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Kal strolls into Treviso with his hands behind his head, Allona on his heels. It's been a while since they've been home, and while there was a bit of an argument over the results of their heated rock, paper, scissors tournament over who'd get to head home, the two of them ended up winning out.
"You're here," Teia calls, "What is it you two go by now? Knight and Queen?"
"Those were what Varric called us," Kal states. "It's fine if you want to use my name."
"You wanna call me Queenie, though? I won't complain." Allona chimes in.
Teia shoots her a glance before leading them through their city. "Viago is gathering the others. He'll be glad to see you two."
"He'd better be; we're his favorites," Allona smirks.
"It's a wonder he survived without us," Kal adds.
Teia laughs at that. "Come on." She smiles. "He might not say it, but he's glad you're back."
"He would if he wasn't a coward." Allona teases as they move.
Kal smiles, "Maybe we're not his favorites? I bet he'd tell Monello or Esha that."
"I know, right? Maybe he's mad we came back in the middle of a job?"
"Nah. He's totally just bored. There's no way he's surviving without us. Can you imagine? Viago without having to deal with us? Impossible." Kal starts up the side of the wall, his sister and Teia following after him. If anyone's going to ruin Viago's peace, it's going to be him.
"You two are menaces. It's going to make Vi's day to see you back." Teia chirps as Kal zips across, a grin on his face from the zipline. They're close. He's just got to head up some steps, and Viago will be up there.
Kal rushes up the stairs to the casino with a grin on his face. It's time to ruin Viago's day! There he is! Just waiting! Alongside an old woman he doesn't recognize and Larry, the Dellamorte Allona's fucking. Does that make the old woman a Dellamorte, too? If so, that would make her the First Talon.
"Kalias." Viago greets as the others catch up to him. Allona shifts when she sees the Dellamortes. "Allona. I thought I'd sent you on a contract. Why aren't you there, and where are your siblings?"
Kal stares Viago down, keeping his face as deadpan as he can. "Why? Do you hate us, Father? Do you want us to leave?" He can hear Allona's poorly concealed giggles and Teia's armor shifting as she laughs silently. Viago glares him down, waiting for one of them to break. It won't be him. Kal's great at this game.
"One of our teammates suggested to Monello that we should recruit the Demon of Vyrantium." Something changes in the Dellamorte's expressions. It's not a lot, and not the same between the two, but it's enough for Kal to notice.
"Can't the four of you handle one single contract on your own? Why would you need a fifth Crow?"
Kal finally chimes in again. "Stopping one god turned into stopping one and killing two more. Having a mage killer around seemed like a good idea." Kal blatantly ignores the fact that both he and his sister are mages.
"You're looking for my grandson, Lucanis." Oh, good. This should be--
"He's dead."
"What." Allona interrupts, staring down the Dellamorte boy. "When?"
"A year ago." Huh. That complicates things. The First Talon takes over, mentioning that this 'Lucanis' isn't actually dead and that she knows his location. Great! Now they just have to go get him! It'll be easy.
It's not going to be easy. They have to go on a boat. A boat. Why does the Ossuary have to be underwater? Kal doesn't want to go.
Allona sighs. "Come on." She grabs his arm, trying to force him onto the tiny boat. He swallows, that stupid specific fear rising in his throat. Why does he have to go in the boat? He hates it.
"Do I have to?"
"Kal, I swear to the Maker I will slip your ass a quick-acting sedative if you don't go now. I've got you." She would. Kal's tempted to take the non-offer before he remembers how groggy it makes him.
He lets her drag her on the tiny boat. "...Fine." She keeps a hand on him the entire time, whispering soft comforts into his ear while rubbing soothing shapes into the sensitive skin around his tattoos. It takes the edge off, but it's not nearly enough.
The boat stops, and a whirlpool forms. Kal whines. Why do they have to go under the water? Kal wants to go home. He doesn't want to be here. He should have gone to the Anderfells with Monello and let Esha come.
"Shut up, you big baby. Nothing's going to hurt you. We're not even going to get wet." Kal grabs his sister, gripping her tighter than he should. Squeezing his eyes shut, Kal tries and fails to convince himself that they're anywhere else but inside a large body of water. He knows they're moving, and he knows they get off the boat at some point.
