Adventure On: Finale and Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

Blue

The Mountain

Once they get close enough everything is storm, ice swirls around them, stabbing them like knives. Winds seem to be actively pushing them away, no matter what direction they approach from. Still the crystal wolves walk on, heads down, paws silent, climbing upwards.

The higher they climb the colder it becomes. So cold that ice forms on eyelashes, that air seems to freeze as it leaves their mouths. So cold their chests hurt. They would not be wrong to assume that the only reason they can withstand this at all is because of the SCA around their wrist.

Ice tumbles down around them often, shaking the ground. The crystal wolves know the way and they keep going, steady on the path. They have spaced themselves out, to be in sight of all those who follow.

The Summit

As they finally reach the top of the mountain they reach a calm space, outside of the swirling storm. Domed across the summit is a fire cage, larger by far than any they have seen before. In the middle of the giant fire cage sits a dragon. White and blue, scales that look as if they were made of ice themselves. Their head was bowed, eyes closed but they are breathing, breath escaping in clouds of freezing mist that evaporated in the heat of the cage.

Around the cage itself are ice elementals, outside the storm these can be seen by the snow they whirl around inside them, each is about three feet tall but fly in a whirlwind as they attack. Like those in the storm they try and push people around and attack with shards of ice. These corrupted spirits seem to have no reason to their attacks, they are just as likely to push a combatant closer to the cage then they are towards the raging storm.

They can be fought, fire works well against them just as ice and cold magic works well against the fire cage itself.

A Sovereign Freed

Eventually the cage stops fighting, fading away into the snow before them. The crystal wolves spring forth, nuzzling at the dragon until they raise their head. Piercing blue eyes look over the group and the dragon bows their head once. They take a deep breath and breathe out over those assembled, cold fire washes over them, healing any hurts that they have, easing their fatigue som

The crystal wolves bow their heads too, a thank you. Aerlie flaps their wings, rising high into the air. Another breath of cold fire flies out around the area, clashing with the storm for a moment before overtaking it. Around the mountain the storm calms, the ice elementals stop and seem to sink into the snow or fade into the air. The mountain descends into a calmness.

The crystal wolves will approach all those who helped free them, nuzzling into their hands, a personal thank you before a shimmering gate opens for the adventurers to step through.

Red

Final Siege

It’s been a tiring three days of protecting the crystals from the creatures that sought their power. But now, as their power is fully recharged it is time to return them to the border. That is going to be a tougher job than getting them to the volcano’s heart in the first place!

They thrum with power and that power is a siren call to the creatures of the area, fire dogs, lizards, fire sprites. Just as the mountain attacked inside the heart, here the spirtes join with the rivers of lava to flood pathways, block routes, making it harder to cross already treacherous territory, or even driving them into traps of waiting fire dogs.

The heat is oppressive, heat from around them, heat from the crystals seems to sap the energy from those carrying them and so the duty is best shared.

Eventually though they arrive at the border, a mess of melted ice and frozen lava. Each of the crystals need to be replaced.

Restoring the Border

Replacing the crystals is a little more complicated than taking them was. Each one needs to fuse with the holder it sits in. It doesn’t take any skill, just someone to hold it in place for a moment whilst the two fuse together and the magic is channelled into the ground.

Holding a crystal in place is a little more difficult when being attacked by the creatures. The fire creatures keep up the attack until all of the crystals have been replaced.

The Land Repaired

When the last crystal is in place there is a ripple across the land. An invisible line, an ancient magic, connects the crystals, seperating the two lands. Ice recedes from lava and the melted snow refreezes. The borderlands of slush undergo transformation as the two elements separate from each other once more. A land of fire and a land of ice, with a pulsing magic separating the two.

The firedogs and lizards retreat, fire elementals calm and join with the lava streams once more. A shimmering gate opens.

Orange

An Important Message

The Huma birds have been carrying crystals and helping the harvesters, protecting them from the blighted birds and encouraging them to work hard.

But those returning to the floating islands on the afternoon of the eleventh day of Horseshoe come bearing black cloth bags in their talons, each has a scroll attached. The Huma birds will make it very clear they are to read the scroll first.

DO NOT OPEN THE BAG UNTIL NIGHT FALLS

Inside this bag are rare crystals. When they are exposed to the light of the sun they will cause the islands to sink back to the ground. After the sun has set tonight please distribute these evenly around the islands and then depart back down to the land below before sunrise. The lands natural magic will do the rest but we do not recommend being on the islands when they fall.

Thank you for your hard work.

The Adventurers Guild

With a long night ahead they may wish to rest for the remainder of the day.

Distributing the Crystals

If they do as they are asked then it will be a long night, there are many chunks of islands and a lot of crystals to distribute. The darkness makes it harder and the blighted birds seem even grumpier in the cover of darkness.

The wind sprites also are not resting and indeed seem delighted that playtime has been extended into the hours of night. Placing crystals is difficult when the Voidtreckers find themselves swept up into the air to dance around the trees.

Getting down by sunrise may be a little trickier than placing the crystals, especially if they have used up their flight potions, but hopefully there are enough people to help everyone get to safety.

Islands Fall

The sun rises, as the first rays of light hit the island they begin to vibrate, shudder. Then one by one they begin to fall, rapidly and chaotically. It is perhaps wise to not be anywhere near the crater as they do so.

They land in a crash of dust, which obscures the area. When the dust clears however they will see a perfect undamaged land. The pieces have fit back together, exactly where they should be, despite the chaos. The land is repaired and whole once more. Huma birds call excitedly as they dart through the air, their land restored.

A gate opens, for them to step through if they wish.

Purple

A Cure

It is day ten of Horseshoe when the first Huma birds fly into the village, they carry crystals either in bags in their talons or in their beaks.

The villagers clearly know what is going on for they welcome the birds and take the crystals thankfully. Anyone not currently fighting or purifying crystals is brought in to help distribute cures.

