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Chapter Text

In another lifetime, the bastard daughter of a mid-level diplomat is given away to a city-state with an ancient name and a monopoly on an interesting building material.

The de Rolos accept this gift, though they see it for the insult it is. They even accept her brother when he arrives, haggard from travel and wielding a dagger he does not yet know how to use. The de Rolos collect useful people; they do not know that it will be their downfall, but while they live, it is their strength.

Lord de Rolo makes it clear to Vex'ahlia that she is her own woman; he does not need to make it clear that he will marry her to Percival anyway. That is obvious to Vex from the start, and she doesn't know what to do other than pack it away, keep it as a thing to plan for later. If she wants to escape her fate, there is still time.

At first, Vax wants to flee, run back to their mother's side, and twice he comes to Vex with travelling clothes already on. Vex almost goes, but something pulls her away, holds her in Whitestone. She convinces Vax to be happy with letters from their mother, promises of a visit that Vex knows is unlikely. Their mother sent them to Syngorn for a better life, and Whitestone is much better than Syngorn. Surely this is preferable to living in a poverty that none of them have the power to lift, not until Vex has de Rolo money.

In the end, Vax would do anything for Vex, so they stay.

As the wedding draws closer, Vex learns. They teach her how to dance and dress and hold court. Vesper teaches her the bow, how to cooly lead her target and fire. She is taught the kinds of things necessary for good conversation, how to be interesting and polite and ornamental. These lessons are boring, but she understands their utility, knows that her poise may be all that she has to wield one day.

The most important things she learns, she learns with no teaching. She learns what it means to be feared. She learns what it means to be adored. She learns that the power of it is the same, the thrill that goes through her. She learns, as she does in every lifetime, how to wrap people around her little finger and exploit what comes of that without mercy.

Though she knows it was not her father's intention, she makes a good match for Percival. Their personalities complement each other; he seems to understand her taste for power, and it doesn't bother him in the slightest that she should enjoy what she's due. He interests her, and she finds herself looking over his shoulder while he works, listening to him talk, sharing a quiet moment here and there. She doesn't know if she loves him- she certainly doesn't love him like she loves Vax- and she doesn't know if loving him even matters. But she thinks for now she might let herself enjoy all of this.

And in yet another lifetime it ends like this: Vex'ahlia and Vax'ildan and every last de Rolo live happily but uneventfully in Whitestone for the rest of their days, dying peacefully after a long life.

That's a third lifetime, not the one we're discussing. Keep up.

In this lifetime, the corruption of the Briarwoods creeps into Whitestone like fog, insinuates itself before Sylas and Delilah even arrive. Professor Anders leads the way, and the rest of the monsters follow behind. And there is that night, the night that the Briarwoods sit across the table from the de Rolos, the night that Vex watches the head of Whitestone be messily sawed off. At the end, no one stands but Percy, Vex, and Vax.

It's only a few hours before Vex starts wishing she had died instead.

In her cell, she sits and she listens. She hears every moment of Percy's screaming, every time Vax begs Ripley for death. She swallows it up like poison, until it fills every inch of her, seeps into her blood, her very flesh. She knows even then that there is no going back from this, that something about her will be tainted forever.

Vax is the one that gets them out, clever, brave Vax who picks the lock and overpowers the guard. The time he buys them is enough for Percy and Vex, but not enough for himself; Vex watches him fall, and she vows in that instant to put an arrow through the Briarwoods for every single shaft that pierces him. She tries to go back and do it right then, damn the consequences, but Percy grabs her hand and they run and run and run.

They run until they can't, through streambeds and forests and farms, the ground under Vex's feet the only thing that makes any sense. They eventually collapse under a tree by a stream, a place that might be pretty if she had any ability to appreciate it. She holds tightly to Percy as they sleep, rousing over and over to make sure he's still there, that the only thing she saved cannot slip away.

She wakes up and the world has not ended; she wakes up and things are proceeding as usual, as if a piece of her heart has not been seared away, replaced with ash. Percy seems just as confused.

"We'll find your mother," Percy says. "Word will get to your father first that we're dead, and we might want to keep it that way."

"I don't care if all of fucking Syngorn thinks I died," Vex says. "The fewer people who know we got out, the easier it will be to keep from arousing those animals' suspicion."

"My thoughts exactly," Percy says. "To Byroden, then."

--

Weeks pass before they make it to Vex's childhood home, Byroden a shining beacon as they steal and haggle and cheat to get enough money to survive the trip. Most nights are just like the first one, where Vex clings to him jealously and wakes surprised that a new day has dawned.

Eventually they arrive in Byroden, and there is no Byroden.

Somehow, it feels easier; there is nothing left inside of her to feel sorrow or pain. She looks at the burned-out shell that was once her home, and it's like looking in a mirror, like anything good in her has been gutted.

Percy slips his hand into hers, and she squeezes it so tightly that it hurts.

--

A few more weeks pass as they wander, unmoored, no lodestar to guide them home, no home to be guided to. Vex wins a bow in a bet, and things are better after that, food and safety available in the woods as they try to piece some semblance of a life back together.

"I had a dream," Percy says one day, as they divide a loaf of bread that Vex bargained for. She almost makes a joke, but then she thinks of her own dreams, ink-black things that she would do anything to be rid of. "At least, I think it was a dream."

"What kind of dream?" Vex asks, nibbling at her bread slowly.

"I met something, or someone, made out of smoke," Percy says. "He promised me vengeance as long as I fed him the souls of the people who wronged me."

A cold feeling settles in Vex's stomach. "What did you say?"

He looks her straight in the eye. "I told him I wasn't doing anything without you."

"And what did he say?" she asks, rapt.

