"Sleep? What's that?" Insignious joked lightly as he opened his door to the waking clan and said hellos to passersby. His hair was tied up in a knot for the day, the silver stripe gleaming in the sunlight.
The village was quiet but stirring as usual, a few folks picking up after the previous evening's celebration. The morning fires were going, the air was comfortably cool, and Sig could hear the determined tapping of blacksmith hammers. A few men were passed out on the ground, with another man clearly setting them up for a prank. Insignious smiled, grateful for another day with all of them. Taking a long, tired breath in, he stepped out into the little stone street and began his walk.
Nahva lived above the clinic, a small cottage a few houses down. The kids were staying with her. Ambrus, help them take this alright. Insignious thought to himself, concern biting at him. Walking up to the wooden door with flowers in its window, he gave it a few knocks. A few hurried footsteps later, Venge opened the door. "Ah, fair morning sir." The medic stepped back as the leader stepped in.
"A fair morning to you, Venge." Sig gave him a friendly smile before walking past the medical stations and patient beds, heading up the back staircase towards Nahva's living quarters. He could hear the children laughing in their room. Do they even need to know this? Just get rid of the creature. He stood in place in the hall for a moment, frowning at the floor. This was going to hurt them.
But he would never lie to them. Knocking on the door and saying, "Hey guys, can Uncle Sig come in?" He waited for their gleeful welcome before stepping inside. The twins were sitting in the same bed, looking wide awake and full of energy. Resilient as hell. Sig beamed at them with pride and sat on the floor before them. His face, though full of tenderness, slowly became sad. "I need to talk to you guys about something very serious. Something you deserve to know."
Nahva's dwellings were like a second home to the twins whenever they stayed in Tempestclan. It wasn't often, but the elder twin recalled a few memories of the two bursting upstairs and into the nice lady's quarters, only to be lightly scolded by their mother not to hastily intrude-- especially without knocking. But everything in Tempestclan was so pleasantly different, she couldn't help be excited. And if Bleu wasn't initially excited alongside her, her energy was certainly contagious enough to change that.
Having run out of steam during the celebration, the twins had been put to bed earlier than most of the clan. At least, earlier than when most of the adults decided to part ways, either tipsy or completely drunk.
Rising from her slumber, Sera's bedhead was nothing in comparison to her sibling's, who slept beside her. Before, they might have been comfortable sleeping apart in different beds. Now, they'd have rather have the later half of themselves falling off the mattress before splitting up.
"Bleu, Bleu."
Sera whispered, careful and quiet. The residue from sleep was quick to leave her, as youthful energy prevailed. It would soon be the same for Bleu, as they were fully aware and awake by the time Insignious arrived.
"It's Uncle!"
Young warrior exclaimed before allowing him entry, speaking in unison with her twin. She watched as he entered and sat down on the floor beside them, curiosity soon turning into anxiousness as his expression warped.
"What is it?"
An inquiry she half didn't want the answer to-- anything worse than the last week was enough. What had happened was more than enough. First shifting the blanket back around the two a bit better, she then grabbed hold of Bleu's hand and squeezed tight. Whatever they went through, they were together.
Bleu pressed tight to his sister, his face full of concern. Insignious sat up on his knees, sighing through his nose. "Akihito, the man who found you and brought you here?" The children nodded. "He lied to you...He's not who he said he was." His voice was similar to how one might tell a child their dog had died. Sad, not angry. "He's actually Kirai. The demon who possessed your father. He found another body and, came back. At least that's what I'm guessing...But we know it's him. I put him in jail." He added, as Bleu's eyes grew wide with disbelief and horror.
While her sibling’s eyes grew wide, initially her own narrowed, brows pressing together, confusion laced with dejection. Although the idea first sounded far-fetched, it suddenly made sense why he wasn’t present at the party. She would’ve been dancing with a monster and not even known it. Yet, they’d already been alone with him, and several times over.
Gradually, her expression matched that of her brother’s, horrified. They’d been with their father’s tormenter and not even noticed something amiss.
"We're hoping to find out about that today." Insignious said to Sera firmly, nodding a little. "I don't know why he did it, love." He added quietly, placing his large hand on the two of theirs. "But all that matters now is that you're safe with us, with me, and we're going to do everything we can to find your mum." Giving them a sympathetic, determined smile, he leaned closer to the children. His smile faded again. "You would tell me if he hurt you, yeah? If he did anything to either of you," He looked from Sera to Bleu, "That made you uncomfortable. Even if it didn't seem like a bad thing, but it still made you uncomfortable. If he touched you in any way, or said anything that made you feel bad."
