

  There was a subtle give-away in Furion’s eyes as he heard those first names, but he refused to acknowledge it, “If you were kicked out of the palace, then J’ard would’ve been, too. He’s probably in the city somewhere, wondering what the Hell happened. Lugios and Ren are probably on the Buckler already; they left a while ago.”

  “…Why is everyone heading to the Buckler? What’s happening?”

  The Captain could only look on quietly, and reached his free hand to pet the teen’s head. A blue-colored skiff similar to Maeve came down nearby, and Furion realized that was his ride, “Sorry, Seth. I really can’t say. When you do find out, you’ll wish you appreciated the time before more. Try to do that while you still have time.”

  “Captain!” A voice called out; the skiff’s pilot had opened the door to get his attention.

  Furion gave a wave to let the man know he’d been heard, and let go of his brother’s head, “I have to go. I may be out of contact for a day or two. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Don’t worry about it?” Seth echoed, and stepped out of the way as the white and gold armor came to life to hobble-hover after its pilot, and disappeared inside the small ship, “Furion!”

  “For once, just roll with it!” He called back, “I really can’t say anything else! I’ll call you as soon as I’m able.” Furion pushed the door closed, and the skiff lifted off into the sky, leaving the perplexed teen behind.

  “Damn it!” Seth kicked the ground in annoyance.

  .

  Waiting in the Captain’s office across the hall, Ren busied herself with theory-crafting the coming battles with her Buckler counterpart. Since her armor had gotten its second set of wings, it stood to reason that her actual uniform had been updated as well, and so she’d stepped out to find out if that was the case. She was certain that her giddiness over the fact that it was – in spite of the seriousness of the death of an Eidolon, and a looming war – could potentially make her affect seem inappropriate. She did her best to keep it to herself, in that case, and simply attempted to blend into her role as acting Captain as if it would become a permanent fixture.

  “…It’ll take 7 hours for the World Cloud to penetrate deep-enough into Kitez to fully map it.” Landon was saying, “It would honestly be a simple thing for Lord Rylen to just wait for it and then manifest his mantle in front of the Duchess, and take her out himself.”

  “Would that it was so easy…” Ren commented.

  “Didn’t Lord Xanarken try it though? Crews were ravenous with gossip after the border-incident a couple months back.”

  “It was just a scare tactic.” She explained, “Granted, I wasn’t there for it myself, but…given that it would be an actual war-crime to use nanotech to off someone, I imagine Lord Rylen would rather avoid it. Lord Xanarken was just trying to make a point.”

  “So, we’d prefer instead to ravage a country and kill people with bombs and drones and other more-conventional means, than to simply us the Cloud in an unconventional way.”

  “Yes.” Ren nodded and turned to face the man, “We should never set-aside the fundamental laws of civilized warfare just to make victory easier. We’re already going to be facing criticism over this fight…the last thing we need is to make people afraid of the very air around them. We don’t use poisonous gas, we don’t target hospitals or civilians, we don’t starve the populace, we don’t take hostages, and we definitely don’t use nanotech as a weapon.”

  Captain Landon crossed his arms, “The Duchess already took a hostage; it was her first act of war, even before sending the explosives. And that’s a war-crime, too; deception and betrayal under the guise of cooperation.”

  “…Perfidy. Yes.”

  “And if it’s true that Prince Aamin was corrupted by something, and she sent him knowing the state he was in, then there may be a case made for her use of biologics, which could count as a third war-crime. All of these things, she did before war was even declared by anyone. Us using the Cloud to bring a swift end to this fight would only be an eye for an eye.”

  “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” Ren paced a little, looking up at the map of Kitez as it showed the approach of the Luminary fleet, slow as it was given how massive the country was, “But just because she went low, doesn’t mean we do. We have to win this legitimately. Lord Rylen may have had it up to his eyeballs with this place, but he’s always played by the rules.”

  “Except in the case of using you Fafnir into the Exclusion Zone.” Landon puffed.

  Ren gave him a look, “Chasing-down known Limitless threats that repeatedly retreat into the E.Z. because they count on the belief that we won’t follow is a slightly different case. Kitez has been highly criticized in the past for their refusal to allow the Council to patrol the area, given they know how much it’s used by unsavory elements.”

  “…When this thing is done, I really hope we can take care of all that.”