"You can open your eyes. We're inside." Kal really doesn't want to, but he cracks an eye to find that they're on solid ground once more. Oh, and now the sea's above them. Grand. He can feel the magic of this place. It's still strong. It shouldn't collapse while they're here. Probably. "See, you're fine. Let's get going. We have a demon to find!"
Kal takes a moment to regain his nerve. It's fine. They're not on the water. The water can't touch him. The water can't touch him. The water can't touch him. He'll be fine. Taking a deep breath, Kal stands straight up and gets himself to relax.
"Okay. Let's go!" He can do this.
Allona smiles. "That's my brother! Lead on!"
Kal decides he doesn't mind sand. It's squishy under his feet and serves as a good workout as they walk along. There are a few things to loot here and there, a random chest or two they break into without an issue, and several dead guards. Kal does a quick once-over for anything valuable.
It doesn't take them too long to find a door that's clearly more important than the rest. Based on the magic he can feel coming from behind that door, that's where their target is. He glances at Allona. They nod, then get to work on the crystals keeping them from the door. It's a matter of moments before the door's left unguarded.
"Ready?"
"Ready!" Kal nods, throwing open the door before pausing. There's a demon in here. He can feel it; he just hasn't seen i--
A blur of purple shoots forward, taking out the several guards in seconds. The moment he finishes and speaks, Kal blinks. Something new and unknown swells in his chest as his dick twitches. He feels warm and fluttery, and he can't stop staring at the man they came to save. His face heats, and this new emotion swells and swallows up his heart, refusing to let go.
Something jabs into his side. "Thedas to Kal!" He blinks. Allona and Lucanis are staring at him. "You in there, idiot?"
"What?" Allona shoots him a knowing glance. Lucanis just looks confused.
"You're really out of it. What's up?" She inquires.
Kal blinks, trying to find his words. "I dunno. Never felt this before."
She raises a brow, judging him. "Really? Now?" Allona sighs. "Fine, we'll talk it out later. For now, come on, we're going to go find a phylactory." Oh. Yeah. Okay.
Kal tries to shake this new, fuzzy, warm feeling from his mind so he can focus on their contract. His gaze lands on Lucanis. For just a moment, he sees a purple and grey copy of the man staring at him curiously.
"You're possessed?" Kal inquires. "There's not many possessions that leave the demon or spirit able to separate from the host like that."
Lucanis looks at him, shocked. "You can see Spite?"
"Yeah?" Why is that a question?
"And that doesn't bother you?"
Kal blinks, not seeing the issue. "Hardly the first time I've seen a demon. 'Sides, he seems chill enough." Spite grins at him, declaring that he likes Kal. Heh. The demon likes him. Maybe he'll help Lucanis like him, too.
Wait. Why does he want Lucanis to like him? Kal doesn't know, but the warm feeling in his chest makes itself known at the thought.
Kal shakes the thought away, moving on to head deeper into the prison. It's not long before they actually get to fight, Venatori popping up from any nooks and crannies. With lightning dancing across his skin and blood coating his blade, it's easy enough to forget about his feelings, new or otherwise, for a time. With a grin on his face, Kal slices up his enemies, electrocuting them as his blade slips from their flesh.
"Beautiful, Knight!" Lucanis calls, sending something thrilling down his spine. He wants more. Can killing more of these bastards get him more praise? He's going to find out!
By the time the battle's over, Kal's covered in blood and grinning like an idiot. It takes more than a few minutes for him to calm down from his battle high, but his companions seem more than happy to wait for him.
"...You said you're from House de Riva?" Lucanis asks.
"Yeah? Why?"
Lucanis points to him. "Are you sure? Crows don't fight like that."
"That's just Kal. He's the weird one out of the four of us." Allona mutters, playing with a strand of her hair. "Just don't get in his way, and you'll be fine."
Lucanis blinks, Spite grinning at Kal. "And Viago's fine with it?"
Allona blinks at their new friend. "Why wouldn't he? Kal gets his contracts done, and he hasn't died. That's all that really matters in the end, right?" Lucanis doesn't seem to have an answer to that, so they prepare to move on.
Eventually, they come to the downed bridge that collapsed earlier. Spite does some of his magic and pulls a platform from the Fade, which means Kal gets to see those purple wings that do something funny to his emotions again! Maybe he can get Lucanis to bring them out more! He'll just have to try and find out!
Luckily for Kal, the next few rooms provide him with enough enemies to battle that he gets to feel that fun electrical feeling shooting down his spine more than once. With a grin on his face, Kal effortlessly takes out his targets, blood splattering across his body. The warm wetness almost feels nice against the heating skin around his tattoos.