Bleu's face was stuck in a hard pressed frown. Somewhere between a glare and a sob. "N-Nothing to me," He said quietly, then looked to Sera.
Sera thoughtfully listened as the leader warned them, urging them to speak up. But all she could remember was the gentle, nice man who she felt- or more accurately, thought- genuinely cared for the two. Unable to think of anything odd, she shook her head.
“He… He said he wouldn’t hurt us. He said he didn’t hurt anyone.”
Recalling his words very first meeting, they were the few things she held onto, surrounded by death. She could almost recite him, word for word. He was all she wanted to focus on at the time; a light in darkness.
All lies.
“He offered to carry us if we got tired. And he said he was proud of us and Da.”
Tears swelled in her eyes, the betrayal overwhelming.
Insignious' jaw clenched. Fury towards such lowly betrayal boiling in his core. Lying to children in such a barbaric, cheap way. Typical. Still, he did his best to remain altogether somber. "I really can't say, but I wouldn't trust him." Sig sat on the bed next to the children and scooped them both up in his strong arms tightly. "I'm so sorry he did that to you. And I promise I will find out if he had anything to do with your fathers death."
"He should be shot!" Cried Bleu, clinging onto his uncle's arms tightly in anger. "He should be shot like Da was! Kill him Uncle! Why can he come back but Da cannot?" Insignious rested a hand on the boy's head to calm him, shaking his head. "I can't tell you why terrible things happen, Bleu. But you're here. You're both here. And even if his intentions were foul, I am forever grateful that you were brought here. I'm hoping Kirai can take us to your mother. If he cannot," He pulled away and eyed both the children.
"We will all of us have our revenge, starting with him." With shaking breath and falling tears, Bleu nodded at his uncle in dark determination.
As Insignious scooped the two up, Sera threw her arms around him, releasing Bleu for just a moment. She sniffled, trying to hold in her tears. While she was more disappointed and upset than anything else, Bleu was something she, on the surface, wasn't. Outraged.
When their uncle pulled away from the two, Sera immediately went back to her twin's side, grabbing his hand once again.
Revenge.
The word was daunting, but enticing. Something she only thought about in games and play, not with serious implications. She gave a glance over at her brother to gauge his reaction, yet felt detached. She wanted to hold hope that he wasn't lying, that he knew the whereabouts of their mother-- but that alone was hard.
"Are you gonna tell everybody?"
She asked, the blur from tears in her eyes finally starting to fade.
"If he's still dangerous, you gotta tell everybody."
"That was my plan, right after I spoke with you two." The man confirmed.
Bleu's expression was brooding and hardened, staring at the floor as he wandered deep into his memories of all that his father had told him of Kirai. Insignious kissed the top of the children's heads before standing. "I'll be telling the clan now, and heading out in search of your mother shortly after. You are welcome to join me at the moment, but when I take leave for the journey you'll need to stay here." He heard the children scramble to their feet behind him as he turned and swung the door open- to see Nahva standing before him. She had a heavy, knowing air about her, giving Insignious a respectful nod. "You know then." He muttered quietly to her, to which she sighed and nodded again.
"Yes, sir. And I'm sorry. As if you needed more on your plate to worry about." The mender folded her arms and walked beside Sig as he started down the hall. "But why keep him here? Why keep him alive at all?" "He may still know where Yuuki is." Nahva gave her leader a doubtful and concerned look. Sig continued, "Nahva, if he can't help us in any way, I'll get rid of him. I promise you, I'm not wanting him here any longer than you are. But I can't throw away this chance." After a moment of considering his perspective, the woman rested her head on his shoulder as they walked. He smiled and pressed his jaw against her, appreciating her warm and loving touch.
"I trust you." She said quietly. He looked up at the ceiling with a slight eyeroll and smiled, "Trust me then, mother." She laughed and gave him a shove down the stairs, the children following closely behind them.
* * * *
It was the usual massive ordeal, gathering the people. Some of them were quite hung-over, some of them all too awake and wearing the armor they'd been instructed to wear the day before. Insignious was standing on the platform as expected, waiting for everyone to gather. From up the stairs beside him approached a figure, rugged and dreary. It was Etoah, his eyes purple with exhaustion, his knuckles split and crusted with blood, and his clothes dirty and unchanged.