Actually curing someone is easy, it just requires the crystal to be touch an affected person or creature. The crystals are only good for one cure so those curing the blighted will be required to carry a few and run them to the villages.

Others can take crystals out into the woodland, looking for blighted animals to help.

A Final Fight

All but one of the golems have been found, defeated and restored. The final one has been elusive, not approaching the village or even the nearby woodlands.

The restored golems are back to standing vigil in each village, ready to deal with any attack that may occur.

But when an attack comes, it is not on a village, but on the shrine in the centre. A golem, three trolls and a host of animals, some blighted, some just angry. They attack in the early morning, the villages awoken by shouts and sounds of battle.

Luckily the blighted creatures can be healed, angry animals can perhaps be soothed. The trolls cannot be soothed though and will indeed try to rile up the animals again, to cause as much chaos as they can.

Peace Once More

Once the final golem is taken down, the crystal restored and the trolls defeated there is a quiet comes across the villages. Those who were blighted are cured, the golems are back in their place as guardians of the village and thanks to the adventurers the villages have gotten through this time with minimal damage.

The villagers thank the adventurers, tell them to come and visit whenever they are in the area. A gate opens, for any voidtreckers who wish to return to Royal Lake Hill.

Royal Lake Hill: All Teams!

They return to the tavern, each to the inn that they set off from. The town is a little busier now, more areas have recovered from the blight and it has brought more trade into the town. Everyone is still relatively elderly or young, non fighters. But the market is bustling, there is even a puppet show going on in the square.

Around midday a beeping of their SCA will show a dot on their map where the Voidtrecker Express has landed, not far out of town, and a message. You may remain here until sunset.

It is up to them whether they wish to return to the train or spend the rest of the day in the town. For those staying in town they will find word of their deeds have preceded them and they will find no end of young, wide eyed, budding adventurers ready to buy them a drink or two in exchange for stories.

Comments

also closed to roland

[flatteries]

This mission has been A Lot. In too many ways. And honestly, even now it's over and they're about to go back to the train, it still doesn't end many of Inigo's problems. Nor a lot of the thoughts and insecurities that are all stirring at the back of his mind.

But at least Inigo has made a headstart on his round of apologies for his own behaviour during the mission. Sure, he was upset.. he still is upset, even now. But that's no excuse for acting out. He just needs to do what he always does. Swallow the hurt, try to deal with it by himself while trying to help out the people around him.

And there's one person he's looking for at the end of the day to apologize to. He's been trying his hardest to avoid Roland ever since the Reno fight. Sure, Inigo knows it wasn't really fair towards the other, but.. he just felt so guilty even thinking about Roland. Thinking about what Inigo dragged him into, just because he's such an idiot. Because he's weak.

It takes a while to find Roland though. Inigo expected him to be somewhere in the village, but after combing through the whole place, he still can't find the other guy. It's only when he leaves the village and looks outside of the walls that he finds Roland standing there, just a little distance away.

.. The thought of talking to Roland again feels more terrifying now he can actually see the other standing there, but Inigo knows he has to press on. This is no time for cowardice.

He balls his hands at his sides up into fists, digging his nails into the palm of his hands as he walks over.

".. Roland," he just simply says. Inigo doesn't look at him, instead staring down at his own shoes. But just the fact that he's out here seeking out Roland, when he clearly has been attempting to never be in the same place as the other for days now, stands out by itself.

[adregem]

Whatever fears Inigo held upon approaching Roland are all but lost to the chief consul, if only for the reason that his own guilt has kept him company since the scuffle that occurred prior. And while Inigo's method of coping with what happened was to hide and isolate, Roland went the completely other direction and tried to find him whenever he had the chance. That's the prominent feeling these days, with Roland. More often than not, besides the paranoia that eats up at him, besides the weight of responsibility on his shoulders that he will never shake off...he's been worried about everyone.

And on the matter of his adopted, all he needs to do is close his eyes and imagine the blood trickling down Inigo's temples to push him to move, to go look for any sign of him where he could. But he does not succeed at this endeavor, so he goes about his business until the last possible minute when the final golem falls and the treckers return to the Royal Lake Hill for last minute celebrations.

It made sense then, that he should stand sentinel by the gate of the village exit, watching with folded arms and concerned, steely eyes as people come and go, happier than when they had arrived to assist in enlistment. There were still gaps in the story that Roland is concerned with, but at the moment, with the sun starting to droop low in the sky and the Voidtreckers at the height of their merriment before another long ride on a cramped void train, he is in a state of unrest. He still hasn't seen Inigo.

Until he does.

The boy walks over to him, quietly enough that he's taken to surprise with eyes wide and his position displaced. "Inigo...!" He walks up to him with a hurried gait, his hands immediately flying to the sides of his arms, grip firm and his head bent to try and catch his eye.

"Are you okay? Is it healing well?" His right hand loosens, hovers above the side where he was hit with the baton, where the blood drips and follows him like a stain. The responsibilities he keeps failing. The promises he continues to break.

But right now, all he really wants to know is if the boy is safe.

[flatteries]

Roland's reaction is obvious. Worry. It's obvious from everything - his actions, his hurry, his gaze. Inigo realises it too, and he's not too sure how to feel about it. At least worry means Roland doesn't hate him (it wasn't a real fear, but a small insecurity in the back of Inigo's mind still whispered to him about but what if it's true), but at the same time it means he worried Roland. Just because he wasn't strong enough to actually face the other.

And that's the last thing he wanted to do.

For a moment he will manage to catch Inigo's eye. Just a moment where they look each other directly in the eyes. With the worry and insecurity in Inigo's eyes on full display. But then it's like he shrinks under Roland's scrutiny, his gaze dropping.