Kal feels giddy by the time they reach Calivan. So much so that he overreaches his magic, forms it into a spear, and shoots it through the jailor's heart in moments. Calivan falls to the ground with an anti-climatic thunk. He turns to Lucanis, waiting for praise that never comes.
Instead, he gets Allona scolding him. "Hey, idiot." She slaps him hard. It does nothing to his grin. "Viago's going to scold you for going over your limit again. Just look at yourself! You're redder than my lipstick! Do you have any idea how long it takes to heal your magically-induced burns?"
"Why are you complaining? You're just going to heal them for me, anyway," Kal mutters, not seeing the issue.
Allona sighs. "We're not always going to be together! You need to learn some sense!" She knocks the top of his head, clearly annoyed.
"Should you really be arguing right now?" Lucanis tries.
"Stay out of this!" Allona growls. "I'm trying to get my idiot of a brother to see some sense!" Lucanis falls back, apparently deciding it wasn't worth the trouble to get involved. Kal decides to loot the chest he can see behind that desk while she's distracted.
He barely gets three steps before Allona grabs his arm. "No, you don't! I'm not done scolding you!" Kal blinks, letting his sister go off all she wants. It's not like he's going to get to do anything else until she does. He lets her go off for several minutes while the purple, shiny sparkles of her magic coalesce into the energy at her palms before washing over him, cooling the heat coating his skin and soothing the emerging ache.
Kal's gaze catches on Lucanis as Allona continues her rant. "Listen here, idiot. One day you're going to do some shit even... even I can't heal. Do you really want us to deal with everything when that happens? Maker, Kal. I--" Kal's not listening anymore, more focused on tracing every line and every crevice on Lucanis' face. He's... Is pretty the right word? Kal doesn't know, but he smiles at the thought of calling the assassin pretty.
He wonders what that beard would feel like against his tattoos. Or his ears. Would it send those electrifying touches across his skin, or would it be more like clothes and irritate his skin? He doesn't know, but he wants to! Would Lucanis let him find out? Would Spite? Come to think of it, what would Spite feel like against his tattoos? He's never touched a spirit before, and now he's curious.
Lucanis turns, catching Kal staring with his giddy little smile and his slightly warm cheeks. Lucanis starts, blinks and gets an adorable pink to his cheeks and ears that Kal wants to see more of. Spite says something to Lucanis before he looks away, that adorable pink turning into a red that does fun things to Kal's insides.
"Kal!" He stumbles back, blinking at his sister. "You aren't even--" She blinks at him. "Are you in love? With Lucanis?! You just met!" Kal doesn't know if this floaty, warm feeling he wants to indulge in is love, but Kal decides he likes this emotion.
"Maker! I'm twins with an idiot!" Allona huffs, puts her hands on her hips, and decides for all of them. "Let's go. I'm tired of this place."
Kal freezes, then looks at the water surrounding them. "Do- Do we have to?"
Allona sighs, then turns to Lucanis. "Care to help wrangle my idiot of a brother?"
"Why?"
"You'll find out." Allona drags him back to the entrance. Does he have to go? He really doesn't want to. There's so much water. He can't deal with that.
Allona lets go of him, so Kal does the only reasonable thing and climbs Lucanis. With his arms and legs securely wrapped around the other assassin, he's Luca's problem now. With any luck, they'll get to land without an issue.
"Mierda, why?" Luca complains but never actually moves to remove Kal.
"He's afraid of water. Kinda weird to see from this side, though. I'm usually the lucky recipient of his octopus impression."
"... This is normal?"
"Yeah? At least around water. He'll be fine once we're back in the city." They're in the boat. They're moving. He squeezes harder, determined to will away the water.
Something shifts, and Kal finds himself somewhere else entirely. There's shapes in the background, but they're all together fuzzy and uncertain. Is this some aspect of the Fade?
"You care about me? Why?"
"Like Knight! Knight is straightforward! No hiding! Expresses emotions! Not like Lucanis!" Oh. Okay.
Kal blinks, summoning a deck of cards. "So... You ever play Wicked Grace?" There's not really much else to do here, and he doesn't know how long it'll be.
"Play?"
"Yeah!" He motions for the demon to sit and starts explaining the rules. Spite seems to pick it up easily enough, and they even get to play a few rounds. Spite doesn't win, but that's because Kal's great at this game.
