Peace At Last (Vriska, Ayameru)

[Ryst Seraphine]

For the first time since the catastrophe struck the throne room was quiet. Things had been very buzzed and very tense since an entire portion of the City had fallen. Ryst had been called into innumerable meetings, had barely gotten any sleep, and had barely seen Ayameru at all during her visit to the City. He could only consider himself lucky that she had not been in the portion that fell--a close thing, as there was a really nice mansion in that section of the city used to house royal guests and their hosts. But Ryst had instead brought her to the palace.

Now the throne room was empty. There wasn't much more business to chase after, nothing pressing enough to call a meeting between councils and nobles at dusk. Everyone voted instead to head off the sleep. Ryst had made sure things were mostly handled. It was only small things left, like arranging memorials for the fallen. That was the point he had wanted to get to. Now he sat on the throne alone, Iron Maiden, his sword, not too far off. The silence weighed down heavily on him as he tried to make sense of the past few days.

An entire section of the City had fallen. Hundreds were missing or dead. Many had fled, but there were countless younglings whose wings had not been developed enough to fly. The elders who did not have the strength to get out. The stubborn and vain who didn't want to leave their own precious material belongings. None of them deserved to go down with a section of the City. Ryst had remained strategically neutral to all forces of Hyrule simply because it meant there would be no attacks on his people. He had always thought about them during his rule.

His rule.

His rule.

The silence deafened Ryst as he sat on the throne. There was still a little bit of business left for him to take care of before he could turn in and call it a day. He slumped forward and buried his head in his hands, letting out an audible sigh that seemed only amplified by the empty room. He waited there for the messages he had just sent out to be delivered, and his expected company to come to this final meeting he had called.

[Vriska]

The oppressive silence of the throne room was shattered as the door burst open and Vriska Seraphine - Gods she loved being able to say that - came striding in, almost running up to the throne. "Ryst!" Urgent worry and distress were clear in her voice as she hugged her brother. "I am so sorry for what happened. If there's anything the Sentinels or I can do, you have it."

She pulled back, keeping her hands on his shoulders. "How are you holding up?"

[Ayameru]

"Can I go see Ryst now?"

"No."

Ten minutes later.

"... How about now?"

"No."

A couple hours later.

"Can I see him now?"

"No, you can't see him, miss."

... insert a number of hours later.

"... now?!"

"If you keep asking me the same question, you're going to get the same answer as before!"

"DAMMIT!"

Aya's eyebrow twitched. Her fists had been clenched ready to punch out the guards protecting the entrance into the throne room. Patience wasn't really one of the redhead's strong points. She watched as people arrived, and leave over the extended length of time. During that time span, she heard shouting, arguments, and mumbling going from one end of the room in front of her to the other. What the hell was going on in there? Ryst told her to stay in the palace for her safety, due to the chaos ensued. Left in the corridors of the palace, Ryst went into the throne room in order to attend to meetings with important officials. The guards would not allow her in since she had no business there.

These meetings are a load of shit, was all she could think of. She could feel within the pits of her stomach a nauseating disgust at the overwhelming tragedy the catastrophe created. Though she could only imagine, if this is how she felt right now, it was probably a hundred times worse for Ryst having to deal with everything inside of that room.

It made the wait all the more frustrating.

Aya wanted to be there with Ryst. If anything for the company's sake, and try to find some way to comfort him. She didn't know how the hell she would be able to accomplish such a goal, but it was the thought that count behind it, right? She paced along the pavement of the walls, not really caring if watchmen were staring at her, in order to put her mind on other things. Distractions of any kinds in order to bring her troubled thoughts at ease, but nothing really did help.

Her visit here turned into one hell of a experience. Both good and bad~

She grumbled audibly making her impatience known. The results in such an actions were met with silence, and rolling eyes. The guards saw nothing threatening whatsoever in the redhead. In their eyes, she was nothing short of a tame, friendly, little fairy who happened to be the Lord's honorable guest. If they only knew~ Aya was barely holding onto the last strands of her patience with waiting.

By the time she was given the message, she was free to meet with Ryst, her firelight orbs flickered brightly. Her fairy wings fluttered instantly as she hovered up off the ground, and made off like a fireball through the doors. She was beaten however by another woman who arrived, and appeared right next to Ryst. She paused in her tracks hovering just a few feet off the ground, staring at them. She blinked. "Mind filling me in?" she asked crossing her arms.

It was the only thing she could manage to say. Aya fails when it comes to tense situations like this, thus reacted accordingly. She couldn't ask him how he was feeling, or how he was holding up~ It was like asking if they still had a broken arm after falling off a cliff or something along those lines. However her eyes shone with greatest concern for him. She wanted nothing more than to rip Vriska's arms off, and pull her away from Ryst, and put herself in that place - her anger had already risen up to the point of pulling some kind of rage induced stunt, but she grounded every bit of patience she had been holding onto in order to hear what the Oocca male had to say.