  “Me too, honestly.” She agreed easily, and looked up at the map again. There was a subtle line racing inward to demarcate the forward-edge of the World Cloud as it poured over the landscape, like a wave bringing the Council towards Oceanside, “The E.Z. has always been a point of contention… Once we control this territory, I’m certain that we Fafnir will have our hands full with it.”

  “So, you’re going to rebuild?”

  “We’re already working on it. Former-Captain Rydell Sr. is in Agartha looking at soldiers who’d previously applied.”

  “What about current-Captain Rydell?”

  Ren shook her head, “Incapacitated until he gets his armor fixed. I’m all-but certain he’s probably under review for his handling of the conflict that led to so many Fafnir losing their lives.”

  “Is that why you’re challenging him for the pauldrons? What would you have done differently?”

  “…I wouldn’t have sent everyone in at the same time, to start.” She explained, only for her focus to drift as she heard something out in the hall.

  “What is it?”

  “Shht.” Ren held a finger up, and listened again. The shuffling-sound was more obvious then, and she moved towards the door, “Something’s weird. No one walks like that…” She whispered, and put her back to the wall, carefully slipping outside before peering around the corner into the concourse.

  It was Gabriel.

  And there was blood absolutely everywhere.

  “Gabe!” She yelped, and quickly hopped out to rush those last paces between them, “What happened!? I left you alone for like 15 minutes, tops!”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Ren, help… I’m sorry…”

  “L-Lord Gabriel!” Captain Landon added to that surprised chorus, and leaned to see the trail of blood-spatter on the floor leading out of the meeting room.

  The Fourth had pulled his ponytail over his shoulder – the end of it was absolutely sopping-wet – but even though he cradled it in his arms, the whole thing dripped with red like he’d slit an artery open somehow, and was bleeding-out all over the floor. His left eye looked swollen for how much blood had pooled in it, making him half-close it, though the vitae still flowed freely down his face. His bangs – even if they weren’t tipped in red themselves – were covered in it, smearing it everywhere they touched.

  Ren looked him over carefully; she’d known from Seth’s investigation weeks back that the red in Gabriel’s hair was, in fact, real blood, even if it normally wasn’t wet. The fact that it was, and with such heavy flow, reminded her of the footage she’d seen from Lequerion’s sights so long ago, when the color had first appeared, “Gabe…it’s your tell…”

  “Rylen showed me Xanarken’s face… I can’t make the bleeding stop…” He explained, a pleading tone in his voice; that in itself was raw, and it was as evident as anything that his sorrow was the cause of it all.

  The Fafnir looked back, “Can we get him a room? We can’t send him into the field like this.”

  “Y-yes, of course…right away.” Captain Landon said, and quickly turned away to seek out an open apartment.

  Ren waved a hand to dismiss her Captain’s regalia – leaving her with just her flight-suit again - and reached her arms up to thread them around the back of the Fourth’s head. She pulled his eyes down to her shoulder, “Is that what you stayed behind for? To get your proof?”

  He nodded and snuffled, but then lifted his head up again in worry, “You’re gonna get it all over you…”

  “Just hug me if you want to, damnit.” She scolded, hands still up against the sides of his neck, and rubbed his jaw with one thumb, “It’s gotten everywhere already anyway.”

  His one good blue eye looked on skeptically – though it was a bit red in its own right – and Gabriel found himself upset all over again. Ren’s assessment was on-point, since even just from that one brief hug, the red had gotten all over her left cheek and the front of her body-suit. There was no point in trying to prevent it getting worse, so he leaned in closer and let go of the ponytail, wrapped his arms around her small frame instead, and pressed his eyes to the crook of her neck. He barely had a few seconds of grief there before Captain Landon intervened to get their attention again.

  “There’s a room open that you can have. Follow me.”

  There was nothing to be done to stop the continuous drip Gabriel left in his wake, though Ren did her best by gathering-up the folds of the man’s Eidolonic robe-like garb to give the red something else to collect in. The path was thinner, at least, and when they made it to the door, she shoved the man straight into the bathroom, “Just get undressed; I’ll be right back.” She instructed, and went back to the still-open door. Captain Landon was in the hall, and Ren stuck her head out, “I’ll come get my armor as soon as he’s cleaned-up. Thanks for the company earlier.”

  “If you or the Fourth need anything…?”

