Chapter Text
Juri is drowning.
His lungs ache with the desperate need to breathe , but everything around him is heavy and wet and slow and — if he takes a breath he will drown. He's sinking, and there's nothing around him. No bottom to sink to, no top to swim towards and break out of — no rocks or fish or sand around him to tell him he's anywhere .
He is in water, and he's sinking, and every lungful his body forces him through fills him with saltwater and it burns . He can't even think of who to beg for mercy, who to cry for help to. All he can do is drown, drown, drown.
A hand grasps at his arm and pulls.
Juri wakes to blue sky and the bright sun in his eyes. He'd like to say he doesn't panic, or startle up from where he's lying in the sand, or gasp pathetically. He does all of those things, however, pristine white sand scattering in his wake as he flails himself into a sitting position.
He's dry, is the first thing he notices. So not drowning or anything of the sort. The second thing he notices is that the sky is completely cloudless, just the blue midday sky as far as he can see. The beach, too, is pure and untouched, no visitors, objects, or even any irregularities in the sand at all. Looking behind him, the sand stretches to the horizon, endless. Ahead of him lies a lazy ocean, with small waves lapping near his feet. The waters are bright and untainted, but also unnatural in how untouched they are — no rocks. No seaweed. No life.
He closes his eyes — first things first, how did he get here? Yes, he remembers drowning, very clearly, but he doesn't know where, or how he got out. He remembers Lyria... yes, it's coming back to him. Poseidon's pact. He'd been led to a plain, the Grandcypher landing far from any settlements in whichever island they'd been flying by. Just in case things went wrong and Poseidon went berserk — better to do it somewhere far from people... and water.
He remembers, before that, talking with some crewmates who had pacts with Primals. How there would be some sort of trial to overcome, but what exactly it would entail, it was up to the bond between the two of them. He figures this is it — he doesn't know how he got here, still, or really what "here" is, but he can figure out where to go from here. He's had to improvise plenty in his lifetime.
He needs to find Poseidon. He needs to find someone or something .
Well. Before anything else, he needs to know what he's working with. Looking around at the endless expanse of indeterminate beach, he suddenly feels very small. Insignificant in the face of such an oppressive force.
Poseidon , his mind immediately provides. But if it were, then, the waves should be much more forceful than this, shouldn't they? Like this, it barely even seems like there's a tide at all. Something about that thought is alarming, and his first instinct is to rush into the water, but his earlier memory, the thought of drowning and sinking stops him in his tracks. He's good at tactics, at figuring out the lay of the land. He can do this.
So instead, he decides to walk along the shoreline, trying to spot any differences in the landscape, in the horizon, just trying to map the area. Thinks back to Farrah's stories of Yodarha's teachings, as disjointed as they could be at times, about survival and fishing. But there's no fish in these waters, and no rod to fish with. No, this is, most likely, some sort of... representation of Poseidon's core. An ocean of endless power. There is no place for fish and other insignificant things in the presence of a god.
Poseidon must be out there somewhere. In there somewhere. All he needs is a hint, a sign... something .
After what feels like hours, Juri stops. His legs protest the long walk, but oddly, he doesn't really feel tired. That said, he's not going anywhere like this, literally. With no landmarks other than his own footsteps, fading into the horizon behind him, there's no telling if he's gone anywhere at all. It's obvious now that the only way he can go is... away from the ocean, or into it.
Face him with no fear in your eyes . He takes a deep breath, steeling himself, but despite the uncomfortable memory of water in his lungs, suddenly, he feels calm. He takes a tentative step towards the waves, watching them retreat from beneath his boot. Maybe removing his armor would be a better idea, but he'd wasted enough time here. As he judges the incline just steep enough to walk into, a voice that sounds suspiciously like Yodarha chides him for being impulsive, but really, he'll waste away if he spends any more time thinking .
Poseidon trusted him, and he intends to be worthy of that trust.
With that thought, he walks further into the ocean, filling his lungs with as much air as possible before he is fully submerged.
