Chapter Text
Lohen wakes up and immediately regrets it.
Not because his head hurts; his head always hurts after doing something stupid. Not that he minds, anyway. The pain is welcome.
No, the problem is that he remembers.
Every.
Single.
Second.
Of what happened last night.
He deflates with a long exhale.
The Apple Cider. The drugging. The switching of the cups.
Being dragged halfway across the Flagship like an oversized sack of grain.
He twists deeper into the sheets.
Why does he remember every damn second?
The boooring lecture Illuga gave him in the Flagship hallway. Lohen hadn't cared about the words at all, but it was Illuga speaking, so he'd listened anyway- not that the words would ever stop him.
The fact that Illuga had looked at him with the same expression one might reserve for a particularly disappointing dog.
Lohen groans and buries his face in a pillow.
There were defeats in battle.
There were humiliations, like being shamed in front of the entire Fifth Company.
And then there was accidentally drugging yourself with your own sleeping draft.
The distinction feels important.
He spends a full five minutes staring blankly at the ceiling.
Then he spends another five wondering if he could fake his death and run somewhere far away.
After several more minutes of wallowing in self-pity, he comes to the only possible conclusion:
Illuga cheated.
There's no other explanation.
He had to have cheated.
Lohen rolls out of bed and reaches for the notebook sitting on his desk.
The pages are packed with observations, sketches, names, and enough questionable notes to have him arrested if anyone ever found the thing.
Flipping through it, he stops on a familiar page.
Illuga.
Below the name sit several observations.
- Squad Leader of the Nightmare Orioles.
- Sleeps never.
- Patrols perimeter personally.
- Considers paperwork a recreational activity. (In the margins: Seriously, this guy has no hobbies.)
- Immune to common sense and allergic to a good time.
- Drinks coffee like his life depends on it. (Honestly, it might.)
- Varka wants to steal him from Nikita.
Lohen snorts.
Then his gaze drifts lower.
He finds his notes from the night before, written shortly before that fateful encounter.
Will poison work on him?
A tidy little note sits beneath the crossed-out question.
No.
Lohen narrows his eyes.
Illuga went through his notebook?
Slowly, deliberately, he picks up a pen.
Beneath the crossed-out question, he violently scrawls in black ink:
FAILED.
The page somehow looks smug about it.
Lohen narrows his eyes.
"Don't start."
The notebook continues to offer no opinion.
Which only makes him angrier.
With a frustrated huff, he tosses the pen onto the desk and strides toward the exit.
Obviously, the problem is Illuga.
Which means there's only one solution.
Find a weakness.
Everyone has one.
Everyone.
Illuga can't possibly be the exception.
A grin spreads across his face.
Lohen immediately sets out to find him.
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First stop: Favonius Keep for coffee.
When he glances up, the sky has yet to brighten. The only colours visible are the glowing oranges and earthy pinks bleeding through the twilight.
He immediately snatches two cups from a waiting tray, earning several suspicious glances. Now what could those be about?
Thankfully, Varka isn't around to send him on errands. When Lohen asks where the Grandmaster is, the only answer he receives is that he's "out."
Good enough.
After shouting at a group of awkwardly lingering recruits to do something productive, he makes a brief detour through the alchemy stores to pick up a few poisons.
Smiling with giddy excitement, he plucks bottles from shelves and stuffs them into his satchel. He doesn't particularly care if Sucrose happens to walk in and witness the destruction currently unfolding in her workspace.
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Chewing gum as he goes, he clears out several nearby monster camps that are unfortunate enough to cross his path.
Twirling a dagger between his fingers, he drives it into a hilichurl's stomach and chuckles as it crumples with a cry.
"Oh well." He shrugs.
It lasted longer than most.
Retrieving his spear, he continues on his way.
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Lohen arrives at Piramida shortly after sunrise, whistling as he walks.
Slowing near the entrance, he scans the crowd for the Lightkeeper headquarters.
It doesn't take long to find Illuga.
He's directing Lightkeepers around a supply shipment, clipboard in hand, already looking exhausted.
Perfect.
Lohen approaches, carrying his rapidly cooling coffee.
Entirely normal. Not suspicious at all.
Illuga spots him immediately.
His gaze flicks from Lohen's unusually relaxed expression to the coffee in his hand.
Then he turns away and resumes speaking with the worker overseeing the cargo.
"No."
Lohen blinks.
"I haven't even said anything yet."
Illuga briefly glances back and points at the cup.
"No."
Then he returns to his conversation.
"I have work."
"But-"
"No."
Lohen stands there holding the coffee while Lightkeepers stream around him.
One of them pats him sympathetically on the shoulder.
The pity somehow hurts more.
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Lohen crouched on the rooftop. Waiting.
And waiting.
...And some more waiting, how about that?
This was a mistake.
Not the ambush he was currently planning to execute.