"Welcome back, gorgeous." Insignious said to him without looking, keeping his eyes on the growing crowd. Without a word, Etoah stood by his leader and faced everyone as he usually would, crossing his arms and watching the ground somberly. "We're taking a trip today, I'll need you with me." The deputy glanced at Sig, life showing in his eyes at the thought of being put to work. At last, everyone was there. "I know this is the last thing all of you need to hear, but it's important for you to know." Insignious spoke loudly to them, walking across the platform. "I've just discovered that Akihito, the man who brought back the children and discovered our fallen brothers, is Kirai. The demon who once plagued Apollo and attacked our clan throughout the years."
Gasps burst out from the people, some of them beginning to shout: "Murderer!", "Snake!", "Evil Bastard!", and others crying their concerns: "How could he just slip by you like this?", "How could you allow him into our clan?", "Why is he back?"
"That's enough." Etoah growled at them, his voice daring the crowd to continue. Insignious raised his hands, "They're completely fair, your worries and your accusations. Trust me, I understand. But as wretched as it is, he's found his way back again. He's here, in our prison- and no one is to visit him." The man added firmly, looking hard at the warriors clearly starting on their way to the jail. "He's only here while I need him. He may have very important information. When he's no longer of use to us, I promise you I will dispose of him personally. I'll be taking him and a patrol with me in search of Yuuki today, we won't be gone longer than sunset. Etoah will be accompanying us, so Jeremiah will be who you'll go to today." He gestured his hand to where Jeremiah stood in the crowd, the warrior nodding and looking at everyone with a mature and confident expression.
The crowd continued to drag Insignious through an hour of questions and blame, all of which he took with great patience. After all had finally settled (as much as one could, under the circumstances) he stepped down the platform to the warriors gathered nearby. They were waiting to see who would be going with.
Waking up was nothing short of a struggle-- so much so, that she had overslept and waved off all attempts of her roommate's to wake her. The morning was practically over with, transitioned into afternoon by the time Kazumi stirred, groggy and irritant. The voices outside her unit had finally given her reason to rise, forcefully dragging herself to exit the unit. She'd leisurely taken her time to get ready and was surprised not to see anyone directly outside her place.
Wandering over to the many voices, Kazumi approached the far end of the crowd and listened. 'Patrol... search party... Kirai...'
"Huh? What the hell is everyone on about?"
A slightly annoyed guard to her right caught the warrior's mumbled question and shook her head, proceeding to explain the situation.
"Really, how long were you going to sleep for? They're talking about Akihito. Insignious deducted that Kirai is his real identity."
Taking note of Kazumi's dumbfounded expression, she continued to speak.
"And despite that, he's also still going to evaluate if his words held truth, about knowing Yuuki's whereabouts. He'll be taking Akihito on a patrol, and-"
"Are you shitting me right now?"
Nia raised a brow at the warrior's surprise, however, kept speaking although she was initially cut off. Her voice was lowered, but she didn't particularly mind if someone heard the disdain in her words. Everyone else was raising their own concerns to the leader at that point in time, anyways.
"Not that Insignious doesn't have any other options. After what Etoah did to the man last night, it's not like he's in any shape to go anywhere. He's better off rotting in prison than dragging the group around out there."
With a frustrated grunt, Kazumi looked to where a group of warriors hovered around the stage, likely in wait to know the accompanying party. Giving a glance back to Zinnia, she mumbled her thanks and took off, weaving her way through the crowd.
The air was thick with tension, impatience running its course. As Kazumi stood and waited, eventually the pinkette curiously came to join her.
"You want to go?"
"Well one of us should. I'm used to dealing with criminals."
Kazumi scoffed at her answer, quick to retort with a witty half-grin.
"Yeah, behind bars, maybe. You haven't been on an actual patrol in years, never mind an excursion."
"Whatever."
Folding her arms, Zinnia sneered at her roommate's insults before noticing their leader stepping down from the platform. She neared him, much to Kazumi's disbelief.
"Insignious, I'll retrieve Akihito at your summons."
Hearing her offer, Insignious gave Zinnia an appreciative smile. "You and Kahu, Zinnia. Get him in the head cage- without the bridle. Hands in irons, behind his back. Attach the cage to the prod, and bring an extra set of chains and fastener." The prod he'd mentioned was an iron bar with a grip, attachable to head cages on the end so one could shepherd a prisoner forward by the head while enforcing a few feet distance. Insignious looked at the others, "Etoah, Kazumi, Catastor, and Zinnia will be going. The rest of you, keep everyone else off of him while he's brought out. And protect the clan while we're gone."
The warriors nodded. Insignious turned his gaze to his patrol, "Catastor, get some food packs ready for us, Kazumi, fill the water skins. Etoah," He shook his head slightly and waved his deputy away, "Go clean yourself up and get ready to go, for god's sake." Etoah looked away with a somewhat bitter expression, giving an obedient nod before brushing past everyone.