"I'm-- It's fine." At least it's not entirely a lie, since the spot where Reno hurt him seems fine now. Most likely because of that potion he had right after the fight, and a little while of natural healing added on top of it. But emotionally fine is different story entirely. It's saying something that Inigo isn't even trying to put up his usual smiling front. There's no attempt at it, instead the line of his mouth seems tight with worry.

He sucks in a breath, knowing he can't put off saying what he wanted to say to Roland in the first place. The reason he sought out the other guy.

"I just.. wanted to say that I'm sorry. Sorry for dragging you into trouble because of me. Sorry if I made you worry. And.. sorry that I wasn't strong enough to really stand up to my bully, the way you told me to."

[adregem]

"Inigo, no! That's not true! I...!"

He inhales sharply, stops himself before he says more.

Rarely does the Chief Consul find himself at a loss for words. The times that he does fluster around his thoughts are often when he is caught between a rock and a hard place; when he is staring straight at his own reflection from a pool of guilt. That day didn't turn out the way anyone could have predicted, and if anything, it was Roland who felt that he needed to make amends. He didn't know. But that was no excuse. Look at the mess he had inadvertently left behind. Look at the pain he has once again wrought on those closest to him.

The grip on Inigo's shoulders grow lax. His voice falls into a hushed whisper, earnest and laden with regret.

"You stole the words right out of my mouth." Roland says. "I didn't do my job. I didn't see the hit. The fight had to end when I knew you were already...I needed to get him as far away from you as possible. That's all my mind could think of. Inigo, I'm sorry." He sighs deeply, his hands letting go. The silence that follows speaks volumes; in between the words Roland says and what he truly means. If I had known Reno would meet you with such malice, I wouldn't have encouraged you...I shouldn't have...!

There's something else he wants to express, something he wasn't able to tell Inigo at the height of things. Roland doubts Inigo will believe him, but goodness does he try to make it even more obvious about how genuine he feels when he adds:

"For what it's worth, I'm proud of you." Roland attempts to meet his gaze, even if he will find no reciprocation, no connection. "Inigo, you did stand up to him. You said no to all his bullying, his abuse. Even if it ended the way that it did..." Even if I let you bleed.

Roland chortles dryly, but it's not because he finds amusement in what they were talking about. Oh, the press would have had a field day back in his home world if they caught wind of what the president had to say about this.

"...between you and me, I'm kind of glad you threw the first punch." His right hand carefully rises to nudge gently at Inigo's chin, tilting it in affection. "After the stunts he's been pulling, I think he deserved it."

He attempts to smile, when he remembers that moment in time, fully.

"Thanks. For standing up for me, too."

Don't call Roland an asshole, you jerk!

[flatteries]

At first there is indeed no reciprocation. Roland may be searching for Inigo's gaze, but Inigo keeps it full and well glued to the ground. Like he's too scared to look up and see what he may find in Roland's gaze. Even though he doesn't understand what the other is saying at all. Why is Roland apologizing? Inigo started the fight, he kept going, he's the one who made every single dumb decision involved with that whole dumb situation.

He's the one who almost got himself killed. Maybe even both of them, if things had really gone south.

Inigo only looks Roland in the eyes - finally - once his chin is nudged like that, making him look up again. But there's no attempt at smiling. The look in the boy's eyes is a mix of a lot of things. Fear, worry, sadness, but not even a single hint of the fake smile he usually forces up on his face whenever he feels like this. He's just empty. Like this mission has scraped him empty to the very bottom of the barrel.

".. You shouldn't thank me." He doesn't avert his gaze now Roland has nudged him into looking at him, but Inigo's voice is relatively quiet by Inigo standards. "Or be proud of me. I.. I haven't done a single thing to be proud of."

Punching your bully is only a good thing when you can back that action up with the right strength and energy, after all. What good is punching your bully when you just make things worse with it? He didn't want Reno to insult Roland, sure, but instead Reno attacked Roland. Physically, not just verbally. All because of Inigo.

"I only got you into trouble. I don't.. I don't deserve to call you my father."

[adregem]

He's seen that look before, but he's never seen it so strongly in Inigo until now. It strikes a chord in him. It's painful to watch, but he doesn't dare look away. Now more than ever, he needed to play his part. And even if he knows it too, that fear of not deserving the title bestowed upon you whatever it may have been, he refuses to let that doubt cloud the boy from believing anything but the truth.

There was no room for that in Inigo's heart. Roland remembers it like it just happened; in the thick of sleep, he tells him that all he ever wanted to do was make people smile, even if he had to pay the price for it. This pain doesn't suit him. They were all so young, but in each there were indelible scars he couldn't do a thing to erase. Even when he tries his best, the well was always so deep.

He closes his eyes and attempts to reach Inigo once more, the hand underneath his chin still there, a soft hold with a few fingers just barely grazing his skin. Inigo always smiles for me. It's about time I did the same, right? So Roland does. His lips break into a soft upwards turn, just at the corners, genuine and true. In his eyes the boy would find no trace of blame, not an ounce of anger. Roland's warmth is oftentimes rough around the edges, but the man is adept at being stubborn where it counts.

"Hey now. I got myself into trouble." Roland says, fondness overtaking him. Inigo doesn't belong in the shadows. Roland won't let him. "And I don't want to hear talk like that. Heh, I know I'm doing a poor job, but..." He adds, a soft reprimand coupled with a self-deprecating toss his way. Roland knows this song and dance by heart; he knows that anything he will say about how wrong Inigo was - that he was still proud and nothing would truly change that - and how it all wasn't true would fall on deaf ears. So he adjusts, says the same thing but packaged in a different way. One Inigo might be able to come to terms with more.

"Pup, you don't owe me anything." Roland says. "My promise to you stands no matter what. As long as you need me, I'll be there by your side. Right? Do you remember?"

The hand under his chin falls back down. The smile on his lips droops too, but his eyes never waver from Inigo.

