Work Text:
Rasbi, Apo, and Owen were working out ways to train the citizens of the empire to be fighters.
"You were trained as a human soldier, right, Owen?" Rasbi brought up. "How were you taught to fight? Could you teach them?"
Owen froze.
"You do not want to train them the way I was trained, Rasbi." He muttered eventually.
"What? Why not?" Apo laughed. "You're a great fighter, surely your training couldn't have been that bad..."
"On your feet, soldier. Shoulders straight, soldier. I don't give a fuck if you've got a broken leg, get up soldier. If you come back from a mission alone, you may as well THROW YOURSELF INTO THE NEAREST RAVINE before I have the pleasure of seeing to it myself. You've got a lot to live up to, half-blood. These soldiers are your brethren, and you would die for them, got it? You WILL die for them. Did I RAISE you to be a selfish mutt who will run away and let his teammates die? I don't care if you die for them. You're not worth anything to me, and you should know that you are disposable."
As Owen spoke, gradually getting more and more agitated, tears ran down his face and pooled on the table he was leaning over. Rasbi and Apo shared worried glances as Owen stared down at the puddle that had formed, looking his battle-scarred reflection in the eyes.
"Owen, I'm sorry," Apo murmured slowly, breaking the silence. "I should have thought about what I said."
"No, it's fine..." Owen sighed, wiping tears from his face and looking up, away from his reflection. "I started out trying to prove a point, but ended up getting carried away... it felt like I was back there."
"Well, you aren't there," Rasbi stated confidently. "You're here with us and we will NEVER let anyone treat you like that ever again."
"Thanks, Rasbi. I really do appreciate your forgiveness, even after everything that happened..." Owen trailed off, most likely thinking about the things he had done in the Maze, and maybe even before that, to Rasbi's family.
"Yeah, past Owen was kind of an asshole," Apo started, ignoring the death stare Rasbi was giving him. "Which is why it's important to focus on present and future Owen instead!"
"Yeah, he's right..." Rasbi agreed, "but you can also remember you had motives. Demons wronged you, too. Besides, you were kind of raised to be a genocidal maniac, so blame your caretakers."
"Yeah..." Owen smiled. "Anyway, about what you said. I may not have had the healthiest training, but I did learn some things. Lessons they didn't intend to teach me."
"Like what?" Apo and Rasbi choruse
"To trust myself. And to care about myself. It's my choice when to risk my own safety to help others. There are other ways to save someone, it doesn't always have to be you or your teammates," Owen laughed. "Besides, I learned firsthand having your legs broken by your own trainer is not fun, and I think younger me would have greatly appreciated some less... 'realistic' training."
"I think Ori would have appreciated that too," Apo whispered under his breath. Owen hadn't heard, but Rasbi had and was now glaring daggers at Apo again. 'That was a joke' Apo mouthed to her, but she just shook her head.
After the trio was done discussing things, Owen went off to speak to a woman with dark chocolate skin, navy blue horns and wispy lilac hair, who Apo had been noticing near Owen more often lately. Sapphire, Apo recalled her name was.
Rasbi pulled Apo aside, and the two of them promptly started talking over the top of each other, Apo trying to explain his concerns, and Rasbi muttering something about that being a terrible joke.
"Apo, you can't joke about things like that. It's frankly too early to talk about the maze at all." Rasbi sighed.
"It's been almost a year, Rasbi. We'll never be completely ready to talk about the maze," Apo sighed. "But we can't just pretend it didn't happen."
"I know, just... give him a few more months. He's only been here for three months, and he needs time to adjust, and get over his trauma."
Apo couldn't argue with the trauma excuse. Owen had been through a lot, not just in the maze and afterwards, but also all throughout his life, and was only just finding a space where he could truly belong. Besides, they were still at war with the humans, the rest could wait.
And for now, the only thing that really mattered was that they were all together.