The landscape doesn't change much, underwater. The waters are clear enough to see in, but the salt stings in his eyes and the further he goes from the shore, the darker his surroundings become. There is still nothing more than water and sand, not even a coral or starfish dotted along the way. Only when his lungs start to sting under the pressure of breathlessness , he finally spots something other than sand and water. A rock formation, large and imposing, just at the edge of what appears to be an infinitely large drop. A small shudder courses through his body — if that's this place's way of telling him this is where his path ends, well, no need to tell him twice.
Slipping inside, it becomes apparent this rock formation is really the mouth of a cave, rock walls smoothed over time with the imagined coming and going of the tide. He swims downwards until the path expands, a tunnel stretching endlessly long ahead of him. Just as his insides begin to burn with the desperate need to breathe, the path curves back upwards, creating a gap where the water does not reach. He gasps as his head emerges, heart beating fast as he takes a moment to readjust his body to the presence of oxygen, grasping at a ledge to keep himself from floundering. It must take several minutes for him to feel strong enough to climb over the ledge and up to the higher sections of this odd cave system.
It should, logically, be pitch black in here, he knows that. Yet his eyes can almost see forward anyway, as if moving through a path he'd treaded hundreds of times already; except if that path was covered in thick fog. He can tell there are other tunnels branching all over, other potential paths to take, but he follows his instincts, going where his feet lead him. Surely, at the end of the road, he will find Poseidon.
...Still. Even with his eyes adjusting to the darkness, even instinctively knowing where to go, there's something uniquely claustrophobic about traversing a damp underwater cavern like this. There are occasionally drops echoing throughout the length of the rocky corridor, or the vague shimmer of water coming from side paths and chambers, but none of them are the right way. He moves forward, forward and forward still, as the corridor slowly but surely widens, and he figures his goal must be at the center of whatever this cave system is.
His feet only come to a stop when he sees it, at the limits of his vision, so close and so far at the same time. A figure sitting on the rocky ground, back turned towards Juri, white hair cascading down it like lazy waves in the summer ocean.
"Poseidon!" He exclaims, unsure if he meant for it to have been more than a though; his throat feels rough and his ears ring with the sudden sound after such prolonged silence, but now that it's out, it's like a dam being broken. Revitalized, he grins and rushes forward, metal clacking noisily against rock. "I've been looking for you forever, thank goodness...!"
As he approaches, Poseidon seems to not react, and then, ever so slowly, turns his head towards Juri, a painfully neutral expression in his face. Steeled, like a sovereign. Much like he seemed the first time they'd met.
Juri swallows, tasting the ocean, his body shivering with the memory of that day.
" You dare show your face here again ," Poseidon's voice booms as his body slowly lifts off the ground, echoing almost throughout the entire cave, and Juri swears he feels it tremble with the sound of his voice. "Far too many times I have been dishonored by you. Prepare to meet your end."
Oh, no, this again!? Juri takes a step back, intimidated by the intensity of Poseidon's gaze — is he grabbing his trident!? "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute there! Haven't we talked this through already? Or did you — forget ?"
Poseidon's eyes become little more than slits as he glares Juri down. "How could I forget the shame you and your people have caused me!? Your tongue will be the first to go."
Juri groans, grabbing the pommel of his sword. Why is it that, where he and Poseidon are concerned, it always comes down to this? Of course, he'd beat down the Tide Father as many times as it took, he'd promised himself a long time ago, but couldn't they just talk once in a while—?
Just as he's about to pull his sword out, Poseidon seems to stumble . No, that's not it, he's floating several inches off the ground, of course. As Poseidon's head snaps back, Juri's eyes follow the movement, and they are faced with...
An Imperial Soldier, blade drawn.
His eyes widen. There's no mistaking it — the pointed helmet, the same mail he'd worn for so many years before. But the Empire had been torn down. That armor was no longer standard issue. That only proved his suspicions that this place was more metaphysical than anything else, but didn't explain what exactly he and Poseidon were supposed to do.
Thankfully, Poseidon's attention turns away from him and towards the mysterious soldier — trident in hand, the aura of malice taking form as a sourceless swipe of water that barely misses the soldier and instead causes a massive indent in the cave wall. Juri's hands tremble as he holds tight to his sheathed sword — he needs to think , needs a way out of it, but what...
