Chapter Text
Livia sas Junias glared at the wretch who had killed Rhitatyn and blasted their way through the castrum and said “If you are allowed to continue, you will eventually deprive me of all that I have toiled for- all that is mine by right.” She grew louder and more fervent with each word. “My minions, my comrades… even my Lord Gaius!”
The Eorzean held up a single hand, as if daring to placate her and said, “I don’t want any part of Gaius or your weird complex. I’m only here because of the Ultima weapon.”
Livia physically recoiled, spitting, “How dare you! I have no such ‘complex!’” She dropped in a fighting stance, reading to end their journey right here.
The wretched warrior simply stared at her, before raising a single eyebrow.
Without another thought, Livia charged forward, blades poised to kill.
“When you defected, I felt sure my star-” Nero tol Scaeva cut himself off and whirled around to face the so-called Warrior of Light. Incredulous, he zeroed in on the flat, far away expression he had noticed out of the corner of his eye.
“Are you bored right now?”
Startled out of their thoughts, the warrior glanced up at him. “Well, yeah. I’ve heard this all be-” they said, before stopping . After a moment, they started again, “Everybody knows you and Cid are very divorced. This is not groundbreaking news.”
“ What? We’ve never met before. You don’t know anything about me. Besides,” he said, crossing his arms, glad that his helmet hid the flush on his face, “Cid and I were never married.” There was only a strangled squeak from the other side of the linkpearl, as Cid had seemingly been left speechless.
The warrior didn’t even look up from examining some small defect of their gauntlets before replying, “Divorce is a state of mind.” Nero waited, but they did not elaborate.
“What does that even mean?” he muttered to himself. “Fine,” he said while activating the mechanism to summon his hammer, “if you’re going to be like that, I’m going to enjoy destroying you even more.”
The Warrior of Light raised an eyebrow while grabbing their own weapon, “Sure you will”.
Infuriating.
Gaius van Baelsar landed on the funicular platform and turned to face the champion of Eorzea. “Tell me, for whom do you fight?” He was expecting to see fear or anger or defiance. He was not expecting to see sadness, even pity, in the face of the champion.
“I could ask you the same question,” they asked softly, “You don’t have to be here, in Eorzea.” The champion paused, their gaze far away. “Do you know how your children are, Gaius?”
He tried to maintain his composure as he grit out, “Do not speak of matters of which you have no knowledge.”
The champion just stared at him with that infuriating look of pity.“Milisandia. Ricon. Rex. Alphonse. And Allie.” Each name that fell from the champion’s mouth felt like a death sentence. “Do you know where they are? Do you know what they’re doing?”
Blood boiling, Gaius charged forward until the point of his gunblade rested against the champion’s throat. He growled, “What. Have. You. Done.”
The champion stared at him, holding still even as a thin line of blood formed on their neck. “Nothing. They’ve never met me.” They sighed and steeped back, drawing their own weapon. “Just… Just think about it, Gaius. What happens to them if you don’t come home?”
“Enough!” he snapped. “It’s time to end this.”
Lahabrea reveled in how close he was to triumphing over Hydaelyn’s champion. Responding to van Baelsar’s question, he revealed the source of his confidence. “The Heart of Sabik. It is the Weapon’s core.”
“Hey, why did you keep that thing anyway?” The Warrior of Light’s voice seemed to deflate the grandiosity of the moment.
“What,” Lahabrea said, surprised and annoyed by the champion’s interruption.
“You know, Athena’s auracite. It just seems like a bad idea to keep you evil wife’s evil rock.” Lahabrea tilted his head, evaluating this new development. All the while, the warrior kept talking, “I guess it could be Hephaistos’s influence, but I still think that getting rid of it would have been a better idea.”
While some long-forgotten, rational part of Lahabrea turned to ice at the casual mention of his true name, most of him felt too assured of his victory to concern himself with the warrior’s rambling, impossible knowledge or no.
From within the Ultima Weapon, van Baelsar looked back and forth between Lahabrea and the champion before asking, “Ascian, of what do they speak?”
“Nothing of consequences. Knowledge of the Heart’s origin will not protect them from its power.” To the warrior, he said, “My reasoning is beyond your mortal comprehension.”
At this, Hydaelyn’s champion burst out laughing. Incensed, Lahabrea began his incantation.