Chapter Text
Eyvel sees the flames before Finn does. Finn only turns around when he sees the outright panic on her face.
Finn was not familiar with the Meteor tome personally. He hadn’t even seen it be cast, only heard of it twice due to Azelle. The first time being offhandedly when the Velholmer was talking about types of spell tomes with him and Lachesis at teatime, and the second in vague and short, but deeply horrified descriptions of the Battle of Belhalla.
So, Finn himself did not actually see the spell being cast, or when it landed, but he could quite frankly tell. For it was simple: At first, there was a wall surrounding the fort, and now there was none.
As an added bonus, most of the fort was on fire. Wonderful. And by wonderful, it was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE.
Finn barely gets the chance to process this before he turns back to Eyvel, who…who…
Eyvel’s eyes are distant and glazed over, like she was somewhere, anywhere else. Briefly, she looks to Finn.
“Eyvel,” Finn says carefully. He briefly looks back to the fort and realizes Leif was still in there.
Eyvel’s eyes harden with determination.
“Eyvel,” Finn warns.
Eyvel runs.
“EYVEL!” Finn screams and races after her to the collapsing fort.
The wall of Kalves’ Gate was collapsing, much like the rest of the fort. Fire and stone hurled towards Finn and Eyvel. They stop when Halvin and Osian, both burned and injured, hobble out the fort.
“What happened?!” Finn manages to cough out from the smoke to the boys.
“Cough-Some f***ing priest grabbed a Meteor from gods know where!” Halvin coughed out. “Launched fire everywhere-hack!”
Halvin collapses, and his grip on Osian loosens. The younger man tries to go back into the fort, but Eyvel holds him back.
“Let me go! Tanya and Leif are still in there!” Osian sobs.
Eyvel hands him off to Finn and grips her Flame Sword. “Finn! Get them out of here!
“Eyvel!” Finn cries out, reaching for her.
But Eyvel is already gone, into the inferno with everyone else.
Not wasting a moment, Finn hauls Halvin and Osian out of the wreckage, to a area hidden away by a nearby house. They pass soldiers who are too preoccupied by the fire to even look at them. Finn deposits the boys safely away from the gathering crowd, and then rushes back. He doesn’t get far when is met by Ronan, who accompanies Safy and an unconscious Tanya, who is held by Morty.
“Where’s Leif and Eyvel?” Finn asks.
Safy shakes her head, which gives Finn all the answers he needs. He has to get to them-
“NOO!” Ronan declares as he pulls Finn back from going deeper with a strength Finn was not aware the boy had. “I can’t let you do this Finn!”
“Let me go!” Finn screams, reaching for the fire that seems to morph into a sandstorm the more Finn stared at it.
“Lord Finn, Lord Leif would not forgive me if I let anything happen to you!”
“No.”
The flames grew hotter.
“No.”
Why was the desert far away?
“NO!”
And then everything went black.
--
And suddenly, Finn felt he lost everything all over again.
--
He awoke hours later, in the mountains, to the sound of a crackling fire. Slowly, Finn opened his eyes, and found Safy’s relieved face looking at him.
“Lord Finn! Thank the gods!” Safy declared, overjoyed.
Safy helps Finn up, and he takes in the view.
Ronan is the first one he notices. He’s busy bandaging both Osian and Halvin with what little supplies they have. Tanya is awake now, already bandaged and brooding, and seated next to Morty. The only ones he can’t see are Leif…Eyvel…and-
“Where’s Lifs?” Finn asks.
Safy frowns.
“Where’s Lifs?” Finn asks more sternly this time.
It is Ronan who answers. “We have reason to believe, given that Lifs disappeared prior to the fire…that we were sold out.”
Safy grips the hiem of her skirt tightly.
Finn inhales deeply. “And where are Leif and Eyvel?”
Ronan looks away.
“Ronan!” Finn shouts.
“I DON’T KNOW! OKAY?!” Ronan chokes out. “They didn’t come out of the fire, but I had like, three people unconscious, so Halvin, Safy and I had to get you guys to safety, and this was not something I was expecting to deal with two days into joining the liberation-where are you going?”
Finn grabs his lance from the ground next to him. “Where’s Juniper?”
“Um, she kind of went to go eat some grass or commit arson I’m not actually sure-why did she growl at me?”
“She does that. Now where are we?”
“Some ways North of Castle Kapathogia, but Finn-!”
“If Eyvel and Leif have yet to be found, then they were likely captured. I need to go after them.”
Finn storms towards Juniper, who is eyeing him suspiciously. He climbs up to her saddle and snaps the reigns.
Juniper does not move.
“Juniper, mush!” Finn snaps the reigns once more.
“Is she a dog or something?” Ronan whispers to Morty.
“I mean she did bite me once…so-”
Finn snaps the reigns once more, only this time accompanied by the furious shout of “Juniper! Move!”
Juniper launches Finn into the bushes.
Safy immediately rushes to his side, and soon her and Ronan both pulling him free from the bramble.
“Lord Finn, I understand that you are worried. But even so you can’t take on the Empire alone!” Safy checks him for any injuring. “We need a plan.”
“I know that.” Finn admits, “But the longer we wait, the more danger they all are in. Nanna and Mareeta are still captured as well.” Nanna and Leif may be fine for now with their valuable holy blood…but Mareeta and Eyvel…Eyvel…
Did Eyvel have holy blood?
“I’ll go get Dad.”
Everyone looks to Tanya. She’s sitting by the fire, deep in thought.
“What did you say, Tanya?” Osian asks, concerned at her uncharacteristic level of seriousness.