Something grasps at his arm from behind and he screams out before his mouth his covered. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees both Poseidon and the soldier's attention turn to him. Damn it. But most importantly, standing right behind him is...
Poseidon, sighing. "Must you always be so loud?" He tugs Juri back slightly, standing at his side with trident in hand. "Your intensity is as much a strength as it is a fatal flaw. Eyes open, we will need to fight."
What? What? Two Poseidons? But — no. This new one, he seemed different somehow. His expression was more than just contempt, and... he didn't seem to have a dark aura about him.
Dark Essence comes to his mind like a flame lighting a candle. This Poseidon isn't oozing Dark Essence out of his very beign.
"For the Empire!" The soldier calls out, in a familiar voice Juri's mind refuses to identify. No, no, no .
"Poseidon," Juri settles on, angling to his side and unsheathing his sword at last, watching the other two approach like stalking wolves. "What is this...!?"
"A falsehood," Poseidon, the real one, spits out, the cold fury reminding him of... well. When they'd first met. When Poseidon's only goal was to make Juri pay for his father's perceived sin. But it wasn't the same, no — this time the threat wasn't directed at Juri.
Ah . "No," Juri grimaces, but his voice is level. "A projection. An image born out of mine... of our... fears."
"The Tide Father fears nothing," he responds, unwavering. But to Juri, that's the wrong answer. He's seen this before. "How foolish of you to suggest that."
The tainted Not-Poseidon almost roars, trident barely missing them and crushing the rock wall behind them instead. The real Poseidon roughly pulls Juri aside by the fabric of his hooded undershirt. "Are you sure? That doesn't look like fearing nothing to me!"
"That is your fear," he insists. The Imperial soldier's blade comes down, and Poseidon dodges at the last second.
They're not getting anywhere like this! Juri has to do something. "It... must have been terrible, right!? To awaken with no memory of what happened, only vague ideas and feelings, and then the knowledge of what you'd done—"
" Silence ," Poseidon's voice booms throughout the cave, much like the false one had done moments before, but the expression on his face is even more intimidating, eyes frozen lakes as he presses his lips into a thin line. "You are a mere mortal, you could never claim to know how a god feels."
Juri shakes his head, ignoring the looming of the simulacra fighting them like strung puppets. "Please listen , Poseidon! If I am wrong, then I will take whatever punishment you see fit! But this pact you seek means we have to work together, doesn't it? So let me help you! Let's just, talk about this for a second—"
"As though I need help from an insignificant minnow—!"
The altered Not-Poseidon, without warning, stabs the Imperial soldier through the chest. The four of them stand perfectly still for what seems like minutes, hours. Juri has a bad, bad feeling about this.
Their only warning is a deep rumble within the rocks before the cave is filled with rushing water, washing Juri away from his would-be partner in a second. He barely has the time to scream out and take a deep breath in quick succession before the tunnels are completely flooded with saltwater.
He's taken by the tide, even as he tries to find purchase on the stone walls — his armored gloves simply slip on the smooth walls with a scraping sound. After a few moments of scrambling, he does manage to grip his sword firmly, but making it actually do anything is hard with the sheer strength and pressure of the water pushing against him.
He'll never find his way back if this keeps going! With what feels like colossal strength, he jabs the sword into the stone wall, and though it doesn't go as deep as he intended, it serves for the purpose of being something to hold onto, to not be washed away by the rushing water.
It was hopeless, however.
After barely a minute of enduring the onslaught, his sword can't hold onto the slick rock walls, and detaches itself from it, once again nothing but a heavy weight in Juri's hands. There is a rush of panic at this, the despair of being unable to control his body as it's shot back like a ragdoll — and in his surprise, reflexively lets out a scream as he's flung at the mercy of the waters. He clasps a hand over his mouth as soon as he realizes what's happening, but the damage is done — he's lost precious air, he's lost what purchase he had, and surely will be lost forever in the maze-like tunnels of Poseidon's making.
His consciousness starts fading, slowly but surely as his limbs feel like lead, and he can do nothing but wait.