[attr="class","sheng4"]Catastor ran a hand through her own hair slowly as she listened to Insignious. Being selected for a special patrol lineup such as this was an honor, to say the least. It worried her somewhat how herself, Zinnia, and Kazumi would all be absent from the clan's defensive corps; Kahu and Tadi were more than reliable enough standouts to put her quiet worries to rest quickly, however.[break][break]
She turned her attention to Etoah; why's he all disheveled, Catastor thought to herself. Each of their assignments pointed towards their overall objective, except Etoah-- who'd been asked to go and clean himself up; it wasn't impossible to suggest that his doing so wouldn't be beneficial to their overall objective but it didn't seem nearly as direct as, say, replenishing water supplies for the trail.[break][break]
Tucking her sheathed weapon closely underarm, Säure nodded solemnly in understanding before preparing to get pemmican and other protein sources all packed up. "I'm up, then. Etoah, do you want a fruit to eat or something? You can get one or more." she asked calmly. The actual preparations would take no time, on her end of things, as a quick slash of distance would funnel most of the stored provisions right into their packs. Talking took more time, she'd learnt before, but it too was important and not to be ignored, especially with a teammate looking rather down and out like Etoah was.
The guard corrected herself, slightly disappointed that her cousin would also be one to ready the demon for departure. It came as a surprise to her, however, that only she would be the one to join the patrol, rather than Kahu. Gifting a small triumphant glance over to Kazumi, she noticed the warrior staring elsewhere-- her sights glued to that of the disheveled deputy.
Zinnia was, like many others, taken aback at his unsightly appearance. It was uncharacteristic of him, but given how Akihito looked when he arrived to his cell... She couldn't fully sympathize with him. She understood, but she didn't agree. A common trait for the day.
With her new task in mind, Nia set off for the clan's jail, brushing shoulders with Kazumi as she walked by.
The warrior, however, slid over to Catastor and Etoah, full of concern. She didn't need to look him over to know he hadn't slept a wink-- it'd been two days and on him, yet it looked like four. She warily eyed her friend, uncertain of how he would interpret her offer.
"I'll bring over some water. If you need a nap, have at it. Changing clothes takes like, what, five seconds?"
"I'm- I'm alright, Saure. Thank you." The deputy said as he walked, raising his hand a little as if to wave away the kind warrior's concern. As Kazumi also joined in, his tired face formed into a frown and he looked over at each of them. "I'm fine, ladies. Thank you- A nap?" Etoah asked, suddenly realizing what she'd suggested. "I don't take naps. We don't have time for that anyways."
Nearing his home, he stopped by the door. "I'll be out shortly. My armor, though," He said, looking at the girls. "When I'm finished, if one of you could help me with my armor I'd appreciate it. I'm not sure where Wren is." Wren, of course, being the apprentice recently assigned to Etoah to assist him with such duties. The boy still hadn't grasped the concept of punctuality, and after the previous night he was probably passed out somewhere. Forgetting to wait for an answer from either of them, Etoah slipped inside and shut the door.
[attr="class","sheng4"]Säure cast a look of shared concern to Kazumi, though she ultimately acquiesced to a self-sufficient Etoah. Standing up straight and placing her sword properly at her side, Catastor stated her leave for preparations, as well as helping Etoah in the matter he'd asked for assistance:[break][break]
"I'll be back to help you with your armor, no stress. I'm up then. Don't need to wait long for me though."[break][break]
The warrior sprinted towards the edge of the village, along the road out; her eyes honed in on the food storage shed and her body obeyed the look of focus she'd commanded. Opening the door slowly, she stood at the entrance and offered a brief draw of her sword-- more comparable to a swift brandish or dazzling flash than a real draw. Catastor cut the caravan food crates' solidity, allowing their nutritious contents to freely drop harmlessly into pre-placed packs beneath. Another draw, to return to the crates what she'd taken from them, saw her assigned task complete; all that remained was to collect the packs. Catastor smiled internally at how efficient she was; there'd been a few times she'd placed an open pack a little too far from where its corresponding crate would drop its contents and there were a couple of times she'd forgotten to return solidity to the crates after practicing this maneuver-- this resulted in the mild astonishment of whomever was on storage duty next, followed by a half-amused knock on Catastor's door shortly after. She tucked her weapon up close once more and lifted up all of the packs with one arm before returning back to Etoah and Kazumi. Dusting her hands off as she set the items down in a neat circle, the warrior set her hands on her hips, satisfied with a job well done. "Armor time, whenever you're ready-set," Catastor said, as if idly calling attendance.