"He said he'll take both of us," he says. "After all, don't we both have it coming?"

Vex forces herself to take another bite of bread, to act as if she wouldn't leap at the chance. "Perhaps if it happens again, we should hear what he has to offer," she says, casually enough that Percy can decide for himself whether she's serious.

Percy doesn't say anything; he just studies her for a moment and goes back to his bread.

But the "dream" comes back, and this time Vex is in it too; she doesn't know how Percy mistook it for a dream, unless all his dreams are this bad. There is a swirling, smoky thing around them, filling every space, until all Vex can see is Percy's face in the darkness.

"You want revenge," a voice says. "I can see it in you."

"You wouldn't be here if we didn't," Vex says; she doesn't know if that's true, but she'd say anything to turn it back around on him, make him aware that she does this on her own terms.

"Perhaps," the voice says. "But I am here, and I will give you what you so desperately crave. All I ask is a pittance, something you were going to throw away."

Vex looks over, and she knows enough of Percy's tells to know that he's scared out of his mind. She realizes just then that she's not scared. She'd do anything to have power again, to wrest control of her life away from the fate she's been left with. If she can't have that, she'll take revenge any day of the week.

"You are bound together already," the voice says. "Bind yourselves to me."

"Yes," Vex says; she regrets her lack of hesitation when Percy doesn't say anything, but finally he reaches out, finding her hand even through the dreamlike expanse that surrounds them.

"Do it," Percy says, and Vex feels something flash within her, like the bond has been made physical. The smoke laughs, low and pleased, the sound shaking her resolve, but in moments she is awake, Percy next to her.

He reaches for her, because what's done is done. This was how it was always going to be, ever since her father gave her away all those years ago, ever since she stayed in Whitestone with Percy instead of running. This is the consummation that was always coming, sealing them together, though not under circumstances anyone could have anticipated.

She wakes with Percy beside her and a head full of plans.

It's a long story how the SHITs end up escaping from jail, part of a much longer story as to why they're together in the first place, but the important part is this: Pike, Keyleth, Tiberius, Scanlan, and Grog have just knocked out a set of guards and stolen a set of keys, and they are now making their way with all due speed towards the exit.

They turn down another long corridor lined with mostly empty cells, and Keyleth is starting to lose track of the hallways, unsure whether it's two or three more levels up before they hit freedom.

"Pardon me," a voice says from one of the cells. "But if you're mounting an escape, we'd love to join."

"We're old hands at escaping," another one says. "Don't let our current state fool you."

Keyleth pulls up short, looking for the source of the voices. "Who said that?" she asks warily.

"Over here," the first voice says, and she sees a man in shackles sitting against the wall of one of the cells. His hair is stark white, though he looks much too young for it. His clothes were nice once, but by now they show the evidence of having been repaired a few dozen times. Despite his shabby appearance, he holds himself straight and proud, like this is all a temporary setback instead of a dank prison.

"Hello there," Keyleth says, peering in at him, the rest of the group stopping to look. "And you are?"

"Percival Frederickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the third," he says, which is a lot of name for someone in a jail cell. He gestures across the way, to where another figure sits in chains, a woman in brown leathers with wide streaks of white in her black hair. "And this is my wife, Vex'ahlia."

"Charmed," Vex'ahlia says dryly.

"And if you wouldn't mind retrieving my gun and her bow, we'll happily pull our weight in any escape you might be planning," he says.

"What's a gun?" Grog asks.

"Excellent question," Percival says. "If you help us, I'll provide you with an extensive explanation. You seem like a clever one."

Grog draws himself up. "I am a high-minded scrawler," he says. He waves a hand imperiously. "Set them free."

"I think we should be a little more discerning in who we take with us," Scanlan says. "Not that it wasn't good to meet these fine folks, but we have business elsewhere."

"We can't just let them stay," Pike chides. "People are being left to die in here." She looks over. "Plus Tiberius is already letting them go."

Percival rubs at his wrists when the manacles come off, but he takes Tiberius's hand and lets himself be levered up. "My name is Tiberius Stormwind," Tiberius says. "I'm from Draconia." He waves his hand and most of the grime on Percival's clothing disappears. "Hmph. That's a bit better, yes. Right this way."

Tiberius does the same for Vex'ahlia, complete with introduction and prestidigitation, and she gives him a wink for his trouble. The first thing she does is go to Percival's side, putting a hand on his back as she studies her saviors with a keen eye. Percival puts an arm around her, holding her close to him for a long moment and kissing her hair. Keyleth almost wants to look away, because the moment seems so private, but it's over before she can.

"Well, shall we?" Percival says. "To the left is the warden's locker and the entrance to the tunnels, unless you want to try running out the front gate in the middle of the day?"

"See," Grog says, nudging Scanlan. "Intelligent people like us recognize each other." He executes what might be a bow. "Lead on, my fine gentleman."

Chapter Text

Time passes, and the SHITs turn into Vox Machina. Percy and Vex are there every step of the way, and the longer it gets, the less Keyleth remembers that they were the last to join; it seems like they've always been there, just another link in the chain. Keyleth is closer to the two of them than perhaps anyone else in the group, but when she thinks about it, she wonders if she really knows much about them at all. She knows they're from Whitestone and that Vex's mother was killed in a dragon attack, but most of the rest of their history is opaque, something that they dance around when it comes up.

The two of them scare Keyleth sometimes. All of them are violent people to some extent, but there's something else in Percy and Vex, something behind their eyes that Keyleth feels like she catches glimpses of from time to time. It comes out in combat, touches of cruelty that always jar her; both of them are collected, polished, but sometimes they do things that Keyleth wants to shrink away from.