"So tell me how I can help you, now. I was wrong to push you to do something like that. Let me make amends. Tell me what I can do for you. Please."

[flatteries]

Everything about this feels so wrong. As he stands there, still looking at Roland the whole time while the other speaks, it's so, so wrong. Inigo messed up here. He knows he did. He's pretty sure it's just an objective fact in this case. And yet here Roland is standing in front of him. Smiling. Blaming himself rather than Inigo. Offering to help him. Calling it making amends, even.

If Inigo was anymore self-aware, he may realise that he's practically seeing his own usual behaviour mirrored in Roland right now. Taking the blame upon himself with a smile, no matter what happened. Wanting to do anything to make things better, even in cases where he didn't have any fault in what caused someone else to feel bad.

But Inigo isn't that self-aware. So he doesn't. Not right now.

Instead he quietly looks at the other for another moment more before he finally speaks up.

".. How many times..?" Inigo should probably cry. This is usually the point at which the tears break through, after all. And somehow right now they don't. His stare is weirdly enough almost emotionless. Like some switch inside of him has been flipped off, taking everything that makes Inigo Inigo with it.

"Roland.. How many times can I screw up before you realise that your promise to me isn't worth it anymore?"

Because it's going to happen. It just is. Inigo knows what he's like. There's going to be so much more dumb situations like these, and they're all going to be Inigo's fault. And at some point it will either kill Roland or make him turn his back on him.

Like what happened to everyone. Like what keeps happening, over and over. His father, his mother, Yuki, Gerome--

And he deserves it.

"Reno was right. I'm weak. I can't do a thing without someone holding my hand, and even then I can't do it without failing. There are so many others who need your support instead. You're too important to have your time wasted like that."

[adregem]

When Roland lets go, his hands dropping back down to his sides, he doesn't know exactly what to say. At the full assault of Inigo's deepest insecurities, Roland hears only one thing: fear. Inigo was retreating into the darkness, where it's comfortable, where it's easier. Where all he needs to do is accept what is thrown his way, take it for what it is and live life that way. Believe it. Become it.

He stares into his eyes, and Roland is displaced at what he finds. There's too much there. There is emptiness, there is pain. But more than that, loneliness. And even deeper still - longing. For what, he can only say. And this would not be the first time Roland catches wind of it in between the words they speak and what they actually mean. Presumptuous as it may be, he dives in deep into what he knows, into the past he keeps to himself. The little Roland that says the same things - I'm weak. I can't do a thing. What would his mother have told him, then? What would he have decided for himself when he was being faced with fight after fight of kids bigger, stronger than him? Inigo tried, but he didn't succeed. They were caught unaware. And now...

...Now Roland falls back on the only thing he truly desires to do.

If they start to sink, then he will pull them back up to air. He will make it right. He must. There is no other way but this. He promised.

Roland shakes his head, and the gentleness falls apart, cracks. It morphs into something else, something just as earnest but sterner, determined like only Roland can become.

"No." He says, his hands turning into an eager grip. There is a fire in him again, drawn to cast light against the darkness brewing so fervently in Inigo.

"I don't make promises just to take them lightly. I don't forget the things I vow. Not then, not now. So if you want to know how many times you can screw up before I ever think that about you?" He exhales heavily. Impassioned now, coming in closer again, one hand on his shoulder to nudge him just ever so slightly to bring his point in. "It's as many times as it takes. Fail a million times and it still won't be enough for me to quit and abandon you. I choose to stay by your side, and that doesn't come with any conditions." And here he goes, once again echoing the same thing, spoken in a different time to a different man. Crying then, torn apart and broken. Two faces of the same pain. His hands return to his shoulders, he comes in close, talks to him without holding back. Reaching out. Asking for him to take it.

"Inigo, we fail all the time. We'll keep failing again, and again, and again. That's...That's life. But nothing you could say or do will ever convince me to leave just because I think it isn't worth it anymore. I won't do it. And no one can make me do it, either. Because I don't want to."

[flatteries]

He should be glad to hear those words. That Roland won't abandon him, no matter what. The exact kind of unconditional love Inigo sought from his father back home, only to be met by those angry eyes, by an I'm disappointed.

And yet he can't. Because it doesn't feel right. He doesn't deserve it, the thought keeps echoing over and over in his mind as he looks at Roland, like the snake of his own insecurities coiling tightly around him, whispering into his ear. Who is he to take up Roland's time like this right now? Who is he to claim himself to be like a son to Roland? It's all because Roland is too nice to give up on a failure like you, even though he should, the snake whispers.

It's why he doesn't reach back. Why he doesn't take Roland's words and wrap them up in his heart. It wouldn't be right. He'd just be like a kid hiding behind him, and Roland deserves better than that.

"No, it's.. different."

He refuses. He won't let Roland act like this is just normal. This isn't something that can be covered by the blanket of parental love. Inigo's ugliness doesn't deserve to be hidden away like that.

"Everyone fails sometimes, but.. not like me. Not all the time." Sure, Inigo isn't totally blind to the fact that even Roland sometimes can fail. But that's different. Most of the time, he's doing fine. More than fine, even. He's so competent, so calm. "You do fine most of the time, Roland. You're so amazing. Everything you can do, everything you can bear.. I'm nothing like that."

He still doesn't cry, though his voice dips, something in it becoming more desperate. Like he really is sinking away into the darkness like quicksand, and it goes faster and faster the more his mouth moves and words leave it.

"That's what Reno knows too. Isn't that why he's always picking on me? No one else seems to have that problem with him, just me. It's since he knows. He figured out who's the weakest around here." And it's him. Inigo knows. He's always known. Even before this place, even already when he was young. He's always been the weakest, always the worst at things. "Father.."

He stops, and for a moment it looks like Inigo can't breathe before he manages to continue, nails digging into the palms of his hands.