It felt like eternity since she last saw him.

[Ryst Seraphine]

Ryst barely had a chance to look up to see who it was when Vriska was on him in a flurry. She did know that in order to answer her questions she needed to get off--that metal arm of hers had one hell of a grip. She stepped back and Ryst started to answer her question, when the doors burst open and his other guest arrived. Ayameru flew in and saw Vriska so close to Ryst. The Oocca Lord realized what it must look like and couldn't help but smile, though the expression was robbed of all joy. Such trivial things did still matter outside the proceedings of the court.

"Aya, this is my sister, Vriska. Vriska, this is Ayameru . . . the girl from the ball, if you remember." God that had seemed so long ago. The music and the dancing had seemed so frivolous and pointless. Ryst considered that night and wondered if he had somehow incited this catastrophe by stepping on the wrong toes there. No, there hadn't been much interaction with anyone there. Maybe it was someone he had ignored? He shook his head and put those thoughts away. He could tear himself apart with those thoughts, and he couldn't do that now.

This meeting was very important, even if it was with two of his closest friends.

"I have some business to take care of with you two before I can take a break from all this," Ryst murmured, even the Oocca Lord seemed exhausted. He'd barely gotten three hours of sleep in the past few days. "Just three things. First, Vriska, your name is official now. All the important people have been informed, and you are technically the heir to the throne." Not many people had been happy about that. But then few people had been happy in the last few days.

[Vriska]

Oh hey it was Ryst's nobody. She'd wondered what had come of her. Clearly she hadn't stayed a nobody. As Vriska smoothly separated from her brother and lounged casually against the side of Ryst's throne she shot the redhead an open, welcoming grin. She had a mouth full of knives, a tongue like a viper and breathed quicksilver, but she wasn't a threat. Not as long as Ayameru - "Charmed." - wasn't.

At Ryst's first point of order, Vriska pumped the air and laughed, even doing a little dance. "HahahaYES! Suck it, world! Not that the heir thing's gonna be true for long, eh? Eh?" Her grin spoke volumes. Filthy, filthy volumes.

[Ayameru]

His smile held no joy like it used to.

Aya blinked. Sister? The fire fairy scrutinized the woman as she separated herself from Ryst. An eyebrow quirked up as the woman flashed a grin taken mildly by surprise. To say Vriska was different was nothing short of an understatement. On so many levels. However since she didn't prove any bit threatening to Ryst then Aya had no quarrels with his sister. The redhead softly nodded her head. "Likewise," she replied back.

Landing on the floor with a small tap, she folded her wings, and focused back over to Ryst. His first order was aimed at his sibling explaining that her surname was now official. Vriska's reaction was nothing short of mirth, and Aya had to admit, she was amused by the little happy dance she did. "Congrats," she spoke to the chipper woman.

With her attention back on over to Ryst, she tilted her head slightly. "Go on, what else do you have to say?"

[Ryst Seraphine]

Ryst simply nodded as Vriska celebrated and Ayameru congratulated her. He did find himself wondering if all of his decisions were good, considering Vriska's . . . uniqueness. But he was certain she'd live up to the name. It was a big one to live up to, but Vriska's confidence did show a lot of potential. And she was the blood of his father, so there had to be something there. Still he had sorted everything out, so things should run smoothly in any situation.

There was more business at hand.

The Oocca Lord stood up from his throne and took a deep breath. This was perhaps the hardest piece of business to address of the three. But it was necessary to address this piece before he got to the third and final bit of business taking place in that room that night. He exhaled slowly. "Okay, honestly these are some of the hardest words I've spoken in the last few days, but I need to get this out before our final business," he started, then paused, stepping down to Ayameru.

"Ayameru, the future right now is very uncertain. It's because of this that I really need you by my side. And I know this is abrupt and not the most ideal way to say this but . . . I love you." Bomb. "I've had a lot of time to think about it recently while the nobles argued over frivolous things." Ayameru had that unique ability to awaken the Vagrant Prince inside of him even during the hardest of times. He really hoped that stuck. "And whether or not you return the feelings, I need to get that off my chest before the end."

[Vriska]

Vriska had returned to watching her brother silently, obviously aware that the things he'd called them here for were important. As he explained the second item on the agenda Vriska went from smiling, to grinning to near-exploding with glee, clapping her hands over her mouth and emitting a low eeeeeee.

Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gooooosh this is so awesome

Sure, hundreds of people were dead, but still. Awesome.

[Ayameru]

Aya waited anxiously for the next bit of news Ryst had to offer them. As he stood up she swallowed softly wondering what was going through his mind that would make him stretch a moment of thought. As he let out a slow sigh, it was then that she finally heard his voice, but as he spoke...

As he spoke...

He stepped down from the throne and...