It's worst when one of them is injured; they're savage in their protection of each other, unwilling to show the slightest mercy. Keyleth understands enough to know that she can't understand, that she's never been bound to another person like the two of them are. She knows that neither of them have anyone else left, and she tries not to think about all the things that could have happened to all those people.

It's a long time before she learns, and she wishes she hadn't.

--

When things happen with the Briarwoods, they happen very quickly. All of Percy and Vex's cards are suddenly on the table, the whole story of how Percy's family was murdered coming out in a rush. They're vague on how they escaped from the castle, but Keyleth doesn't push it. She feels like she knows them so much better now, like so many things make sense, but mostly she feels horrible, so afraid for all of them and so heartbroken by what happened.

But there is nothing to be done about the dinner. They must go, and they must make the most of it, because all of them are agreed that the Briarwoods must be stopped. Scanlan goes in invisibly, haunting the room as they eat, and the rest of them do their best to look like upstanding council members, not a hit squad.

Keyleth expected the Briarwoods to have more people with them; maybe it's a nobility thing, trying to prove they feel safe in Uriel's palace, but at dinner all they have is one guard. The guard doesn't say anything, just stands by the wall. Keyleth can't tell anything about them, just a hooded humanoid figure, dressed head-to-toe in clothes so dark that they look like an absence of space.

The guard is unsettling, but not nearly as unsettling as watching Percy and Vex try to have a conversation with the people who butchered their family. Both of them do it skillfully, but Keyleth just wants to scream the entire time, bring the whole palace down on the people who hurt her friends so badly.

Somehow they make it through dinner, and it takes maybe twenty minutes for everything to go completely to shit.

Scanlan slips by the guard and sneaks into the Briarwoods' room, only to learn that invisibility is not that great against a magic wielder as powerful as Delilah. He very nearly dies before managing to dimension door out the window, which, as it turns out, does not get him as far away from Sylas as he would ideally like to be.

He's still on the ground before the rest of them get anywhere close. Percy and Vex are in the front, and Keyleth is only just rounding the corner when they square off against the Briarwoods.

"Sylas!" Percy yells, aiming straight for him; Vex is at Percy's side, bow drawn, and together they present an image of unity and power to rival Sylas and Delilah. The blast of Bad News seems louder than Keyleth has ever heard it, cracking the night sky with its force. The bullet slams into Sylas's shoulder, and before he can react, a pair of arrows hit the same mark, one after the other, causing electricity and flame to wrack his body for a moment.

Sylas whips around, looking for the source of the attacks; when he sees Percy and Vex, he straightens, giving a chuckle.

"Would you look at that, dear?" Sylas says mockingly, loud enough for everyone to hear. "The pup yet lives. And his little play-pretty, too."

Percy reloads his gun, calling out to Sylas again, and the rest of them finally catch up to the fray.

To Keyleth, the night passes in a horrible blur. The Briarwoods escape, and certain members of her party, people she calls friends, people she thought she knew, exhibit a kind of violence she didn't know they were capable of.

Their week doesn't get any better. They become pariahs in their own city, and besides an incident involving a roc and some cows, things steadily deteriorate. Eventually, they are forced to leave, to confront this evil head on, and Keyleth wonders more than once if they'll ever see Emon again.

--

The cracks start to show in Whitestone.

Keyleth knows Percy and Vex as people who never show weakness; she doesn't know if it's breeding, training, personality, or all three, but they present a polished exterior, one that it took her a long time to get through. Something about Whitestone slowly crushes that, their resolve splintering by degrees. Percy is the first and most obvious; he develops a cough, a chill, like the contagion of the Briarwoods is eating away at him from a distance. She can tell Vex is distressed too, quiet, snappish when she does speak. She doesn't stray far from Percy's side, even closer to him than they are normally.

Keyleth has always known they drew their greatest strength from each other, that the two of them are indivisible. It's not until now that she sees the desperation in it, like they do it because they have nothing else, like they're afraid they'll slip away from each other if they don't. She doesn't know how to tell them that they have so much more now, a second family who are all waiting to pick them up when it gets rough.

She doesn't understand how rough it is until they're in Kerrion Stonefell's house. She always knew it was going to be hard to see Percy confront the people he needed to confront; she didn't know it would involve seeing Percy become a creature of smoke, swallowed up by- by what, Keyleth doesn't know, his own revenge, a dark force that's overtaken him, something that has corrupted him.

When the fight is over, Keyleth looks to Vex; she doesn't know if it's her imagination, but she feels like she can see wisps of that same smoke, little puffs of it that drift off of her hair. Keyleth can tell how scared she is. Keyleth is already terrified, and she can't even imagine how Vex must be feeling. Percy is Keyleth's best friend, but he's so much more to Vex, and Keyleth is certain Vex didn't know this was coming. Judging by his reaction, she doesn't think Percy did either.

What they do to Stonefell next is unconscionable, but Keyleth's protests fall on deaf ears. She thinks Vex might be as bothered by it as she is, but Vex quickly closes ranks with Percy, and that's that.

As she sears the de Rolo crest into the roof of Stonefell's mansion, Keyleth thinks, not for the first time, about how she could just become a bird and fly away, leave these people to their fate. It would be so easy to just go, let this play out how it plays out, go back to her Aramente and chalk all this up as a learning experience.

She leaves the roof and rejoins the party. The full force of the Nine Hells couldn't drag her away.

--

There are points of light in Whitestone, even as the sheer force of everything that's wrong presses in on them from all sides. Scanlan has his shining moment, one that Keyleth is genuinely saddened she didn't get to see, though she's certain it can't have been as ridiculous as Scanlan's recounting of it. They make allies, people who are just as ready to see the Briarwoods fall as all of them are, people who have been bent under their weight for too long.

