Work Text:
Paris, 1950
Louis’s warning reverberating in his mind, Armand bit through his lip stifling his cry as he smashed the lid of the rat box onto his thumb at the joint.
Caught in a trap a rat will gnaw its own leg off to escape - what was one mangled thumb. Even giving Santiago reason to remove his muzzle, freeing his mind, had only proved an uncomfortable chore - he deserved far worse.
Armand slid the iron cuff off his wrist. It was enough - time caught in his freed hand.
The chittering stopped.
Carefully, he pulled open a metal cabinet on their makeshift mausoleum. Inside the marble ossuary within, he met the hollow eyes of an old friend, her flesh long since burnt away. Carefully, he lifted her skull.
Pilfered gemstones lay in small piles, scattered among her remains. Emeralds and sapphires, small pearls the color of her calcined bones.
A clean escape. A new beginning. A life of wealth and independence. Carefully, carefully, carefully.
Armand stared at the gems, then slowly resettled her head in the center, leaving her deathly decorations undisturbed.
What did he care?
Louis was his escape.
Whatever punishment lie in store for him - he deserved far worse.