Chapter Text
"...A pact!?" Juri's voice bounces off the wooden walls of his room, uncaring if others hear him.
"Is that truly so surprising?" Poseidon's response comes, calm and collected and imposing at once. "Surely you've heard of a Primal's pact by now."
Juri stares, dumbfounded, from his place sitting on his bed. They are in the Grandcypher, of course, on their way back from an uneventful holiday in Auguste. Well, uneventful for Juri, at least — Poseidon himself seems to have been involved in the altercation Meg and the Captain were still discussing til this day. Something to do with... zombie fish? Truth be told, he's beyond questioning what happens on that island at this point. For some reason, however, that event seems to have changed something in Poseidon, because...
"Well, of course... I'm not an expert, but I know most ordinary Primal Beasts need pacts to be able to use their full power... like how Leviathan has a pact with Auguste, and Tiamat with Port Breeze," he mumbles — his knowledge on the topic of Primals is basic, only what the military of the ex-Erste Empire had thought pertinent to its foot soldiers, and what he knows of the crewmates who happen to be Primals. Faced with the real thing, reciting his knowledge is like an ant comparing itself to a god, a child explaining airship engineering to Noa. (Ah, wait, but Noa had thought that charming, hadn't he?) "Ah, but I know that making a pact with a mortal rather than an island is possible, of course... Some members of the crew have them, after all."
Vira with Luminiera, Caim with The Hanged Man, Io with Rosetta — or rather, Rose Queen. Just some of the several members of the crew who had unique bonds to Primal Beasts not unlike those of an island pact, or in Vira's case, as an extension of one. It's surreal, to imagine a mere human being as an island, a vessel for something so powerful.
"Yes, I believe that to be sufficient knowledge on the topic," Poseidon hums, tilting his head upwards. "And yet you react as if it were shocking news. Curious."
Juri, in turn, furrows his eyebrows, looking to the side to avoid Poseidon's piercing gaze. It was one thing to face him in battle in the honor of his father — another entirely to converse with him in such a private setting. He's not sure what he was expecting when Poseidon came knocking on his door, but it was definitely not this. "It's just, I don't understand why you're bringing it up, that's all."
"Is it not plain to see?" Poseidon's expression changes then, the inscrutable edge of pride giving way to something almost human. "I would like to try it, of course."
There is a beat. A moment as Juri processes the words. He would like to try... making a pact, with a mortal.
"...Wait," his voice does not croak or break, thank you very much. "You mean— with me!?"
Poseidon's eyebrow quirks just below his headpiece. "Yes? I thought I made it clear — you are the only human who's ever been my match, multiple times, at that. If you are not worthy of the Tide Father's blessing, who is?"
"Meg," he blurts out unthinking. "No, that's not the point. I mean, why do you want a pact with a human, anyway? Can't you already walk freely and use your powers and... everything?"
"Mostly. I am still at mercy of being recalled by Lyria any time she wishes, for one. And," he pauses, gaze softening, losing focus as he becomes lost in thought for a second. "You cannot call on my power as you wish, without it."
Juri... with the power of a Primal at his fingertips? What an impossible thought. He was nothing but a defected soldier, an ordinary youth, the kind of guy you can find anywhere. Even when teaming up with Farrah, their power could still not even quite match Grace's, much less the more impressive members of the crew. Why, then, was Poseidon...
"But... why would you want that...?" Juri hums into the hand now covering the bottom half of his face, the picture of thoughtfulness. "Binding yourself to a human is..."
"My choice to make," Poseidon completes Juri's sentence briskly, a grave expression on his face, and really, Juri can't argue against that. "Of course, if you are so opposed to the idea..."
"No!" Juri snaps, brown eyes meeting blue for a moment before he grimaces at his own outburst, to Poseidon's amusement. "No, that's not it at all. I'm just... overwhelmed? I don't understand why... You will not gain anything from such an arrangement, and... The Captain would be a much better option, for starters — I could never have reached you without his help."
Poseidon quirks an eyebrow once more, as if Juri had said something deeply amusing. "The Captain is not you, who single handedly bested me in combat — the son of the man who refused to hand me over to the Empire by force. And," he does twist his lips into a little smirk, now. "The Captain has enough Primals with a claim to his body and soul, in any case."
Juri's mind completes the thought with an image of blue skies and the smell of coffee, and finds his cheeks warming. "A-Ah..."
"Truthfully, I would not entertain the thought, in normal circumstances," Poseidon crosses his arms and leans against the wall, gaze drifting towards the porthole and the endless sky beyond. "But, after what I saw in Auguste this summer... let's say, I find myself wondering what you might be capable of, if I lend you my power. What a skydweller's ambition might achieve, if we work together."
The world warms around Juri, his heart drumming a frenzied beat in his chest, not unlike when he winds down from a run. It's a strange sensation, to have all that adrenaline coursing through him even though he's been sitting perfectly still. "And you really mean... Me, specifically."
At that, Poseidon blinks, tilting his head away from the porthole and back to Juri. "You, child of man, are the most dedicated, hardworking mortal I have ever met. You will not let anything compromise your goals and your morals, to the point you were willing to be subjugated by me to honor them, meeting my gaze with no fear in your eyes. It could never be anyone other than you."
Poseidon has no concept of what he sounds like, what his words might mean to a skydweller — is how Juri justifies it to himself, wide eyed, when he finds his cheeks tingling with the flush he's certainly sporting. But after clearing his throat and his thoughts, a sense of calm seeps deep into his bones, frenzied heartbeat slowing with every breath. Like clear skies after the storm, he sits up straight, looking at Poseidon head-on.
Tide Father Poseidon, the embodiment of the concept of waves and ocean currents, thinks he is worthy. A Primal Beast willing to lend him, a simple soldier with a desire to do good, his power. A power he'd seen and felt in his skin, before, when Poseidon had been driven to the edge by Dark Essence, unstoppable and unbearable. With this power, given willingly rather than taken... Juri could stand on his own. His goal of protecting the innocent and fighting for justice and fairness... of honoring his father's ideals... could he reach that, with Poseidon by his side?
When he faced Poseidon with the crew, all those years ago, he could never have imagined this — choosing to not only fight alongside him, but to share his very body and soul with him. But rather than fill him with fear and dread, or even inadequacy, now that it's come to this, his nerves are steeled. It feels right.
"Very well. I'm looking forward to working with you, Poseidon."
The Tide Father smiles, proud and boastful. "You as well, son of man. No," his chest seems broader, somehow, as he smirks. "Juri."