Tanya sits up suddenly, determined. “Dad’s band could have enough manpower to make an assault on Munster…or at least give us some kind of back-up. I could head home to the mansion, tell dad what happened, and be back in a few days with help.”
“We’re not leaving you to go alone!” Osian protests. He takes her hands into hers. “I made a promise to look after you, so don’t go off doing something stupid on your own.”
Tanya looks away, her ears red. “I don’t need protecting, moron.”
“Well listen here-!”
“We can all come with you,” Ronan agrees, interrupting the two. “Let’s break at first light, head there, and form a plan for rescue.”
“Yay! Home!” Morty cheers. Everyone glares at him, and Morty lowers his raised fist. “…Too soon?”
Halvin nods. “Too soon.”
Finn wants to say more but knows that rushing into the Empire with several teenagers is risky even for them. So, Finn relents as all drift off to sleep.
--
Finn finds himself engulfed in a storm of sand and fire, barely able to see past his own hands, which did little migrate the inferno’s damage. Still, Finn could make our two figures: A blonde woman and a red-haired man.
“Finn, why have you forsaken us?” The phantasm of Lachesis asks in her query.
Finn attempts to open his mouth, but finds no words come out when he tries to speak.
“We left our daughter with you, and yet you managed to loose her?” Azelle hisses. “Did your friendship with us mean nothing?!”
Finn desperately tried say something, anything, in response, but was pulled away by the wind, and was met with the phantasms of his lord and lady instead.
“We asked you to protect our child Finn,” Quan berates him. “And yet you couldn’t fulfil my last order to you?”
“Do you really hate us that much?” Ethlyn sobs, hugging Altena close.
A panic begins to rise in Finn’s throat, threating to tear him open from within. That wasn’t true? Was it? He lost Nanna, and Leif, and Eyvel-
“DADDY!” A child screams in the distance, and despite himself, Finn manages to recognize it.
“Faval?” Finn calls out, finding his voice.
“DADDY!” Faval screams, this time accompanied by another voice.
“FAVAL! Patricia! I’m coming!” Finn screams as he races into the storm. However, he is stopped by another set of voices.
“FINN!” A voice of Leif calls, panicked.
“DAD! HELP!” Nanna screams in terror.
Finn rapidly switches which direction he runs in as both voices scream at him, surrounding his very being until the sound become unbearable. So, he makes a choice.
“FAVAL I’m coming!” Finn shouts, running to the first voices.
After pushing his way through the maelstrom, Finn can see the forms of a little blonde boy and girl.
“Faval! Patricia!”
Finally, Finn manages to reach a clearing, where he finds a blonde boy and girl, huddled together in the center of the storm. Relieved, Finn reaches out for them-
Only for his children to turn to sand at his fingertips.
And Finn’s dream ended with screams.
--
Eyes snapping open, Finn awoke immediately after. He did not waste a second sitting up and getting a move on. He quickly gathers his things and makes his way to Juniper.
“I don’t want to fight right now Juniper,” Finn tells her.
Juniper snorts, gesturing behind him. Finn turns around.
Safy has her arms crossed.
Finn sighs. “I know what you’re going to say. But I can’t just…leave them behind. I failed their parents. I couldn’t help their parents either. But I can save them. I can save Eyvel as well. I'm not...I'm not going to let the people I care about fall out of reach from my fingertips. So, if you’re going to stop me-”
“I’m coming with you,” Safy says as she hops onto Juniper. Upon Finn’s dumbstruck stare reaching her eyes, she adds. “I had a feeling you would try and run off. I already gave Ronan the heads up. Him and the others will head back to Daegar’s mansion. As long as they don’t create any problems in “the Shield’s” territory, they should be able to safely move through it. Besides, they’ll blend in more easily than we will.”
Hesitantly, Finn takes a spot on the saddle in front of her. “Why are you helping me?”
“I told you before: Tahra and my lady are in danger. I believe Lord Leif can help them. Regardless of what we each believe, there is a great evil present in the world, and it threatens to destroy it if we are not careful.”
Finn nods. He snaps the reigns, and for once, Juniper actually does what he wants.
“By the,” he says as they begin travel, “Do you happen to know what happened to August?”
--
“This is getting dangerous, milord.”
“If I remember correctly, you had no problem with pushing Leif to move toward the liberation of Tahra, yes? Give the boy time. He’ll grow into a mighty leader with the right guide.”
“But he is still young, your majesty. It took me so long to actually find him, even with your instructions. If I had another year-”
“We don’t have another year. The cultists are making deeper and deeper advances into our society. Grannvale may not have any teenagers by next year with these sacrifices. We don’t have any more time to stall rebellion. It is now or never-COUGH!”
“…Are you alright?”
“…This body grows weaker and weaker. I may not have long either. August, guide Leif well, and in turn, I will train his cousin into the king he is meant to be. Together, the two will be unstoppable.”
“…Even so, is this really the only way? Leaving the fate of the world in the hands of a couple of teenagers?”
“If there were any other options, then yes. But the other options died in a fire 15 years ago. So, we get their children instead.”
“…”
“…”
“…Oh, that reminds me.”
“Make it quick, August, I have to get back to Issach soon.”
“I heard the prince of Silesse was in Tharcia. He’s formed a squad of fighters called the Magi.”
“…”
“He’s being called “Ced, the Wind Crusader reborn”.”
“…You are referring to Cedric Elwyn Edda, yes?”
“???”
“That boy is not my son.”
"..."
"..."
“…Then who is your son then?”
“…Hopefully, far away from all of this.”
“…Lord Lewyn?”
“…Yes?”
“Take care of yourself. I’m sure your children want you to remain healthy.”
“…. Goodbye, August.”