The waiting. Oh, goodness, why was it so boring?
Propping his feet on the smoke-grey slats of the small building, he takes his dagger out and stabs it aggressively into a crack. It resonates with a small ping.
Tonight, Piramida was mostly quiet, and all he'd been doing for the past hour and a half was stare at the shoddy mechanisms move back and forth.
Lohen allows his head to fall back, closing his eyes and letting out a loud, drawn-out groan.
"Uuuuuuuugh..."
The ambush plan itself was brilliant.
Perfectly executed. Well, so far, at least.
Most certainly meticulously planned.
Over the past week, he'd memorized Illuga's patrol routes, work schedule, preferred shortcuts, and approximately how long he spent listening to complaints from civilians before escaping. It wasn't difficult. Illuga was nothing if not predictable.
Every evening, after patrol, he took the same route back to the Lightkeeper quarters.
Every evening. Without fail.
Lohen checked the street below.
The road was clear of people.
He checked again.
Still empty.
The vice captain sighed dramatically and rolled onto his back.
The sky above Nod-Krai stretched endlessly overhead, dark and clouded. Somewhere in the distance, Nasha Town's lights glimmered against the sea.
A Longplume Ibis landed nearby. He stares at it dully.
"I'm not in the mood."
The Ibis immediately flew away. Coward.
A few minutes later, footsteps echoed from the far end of the street.
Lohen perked up instantly.
Finally.
There he was.
Illuga walked beneath the streetlamps at an unhurried pace, hands tucked into his coat pockets.
He looked like shit.
His shoulders slumped slightly, and every few steps he rubbed at one eye before dropping his hand again.
Lohen frowned.
Then remembered he was supposed to be ambushing him.
Much more important.
Silently, he rose to his feet.
This was going to be perfect.
The timing, the lighting, the dramatic entrance. Everything.
Illuga stepped directly beneath the rooftop.
Lohen launched himself off the edge.
For one glorious moment, he felt invincible. Wind rushed past his ears.
The ground raced closer. Victory was at hand!
Then Illuga looked up. There wasn't an inch of surprise etched on his face, only indifference.
He stepped sideways.
Lohen landed exactly where he'd been standing.
His body slammed into the cobblestones.
The impact rattled his bones. A nearby cat fled for its life.
"Oof!"
Lohen straightened immediately with a wince. Very dignified.
This was completely according to plan.
Illuga turned and continued walking.
Lohen blinked.
"...Excuse me?" No response.
He hurried after him.
"You're supposed to react."
Illuga didn't even slow down.
"I am reacting," he says.
"That's not a reaction," Lohen says.
"I disagree."
Lohen moved in front of him.
Illuga walked around him.
"Fight me, then," Lohen smirks.
"No."
"Why?"
"I'm tired," Illuga deadpans.
Lohen's grin falters.
"And that's not an excuse," Lohen accuses.
"It is, actually."
"You're supposed to defend your honour."
"My honour is going home."
Lohen stared at the Squad Leader, mouth already open to continue arguing.
Illuga stared back.
The silence stretched.
Neither of them blinked.
One of the nearby Lightkeepers quietly changed the direction he was walking and took the long way around.
Then the Squad Leader sighed and pinched his nose.
It was the sigh of a man who had spent the entire day dealing with problems and had just discovered another one waiting outside. Which, in truth, it was.
"Lohen."
"What?"
"I don't have the energy for... whatever this is."
"It's an ambush."
"It's stupid."
"It took three days to plan."
Illuga looked genuinely horrified.
"Three days?"
"Yes," Lohen answers, with complete honesty.
"That's even worse."
Before Lohen could defend himself, Illuga stepped around him and resumed walking, shaking his head.
The vice captain stood frozen in the middle of the street. He tried to tamp it down, but he doubted the dozens of emotion flashing past his face had subdued in the slightest.
Watching him leave and offended beyond words.
The ambush had been flawless. How had it failed?
Several minutes passed.
Eventually, a nearby door opened.
Nikita stepped outside.
The older man paused immediately.
Lohen was still standing in the road, motionless, staring into the distance.
The scene was concerning enough that Nikita briefly considered going back inside. Instead, he approached.
"What are you doing out here at this hour?" he asked gently.
Lohen didn't move.
"Waiting."
Nikita glanced around.
"For what?"
Lohen pulled up short.
He thought about it.
"Shamanism," he says, sincerely.
A long silence followed.
Nikita looked at him.
Lohen mournfully looked at the street where Illuga had disappeared.
Then nodded once and returned inside.
The door shut; Lohen continued staring at the horizon.
A minute later, the door opened again. Nikita reappeared, carrying a cup.
Without a word, he pressed it into Lohen's hands. Coffee.
The door shut again.
Lohen glanced at the cup.
"...Was that pity?"
No one answered, which unfortunately meant yes.