Chapter Text
It didn’t take long for Nyx to decide that the new world he had found himself in was not much different from the one he’d left. There were perks to it, like the Wall that protected Galahd; and his friends – and sister – still being alive.
And perhaps, in some ways, those differences made this world better in a way that hurt if only because it was a cruel reminder of how things could have been in his world.
There were things, like Crowe’s boisterous laughter – which was loud enough to put even Libertus’ to the test sometimes – which Nyx both appreciated and mourned. As relieving as it was to hear her laugh, his Crowe would never laugh again.
But for as much heartache as her laughter brought him, it also brought warmth at the proof that she was here, alive and well enough to laugh.
Luche grimaced as she leaned against him, her forearm braced against his shoulder as she was nearly doubled over in her mirth.
When he first arrived, a little over three months ago, the sight of the two of them together had been enough to give Nyx concern – “All Crowe could do is scream when one tore her insides apart.” – which had lessened the more he watched this Luche interact with this world.
Because Luche was a part of another big difference between his world and this one. In his world, his group of friends had never progressed past the point of a group of friends. Sure, Libertus was his brother in all but name, but that was the extent of it.
When Galahd burned, so too did a lot of their spirits and loathe as Nyx was to admit it, their traditions as well. A Hunting Party in his world would have been unthinkable after the burning of Galahd. The closest thing was the Glaive, and a party formed for vengeance was never a sound one.
But here? It was very clear to Nyx from the start that while the Glaive were – in fact – considered a Hunting Party, he (at least the Previous Nyx) had formed a mini one within. And, if Nyx were to be the boastful type, he’d even go so far as to say that the Hunting Party he (Previous Nyx) had formed was actually pretty well rounded out.
There was no need for Nyx to be alert and wary in this new world. The Party was well rested and merry, and there was no reason for his instincts to scream at him about Drautos or any other possible traitors.
Six, even in his own world, he didn’t really know how deep Glauca’s influence had sunk into the Glaive beyond Luche, Sonitus, and Tredd.
Speaking of… Tredd coughed out a small black cloud of smoke, and possibly ash, before blinking owlishly at Nyx. “Tell me how ya really feel, why don’t ya?” He complained as he rubbed an ash covered hand over his already blackened face.
Nyx had the decency to at least look a little ashamed. Crowe had been working with him on controlling the strength of his fire spells, and he really hadn’t meant for it to be that strong.
Off the side, Crowe exploded into another bout of laughter, to Luche’s irritation.
“Oh, come on.” He grumbled as she continued to use him for support.
Tredd frowned at her although whether it was because of her mirth in his situation or the fact that she was the one who had put him in it was lost on Nyx. He looked down at his hand and then scrunched up his nose – the same way the Tredd of Nyx’s world did after passing any of the Crownsguard or nobility – as he realized how futile his efforts to clean his face had been.
In what would have been a surprising move in Nyx’s world, Libertus stepped forward to hand Tredd a cool cloth to clean up with. “Could be worse,” he commented with a cherry smile, “’least you didn’t get burned this time.”
“Nah.” Tredd replied as he took the cloth. “Just lung damage.” As if to further prove his point, he coughed out another small cloud of smoke.
Nyx rubbed the back of his head and opened his mouth to apologize when the sensation of being watched hit him like a wave during a storm. His gaze was drawn almost immediately to the squad of Glaive that should have been doing drills instead of gawking.
Normally Libertus, Luche, and Pelna kept them on task while Tredd and Crowe worked with Nyx on his magic, but Pelna was out and apparently the squad decided to take Libertus and Luche’s distraction as a chance for a break.
The one who’d gotten Nyx’s attention froze as he realized Nyx’s gaze was now on them. All Nyx had to do with quirk an eyebrow for them to get the other’s attention and nod in Nyx’s direction. Some of the squad didn’t bother to look at Nyx and just immediately hopped back into their drills. Others gave Nyx a lingering look before jumping to their drills like Nyx was Ifrit himself coming to burn them at his pyre.
Libertus let out a bark of laughter. “Now that’s a power I wish I had.”
Luche snorted, but before Nyx could rise to Libertus’ defense, his friend had already grabbed Tredd’s ash-stained cloth and lobbed it at Luche’s face with a cry of “Now see here!”
Crowe let out a shriek which turned into cackles. “Your face!” She managed to get out between bouts of laughter.
Luche sputtered and grabbed the cloth to toss it back at Libertus. Some of the cloth had transferred to his face – reminding Nyx all too much of how he’d looked that night. His face was scrunched up into one of his signature ‘Luche does not approve’ looks that was a damn near mirror to the one Nyx was intimately familiar with from his world.
The cloth Luche lobbed back at Libertus burst into flames as it left Luche’s fingertips, burning bright and fast enough that by the time it reached Libertus, it was nothing more than rapidly cooling ash which fell just short of the larger man.
Tredd let out a low whistle, even as the ash fell upon him.
Crowe, naturally, immediately burst into applause. “Woo!” She cheered. “Look at that precision! The King himself would be jealous!”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Nyx replied.
“Why not?” Crowe asked. “Elemency wise, we already know your Fire and Lightning got powered the hell up.”
“Blizzard’s non-existent.” Luche pointed out at the same time Tredd said, “But he lost Blizzard.”
“Your shield is complete and your warping, which was already crazy good, is so much smoother than before.” Crowe continued, like she hadn’t heard them. “If you had access to the armiger—” which Nyx did, not that he would be mentioning that anytime soon since armiger access was only supposed to be granted to Crownsguard.
“And Blizzard.” Luche added.
“—then I’d think you were a Lucis Caelum bastard.” Crowe finished.