Unfortunately, their time together has to come to an end, and Kal soon finds himself back in his body as Lucanis disembarks from the boat. Kal debates letting go, and while he doesn't want to, he doesn't like the way Luca's armor feels against his skin. Kal lets himself fall back, landing on the ground with a thump.
Allona sighs, Luca gives him a weird look and Spite laughs. "Kal, get up. We still have to talk with Viago before we leave."
"Dad!" He shoots up, leading the way with his normal, shameless stroll. He can feel Luca's eyes on him, something in that stare he doesn't have the words to identify.
"... Dad?" Lucanis asks Allona. "He's still talking about Viago, right?" His sister doesn't verbally respond, but Lucanis seems to get a response one way or another.
It only takes a minute or two before they're back in the Diamond, Viago, waiting for them alongside the pair of Dellamortes. "Back already?" Viago states. Kal nods, grinning.
Footsteps rush through the diamond at the same time that a loud, bestial roar cries out, the buzz of magic falling over the city. Kal rushes outside, passing Esha on the way. Several sets of footsteps chance after him. Once he gets out on the balcony, Kal finds himself staring down a dragon as it spews ice over their city.
"Right. So, I was going to come ask for assistance for Minrathous, but I wasn't expecting a second dragon." Esha states. "Let's take care of this quickly so we can help Monello." Kal nods, his lightning already dancing across his skin.
"Lure it down in the garrison," Viago states. "We'll try to keep the damage to the rest of the city to a minimum."
"I'll stay back and tend to the injured," Allona states. Kal nods, racing to the area with his sibling and Luca in tow. The dragon circles overhead, and Kal wonders if his magic can reach it.
Just as soon as they arrive, a voice comes from nowhere, ordering the dragon to attack them because of the dagger Esha's carrying. Dagger? Do they mean the magic glowing one they stole from Solas? Well, whatever! They've got a dragon to fight! Exciting!
Kal glances at his group. Two rogues. Both stabby. He should use some of his ranged magic! It's been a while! Kal lets more of his magic out as the dragon lands. It already tingles deliciously against his skin. Debating what to do, Kal remembers that Eshe will be pissed if she ends up shocked by his field again.
Letting the other two run ahead, Kal prepares a few spears to aim at the giant lizard. He watches as the other two pepper the beast with shallow cuts, moving around each other well despite just meeting. Kal waits for his moment, aiming for the weak spots the others open up. He fires off one, two, three, four spears, more taking their place.
The dragon cries out, leaping for him. Kal gives himself a boost out of the way, creating a platform from his lightning to shoot him to the side. The dragon doesn't even come close, earning a dozen strikes to the face for its efforts. Kal smirks, strengthening his spears with even more magic. That telltale warmth begins to spark from his tattoos. He doesn't care. It's time to hunt!
Grin splitting his face, Kal forgets his role and strikes out at the dragon with a blade made purely out of lightning. He gets a deep gash in its neck, only for its taloned foot to come up to swipe at him. Kal collects some lightning around his left arm, forming a rudimentary shield. It's not enough. Talons rip into his flesh, only staying far enough out to stay non-lethal because of his shield. He feels as his arm breaks in several places.
Kal gets thrown back, skidding against the ground at just the wrong angle until he slams against a wall. He groans, his shoulder having dislocated during the trip. His head feels fuzzy, the pain all he can process. Something's screaming in the background. He doesn't understand how he's hot and cold at the same time.
Lucanis is having a shit day. Yes, he got out of prison and got to see his family again, but now he's fighting a dragon because a god wants a magic dagger! Not to mention that one of his admittedly hot rescuers has just been slapped across the field like last week's trash.
"Enough!" The god, why are they fighting gods? states. "Return! We have need of your strength elsewhere!" Thank the Maker!
Lucanis spins on his heels, rushing towards Knight even without Spite's insistence. He's not going to let the man who rescued him die like this! "Hurry!" Spite demands. "Must. Save. Knight!" He knows!
"Kal!" Their new arrival cries, frantic and worried, as they reach the bloody, broken body, grinning stupidly at the sky with dazed eyes. "You've got to help me get him back to the Diamond. Allona can save him." He doesn't know who that is, but he agrees. Lucanis' heart squeezes at the sight before them, and something deep within screams at him to save Knight if it's the last thing he does.