The height of it, as far as Keyleth is concerned, is their meeting with Archibald. The look on Percy and Vex's faces when they learn there is a survivor is indescribable, but a strange thing happens when they learn it's Percy's sister. Keyleth could swear that Vex looks disappointed for a moment, lost; she recovers quickly, but it's long enough for Keyleth to worry.

When they leave, Keyleth falls in with Vex, pulling her away a few paces. "Are you okay?" she asks.

Vex sighs heavily. "As okay as I can be under the circumstances, which is maybe a quarter okay," she replies. "Are you?"

"Maybe a little more than a quarter," Keyleth says. "I just wondered."

"Why?" Vex asks.

"Back there," Keyleth says. "You seemed like you weren't as excited as Percy that Cassandra is alive."

"Believe me, I'm so happy she survived, for her sake and Percy's," Vex says. "I just- I thought he was going to say something different, that's all." She pauses, frustrated. "Keyleth-" She stalls out, looking annoyed with herself.

"What is it?" Keyleth says softly.

"Percy and I, we don't know how to have friends," Vex says. "We've never been close to anyone except Percy's family and my-" She shakes her head quickly. "So if we seem haughty, or jealous, or cold, or generally like we don't know what we're doing, it's because we don't."

Keyleth stops, taking Vex into her arms and holding her close. "You're family," Keyleth says. "None of us know what we're doing, but we're all doing it together anyway."

Vex squeezes her tightly. "I don't know what we would do without you," she says quietly. "All of you."

Keyleth thinks the answer might just be "Lose ourselves entirely to a monster made of smoke," but she doesn't say it.

"Come on," Keyleth says. "Let's go destroy somebody's house."

Chapter Text

At long last they sneak into the castle; the stress of becoming a revolutionary is weighing on Keyleth, and she's almost looking forward to a real fight, something other than chipping away at an impossibly big foe in the bleak damp of Whitestone's streets.

There's a moment of calm before the storm, one Keyleth isn't expecting. They have a feast in the tunnel leading to the castle, a night of rest that is surprisingly good for everyone who isn't Keyleth. She wakes early, unable to sleep for the chill that sets into her bones, and looks about the party. Pike's ethereal form looks so odd peacefully slumbering between Grog and Scanlan, but Keyleth can't pretend to understand how Sarenrae's light works.

Percy and Vex catch her eye, because of course they do. Vex is lying curled up with her head on Percy's chest, a hand clutching the fabric of his union suit. Percy's arms are around her, and it strikes Keyleth how they can look so worried in their sleep, like the desperation plaguing all of them doesn't lift even when they're unconscious.

Vex stirs, murmuring something, and Keyleth looks away, not wanting to be caught.

The first challenge in the castle is not what Keyleth expects. There's an old woman in the cells beneath it, and she begs to be released. The sentiment in the group is to leave her, but Vex resists. They compromise; Vex goes to pretend to pick the lock, giving half-assed reassurances during her show. The woman reaches out, touching Vex's hands, and Vex stops, becoming very still for a moment.

The woman in the cell is still entreating her to hurry up, to set her free; Vex reaches into the cell and grabs her by the shirt, yanking her forward and slamming her face against the bars. The woman reels back from the pain, and her whole form shimmers, whatever illusion was shielding her dispelled.

Vex picks the lock quickly, tossing her tools aside as she throws open the cell door and launches herself in.

"Vex, don't-" Keyleth says, reaching out, but Percy holds up a hand.

"Just let her have this," he says, not taking his eyes off the woman as Vex pulls a dagger from her belt.

What happens next is hard to watch; it's also hard to see, because plumes of swirling black smoke pour off of Vex's form, enveloping her. The woman tries to fight back, but Vex is too fast, too much for someone who doesn't even have a weapon. Keyleth turns away, looking to Percy instead. She almost wishes she hadn't, because Percy is staring unblinkingly at the two of them, tendrils of that same black smoke curling out of his jacket.

Vex finally stands, pulling her bow; for a moment she looks like she has something to say, but she just fires instead, putting an arrow straight through the woman's heart. There's a flash of arcane energy on Vex's bow, and Vex slumps, looking exhausted.

"Everybody knows I love a good bloodbath," Grog says, breaking the silence, "but what was that about?"

"That was Anna Ripley," Percy says, and Vex spits on the corpse. "A great asset to the Briarwoods and the only quarry Vex ever lost."

He seems to be waiting for Vex to say something, but she doesn't, just leaves Ripley's body and steps into the hallway again. He looks back at the rest of them before leading Vex away, taking her into his arms and speaking to her quietly. Vex fists her hands in his jacket, pulling him to her, and this time Keyleth does look away. She makes herself busy, picking up Vex's discarded lockpicks and holding them awkwardly in front of her.

Percy and Vex finally return, and Vex wordlessly takes her picks back from Keyleth. "Can you get us through the castle?" Scanlan asks, pointedly pretending like none of it happened.

"I think we should both still remember," Percy says. "We search the castle for Cassandra and Anders and anyone else who might be lurking, then find the Briarwoods."

"Lead the way," Keyleth says, and they proceed towards their fate.

--

When they do find Cassandra, it is not under the circumstances that they would have liked.

Grog goes in first, hammer swinging, the rest of the party not far behind; Keyleth will never unsee the image of Anders cutting Cassandra's throat, the surprise on her face as he does it. Grog forces a potion into her mouth before the rage takes him, two walking suits of armor stepping heavily forward to engage him. Scanlan and Percy move to engage Anders, and Keyleth just tries to hang on, do what she can to wear their enemies down.