"Father knew that too."

Really, why did you even travel back from the future? Lucina fights so hard, but you... You have no idea what it means to be at war.

".. You're just too nice to admit it. Too kind to give up even when you ought to. When it would be better for you."

1/2

[adregem]

A lot of what Inigo tells him is like a dagger to the heart. If only Inigo knew what he was saying. If only Inigo truly understood the depth of Roland's pain, the nightmares he can no longer sleep without. You're so amazing. Everything you can do. Everything you can bear.

He is the President of nothing. The king of ruin. Under his rule, the missiles came and the world began its descent into doom. His country is lost. His family is gone. Or they might be. It is the only thing keeping him tethered to the light - that maybe if he works hard enough in all the worlds he's being taken to, he'll get the chance, the privilege of knowing what has become of the place he once called home. The kingdom he had built, now crumbled to dust. Under his command. The president - the father - who killed his country, his son.

I'll protect you.

Will you...really? It's a little too late for that.

He swallows thickly, his hands falling back down and his gaze dropping low. He has never felt this exhausted even when he was sleepless and running on fumes. But still, still he takes it all in. He doesn't close off, doesn't clam up. The man in the office, that's who he is right? The one who has to make the hard choices. The one who has to bring them back to the shore, when they were drifting so far out to the sea.

This was his fault. He never should have let his temper get the best of him. His fault and now, now what? He is left with the imprint of the same scene, only in different strokes of color. He straps in. He takes a breath, deep, filling his lungs. Put your suit on, mister president. Steel yourself now, mister president. The children of the nation need you, mister president.

Inigo needs you now, more than ever.

[adregem]

"Inigo. Please. Don't put words in my mouth."

This was not an outburst. He doesn't raise his voice, his pitch is still as it once was. But it's controlled; no less thunderous in its intentions. Quiet, but striking. A quake that rumbles the earth from underneath him. The king of nothing. The king of ruin. But he will save. He will bring them back, with a kick and a jolt if he must.

"It doesn't matter if giving up is what I ought to do. If it would be better, easier." He folds his arms against his chest, and he assumes another role adjacent to the one he has promised him. "I still won't do it. And that has nothing to do with what you think I am, and everything to do with how I feel about you. Even if you deny it, or cast it aside." That my promise stands even if you don't think I should keep it. That's not your decision. It's mine.

He keeps his gaze focused on Inigo. Roland won't look anywhere else but here.

"You're not weak. But I know you won't believe me." Roland says it anyway, just so he hears it at least once, from himself. He keeps going, doesn't miss a beat. He owes him. He won't stray from his side. He won't break his promise. "It can't end there. You...You have to see it for yourself. Your strength. Your will to protect." The way he defended Roland when it should have been the other way around.

As a child, Roland was constantly put down, cast aside, tormented for being small. He sees it now, the way Inigo is, the way he moves. But he also sees the way out. The way forward. He could talk Inigo to death about how wrong he thinks he is, but words are cheap when your soul has taken a beating. Indeed, the way out is clear. If only Inigo will allow him.

Roland never gives up.

He tries again, but this time his touch moves elsewhere, grabbing his two hands, gripping so tight that he's close to trembling. Takes them into his own, slightly tugging the boy so that he's present in his space.

"You want to prove them wrong, don't you? Reno. Your father. Yourself." He follows suit, grip growing tight. "So, stand. Stand, Inigo. Show them they're wrong. That they've been wrong from the start." Roland's expression breaks, the disciplinarian giving way to the nurturer once again. It's an easy switch to make. "Let me help you." Because I know what it's like to feel powerless. Then, and now. "Let's get stronger together."

Because I'm not as strong as you think either.

[flatteries]

Inigo stands and listens. Somehow it feels easier to listen to Roland when he takes on this tone, one that's so familiar to Inigo, even though not necessarily from the man standing in front of him right now. But it feels more like what he deserves right now. He should be scolded. He should be punished.

But despite Roland's tone, the words themselves aren't harsh. They're not hurtful. There's no real scolding in it - if anything, it's more like tough encouragement. Roland being steadfast. (Yet another piece of proof that Roland is so much better than him, so much stronger than Inigo could ever be. Because Inigo can't see through, can't see beyond, is much too used to idealising even his own biological father already as someone far beyond him--)

And Inigo can't talk back to that. He just can't. It's why he's quiet, only staring at Roland with those same empty eyes, letting the other take his hands, just listening.

It's only when the tone switches back to what he's more used to coming from Roland that Inigo finds the strength to move his lips again, the words tumbling out without much thought.

"I've stood," he says. But the words are too tiny to be a protest. "I've stood back up so many times."

He always kept going. In so many ways. The more obvious physical way-- the many, many times where he can remember fighting for days, skipping a night's worth of sleep, his entire body aching. The times he got so injured that it hurt to move, yet he knew he couldn't just keep lying around, that he somehow scrambled back up to his feet and dragged himself away. The times he kept fighting, even though he felt like he was bleeding out from a wound. Because there was no other choice. There never was. All those experiences that go entirely unspoken, only reflected in the scars that litter his body, the ones Roland saw back in the water of the hot springs.

But also in different ways. After his father died, and he was so young and scared. After his mother died, and it felt like all hope and joy died with her. After the world seemed lost, after having to give up his own future, his world, his existence-- after watching Yuki reject him and walk away from him at the party.

He could have given up so many times. He could have chosen to not get up. He could have bled out, let the earth reclaim him, join the mindless horde of Risen. Away from the fears, and worries, and constant stream of tears. And he didn't.

But--

"But.. what good is it..?" Though his eyes are dry as he still looks straight into Roland's eyes, his voice hitches, his hands twitching in Roland's grip. "It never made me stronger. Nothing ever changed. I'm still the same as that little kid."

The crybaby, clinging to his mother. Except now, with his mother gone, he's just clinging to the nearest parental figure instead, which happens to be Roland in this case.

