Chapter Text
Darcy was alone.
Sitting on a log, he wiped the blood off his sword. He'd been sent out on a cleanup mission with Ligetti; some of the Enchantress' beasts weren't obeying commands and needed to be put down. They split up at the start of the mission, and Darcy hadn't seen him since.
He relished in the quiet. The woods were almost serene here, though he wished he could see the sun through the tree leaves. Trying not to dwell on his curse, he simply listened to the birds and insects chitter away while he cleaned his blade.
He could remember the nights he spent on the road when he was a young man, back before he'd even heard about the sword. He spent so many nights over those two years letting the sounds of the world lull him to sleep. He shut his eyes and tried to place himself in that memory, trying to relive some sense of peace.
"...arcy!"
He tried to block out the voice in the distance.
"Hey!...ere are you?! Get over here!!!"
Darcy stabbed his blade into the ground with a grumble as he pulled himself up, turning and walking in the direction of his colleagues' incessant shouting.
He found him soon enough. He expected to find some monster giving Ligetti more trouble than he could handle, but instead the clearing was empty save for the necromancer. He was, for some reason, trying very hard to pull a boulder out from underneath the brush while laughing to himself.
"What are you doing."
Ligetti looked up excitedly. "Finally, there you are! Get over here and help me move this thing!"
Darcy looked him up and down. He was absolutely covered in dirt and grime. His scythe laid on the ground next to him, sitting atop a pile of broken bones from fallen servants and monsters alike.
"You finished your task. Why are you pestering me over a rock?"
Ligetti scoffed. "Do you think I'd waste my time trying to excavate some ordinary rock?" He backed up and gestured to the rock with a shake of his hands. "See for yourself!"
Darcy came closer, squinting down at the stone. It was covered in scratches. And it was certainly a rock.
"You want me to break my back so you can steal some raccoon's scratch post?"
Ligetti's arms fell to his sides. "No dumbass, it's a rune stone! You can't see the carvings?"
Darcy squinted at it while the necromancer continued;
"Do you have any idea how rare these things are? They were used to expedite travel in old Vorodovo, this thing could triple the teleportation range of the circles back at base! I basically just struck magic gold!"
Darcy couldn't make out a single rune. But then again, he never bothered to study magic and his eyesight wasn't what it used to be.
"Why don't you summon one of your minions to carry it?"
Ligetti rolled his eyes. "I would've, if I had enough stamina left to summon one. I don't know if you noticed, but we just took down a whole horde of rogue monsters?"
Darcy sighed. He cut back the brush and got to prying up the stone, which came up easily enough. Surprisingly, it didn't weigh as much as he thought it would.
"Good." Ligetti turned and grabbed his scythe. "Now let's get this thing back so I can rub it in Pomona's face!"
Darcy sheathed the claymore, keeping one hand on its hilt while he carried the stone.
Ligetti carried on; "I can't believe no one spotted that! All I had to do was get knocked to the ground once to get on eye level with it!"
"Mhm."
"You're so lucky I knew what it was. This is gonna make our lives so much easier. The Enchantress has to be impressed by this!"
"Mm. Good job."
"There's no way that-..." Ligetti stopped in his tracks. "...wait, what?"
Darcy looked back at him. "...What?"
"You- what'd you say?" He looked so confused.
"I said good job."
Ligetti just stared back, still not understanding.
Darcy gestured to the rock with a nod. "...I didn't know what this was. Even if I had seen it, I wouldn't have paid it any mind. Good job."
Ligetti blinked. Darcy wondered if he'd said something wrong. He didn't think that he did, he'd just given him credit for doing something right. But as he watched Ligetti lower his head and try to hide that he was wiping his eyes, the thought occured to him;
I don't think I've ever heard anyone praise him before.
"Y-Yeah! Whatever it's…" Ligetti quickly walked ahead. "It's no big deal, it- it wasn't even that hard! Y-you'd all be so lost without me!"