None of them see the guard in black at first; they're hiding behind one of the suits of armor, and they slip out silently, getting a dagger into Scanlan's back before they're noticed. Vex gives them an arrow for each shoulder for their troubles, but they don't seem deterred. They approach her, but she shoots around them, wanting to fell a bigger enemy before she takes care of her own safety. Keyleth fires off a spell at them, and their attention turns to her; at least it's better than Vex, who can't shift to another form if she's heavily injured.

The way the guard fights is strange, as if going through the motions by rote, like they're not any more in control than the suits of armor are. Their actions seem automatic, just muscle memory; they're clearly highly trained, but Keyleth wonders what the Briarwoods have done to them. She feels a surge of pity, but the same kind that one might feel for an animal that needed to be put down. It certainly doesn't stop her from attacking.

The guard is drawing Keyleth's attention away from Percy, but it's impossible not to see the smoke ringing him, filling up his space until Percy seems as large as Grog. All Keyleth can see is the tip of his mask as he fires again and again, finally putting his gun into Anders's mouth and blowing him away.

Seeing it happen, the guard mutters something under their breath and disappears, too quickly for Scanlan to catch. There is the sound of retreating footsteps in the hallway, and they're long gone before anyone can even go looking for them.

Keyleth can see when it catches up to Percy, the moment where he thinks about what he's done; she knows Vex sees it too, because she grabs his hand. "Be strong," Vex says urgently. "You have to be strong for me, Percy. We can't give up now."

The smoke reaches out from Percy to Vex, linking the two of them. Vex tries to bat it away, looking annoyed, but it doesn't move. It swirls between them, pouring from their clothes, their eyes, their weapons, but Vex isn't deterred.

"This isn't for him," Vex says. "This is for us. Think about us."

The smoke recedes slowly, leaving the two of them there alone. They share a long look, and then Percy puts an arm around her waist and kisses her, hard but brief. "For us," he says.

Cassandra watches all of this happen, and Keyleth wonders what she's thinking. She mostly just looks tired, which seems reasonable given everything that's happened. When Vex comes back to herself, she wraps Cassandra up in a hug, one that Cassandra seems to accept more than participate in.

"We thought you were dead," Vex says, not letting her go, and Percy joins them, putting a hand on his sister's back. "I watched you fall-"

"It's a very long story," Cassandra says.

"I am so sorry," Percy says ardently, taking Cassandra into his arms when Vex lets her go. "If I ever had any inkling that you were still alive, I would have come sooner."

"You shouldn't have come at all," Cassandra says, her face going cold. "They were using me as bait for you."

"Because they knew I'd take it," Percy says. "But it's too late to worry about that. We're here." He brushes her white-streaked hair behind her ear. "Are you alright? Are you yourself?"

"As much as I can be," Cassandra says.

"We end the Briarwoods today," Vex says. "Are you well enough to help?"

"Wait just a moment," Percy says, frowning. "Cassandra is not helping. Cassandra is going to her room."

"I'll get my armor," Cassandra says.

"No one's getting any armor," Percy says firmly, but Cassandra is already out the door, Vex following her. "I can't believe I've been outvoted in my own house."

"Think of it this way," Scanlan says. "At least you have enough people to get outvoted now."

"I'm not sure that makes me feel better, but thank you," Percy says. "Well, let's catch up to them before they try to fight the Briarwoods on their own."

--

And as far as Keyleth is concerned, fighting the ghosts of Percy's ancestors is just fucking unnecessary.

--

Keyleth would like to say it's more surprising when the Briarwoods and their guard appear, when they realize they've been caught in a trap. Maybe there was a time when it would have been a shock, but by this point, she's used to nothing going to plan. She's more surprised when Cassandra joins Sylas and Delilah, but maybe she should have expected that the Briarwoods would literally slit one of their followers' throats just for effect.

Delilah is busily gloating, and the guard stands at her shoulder like a shadow. They're the only one who hasn't said anything, and Keyleth isn't even sure they talk. Perhaps their tongue got ripped out too, everything stripped away that wasn't necessary for killing.

"I've been ungracious," Delilah says, reaching back and stroking a hand down the guard's face. "Don't you want to say hello, my darling?"

The guard pushes back his hood; he is a half-elven man with long black hair, and his resemblance to Vex is uncanny. Vex screams, rushing forward and pounding on the glass, but the man doesn't move, almost seems like he doesn't hear her at all. Percy looks stricken, not unlike he did when Cassandra turned, but he says nothing, just stares.

And then the Briarwoods are gone, Cassandra and the man in black with them. There are twin flashes of arcane light on Percy's gun and Vex's bow; both of them look, and Vex drops her bow like it's on fire.

"No," she says. "No, no, no." She looks up, her hands clenching into fists. "No, do you hear me? Not him. Never him. I'll fucking kill myself first."

"Vex-" Percy starts, reaching for her, but she pulls away.

"There's a fucking line, Percival," she snaps. "I'll sell my soul but I won't kill my brother."

"Let's attend to the death trap right now, then put out the rest of the fires," he says gently, picking up her bow before it can be damaged by the acid. "I'm not going to kill my sister, either. I don't care what he wants from us."

"Don't think you can distract me with certain death," Vex says, snatching her bow out of his hands, but she finally turns her attention to the acid that is starting to spew into the glass and metal box they've been sealed in.

Death, as it turns out, is no more certain than on any other day. The trap is of the heavy damage school, rather than the fiendishly clever one, and honestly, Keyleth will take that any day of the week. There's nothing left to do now but follow the Briarwoods, let themselves be led into the belly of the beast.

"Oi, murder couple," Scanlan says, as they proceed down the tunnel the Briarwoods left through. "Are you ready for this?"

"I have never been so simultaneously prepared and unprepared for a thing in my life," Percy says.