Silence immediately fell upon the group. The good-natured smiles on Luche and Libertus’ faces fell. “You keep that blasphemy to yourself.” Libertus snapped. He probably would have said more had Nyx not stepped up to rest a hand on Libertus’ shoulder. He shook his head when Libertus looked at him.
Libertus’ mouth twitched downwards into a scowl and he spat at the floor before turning on his heel to march back to the squad. For a moment, Nyx pitied them but then he remembered all the times they gawked at him, and the pity vanished.
Tredd shuffled and despite the moment being prime for him to make trouble, he nodded his head towards the barracks. “I’m gonna go wash up,” was the only warning before he was walking away himself.
Crowe looked between the retreating backs of Libertus and Tredd, Luche – who had that pinched look on his face – and Nyx. “Guess that’s a sore spot?”
Nyx sucked on his teeth and debated how exactly to answer that. The Crowe of his world had already known some of this from osmosis of spending time with the Glaive – which was considerably more Galahdan than it was in this world.
Luche beat him to the punch. “The mixing of Galahdan blood isn’t… looked well upon.” He grimaced and crossed his arms. “It’s worse for Galahdan Lucians.”
Nyx shot him a look. Luche didn’t carry the typical Galahdans features – between him and Crowe, one would probably assume Crowe to be the Galahdan – but as far as Nyx knew, Luche was a Galahdan through and through. Yet the way he spoke sounded like he had first-hand experience.
Crowe frowned and Nyx knew her well enough to know exactly where her thoughts had gone. “Galahd’s had a difficult relationship with Lucis since Adunare.” The name tasted like ash in his mouth and he spat to the side as he finished speaking. Luche’s scowl deepened.
“The Conqueror?” Crowe asked with a little laugh that said that she thought Ny and Luche were pulling her leg.
“The Murderer.” Both Nyx and Luche corrected at the same time, with low quiet voices. The last thing either of them needed was some Lucians breathing down their necks over how they chose to refer to once of their kings.
“Of course, as far as Lucians are concerned, he ‘unified’ Lucis.” Luche continued. “Funny how they never mention how exactly he accomplished that.”
Crowe hummed, her eyes dark as she realized the implications in Luche’s words. “What about King Regis?”
“What about him?” Luche asked at the same time Nyx said, “I owe him a debt.”
Which while true for Nyx might not have been entirely true as per this world given the way both Crowe and Luche’s attention snapped fully to him. There was a look in Luche’s eyes that was unsettling if only because Nyx didn’t know what it meant.
“You do?” There was a waver in Luche’s voice that struck a chord in Nyx. It plucked at something within him that had the Infernian stirring in interest.
Nyx pulled fire to the palm of his hand and looked at it for a moment. He thought of his current powers, and how he owed his current situation to Regis stepping in on his behalf against the Lucii. He thought about how Regis had saved his life in Galahd, how Regis had offered him the position of Kingsglaive.
He couldn’t give a damn about most of the Lucii themselves, but Regis… he owed Regis. And Regis was a good king. He did the best he could with the hand he was dealt, and Nyx could respect that.
He extinguished the fire and shook his head. “I don’t want to get into it.”
Luche hummed, a long drawn out sound that echoed in Nyx’s memories of the Luche of his world. He crossed his arms, holding a hand up to his mouth in a signature Luche pose that was so familiar that Nyx thought that maybe somehow the Luche from his world had in fact somehow crossed over like he had.
“I see.”
Fiery claws that only Nyx could see and feel closed over his shoulder as Ifrit leaned over. “Oh.” Ifrit purred. “Now that’s an interesting response.”
Nyx shrugged him off in a motion that he hoped looked natural to Luche and Crowe. “Should we keep at it then?” He asked her.
“You’re no fun.” Ifrit complained. He walked around Nyx and the crackling sound of his presence was loud enough to practically drown out Crowe’s response. “What’s this about you owing the young king? This goes beyond your debt to the Lucii.”
Nyx’s hands curled into a fist and a wave of fire roared from within, burning through his veins.
Ifrit stopped beside Crowe and examined her for a moment before turning his attention to Luche. “What stories do you keep, Nyx Ulric of Galahd?” Ifrit’s golden eyes met Nyx’s and the fire within him flared.
Nyx closed his eyes and took a long shuddering breath, mentally pushing the fire back down to a simmer. When he opened his eyes, it was to the concerned gaze of Crowe and the calculating one of Luche. Ifrit was nowhere to be seen.
“Actually, never mind. I think I’m gonna call it day.”
Crowe furrowed her eyebrows and looked like she might protest before nodding. “Alright.”
Nyx nodded his head towards the rest of the squad. “Go terrorize them. Just because you can’t warp doesn’t mean you can’t help incentivize their drills.”
Crowe looked between the squad and Nyx. In a show of uncharacteristic indecision, she nibbled on her bottom lip before nodding. “…Alright.” She looked to Luche. “Make sure he takes it easy, will you?” She demanded of Luche before heading over to clap Libertus on his back.
Luche let out another long hum as he watched her before turning to Nyx. “I actually wanted to talk with you.”
Unease prickled at the back of Nyx’s neck and he reminded himself that there was no reason to distrust this Luche. Ifrit’s laughter echoed in the back of his mind, but the Astral didn’t make a reappearance.
“With Crowe terrorizing, I mean training, them, the drills won’t last much longer.” Nyx commented. “We could go ahead and head to the bar if you wanted.”
“That,” Luche’s sharp gaze was contemplative as he nodded, “may be for the best.”
“Alright then. Let’s clean up and meet at the bar.” Nyx agreed. Luche nodded, and Nyx noted that his gaze was distant, like he was lost in his head. As he headed for the showers, he couldn’t help but to feel that he wasn’t going to like this ‘talk’ Luche wanted to have with him.