"So how is there any way that would change now..?"

[adregem]

He remembers it too, when Inigo finishes speaking. The countless scars that litter along Inigo's body, his chest and his back. It didn't settle too heavily at the hot springs, but when his mind was at rest, when Inigo slept against him that day, Roland sees it clearly behind closed eyes.

The halidom was not all that it seemed. The crown prince was more than just the smiles and the silliness. And with the revelations that begin to dawn, the dots starting to connect, it's clear to Roland how little Inigo shows others of his struggles. Wasn't that what he mumbled to him, then? What he whispered against his shirt, what he never forgot? I would just make everyone sad. Worry. I just want to make everyone smile.

But at what cost?

At what price was this child paying to stand as he says, to keep standing even though the scars never truly heal? I've stood back up so many times. Roland is greatly upset, and he is struggling to hide it no matter how much he forces the feeling back away in order for Inigo to remain rooted, grounded in his stillness. He's a child. What did he have to do back home? What has he been forced to live through?

Then he remembers how much Reno pushed him. How much he hurt him, in more ways than one. Inigo didn't deserve this. He could fight Roland on it until kingdom come but he was never going to be swayed. His urge to protect Inigo swells to a fevered pitch now, manifesting only in the way his eyes shake and his hands begin to tremble back against Inigo's own, drawing them closer to his chest. He's resisting something - that feeling of wanting to put himself in between what's causing him pain and Inigo's own tender heart. A boy who just wanted to make people happy.

But that's not the answer. He needs only to return to another time in his life when he felt exactly the same - beaten down, worn out, weak. Roland understands a little bit more about the way he treats Inigo. He sees things from the perspective of his mother, whose sad eyes pushed him to become stronger. To hold up a toy sword and pretend he could beat bullies with just that. Eventually, the pretending turned real, and he really could stand up for himself. It's in the strength of heart you earn through hardship.

Not alone. Never alone.

So that is what he says when he shakes his head and replies. So how is there any way that would change now?

"Because now you have us." Roland says in earnest, passionately. "And...I know, pup. I know, you're tired, aren't you?" He is the one to initiate the hug this time, a jerking motion, not one meant to shield this time, but one meant to feel just as Inigo does. It hits him without mercy. His arms are tight around what he can wrap around - Inigo's shoulders, his torso. "We'll lift you up again, and again, and again. If you want to rest, we'll watch your back. If you want to get stronger, then we'll do that with you too."

Roland squeezes him without holding anything back, as if silently asking him to keep going. Please, keep going.

"...I've always thought you were strong." Roland whispers, opening his eyes and staring at the beyond, the gates of Irivar empty as the afternoon rolls in. He doesn't care if anyone sees them. "And I'm not going to stop until you feel the same."

[flatteries]

Before Inigo knows it, he's pulled into the hug. And his body freezes, stiffens - for a change not hugging Roland in return, but just letting himself be hugged. He seems like little more than a mannequin, almost, as he stands there, because the words are still pacing through his head. You're tired, aren't you?

It's like Roland sees right through him with those words. Like he sees everything that Inigo has tried to tuck away so carefully all this time. Because he is tired. He's been tired for so long. Even since back home, even since his early years of having to survive in the apocalypse. He's never had a moment to just stop. Everything was constant. The fighting. The pain. Even with you and Mother gone, I had to pretend I was fine. That I wasn't hurting. I had to fight every day of my sorry life and wear a smile while I did it! It just went on and on and on, and sure, he had his sister with him, his friends, but Inigo knew they were relying on him. That he had to be strong for them. And so it really never did stop. It was just day after day after day of having to pretend he's invincible.

And he isn't. He's so far from it. He's the least invincible person ever. And yet he still carried it on, even in this place. Despite there not being as much of a constant lethal danger here. Because at this point, Inigo just doesn't know how to turn it off. How to stop. He keeps hiding behind smiles and jokes, even in front of those most important to him, because he doesn't know what else to do at this point. He can't afford to let anyone know the full truth about his life. To worry that much about him. He still can't just relax, can't put his sword anywhere but under his bunk when he sleeps, like he needs to be ready at all times, old habits that he may never outgrow.

But Roland is seeing through that now. And saying that he's always thought Inigo was strong. And that they'll deal with everything together.

And it's just-- That's just--

Inigo finally moves his arms, hands desperately clinging onto the fabric of Roland's shirt.

He lets out a dry sob, bending his head, emotion finally breaking through.

"I.. I'm tired.. I'm so tired.." The words he couldn't say all these years. No matter how many times he's thought them, he always held them in. "Actually, I.. I wanted to give up so many times..!"

Just like now. Something about the way Reno beat him so thoroughly, combined with everything else that happened this mission, makes him want to give up so bad. Why can't everything just somehow stop for a while? Why does he always have to keep going, always have to pretend he's okay and strong when he's not?

"I know I'm supposed to save everyone, but.. I-- I hoped all this time that someone would just come save me.."

[adregem]

He soothes him as best he can, unrelenting even as Inigo embraces him fully, the boy's voice tearful and hanging by a thread. Roland shakes his head, prays for fate to have mercy, for once. Every word Inigo says is a stab, twisting at Roland until he feels the bleed and the throb. That he's been tired all this time, but didn't feel the need to let any of it out because I just want to make people smile.

He holds him tighter. It finally dawns on Roland how much Reno's taunting could have traumatized Inigo given how much he was already hiding from others. To hear the very worst parts of you spoken out loud, even validated physically by getting beaten in a fight...It's no wonder Inigo retreated completely. It's no wonder he thought so little of himself, even now as he clings for help. I hoped all this time that someone would just come save me...

Roland swallows his own feelings down, shoves it aside for an instant response, swift and impassioned. "And I'm here. We're here. Help's come, Inigo. The cavalry's arrived. So you can be at ease now, son."