"Eloquently put," Vex says.

"Thank you, dear," Percy says.

"Just like any other fight," Grog says. "We go in, kill everyone, get out. Normal day."

"I don't think it's quite that simple," Keyleth says.

"Please do not kill everyone," Percy says wearily. "There are people in there who probably don't deserve it."

"We'll try to be selective," Pike says.

"I would appreciate it," Percy says, just as the path widens, the tunnel giving way to a massive cavern, a stone temple in the center. "Well, shall we stop stalling and go kill a vampire?"

"I don't think we have another choice," Keyleth says, already mentally reciting the incantation for her sunbeam. "We're following you."

Chapter Text

It comes down to this: Vox Machina and the Briarwoods beneath Whitestone, on a monument to an ancient evil that was once a site of good.

They split up, flanking the top of the ziggurat, Percy and Vex walking straight up to approach the Briarwoods and their entourage. Keyleth isn't quite close enough to hear them taunting each other, but she has to assume that's what they're doing. She can't really begrudge Percy and Vex a little bit of taunting, but she itches for the fight to start, for her chance to bring them down.

Percy throws down a smoke bomb, the gray cloud swallowing even the black smoke around him. Vex emerges from it suddenly, shooting out of it into the air, raining down arrows at the Briarwoods, and from there, the fight is on.

Keyleth casts her sunbeam as fast as she can, and the top of the ziggurat is filled with light, radiating out from Keyleth's hand. In it she can see the whole battlefield, can see Delilah and Sylas harrying Percy, can see Cassandra falter after her first few attacks.

The Briarwoods' guard steps in front of Delilah, rebuffing Scanlan when he tries to get close. Delilah points a finger, and he aims instead at Percy. The guard's daggers go wide, whizzing past Percy's head before they return to the guard's belt. Sylas is clearly displeased, reaching over and raking his claws across the guard's face; he reels, looking far more thrown than a slash to the face would suggest. He rights himself, steadying, and for the first time, his eyes look clear.

Then he stabs Sylas in the side.

Sylas clearly isn't expecting it; the guard stabs him again, then a third time, and Sylas reaches for him, clawing him again before shoving him away. He falls down a few steps before catching himself, daggers at the ready. Keyleth is too busy to question it at the time, focused on hammering Sylas over and over with her sunbeam. It feels like it should feel wrong to be excited about it, but Keyleth is anyway; this is Percy and Vex's moment, but it's also hers, since she's the only one who can get past Sylas's last line of defense.

And she does. Sylas gets in plenty of blows, and plenty of people get in blows on him, but Percy finally finishes off his solid form, his body replaced with a heavy patch of fog. Keyleth looks at Pike, the two of them sharing a moment of understanding before Keyleth fires her sunbeam at Pike's shield, the ricochet of the light more than enough to rip through what was once Sylas's form. The mist scatters, and all that's left of Lord Briarwood is one truncated shout.

"How's that feel, Lady Briarwood?" Vex taunts.

"No, Sylas!" Delilah screams, her whole body trembling. "You can't- I broke the world for us!" She breathes in heavily, her shoulders going back; she turns, whipping a wand out of her robes and leveling it at Percy. "I'll show you exactly how it feels, girl."

A beam of red light streaks out of the wand, and as Keyleth watches, it blossoms into an enormous fireball. Percy is lifted off his feet by the force, thrown backward down the steps, and Vex screams, a bloodcurdling thing that rings off the stones of the ziggurat. Delilah says something none of them understand and darts out of sight, dropping the wand in her haste; Keyleth cracks her with her staff, but she still manages to get away, an arcane doorway opening up around her before anyone can stop her.

"I've got Percy," Pike shouts, running towards him. "Worry about Lady Briarwood!"

Vex says nothing; she has just enough presence of mind to drop a rope for the others before she's gone, up and over into the chamber on top of the ziggurat.

The guard pushes past the rest of them and scrambles up the rope. Keyleth gets to the top of the wall in time to see him hit Delilah twice with his daggers, but it doesn't stop her. She splashes her own blood across the black orb in the center of the room, the gruesome network of bodies on the walls writhing as it comes to life. The orb spins, but from Delilah's face, Keyleth can tell it's not working, not like it's supposed to.

Behind her, there is a figure walking slowly up the steps leading to the platform she's standing on. Keyleth knows it's Vex, but her entire body is pouring black smoke, surrounding her until nothing is left but her face and hands. Delilah turns, looking more frustrated than afraid; she extends her finger, a ray of green light coming from it and hitting Vex heavily in the chest. Vex falters for a moment, but the smoke just grows thicker, until it almost seems like a solid mass.

Delilah startles when Vex doesn't fall, backing up, but Vex just keeps coming, inexorable in her ascent. Delilah has nowhere to go, trapped between problems of her own making. Vex shoves her backwards, and Delilah impacts the spinning black orb. Delilah's eyes go wide, but before she can even scream, she vanishes, her whole body bending and distorting as she's sucked into the speck of void.

Vex looks shocked for a moment, but then she falls to her knees, clutching at the floor. The guard leaps off the wall, running up the stairs to the platform and pulling her away, her arm around his shoulders as he helps her down. He takes her to the wall, where Keyleth is waiting; with his help, Vex makes it up the rope and down the other side.

"Help my sister," the guard says, dropping to the ground next to her; his voice is hoarse, like it's rough from disuse. "She's hurt, please help her-"

"I'm alright," Vex says, and she immediately belies that by coughing up blood. She hobbles to Percy's side; he's sitting up, Pike next to him, and Vex goes to her knees again, running her fingers through his hair. "I thought you were gone."

"From the looks of things, I'm better off than you are," Percy says, cupping her face with one hand.