Spite screams at him, demanding control so they can save Knight even faster. Lucanis finds himself gathering Knight in his arms and flying up to the diamond with the hot redheaded elf running up behind them. He lands and instantly draws the attention of Viago and Queenie.
"Kal!" Queenie chokes out. "Give him here, now." She scrambles over the man she was healing, grabs a potion from her gleaming pouch, and downs it in an instant. Lucanis watches as purple sparkles turn into healing magic, and a slight panic enters Queenie's eyes. Viago delivers a box of potions to her before backing off.
"Bishop," Viago calls. Lucanis has just enough awareness to remember to see who's talking. Oh, it's the other hot redhead. "Explain. Now." Lucanis ignores that conversation in favor of the scene going on before him. Knight's bleeding too much. There's bone poking out from his wounds. Queenie better be a great fucking healer if she hopes to heal Knight before he dies.
Shining purple encases Knight, Queenie being careful not to encapsulate his arm before they have a chance to set it. Lucanis decides to step in and do that much for her, at least. She's got enough problems to worry about without needing to focus that hard, and Lucanis has experience resetting bones and dislocations.
Knight moans when Lucanis touches him; it's soft and pitiful and so unlike the man he met in the Ossuary that it hurts Lucanis to think about. Resetting his shoulder earns a propper groan from the elven man. At the same time, Queenie downs another two potions. It takes Lucanis a little longer to get Knight's broken arm into the approximate right position. Why did he have to break it in four places? Does he have any idea how much harder that makes it?
Finally, after several minutes of grinding and prodding, the bones have all snapped back into their proper places. "Thanks." Queenie mumbles, handing him a health potion. "Give him this, would you?"
Lucanis nods, carefully making Knight drink the potion while the sparkles move to cover his arm as well. It's agonizingly slow, and Lucanis is pretty sure he feels at least one rib snap into place under his hand, but Knight eventually starts breathing easier. Still, neither of them stops until that pained crease in Knight's brow smooths.
Queenie falls back, breathing heavily. "You are so fucking lucky I love you, you damn idiot." She mutters. "I need a Maker-damned nap." She looks Knight over. A salve should be enough for his burns until I've recovered. He's going to hate the bandages when he wakes up, so I'll add a numbing agent. Can you handle it?" Lucanis nods. She pulls a few things out of her pouch. "Cover his tattoos and any red skin in this. Then frivolously apply this one before wrapping up the burns so the salve stays in place." Queenie looks exhausted. "I'm going to stay a while longer to help the wounded. If you ask Esha, she'll take you back to the Lighthouse where you can let our idiot of a brother rest." Lucanis nods, still not knowing who Esha is but determined to find out.
Lucanis needs a nap and he's not going to get it.
Kal peels his eyes open, feeling like he's been run over by a herd of brontos. He's not sure what happened, but he can feel Allona's residual magic on him, so he was probably hurt. He also feels incredibly itchy and wants to get the stupid, rough bandages off.
Someone's talking. Kal sits up, ignoring his discomfort for the moment in favor of this new mystery. Monello's talking to the pile of keepsakes from Varric. The way he's talking... Can Monello see some weird spirit or something Kal can't? Neat. When did that start?
Well, whatever. His first step is to discard the rough, painfully itchy bandages crisscrossing his skin and then maybe slip out and find a sibling or maybe Lucanis to sleep with. Would Lucanis let Kal sleep with him? He's going to find out.
Slipping out of the infirmary, Kal almost immediately runs into Luca and Esha talking in the hall. Esha notices him almost immediately, Luca following her gaze only to turn that delicious shade of red.
"Kal." She sighs. "I know you don't like the feel of bandages, but where did your kilt go? You know you can't walk around the Lighthouse naked." Kal shrugs. "Fine. Just go up to the room. I'll be there in a minute. There're a few potions up there for you. Take one." Kal moves off. He doesn't really want the potion, but the other option is more itchy bandages.
The potion is fine.
Esha meets him in the room just as he's finishing off the potion he hates. He barely blinks as she grabs one of his silk blankets and ties it around his waist. Oh. They're going to sleep! Kal likes a good cuddle pile! It's really too bad Monello and Allona aren't able to join them. Allona gives the best sleepy cuddles.
"Kal!" Oh, right! With a smile, Kal crawls his way into bed to do his best octopus impression beside his older sister. It's cozy. Kal's asleep in moments.