He won't have to keep himself locked away. He'll be stronger. He'll be loved. A hand makes its way to the back of his head, stroking his hair down to give him some semblance of peace. If rest is what he wishes for, then it will be granted. If becoming stronger is his desire, then Roland will pledge to that too. Inigo's kindness has always been what drew the chief consul to the boy's side, but he didn't see past the surface.

The halidom was a place that gave him scars for his kindness. It was unfair. It wasn't right.

So it falls to them to pull up a mirror for Inigo to see the truth - that his strength never left him. They just need to draw it out to the light.

[flatteries]

It's that final word that finally do make the tears appear. Not too many, but just enough for Inigo's eyes to grow watery as he still clings to Roland, for his hands to shake as the teardrops slowly start dripping down from his eyes to the ground as he looks downwards.

Son. Just that word makes everything Roland says so much more powerful. After all.. Isn't it what Inigo wanted all along, all this time? How many times did he lie there awake at night, too alert too sleep? Hearing the Risen in the distance, knowing that there would be no rest, and just desperately wishing for his father - the infallible Exalt - to magically reappear, to tell him that it was alright, that he'd help, that Inigo could for once finally be at ease?

It probably isn't right to project all of that onto Roland, no matter that the other willingly agreed to viewing Inigo as a son. But Inigo can't help it. It just hits too hard on an intense desire he's carried with him for too long.

He sucks in a shakey breath and finally tilts his head up to actually be able to look at Roland - yet not pulling too far away, like he doesn't want even the hand petting his hair to disappear right now.

"Can I.. Can I still be strong, even if I rely on others..?" It's part of what makes Inigo feel like he's so weak, after all. He always tried to shove down the desire of wanting someone to help him, to save him, because it didn't feel right. He had to be strong. He had to be the one to save others, and couldn't wish for the same himself. "I mean.." He closes his eyes, like he doesn't even want to visualize the memory. It's too much. "Reno said-- He said that I need to have my hand held since I'm a child.. Then that makes me weak, doesn't it..?"

[adregem]

Roland answers him quickly, making sure he could still comfort Inigo with a gentle touch, hair pushed down with routine strokes. These are the moments when his resolute nature come forth, even if he himself is prone to the same darkness which clouds the young man before him.

"If there's anything I've learned in all the time that I've served two kingdoms, my own and Evan's," he says, slowly and deliberately. "It's that people like Reno are the ones who're weak." His head shakes from side to side, hair loosening around his face. Signs of work, signs of struggle spread across a full week of unrest, but in this regard, he would always have something more to give. "They sow anger and fear in others because that's what gives them power - to see someone else break. To feel better about themselves because they've made others miserable."

"And let me tell you something, Inigo." As one story ends, so does another begin, with Roland slowly breaking a part of the embrace if only to hold Inigo's hands one more time, right over left. His gaze, piercing and full of fire. "You get stronger because you've chosen to let people in, to rely on them, to let them stay by your side. The hands that hold us up are the hands that will save us. Will keep us going. They're reminders that you're not alone. That's strength."

Words that are not entirely his own. He borrows a little from Evan, hoping the King's light can shine even here, in the depths of the void. For Inigo. Roland doesn't let go right away, lets it linger and settle. Eventually though, his brows furrow, and he adds something else.

"You want to beat him, right?" Roland looks serious, more so than usual. He grips his hands just a little tighter.

[flatteries]

The whole time Roland talks, Inigo watches him. He doesn't avert his gaze anymore, instead staring Roland straight in the eyes, even with the tears still lingering in his own. Even though the emotion is still so strong within him, he's quiet. And he listens, trying to make sure to really take in what Roland is saying rather than dismiss him. It's Roland, after all. He wouldn't tell him anything he didn't believe in.

Even though it feels hard to believe. That letting other people support you actually makes you stronger, when Inigo has believed all his life that he needed to hurry up and learn how to be more independent. To prove that he can stand on his own and not fall behind others. But he's trying, he really is.

And then Roland arrives at that final question, even before Inigo can say anything about anything else.

"I.." Inigo starts, then falls quiet. Roland looks so serious about this that Inigo wants to make sure to think about it, to give a serious answer in turn.

Because the answer isn't so simple. Inigo has never been a violent person by nature. Not even a competitive one - his fear of falling behind has much more to do with the disappointment it may cause in others than any natural desire to be ahead of the flock. He only became a warrior by force, because there was no other choice. Light feet for dancing and nimble hands for crafting turned into tools of combat. So there's no natural urge to beat Reno, but..

"To be honest, right now I'm dreading seeing him on the train so much.." Even though he wasn't afraid of Reno at first. But it's just that the other will be able to hold some very specific things over his head right now. His weakness. His inability to protect anyone important to him. Inigo isn't sure he can be confronted with that when he's already feeling like this now. "But I-- I don't want to live like that. I really do want to be strong enough to stand up to him. So people won't have to worry about me anymore. And so he can't hurt anyone else either."

It's not about Inigo. It never is. It's not about his fears, or his worries. It's about other people getting hurt by Reno too, either indirectly through worries about him, or directly.

"I can't just sit still after what he did to you." Calling Roland names. Trying to hurt Roland. Not Roland. Not his father.

[adregem]

There's something to admire about how much Inigo desires to be everyone's shield. It's a feeling that he's attached to. Like he's speaking to a part of himself, manifested in someone else. He was the same in many ways - and he would tell anyone who asks that if his life was required to save his people, save the people he cares about, he would receive that fate in a heartbeat. He already has. He will continue to.

But it has to be more than that. At least, for Inigo. It's a start; it can't be the end.

Besides, it's not Inigo's job to protect Roland. Not that he'll voice that out.