"Here," Pike says, grasping her holy symbol and touching Vex's arm, but she frowns in confusion. "It's not working."

"Whatever Lady Briarwood did must be interfering," Keyleth says.

"What did she do?" Percy asks warily.

"Made a blood sacrifice to a spinning black marble?" Keyleth says uncertainly. "That Vex kind of pushed her into? And then she disappeared? But the marble didn't seem to react and nothing came out of it, so it might be okay for right now?"

Percy gets a look like this is all giving him a headache, but he gets onto his feet. "First we see if we can get far enough away from here to get some healing, then we come back and make sure it doesn't swallow all of Whitestone. I am not leaving a mysterious marble that eats people unattended."

"Right," Grog says, hoisting an unconscious Cassandra up and putting her over his shoulder.

"What did you do to my sister?" Percy says in alarm.

"Relax, I just knocked her out," Grog says dismissively. "Seemed safer." He picks up Vex with his other arm. "Come on, you too."

"Just- just be careful," Percy says. "You're carrying a lot."

Once they're out of the chamber housing the ziggurat, Pike's magic returns; she pours health into everyone, which they all greatly need. Keyleth's heart rate slows, some of the fight going out of her. Things are not okay, but maybe they can take a breath.

The guard looks around at all of them. "You've got some powerful friends, Stubby," he says.

"Vax," Vex says, and she grabs onto him, holding him as tight as she can.

"Sorry I stabbed you," Vax says.

"Oh, shut up," Vex says, her voice thick with tears. "I was so close and I didn't recognize you."

"I wouldn't recognize me either, not like that," Vax says.

"How did you break their hold over you?" Percy asks, after Vex has let him go. "I assumed it would take one or both of them being destroyed."

"If you or your allies attack someone you're dominating or charming, you lose control," Scanlan pipes in. "He must have been pretty pissed if he wasn't thinking about that."

"He didn't know Cassandra's been intercepting the drugs Ripley feeds me," Vax says. "He thought it wouldn't matter."

"That too," Scanlan says.

"Were they drugging my sister?" Percy asks, looking ill.

Vax looks over to where Cassandra is sitting, and shakes his head. "They wanted Cassandra as a figurehead. They wanted me as an experiment. There's a difference."

"Speaking of Cassandra, can we maybe ask her what she knows about death balls?" Grog asks. "Tearful family reunions are nice, but we're in a bind."

"That was my next stop," Percy says. He sits down next to Cassandra, shaking her awake. What little she has to say about the ziggurat doesn't make much sense to Keyleth; they're going to have to search for the Briarwoods' notes to make any sense of what they were trying to do with an ancient lich underneath the streets of Whitestone.

"No," Vex says out of nowhere; Keyleth turns to look at her, and Vex is backing up, her gaze darting between Cassandra and Vax.

"No what?" Grog says.

There's a pause, like Vex is talking to someone that the rest of them can't hear; she pulls her dagger off her belt, brandishing it at nothing. "No. We made a deal, there's no changing it now."

"Vex'ahlia," Percy says carefully, as smoke starts to drift off of both of them; it seems to be coalescing behind Vex, pulled from their weapons and gathering in her shadow. "Vex, darling, drop the knife. You can resist him. You're stronger."

"Is this what you want?" Vex says, like she doesn't hear him, holding the dagger to her own chest, point first. "Do you think I won't? Do you think I didn't do all of this to avenge them?" There's another pause, and Keyleth sucks in a breath as Vex pushes the dagger just slightly into her armor. "You got everything you came for. The deal is done, and you can fuck off."

Vax reaches out; a force comes from his fingertips and snatches the dagger, throwing it across the tunnel, where it clatters against the wall. Vex starts to reach for her bow, but she struggles free, groaning with the effort.

"Let her go," Percy says, standing. "Let her go, do you hear me? I brought her into this. You want me instead."

"You both belong to Orthax," a voice says from out of the smoke, a rasping, growling thing. The smoke is almost humanoid now, vague except for its long, beaklike face. "I made you in my image."

"Like fuck you did," Vax says, and he throws two daggers above his sister's head, sinking them into the smoke.

Fighting a monster made of smoke is not the easiest thing Keyleth has ever done. The fight they've just had makes it feel almost like an afterthought, but she thinks they might not have made it through at all without Pike, her holy light ripping through the smoke, weakening it for the rest of them, until Grog finally forces it to the floor, Pike's mace coming down onto the center of its beak and reducing it to a shadow.

A shadow which, it's hard to miss, seems to be sucked back into Percy and Vex's weapons.

"I've got an idea about the ziggurat," Scanlan says. "We have to get to the acid."

Keyleth has an inkling that he's lying, but she doesn't say anything, letting him lead them all down the fork in the passage towards the acid pits.

"Percy," Scanlan says, cringing. "I'm going to need your gun for this to work." Keyleth knows he's cast something, because Percy hands over Pepperbox without complaint. "Thank you, Percy," Scanlan says solemnly. "I think in due time you will thank me for this."

Percy's gun makes a perfect arc as Scanlan lobs it into the acid.

"When the spell fades he's gonna be super pissed, someone protect me," Scanlan says in a rush, already booking it for the relative safety of Grog's shoulders.

"We spent so much money on that," Vex says, dazed. "It was so expensive."

"It had three enchantments!" Percy says. He tries to go for the acid, but Keyleth freezes him in place until the gun is well below the surface, a hiss of vapor coming from it.

"Scanlan's paying for a new one," Vex says, and Keyleth isn't sure Vex isn't going to throttle him. As she's talking, there's a puff of black smoke from the gun, the source obvious, but Percy doesn't look any happier.

"The bow next," Scanlan says, when Percy doesn't murder him immediately.