  Ren nodded, and the door slid shut. She hastily made her way back towards the bathroom again, but instead of finding a half-naked Eidolon there, she just saw a proverbial crime-scene all over the floor and vanity, and the Eidolon was splayed in the bathtub, “…I mean, I guess that’s one way…”

  Gabriel just stared up in despair, one foot hanging off the edge as the other was perched upright against the tiled corner, “What am I going to do?”

  “You just need to calm down a little, condescending as that sounds.” She answered, and made her way to sit on the edge, only to spot how much vitae had gotten on herself as she turned to face the wall-length mirror, “Damn, it really did get everywhere.”

  “I’m so sorry…!”

  “It’s completely fine, just…stay there and relax a second.” She said, and rose back up to her feet. She rummaged around in the room’s sparsely-supplied linen closet, but found a few towels and grabbed them. Water in the standing-shower was turned on, and Ren quickly hosed-off her flight-suit. Crimson swirled around into the drain between her feet, but once it ran clear, she toweled-off and peeled the whole suit off, leaving her with just her small-clothes and a thin undershirt. Towels were used to clean-up the vanity a little, and Ren wrapped-up the flight-suit to leave it in the solitary sink. When she crouched beside the bathtub again, she found Gabriel had mostly spaced-out, though at least – it appeared – that his left eye had ceased to look as swollen as before, and the blood on his face had dried a little. She moved her right hand closer to peel a few strands of hair from where it had gotten stuck to his skin, and those bicolored eyes finally looked at her, “There…all things with time.”

  “…I would never have asked him to show me if I knew it would go like this…” The Fourth said pitifully, “I should’ve waited until after we’re done in Kitez…”

  “You and Lord Xanarken may not have been related by blood, but he was still your dad. It’s only natural to want to know what happened to him.” Ren reassured, “I envy you for that…”

  “How could you envy this…?”

  “Because you got to know.” She answered, and reached into the tub to find one of the man’s hands, and pulled it to set over her knee, “I don’t really know what happened to my parents. They just…kind of ceased to exist one day. I think I was probably 11 or so…I’d been kind of a Hell-child, and was sent off to a boarding school. Summer break came, I went home, and no one was there. I didn’t know how to find them, and by the time I was old enough to try, I no longer cared. That was about the same time I caught-wind of your story. Losing everything I had, everyone I knew, getting uprooted and taken somewhere I didn’t know…I guess I felt like I connect to you in that way. In my dumb, young, twisted little brain, I decided that I’d become a Fafnir Knight, like the ones in the reporting. Except, instead of being a force for creating more kids like us, I’d be the Fafnir that prevented it from happening in the first place. I don’t know that I ever managed to do that, of course…but, I got into the unit, and I never stopped looking up to you.”

  Gabriel just pulled his hand back, and with the other, used them to cover his face in shame, “And then I was such an asshole to you when you got stuck with me…” He lamented.

  “You actually weren’t that bad.” Ren insisted, “You were just…distant, and a bit abrasive. Maybe too much to the point, and aloof, like mentoring was someone else’s job and you were just stuck filling in. For four months.”

  He sank further into the tub, practically flat on his back, and whined loudly.

  Ren couldn’t help but find that sadly funny, and reached for the retractable shower-head, “If you don’t want to change out of wet clothes, I suggest you start taking them off.”

  “This wasn’t how I wanted to get naked in front of you again… This is awful…”

  The water-knob was turned just enough to make the pipes rattle in the walls, and Ren watched as the man finally got his act together…a little bit. He bent awkwardly to find his one actual boot, and pulled it off as he released all the nanotech assembled to his person, leaving just the base Luminary uniform clinging to his frame. With the boot off though, he pulled his legs into the tub and crossed them, and peeled the form-fitting top off. Ren cast her eyes around the off-white coloration of the acrylic basin, and the bloodbath that had been smeared on every inch of its surface, “…Gabe…”

  “Sorry…sorry…”

  “You don’t have to apologize for your grief.” She said simply, and realized the man refused to undress further than he already had. She wouldn’t press him on his pants though, and finished turning the water on, spraying it off to the side briefly as the temperature came up. As it warmed, she reached across the small space to the vanity and grabbed for one of the smaller towels, and wet it a little before offering it to the wretched figure. He took it and pressed his face into it, and Ren shook her head, “You’re gonna waterboard yourself that way.”

  “Mrphmeh ifoermig.”

  “Heh?”

  “Just get it over with.” He translated, and let the part of the towel covering his nose and mouth fall free.