Until there's a sharp tug at his middle, and his body jerks to the side of the tunnel, a different direction from the flood, to what appears to be an alcove. Poseidon pushes him down on the wet floor, only some of the water having made it inside, and before he can ask how, or why , or thanks, Juri lurches, choking and coughing out the water in his lungs and stomach, half sitting up, half sideways, uncaring of Poseidon's form looming over him.
It feels like several minutes before his body stops violently expelling water, his guts and his throat and nostrils burning and his face a mess of things he doesn't even want to imagine. Some of it is tears, he's sure. All the while, Poseidon simply watches, expression carefully neutral.
Finally, Juri manages to croak out, pathetically, "What...?"
"Child of man," he calls, tone just as schooled as his face. "You were wrong."
Juri's head is throbbing too much to argue against that. He simply sits up properly, choking out more water dislodged from his insides by the change in position. "Still insisting on that, even though I just got spat out of...?"
"We are to work together through this, are we not? A partnership. So it would do you well to listen ," Poseidon chides, but there is no true roughness to his voice. In fact, it sounds almost... kind, in his own, stern way. Juri is stunned into silence, which Poseidon gladly fills. "What those beings... embody, what this place represents, is not fear . As I said, I do not fear."
Juri lets out a rough almost-laugh. "I-I see. I am sorry to have offended you."
"You should be," Poseidon nods, sitting back, partially leaning onto his trident. "No, it is not fear; It is... shame."
That does make Juri take a figurative step back. If there's anything he knows about Poseidon, it's that he's quite the proud creature, Dark Essence or not. The false Poseidon had even said as much. So of course, the negative emotion that would affect him the most would be...
Poseidon, as if sensing the understanding dawn on Juri, elaborates. "Shame, yes, that I once let myself be captured, manipulated and used by worthless mortals. Shame that I had misjudged your father's character based on that manipulation... Shame that I came to understand such piddling creatures that once humiliated me so," he lists quietly, tilting his head upwards, deep in thought. Just what exactly happened in Auguste this summer? "Shame that a great god such as I would even consider a partnership of this sort with a speck like you."
Juri shudders, but although he, for all intents and purposes, should be offended by a statement of his inferiority like that, he finds that he doesn't, not really. The difference in significance between them is, in fact, that great. "Well... If it's any consolation, for me, it's not really fear, either. Not really."
Just looking at him, one might think Poseidon is too lost in thought to pay him any mind, but his eyes snap to Juri even as his head remains upturned. If that's not an invitation to continue, Juri doesn't know what is.
"It's, well... It might sound silly, to you, but... It's doubt," he laughs humorlessly. "For so much of my life, I thought I knew what justice was, what being a good person was. I thought the Empire stood for righteousness and fairness . My father thought so, too. That being a soldier of the Imperial Army was the highest honor he could achieve in his life, and I followed his path, every step of the way! I was so proud of what I'd achieved! Until... Well..."
"Me," Poseidon offers, lowering his face to meet Juri's eyes directly.
"Y-Yeah," Juri swallows. It comes down salty , and he coughs, throat still raw. "In a way, I think, I wanted proof. By facing you, stopping you, I could prove to myself that I still knew what the truth was, even if I'd been misled, used so thoroughly, that I still knew the right thing to do. It's been so many years, since that day I faced you on that beach. Even the man who's used me the most, who's hurt so many people and Primals alike, has come around, now... The Empire was dismantled, and I believe with all my heart that I've done good with the Grandcypher's crew. Just..."
"You have doubts about this , too," Poseidon affirms, rather than asks.
"Well... Isn't it the same for you?" Juri shrugs, realizing his smile is almost sardonic, deepening his voice in light imitation. "To bring yourself so low as to seek a partnership with a mere mortal ."
"...Indeed," he admits easily. "In the privacy of my own mind, I questioned what exactly is it I am doing here. Yet... At the same time, would it not bring even greater shame to myself if I were to say all of it was a mistake? Even more so — despite that, I still find myself intrigued by what you, the captain, and the shark girl have shown me. To not have a simple answer is shame in and of itself."
...This "shark girl" is Meg, he's guessing. He really needs to hear that story, now.
"So... you don't know if this is the right decision or not, and not being sure... Embarrasses you?" Juri's smile softens a little — despite knowing the power he held, Poseidon most seemed almost human, at that moment.