"What?" Vex says, clutching it to her. "Keyleth, can't you just do that restoration thing, like you did on Seeker Asum?"

"Yeah, we can try that," Keyleth says, and Percy gives Scanlan a look that could freeze a fire elemental. "Not until I sleep, though. That gives Orthax a lot of time to come back."

"Then it's acid time," Scanlan says, reaching for the bow.

Vex puts a hand on his forehead, holding him at arm's length. "We'll just leave it at the ziggurat until then. No magic, right?"

"We have no idea what that will do," Scanlan says. "The marble of death might suck it in and become more powerful."

Vex looks to Percy for backup, and he looks torn; finally he reaches over and puts a finger on the bow, right below the grip. Keyleth can just see a word written in flowing script: Vax'ildan.

"And in fairness, the bow was much cheaper," Percy says.

Vex sighs heavily, looking distraught. She walks over to the acid, not looking as she holds out her bow and lets it drop.

"Did it work?" she asks, still looking away as the bow sinks below the surface of the acid; in moments there is another plume of black smoke.

"Nope," Scanlan says. "Maybe you should try your arrows next."

"We're all clear," Percy says. "At least, I hope we are." He sighs. "And very poor, once we pay for new weapons."

"We've all made sacrifices for this," Cassandra says, patting him on the cheek in a way that is very much like slapping.

"Don't worry," Vex says. "Scanlan is picking up the tab, if he knows what's good for him."

"I'm not paying for the bow," Scanlan says. "You brought that on yourself."

"So what now?" Keyleth asks. "After we deal with the revolution that's probably going on outside, I mean."

"I suppose we should get married," Percy says, looking at Vex.

"Wait, what?" Scanlan says, his eyebrows lifting. "You said you were married this whole time!"

Both of them look at each other uncomfortably.

"Orthax did it, so it's probably not legally binding," Vex says.

"I can't believe I never knew you were demon-married," Scanlan says, with more glee in his voice than is warranted.

"One is so rarely asked to specify," Percy says.

"So we have ten things to do," Grog says, holding up three fingers. "Make sure the revolution took, round up the rest of the Briarwoods' lackeys, get someone down here about the spinny ball." He looks at his hand, holding up another finger. "Have a wedding. Fifteen things."

"One at a time," Pike says.

"Revolution first," Keyleth says. "If we're lucky, they're coming to us."

Cassandra takes Percy by the arm. "Let's go to our people," she says, and Percy wipes the tears from her face. "We'll tell them that Whitestone is free."

Percy holds his other arm out, and Vex slips hers into it. "There is nothing I would rather do," he says, and they walk out of the tunnel, up and towards the front gates of the castle.

Chapter Text

In another lifetime, the bastard daughter of a mid-level diplomat is given away to a city-state with an ancient name and a monopoly on an interesting building material.

Years later, the daughter and the lord of Whitestone stand under the Sun Tree, hand in hand. They are surrounded by their family, blood and otherwise, ringed by the citizens of Whitestone; everyone is anxious to see the highlight of the Winter's Crest festival, the first sign of the resurrection of their city.

The Keeper of Erathis says a few words, speaking of regrowth, the place of nobility in this new Whitestone. Then a gnome made of pure light steps forward, speaking of love in hard times, devotion under fire. There are volumes of things they don't say, the ugliness of the struggle that brought them here, because it's not important. What matters is this moment, their hope for the future.

There is a kiss, and Lord and Lady de Rolo stand before their people, the same united force they've always been.

They're thronged by well-wishers, people they've never met and people they've known for years and years. It takes the opening of casks and bottles for the crowd to thin out, and Vox Machina gathers around them, all of them in good spirits now that everyone is not about to die.

Vex's brother stands separate from the rest of them, looking in but keeping a careful distance. He hasn't spoken much, and other than standing at his sister's side during the wedding, he's stayed in the background. Keyleth approaches him cautiously, afraid that she'll spook him if she acts too quickly; her caution gets her nowhere, because everyone else follows her.

"What will you do now?" Keyleth asks him.

"He'll come with us is what he'll do," Vex says, taking her brother's arm.

"He deserves to make his own choice," Keyleth says.

"Vex already knows what I'd say if she gave me one," Vax says. He shakes his head. "There's no place for me in Whitestone."

"And there's always a place for you with me," Vex says.

Vax looks for a moment like he wants to protest, but in the end he just shrugs. "Well, someone's got to watch my brother-in-law."

"Please do," Percy says, with an earnestness that seems out of place in the convivial atmosphere.

"Holy shit," Grog says in delight, not looking at any of them. "Is that an arm-wrestling contest?" He picks up Pike and bounds across the square towards it before any of them can say anything.

"I have to see this," Scanlan says. He pats Percy on the back. "Good wedding."

Keyleth looks between Percy and Vex, then puts a hand on Vax's shoulder. "Come on. Let's get some food, and you can tell me an embarrassing story about Percy."

"How long do you have?" Vax says, giving Vex's hand a squeeze before he pulls away.

And then it's just Percy and Vex, alone for the moment under the branches of the Sun Tree.

"How do you feel, being married?" Percy asks.

"The exact same way I felt being married yesterday, and the day before that, and many days before that," Vex says, putting her arms around his neck. "Thrilled."

"You can't possibly be thrilled with me all the time," Percy says.

"Don't ruin the moment," Vex tells him, pulling him down and kissing him.

There will be another calamity. There will be another world-shattering event. More people will fall, and more evil will rise, and more good will array itself against it. There will always be struggle, and Vox Machina will continue to be in the thick of it.

But for right now, none of that matters. All that matters is the two of them, together, like they were always supposed to be.

In every lifetime.