  Ren did as bid, and lifted the showerhead over to start rinsing the blood from that long golden hair. The saturation was intense, like he’d literally dipped the tips into a vat of the stuff, and the entirety of the bottom of the tub filled with dark red as she went about her task. It was on like that for several minutes, and after a while, Gabriel did his best to at least clean his own face, wiping away whatever he could and rinsing the small towel several times as he tried to clear his left eye.

  “I think the only color left is actually coming off your clothing.” Ren assessed, threading her fingers through the tips of his long hair against his back. His bangs had long-since been pushed back, and since that meant they were no longer the ‘ends’ of his hair, the red washed completely away, leaving nothing but the blonde he’d been born with, “Your tell is really interesting… If I’m allowed to even say something like that.”

  “That’s definitely a word that you can use…” He answered, staring down at the slight crimson residue that continued to flow past his legs, “Would you mind if I asked to finish on my own?”

  “Of course not. I’ll go see if there’s any clothes here that you can change into. If you can rinse yours off, the refresher will work faster.”

  “Yeah…”

  Ren offered the showerhead to him, and when he took it, she leaned in to kiss the top of his head, “You’re okay.”

  Gabriel watched quietly as she gathered-up her wet flight-suit, and stepped back out of the room, pulling the door to as she went. Still, he sat there for a moment longer before finally standing up, and finished the chore of actually showering. He squeezed as much of the water out of his hair and clothes as he could before toweling down and wrapping himself up, and when he finally stumbled out, he spotted Ren on the far side of the living-room area, with her back towards him, but pacing idly.

  “…Yeah, no, if your brother didn’t tell you anything, I can’t either.” She was saying, apparently on a call, “Yes, I know you’re Lord Rylen’s favorite little guy, but that doesn’t mean you have any authority. No, you definitely are not the Vice Eidolon of the First. …I can’t say. Yes, I’m completely fine. Your brother was the only one between us who took any damage. Yeah, I know he’s on his way.” As she paced, she turned around, and spotted the Fourth watching her in confusion. She quickly scrambled to end the call, “Seth, I gotta go. You’ll have to keep your eyes on the news for updates for now. Yeah...yeah, I know, bye! Bye.”

  Gabriel had already wandered off to find the refresher – a hamper-like slot in the wall where Knights could put their lightly-used clothes for a quick dry-clean – and added his garments to the hangers within. It was a little bit of a challenge, as one hand was occupied with trying to keep a towel on his hips, but he eventually got it, and slid the door across again to let it work.

  Ren had patiently watched him from a spot she’d sat upon at the foot of the bed. It wasn’t a particularly high bed – unlike the one in the Captain’s quarters, which was 2ft tall at the flat-top, this was only 2/3rds that height – and she stretched her crossed legs out in front of her as the man approached, “Feel better?”

  “…A little bit…” Gabriel answered quietly, about to sit by her left side, but instead, simply set his hand on the edge of the mattress and went down to sit on the floor by her knees instead. He kept his elbow on top of the thin blanket, and moved to rest his chin on top of her lap, “Sorry again… I really didn’t know my tell would cause a scene like that.”

  “It’s fine, really.” She replied, and moved her hand to softly pet his damp hair, “Felt more useful helping clean you up than I have at anything else for a while. I’m sure Captain Landon feels differently, but…we’ll both be leaving soon enough anyway.”

  “Rylen asked about how I killed Aamin.” He admitted, and lifted his head again to look up at her, “I…just said it was basically an accident. You may want to consider dying your hair with actual pigment. I know you like to shut your tech off entirely sometimes…”

  “Yeah…” She answered, and lifted her left hand again to brush a few strands of hair back over the man’s ear. She watched those eyes drift slightly, looking from her face to the now-barely-visible scars on her arm; if not for the color difference between her original skin and the transplant, it would be difficult to notice the difference, “Hard to tell anything happened anymore, right?”

  Gabriel didn’t really have an answer to that, and instead just sat a bit more upright so he could brush the back of his fingers against the dividing-line. Ren wouldn’t let him linger on it though, and he felt that hand move closer to nudge his face up again. Relief poured through his whole frame as he found her gaze, and felt the soft stroke of a thumb on his cheek. She leaned over him slightly, hesitated for a second, but then closed her eyes and offered a kiss.

  One became two, and with the third, she had both hands cupped to his face. Arms went over his shoulders as he rose up to his knees, and both of hers parted around his sides, wrapping around to draw him closer.