"If you wish to simplify it so much, yes," Poseidon, in turn, only steels his gaze further, glaring at Juri with a sharp edge. "What do you believe the answer to be, then, if it's so simple and amusing to you?"
Juri swallows. In his mind, there's only one answer, really. Even if it's not the one Poseidon wants, it's the only one he can come up with.
"...I think that's up to you. We don't have to do this today, or ever , if you truly feel so ashamed to have tried. It's like you said that day, it's for you to decide! But," Juri leans forward slightly, with a grin that's equal parts genuine and manic. "...My soul is burning right now, telling me this is the right way to go. That given the chance, I would do everything in my power to reward that curiosity of yours. No, I will prove it to you, show you what it is that my father and I fought so hard for! What our justice means — that's what you wanted to see, isn't it?"
"...And you dare say it is your doubt out there? Ridiculous. Right now," Poseidon smirks, then, eyebrows raising in his usual prideful glare. "I see no doubt in you at all."
Truthfully, Juri's heart is beating a hundred miles per hour, but hey, Poseidon doesn't need to know.
Despite that, Juri does indeed feel a swell of pride and certainty in his chest, as he hops to his feet, leaning down to grin at Poseidon. "What about you? Ashamed of bowing down to me , now?"
"Hmph. An absurd notion, it was. You are the only child of man who could ever stand up to me, after all," he huffs, using his trident as leverage to push himself up as well, calmly. "Shall we crush our insignificant inner demons under our heel, then?"
With a hand on the pommel of his sword, Juri stands straight as an arrow, feet clicking together in mock salute. "Yes, sir!"
(Ah, despite everything, despite everything , a sense of nostalgia filled Poseidon then.
Juri truly took after his father.)
When Juri wakes next, it's with blades of grass licking at his face, a deep orange sky greeting him as he cracks his eyes open. Lyria is immediately at his side, followed closely by the captain and Vyrn, kneeling next to his spot on the field. He brushes off their concerns with as sure of a smile as he can muster, exhausted and uncertain as he is.
"At first, it seemed like Poseidon's core was... trying to consume you..." Lyria explains with her eyes downcast, hands wringing at the hem of her dress. "But nothing happened after that, so I figured he'd calmed down, but still..."
Ah, is that why he'd nearly drowned, at first? (Is that why he nearly drowned every time ?) He swallows down on nothing, the phantom of sand and brine on his tongue, delayed fear pooling in his gut. It sure would have been a way to go, body and soul swallowed down by the same Primal Beast he'd subjugated twice already.
Don't get too high on victory, now.
Juri startles, stopping Lyria in her tracks. That was— Poseidon's voice. Looking around him frantically, Juri finds no trace of the Tide Father anywhere (other than perhaps a conspicuous puddle laying a few meters from him, but he's not convinced), and he glances to Lyria for answers.
"Ah, he... disappeared a few minutes ago. I'm not sure, but it sounded like he..."
Don't forget, you are an island now — nay, an ocean, Poseidon's voice provides. A vessel for the Tide Father's power.
Stretching his hands in front of him, Juri flexes his fingers, looking intently. He doesn't really feel any different, not really. He's not sure what he thought it would feel like, but nothing wasn't really it.
Gesturing for Lyria and the Captain to step back, Juri turns to the empty plains and draws his sword. He focuses on it — on the blade, on Poseidon's vague presence in his mind, on rushing water and crashing waves of their souls.
In his own head, he whispers, alright — show it to me, then.
He feels more than hears Poseidon huff out a laugh, complete his thought more than speak. Show me, child of man, what it is we can do together.
As Poseidon's water serpent appears around him, Juri feels like the strength of the tides is swinging his blade forward more than himself, and in a blink, there is a deep gash in the now-grassless and sodden dirt where he'd aimed his sword.
Later, Vyrn would describe the smile he'd sported then as maniacal and kinda terrifying , but in his euphoria, he barely minds what his face is or isn't doing. Next to him, Poseidon's corporeal form smirks, arms crossed and chest full.
Their story may have started years and years ago, a chance meeting and destiny in one, but it really is still just beginning.