"Let me rephrase it, then." Roland says next. He doesn't fight the urge to rest his forehead against Inigo's, eyes narrowed in affection. "Thank you for wanting to protect us. But remember, you're standing up to him because you have to show Reno that Inigo is worth standing up for too."

[flatteries]

".. No."

The words sting. There's an immediate instinct to pull back at them. Away. But it's just so hard when Roland is close enough for their foreheads to touch, when he can see that look of affection in Roland's eyes so well. Inigo doesn't want to move away from it. He doesn't want to lose it.

But at the same time.. It's impossible to accept those words. Even if Inigo may be able to believe that relying on others maybe won't make him weak, even if he could start working on that.. This is a whole different class.

"That's.. I'm not."

With Roland this close to him, it's so easy to see the look in Inigo's eyes. It's not as hollow as before now the emotion has forced its way through, into them, but that just makes the fear clearer. The worry.

The endless pits of self-depreciation.

There was a reason Inigo didn't tell anyone about what was going on between him and Reno for the longest time, after all. Not even his closest friends. Not even Roland. Because it kind of felt like he deserved it. Or maybe even just that it was better if it was him over anyone else. Inigo will take the suffering of the whole world on his shoulders if it means someone else can laugh even one day more.

"I mean, I.. I want him to stop. But that's.. It still doesn't mean I'm worth standing up for." He pulls his head back just slightly, just enough that he's able to shake it without shaking Roland's head right along with it. "I'm not important. I'm no one."

It's very easy to hide behind the figurative use of that word, which is what he's doing here. Because he actually means it very, very literally - he's not the real Inigo, after all, so what does that make him - but that's something he really doesn't want to get into now.

"Please, father, I can't think that."

[adregem]

Thankfully, Roland doesn't think anything of Inigo's hesitations to accept his words. Perhaps a part of him already expected it wasn't going to be that easy anyway, such that when he draws back, Roland relents and allows him to gain that distance in more ways than one. He watches him intently, eyes never leaving his, even when he denies it again and again; a loop that will take a long time to break.

Roland's thumbs caress the skin under Inigo's eyes, where he sees the build up unshed emotion. Tears he is holding back, refusing to fall; an act meant only to comfort, and reassure. "You're Olivia's son, Inigo. And you're important to me." He draws him back into an embrace, now his turn to bury his nose against the crook of Inigo's neck, eyes closing tight. He doesn't want to think about it. He doesn't want to think about the reality they are all facing away from the void. Coming from Tidus's own admittance the other day, a world destroyed and now existing only through the mercy of a watch keeping him solid - Roland detests it. The fates of children born into lives that they did not deserve; where they should have been happy from the start.

"But that's okay," he adds hushed, breath against Inigo's shirt muffling his words. He knows it will be heard. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't have to be now. One thing at a time. One step at a time. You're not letting him get away with hurting anyone anymore."

Till then, I'll believe it for you. That you're worth standing up for. Inigo promised him, after all. That day, in the bathrooms, elbows deep in cleaning; that he would try, hard as it is to believe he was worth defending. Because he is his mother's son, the one she loved more than anything. Roland knows how strong a mother's sadness and love can drive a child - and he hopes that in Inigo's darkest nights, he remembers that to bring him back under the light.

For now, they are here in this moment, a promise once again made by a president whose heart has broken more times than he can bother to count. For now, it all boils down to taking that leap and getting Inigo the support he needs to overcome the beast that was his living nightmare packaged in snark and red-hair.

[flatteries]

There's relief. Even though Inigo is still doubtlessly terrified, even though he can feel his emotions spinning all over the place again. There's still some relief in the fact that Roland opts to not push him too hard right now. Inigo isn't sure whether or not he could take that after all the beatings his soul has already received the past few days.

Instead he's quiet. Letting Roland embrace him without Inigo moving away again. His arms slowly raising again to cling to the other guy in turn, taking slow breaths to try and calm down the panic he felt rising earlier in his chest. The pang he felt at his chest at Roland mentioning his mother's name.

"I.. I will tell you," he softly says. The words feel a little fragile, like they're important, but so incredibly hard to say. "Sometime soon.. I promise. I will explain to you why it's so hard for me to believe I'm worth standing up for, father."

Today it would be too much. And tomorrow will most likely still be too much, Inigo figures. His feelings and emotions are so raw, and he really needs to regain a slightly more normal state before he can even contemplate letting everything spill about his world, his problems, the scars on his body and his soul.

Not today.

"I.. I trust you, it's just.." His voice trails off as he tries to find the right word. ".. rough. It's hard for me to talk about. So.. for now, all I can promise you is.. t-that I'll try to rely on others. And that I'll do my best to somehow get stronger.."

[adregem]

"Then, that's enough. You're doing a great job already." He doesn't budge from his spot, not even at the slightest. Still comforting, still embracing, willing the past few days away. That despite his own words to Inigo, Roland will never truly erase from his own heart the imprint of guilt, a constant squall, heavy and unrelenting. Inigo getting hurt, blood on his temple, forced to go through a fight he wasn't ready for. All for what? Roland's temper?

He can't apologize for the tremor that wracks his limbs, slight and soft but present all the same.

"I'll cherish it. Whatever you give me, whatever story you'll tell. I'll listen. Just don't force it if you're not ready, not for me. My feelings won't change no matter what. I'll keep cheering you on until you become strong enough to tell me the words I want to hear." Roland, I don't deserve to be bullied!

Father, I deserve to stand up for myself!

Eventually his embrace loosens and his eyes creak open, moist but with no tears. He pulls away, readjusts Inigo's clothes from the force of his hug. Pats his hair down, fixes what he can to give the boy a semblance of dignity - not that he believes Inigo would find this embarrassing. He offers a smile, not quite creasing the corners of his eyes, and his hands finally fall back down to his sides. He waits patiently for Inigo to come back too, and from there, they'll move side by side once again. Forward. Always, forward.