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Watching Vax fight that monster by himself and win leaves Vex'ahlia in awe. It's amazing. It should be impossible. It's incredible.
"That's... Vax?" Grog asks, standing beside her while Kash is helping the rest of their friends.
"It is," Vex whispers, with her eyes still glued to her brother– well, at least she's trying to keep up with him, considering how fast her brother's moving. Hells, Vax is fast as fuck when he fights, but right now he's moving as fast as a bullet. His speed isn't natural. It's that vestige, Vex then remembers.
That vestige. When she woke up earlier, apparently after coming back from the dead, her brother wasn't beside her with the others. And yes, she was confused and dazed, but she was able to notice the lack of his presence.
She can't explain it, but Vex has always felt a connection to her brother; something that goes beyond simple love between sibilings. She's always thought it was because of the fact they're twins and that was it. But now... that connection is lost. She can't feel her brother's presence.
Back then at the tomb, it was only once her eyes fell on him that Vex realized Vax was standing a few feet away, seemingly lost in thought. Soon enough, he snapped out of it and noticed she was awake, rushing to give her a tight hug, muttering something that got lost in his happy tears.
Now, Vex thinks about that lost connection, considering the vestige's presence– was their connection the sacrifice needed to own the vestige? Is that it? Or did something else happen back there?
Once they're done with the monster, Vax just wants to get out of this gods-damned place and forget about everything that's happened today. Hail the new champion, Pulvan said, kneeling before Vax, and the sole memory's enough to shake his very core. What exactly did he get himself into?
"What's wrong, brother?"
Vax definitely doesn't flinch in surprise when his sister grabs his shoulder. Totally not. He does swallow and looks away until he schools his expression into a calmer one.
Vex'ahlia visibly frowns at his reaction. "Since we got out of that place, you've been acting rather strange, ever... since the tomb," Vex cocks an eyebrow at him, and Vax tries not to feel like a cornered animal. "And I think it isn't just that new vestige of yours."
Vax huffs out a breath and keeps walking forward, letting Vex'ahlia's hand fall from his shoulder. "Well, I lost you back there for a hot second, is that not reason enough to be a bit tense?"
"Bullshit," Vex tells him, grabbing his shoulder again and pulling him back, forcing him to look at her.
"Look," Vax finally faces her, and starts hearing his heart drumming against his ears. "I don't know what happened," he lies right through his teeth and attempts to keep on walking with the rest of their team, but the hand on his shoulder is reluctant on keeping him in place.
"Bullshit," Vex tells him again.
Thus he tries again, too. "Look, all that matters is that you're back, okay?" Vax smiles at his sister but his supposedly reassuring words fall flat even to his own ears.
And now Vex has that begging look, those puppy eyes of hers, that prevent Vax from lying any further. "What did you do, brother?"
"I saw something, but I don't know what it means..." he stops walking altogether, and bows his head down looking at the ground. "Back there, I saw the Matron of Ravens coming for you," he lets out a long and mournful sigh, "I begged her to take me instead."
"Vax..." His sister lets out a gasp and her hand flies up to cover her mouth. And the look in her eyes... she's looking at him like he's already dead. It frightens him.
Now that he's fully confessing what went down earlier, he might as well spill everything in his gut, Vax supposes. "I don't know what's going to happen to me, Vex... or to any of us," he looks up at her, in hopes of finding a reassuring expression in his sister... which he doesn't. Vex looks just as lost as he feels.
"But I know I couldn’t lose you," Vax then adds with a sad smile, and Vex instantly moves to wrap her arms around him.
"Neither can I lose you, and I won't," Vex whispers as she hides her face in the crook of his neck. "We'll figure it out."
By the time Percy comes to him to apologize, like the two goody-shoes he is, Vax doesn't have the strength to actually punch him as he originally planned. He's just tired and wants this whole thing to be over. So he doesn't even bother to turn around to face him, and stays sitting on the snow, hugging his knees.
"Vax," Percy starts, and Vax bites down a sigh. He really doesn't want to do this right now.
"De Rolo," Vax sighs, staring at his closed fist– in another universe, he's sure he's breaking Percy's nose right now.
Vax hears Percy deeply inhaling, no doubt preparing himself and his stupid self-righteous speech, before he speaks again. "It was my fault, I touched that tomb and–"
"I know," Vax cuts him off abruptly. At the end of the day, Percy just made a stupid mistake anyone could've made, no matter how dire the consequences were.
"I'm so sorry for what happened to Vex– wait, is that it?" Percy sounds clearly surprise at his lack of reaction and even grows quiet for a second. "Don't get me wrong," here we go again, Vax thinks to himself with a roll of his eyes, "but I thought your reaction would be... different."
At that, Vax does stand up and turns to look at him, cocking one eyebrow at Percy, with his hands at his waist. "Do you want me to fight you?"
"Gods, of course not!" The man nervously chuckles, shaking his head. "It's clear we're all exhausted and need rest, but I wanted to set things right," Percy decides to change his speech abruptly but Vax appreciates it.
However, Percy doesn't leave his side after that. Instead, he's looking at him with... pity? Or is it worry? It's been always hard to tell the difference. "About... your new vestige, how are you doing with it? I believe I must've missed it when you got it, which makes sense, all things considered."
"It's doing alright, Percy," Vax's smile feels tight across his face, "thanks for asking and... I need a favor."
"What do you need?" Percy asks right away, with an open expression.
"If anything were to happen to me, promise me you'll keep my sister safe," Vax takes a step closer to Percy, placing a hand on his shoulder. Only after Percy nods at him, does Vax relax. "Well, my sister and the rest of the helpless fools we have as our team."
"I try to keep all of those fools safe every day," Percy chuckles. "And that includes you, Vax," he then adds, and his smile is solemn. "Is there something wrong?"
"Nothing we'll fix today, unfortunately," Vax replies with another sigh, before he forces a smile to his lips. "Come on, we should get back to the others," he encourages Percy, patting his shoulder.
Vax can only hope this deal of his doesn't come bite him in the near future, but he knows it's less than likely he comes out of it unscathed.