Darcy watched Ligetti rush past, watching for a moment before he followed behind.
---
Pushing open the doors to the main audience chamber, Darcy saw the Enchantress perched atop her throne of twisted bone and jagged metal. She looked down at Pomona with vague interest as she was giving some sort of report, and didn't pay any mind to the two's entrance.
Ligetti elbowed him in the side, whispering; "Hey, go put the rune stone behind one of those pillars. I want her to be surprised."
He rolled his eyes at Darcy's furrowed brow. "Oh come on, like five more steps are gonna kill you."
"Fine."
As he gently dropped the rune stone behind one of the support beams, the Enchantress' voice rang through the chamber.
"Thank you, Pomona. That will be all for now."
With a deep bow, the diviner stepped to the side to watch the next report.
"Darcy. Ligetti. Step forward."
Rejoining his mission partner, he gave a slight bow of the head as Ligetti spoke up. "Your Grace! You'll be happy to know that-"
"You're late." The Enchantress' voice was cold.
Ligetti hesitated before continuing; "Er, yes. I-I guess we are."
"Have the rogue monsters been taken care of?"
"Yes! Those louts were no match for me and my servants- I barely even broke a sweat!"
The Enchantress turned her gaze to Darcy, unamused. He nodded. "They're dead."
"Good. Then you'll be ready to take on another wave."
Darcy side-eyed the necromancer, who was getting nervous. "A...Another wave?"
"Since the last one was such a breeze, you should be plenty prepared to take on a second horde. It's far larger than the first one. I expect you to dispatch it and report back on time."
Ligetti looked back at Darcy. Darcy knew he could likely take another wave, but looking at Ligetti, he finally noticed how exhausted he looked. He hadn't been kidding about burning through stamina.
The necromancer turned back to the throne. "Um, about that, Your Grace. I actually...Well, I used up a lot of energy dealing with the first horde so quickly and um…" He looked at the ground. "Well I can't really summon anything right now."
The chamber fell silent, save for a quiet scoff from Pomona.
Ligetti quickly looked back up. "B-but, I have something even better! If I can just-"
"You are incapable of accepting this mission?"
"Well I...not right now, no."
The Enchantress rubbed her temple. "Of course not. I don't know why I expected differently. Your limited abilities continue to be a constant hindrance to my vision."
"...But I-"
"You understand how easy this task was, yes? It wasn't even that large of a horde." She extended an arm towards Darcy. "And I even sent you in with backup."
Darcy shifted uncomfortably in place. Ligetti was hunched over and staring at the ground, his previous excitement completely wilted away.
"Maybe tomorrow you can try not to disappoint me." She waved her hand. "Dismissed."
Ligetti opened his mouth to speak, but instead turned and walked to the door. In the back of his head, Darcy could hear the sword whisper;
"Pathetic."
He squeezed his eyes shut. Taking a deep breath, he walked to the edge of the chamber, ensuring to grab the stone before he left.
As the heavy doors shut behind him, he spotted Ligetti slowly trudging down the hall, and after a moment of deliberation, he decided to follow.
"Why do you bother?" The sword hissed. "Why not revel in this moment? Isn't it nice to see the arrogant get what's coming to them?"
He scowled as he tried to tune the voice out.
"Ligetti."
The necromancer stopped, but didn't turn to face him. His voice was quiet and ragged. "What do you want?"
I'm sorry things didn't go the way you wanted them to. I'm sorry no one listens to you. All he could think of was his father. All he could think of was his fight to find a solution. He gripped the hilt of the claymore out of instinct, not comfort.
"Either say something or leave me alone!"
Darcy snapped out of his trance. "...What do you want me to do with the rune stone?"
Ligetti stood in silence, his shoulders sagging. "Just put it in the transport room, oaf."
Ligetti rushed off, leaving Darcy alone in the hall. The voice of the sword rose to his ears like bile;
"Truly pathetic."