Chapter Text
DAVID
An ear-splitting sound of ringing and the crushing weight of rocks on his body rose David out of unconsciousness. He tried rustling out of the rubble he was buried under, but it was no use. His body was too weak at the moment to get himself out of this mess he was in. “ Where is Genya? I need to find her, what…what just happened… ” David could barely string his thoughts together. The last thing he remembered was running off after dancing with his beloved Genya to his workbench in the Fabrikator workshops after reaching an epiphany with the nose cones he had been developing recently for the missiles. As he was trying to free himself from this bone-crushing weight, he heard a group of men arguing in Fjerdan a few feet away.
“Edvin, how in Djel’s name are we going to explain to the commander that we may have possibly killed our main target?!” a man roared angrily. “Get a hold of yourself Markus! That body you see over there isn’t the real David Kostyk. The commander decided that we have a tailored decoy body of the same height and build as a safety measure so the Ravkans would believe their lead Fabrikator is dead not missing.” Edvin condescendingly replied. “The grisha tailor didn’t have a reference for exact facial features so I decided at the last minute to bash its face in so any facial detailing mistakes weren’t too prominent.” Edvin added.
David was eavesdropping on the altercation amongst the two men when he gasped in shock and accidentally shifted a couple of rocks next to his right leg. “SHH! I heard something moving in the rubble over there!” a third man whispered back. David’s heartbeat began racing as he heard the sound of steps grow louder. He tried to wriggle himself free until he heard a digging noise and saw a group of four elite Fjerdan drüskelle standing before him.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the main target himself,” said Edvin smugly. David scowled back but was still too shaken from the bombing to form a verbal response. Edvin’s eyes scanned David’s body and caught sight of his silk purple kefta with golden embroidery and his gold wedding band. “Ah, I see. Congratulations Mr. Kostyk on your short-lived marriage.” snarled Edvin as he ripped his wedding band away from his finger and slipped it into his pocket. David angrily charged at Edvin, despite his weak condition, before two pairs of hands got a hold of him. Two of the drüskelle men named Markus and Stefan held David’s arms back as Edvin sauntered away patting his pocket with David’s wedding band.
David looked around the crumbling room before him with bleary eyes, and his gaze fell upon a twinkling object underneath his demolished workbench. He sighed internally as he realized what it was, it was a golden necklace he had been working on as a wedding gift for Genya. It was a simple chain, but he had been working the countless hours he could spare before the wedding to fuse ruby and topaz gemstones together for the phoenix charm. He had been discussing with Nikolai after Triumvirate meetings on how to design this necklace for her, brainstorming ideas for the gemstones and charm. “ Ruby for her birthday and topaz for mine. My resilient Genya reborn from ruination as an ethereal phoenix. ” he thought to himself.
He was pulled out of his reverie by a graveling voice speaking broken Ravkan. A cloth gag was tied around his mouth and then he felt the cool sensation of an unknown metal clasp tightly around his wrists and ankles. David had spent his entire life studying various metals and their properties, but he had never encountered this one before. “Don’t try any of your grisha tricks on these shackles, they are specially made to prevent scum like you from escaping.” Stefan spat out.
The vicious taunt did little to unsettle David, but his face developed pallor despite his copper skin at the sight before him. He caught a glimpse of Edvin and another drüskelle staging a mangled body who eerily looked so much like himself under the rubble he was buried under minutes before as he was shoved into a dark tunnel by Markus.
GENYA
“I’ve looked everywhere for him, I can’t...I can’t find David.” she rapidly repeated to herself while hyperventilating. She couldn’t comprehend what had just happened and her eyes burned due to the endless flowing of tears; her mind was reeling from the events that occurred over the span of hours. One moment she was gliding across the dance floor in the arms of the man she had loved for so long, even though he stepped on her toes one too many times; the next moment she awoke to a nightmare of deafening explosions, broken chandelier glass, and a layer of dust collected on her red hair adorned with a glittering golden headpiece to match her golden wedding gown.
The survivors of the attack were gathered in the main entrance hall of the Little Palace and Genya was shaking uncontrollably on the ground with Tolya attempting to console her with tears welling up in his eyes. When Nikolai rushed in, Tolya was relaying all the events that occurred on land while Nikolai took to the skies to defend the palaces. “ He can’t be gone. I would have felt the thread of his soul around mine slip away if he… ” she could not dwell on the thought of her most treasured jewel being crushed under the obliterated infrastructure of the Fabrikator workshops.
After Nikolai was all caught up on the casualties from the bombing, he steeled himself as he approached Genya and crouched down next to her. He whispered consolingly, “Dearest Genya, why don’t we get you back to your room in the Grand Palace and to get some rest. Until we can send scouts to extensively search the more damaged areas of the workshops-” “No! No! I can’t- I won’t rest until I find him and I know he is safe,” said Genya pleadingly. Cutting him off, “Please Nikolai, I need to do something, anything to assuage this hauntingly heavy feeling in my heart.” Nikolai had never seen Genya, his strong and unbreakable friend, in such a lost and fragile state. “Yes, yes of course,” he replied softly, “Tolya and I will gather some grisha and any available First Army soldiers to scout the workshops.” He paused before he enveloped her into his arms and whispered into her ear, “We’ll find him don’t worry.”
Tolya led a scouting group of grisha and soldiers alongside Nadia and Adrik to the right wing of Fabrikator workshops while Genya and Nikolai took Leoni and another group down the left wing. It was only a couple of hours before sunrise but as Genya scanned the remains of the workshops, the steel-colored ceilings and walls fused with the night sky twinkling with stars. Smashed workbenches, scattered notes and blueprints, and building tools littered the floors of each workshop.
Genya strode far ahead of her group, her restless thoughts of David pushed her from room to room. She realized that she ran into the last room in the left wing and saw the name “D. Kostyk” on the sign near the door, which was strewn on the ground alongside the bent grisha door lock. She ran into her husband’s office searching for any sign of life, but everything was covered in black soot and rubble. Her eyes scanned the mess of wood and steel of his workbench and the burnt blueprints peeling off the walls. Nikolai and Leoni finally caught up to her and followed her into the demolished office.
She began digging at the rocks nearest to where his desk used to be since that was where he kept all of his top-secret weapon designs. Something was sparkling in one corner of the room which caught her eye and she walked toward it. Genya bent down to find a golden chain and smashed charm which looked a lot like a phoenix. She picked up the broken pieces of the charm and tried putting it back together. She turned over the broken bits to find an inscription on the back of the phoenix’s ruby and topaz encrusted wings. “Oh, David. My boy wonder,” Genya sighed as tears welled up in her eyes. “ You are not ruined, you are ruination.” she whispered to herself as she read the inscription.
It was at that moment when she heard a piercingly painful scream coming from the other end of the office. Genya and Nikolai rushed to the source of the scream and discovered a distraught Leoni gasping for air between bursts of tears. “I can’t believe- This can’t be happening-” strained Leoni. Nikolai brought his lantern closer to understand what she was looking at. They understood when they saw the dust-covered mess of black hair and a copper-skinned hand with her husband’s golden wedding band glistening under the lantern light.