Chapter Text
Peruere watched the falling snow with rapt attentiveness, arms numb against the stone sill as she felt sleep slowly claim her. How long had this frigid cell been her home? An hour? A week? A month? Time no longer existed, not here, in the cold depths of Zapolyarny palace. In the icy Snezhnayan wasteland. Not even the crimson balefire pumping through her veins could withstand the snow biting at her skin. Perhaps she would die here, the murderous child locked away to be forgotten. A statue encased in ice, to remind all those with delusions of grandeur, a warning, to any who would think of dethroning the Tsaritsa and her harbingers.
To Kill Her Majesty's executioners is to face the cold.
To Kill the gods is to be forgotten.
To Kill is to be killed.
Peruere snickered, fingers long frozen to the stone, frost crawling up her cheek, racing boldly for her eyes, bright and burning as they were.
“Do you intend to die here?”, a voice, rough yet curious, shattered the fog invading her mind, and the girl flinched, blearily blinking away the ice weighing down her lashes. She slowly turned to the far wall, frost dancing through the air as she eyed the towering figure, helm tilted, eyes burning blue. A chill ran down her spine, vicious needles boring into her bones.
Crucabena may have been powerful, but this man , the cold more biting than anything outside the cell, He was something she could never fight, no matter her conviction. ‘Mother’ was a threat to be put down like a stray, rabid creature.
This man was death, come for her once more.
The Captain stepped forward, and the moment he entered the cell, everything seemed so much smaller, including her. Peruere couldn't help the way her shoulders met her ears, or the way her spine hunched, a desperate attempt to escape the man's presence. But with every one of his long strides, escape was a fickle child's dream. When he stopped, it was beside her, the shade of his shadow infinitely colder than anything she had experienced, and against her wishes, her teeth had begun chattering.
“ Girl- ”, she couldn't hide the flinch that ripped through her, knees tucked against her stomach as she ducked her head. The Harbinger sighed, head hung as he kneeled, clawed gauntlets carefully prying her arms from where they had frozen to the windowsill. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen, Sir”, with her arms free, ice falling from her skin, she ducked deeper into herself, wary as the Captain shifted.
“Awfully young for a Harbinger”, the heavy coat swallowed her whole, heat burning away the lingering cold as her head snapped up, meeting the Captains eyes, “Though the Tsaritsa has taken similarly exceptional individuals”, she straightened as he adjusted the coat, ensuring it wholly covered the girl.
“What are you saying?”, Peruere found her feet, legs wobbly and sore from disuse as she stood, hands finding balance on the Captain's arm, “I don't understand”. Though he was kneeling, she still had to look up to catch his eyes.
The Captain chuckled, shifting to carefully hold her hands as he stood, mindful not to let her wobbly legs fail her. “You killed a Harbinger, Peruere, a feat many can't even dream of”, The Captain was insistent, giving her little room to wiggle away as he marched her from her cell, yet he was gentle, the hand on her shoulder light as he let her set the pace, “That kind of determination should be rewarded, the Tsaritsa agrees”, Peruere stumbled at the few steps leading up from the gaol, and without a word, the Captain pulled her up into his arms, the large coat swallowing her until she was nothing but a messy bundle of hair and eyes peeking above dark fur.
“I can walk!”, she squawked, desperately struggling to free her limbs.
The Captain hummed, his grip unwavering as she attempted to throw her weight around, “I don’t doubt that, but the floors are cold, and you left your shoes in the cell. It would be rude of me to let you freeze”
“So I just don’t have a choice?”, she spat, wrenching one arm free to push against his shoulder.
“In me carrying you? No”, he shifted, and her grip slipped, “However, in becoming a Harbinger? Of course, you can turn the position down. The Tsaritsa finds the best candidates to be those willing”
Peruere glared up at the man, tired body sinking into the warmth as her arm lay over his shoulder, head resting on her shoulder as she went limp. “If I decline, do you know what would happen to the House of Hearth?”, The Captain was quiet, and for a moment, she feared he wouldn't answer. And then he sighed, and her skin prickled at the blue eye burning into her.
“You know of The Doctor, don't you?”, the fear she felt at the idea of Death by ‘Mother’s hand was nothing compared to the raw terror that flooded her veins at the mention of the madman that had come to haunt her nightmares. “I believe he and Crucabena had a deal in regards to the children-”
“I’ll do it!”, she had wriggled free, hands clutching his shoulder, back straight to meet his eyes, “I’ll become a Harbinger! I’ll serve the Tsaritsa with everything I have! Please ! I’m the King, the House is mine!” , The Captain had stopped, blue meeting red as she shook, memories of screams and blood and maniacal laughter filling her ears. No, she couldn't, wouldn't , let the other children fall into The Doctor's twisted hands. She would do whatever necessary to keep them from him. Even at the cost of her own life.
The Captain watched her with a strange look in his eyes, and then he shifted, holding her higher as he resumed the trek through the icy halls. “Your brave, little balemoon. To throw your life away in order to protect others”
”I have to. We only have each other, if I don’t watch out for them, no one else will”, Peruere shifted, slipping in his arms as he nodded to the Fatui soldiers stationed on either side of a set of towering cristaline doors, ice and snow and a mountainous landscape carved upon the glass. Beyond them, as the glittering entry opened to her and the captain, she could see a woman bathed in silver, the moon shining behind her.
“Is that a yes I hear, my poor, cursed Knave?”, The Tsaritsa cooed, A smile artfully strung across her crimson lips. The girl struggled in the Harbingers arms, eyes dropping to the shimmery floor.
“Forgive her, My Lady”, The Captain’s grip tightened, uninterested in letting her down even in the Archon’s presence. “She’s not at all dressed for this weather”, Peruere pushed against his helm, fingers wrapped around the prongs as she wriggled.
”No need to apologize, Capitano, I should have ensured her comfort”, The Tsaritsa, hair an opaline waterfall glittering in the light, descended from her pedestal as The Captain stepped closer, until he was before the Archon. Peruere stilled, body stiff and eyes wide as icy nails brushed the hair from her face, “Tell me, child. Did you really mean it? That you would take Crucabena’s blood-soaked legacy? That you would become my Knave?”
The girl stilled, the Archon's frigid hands coming to cup her face, forcing crimson eyes to meet icy white. She swallowed, the growing bulb of fear taking her heart down with it as the Tsaritsa smiled, soft as fallen snowflakes. “I agree, My Lady”
The Archon’s grin widened, a creature in of its own that shone like blood and ice. “Wonderful, my Harlequin, My Arlecchino ”, the ice and cold clawing at the child’s bones slipped away like fine, fresh water as the God turned to her Harbinger, “I trust our new Fourth will flourish under your care, Captain?”
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