Her mind couldn't fathom it. It was as if her ears went mute for in that moment with disbelief. What was he saying? She couldn't make out the syllables exactly, and it was beginning to make her angry. However that quick wave of rage soon dispersed when it call came crashing down on her. Those three words she didn't expect to hear from him, and it was sudden. Her palpitating heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest from the way Feathers dropped the bomb on her.

He said he loved her.

He made a confession.

A confession... to her?!

He did not just say that... did he? He did not say that? OH MY GODDESS! HE DID! Vriska's glee did not help anything except intensify a growing blush that found it's way dusting her peach complexion. Ok Aya... THINK! Get yourself out of this... Don't do anything hasty!

"What's the last bit you have for us?" she asked closing her eyes, her eyebrow twitching violently. Redirecting the topic onto something else! Safe! Her body trembling as she fought back from spazzing out entirely. Oh~ How she wanted to overreact, and accuse him of being rash and not thinking straight. Maybe it was true that he wasn't thinking straight, being that it had been a while, and he looked like he was about to pass out. Though she didn't sense any signs of him lying about it~

He confessed... to Aya.

[Ryst Seraphine]

Ryst only smirked as Ayameru went straight to business. He couldn't expect anything less. He dropped a sudden and unexpected bombshell on her. He had thought long and hard on whether or not the words were true, and when he was certain about that he thought long and hard on whether or not he should admit it to her. In truth the confession was not only about the words he spoke. While he meant all three of them the Vagrant Prince had argued vehemently against the confession. It was not the time and place. But the Oocca Lord knew it was necessary, as it helped prepare them both for the biggest item on the list.

"I'm stepping down as Oocca Lord."

The words came much easier than the earlier confession. That was what he had hoped. This was something he knew he had to do, so it came easily compared to the arduous task of confessing his love. Still the words did have a lot of weight. He sighed as they left his mouth and felt a cold shiver run down his spine. The words were sour, they were bitter, they didn't want out. But he had to let them out. He licked his lips and tried to get that taste out of his mouth, but it was stuck there.

"That means you, Vriska, are to take the throne as the next in line. I've made sure there wasn't a lot waiting for you. I handled everything to deal with the . . ." he couldn't finish the sentence. "The only thing you have to worry about now is the memorial when the time comes, which won't be too hard. The steward will fill you in on everything else, on the day to day business." A smirk formed across his lips, devoid of all humour.

His eyes turned to Ayameru, somewhere deep behind the mask was a plead for support. "I'm leaving the City. I don't plan on coming back."

[Vriska]

There were very few moments in Vriska's life where something completely, absolutely unexpected happened. This was one of them. All she could do was stare at her brother and try to form something resembling a coherent sentence. Her? In charge? Of this floating crypt?

"You can't be serious," she said incredulously. "You're joking. Tell me you're joking."

It sank in further.

"No. No, Ryst. No. You can't do this to me. To yourself. I'm not- I'm not an Oocca. You're not an exile. I'm the exile, you're the Oocca. That's how this works."

[/color]

[Ayameru]

Honestly, Ryst was being selfish. You couldn't get selfishness at it's finest like the way the oocca male had been acting ever since he brought Vriska, and Aya into the throne room. It was a crapton for the simple fairy to take in. She blinked. Again, and again. Trying to make sense of what the hell he was doing. Like everything was spiraling on a downward motion, and she couldn't seem to find the leverage to pull herself out of the currents taken her further into those depths.

Her firelight eyes flickered brightly listening to his words. With Ryst stepping down as the Lord, it would mean that the next in line, would have to take his place on the throne. Vriska's reaction was nothing short of many emotions riled up into a string of protests. Aya awkwardly was put in the middle of it unsure of what to say or do at that moment. Conflicted with who she felt the most sympathy for.

"Don't you think this a little rash?" she insisted in trying to be reasonable, if only for one last try, "Not only are you leaving a race that needs you the most, but you're basically dumping your responsibilities on your sister. In this desperate hour, isn't that a little selfish on your part?"

Her question dripped with a bit of sarcasm. Little was nothing short of an overstatement. With eyes wide open, she could honestly say she could at least see things in retrospect of both sides of this party. However, she could not refuse that look in his eyes, the carrier of those hawk eyes that tugged on her heartstrings. Those faded lethargic blue eyes desperate for Aya's support.

She couldn't reprimand him for being selfish.

He needed her the most at that very moment. There was no way she could turn her back against him when he gave her that look. Every ounce in her body felt weighted down by an unreasonable guilt, but her mind was set on what she should do.

"I guess there's no stopping you, huh? Heh... well, wherever you go," she said, holding onto the obsidian oval pendant in her hands tightly, "I'll be by your side, Feathers."

[Ryst Seraphine]

Ryst closed his eyes and bowed his head. He had known the two of them would protest. It didn't make it any less painful. He bit at his bottom lip and listened to their words. He wasn't about to change his mind, he knew it. But they deserved their say, so he let those words come down and take shots at him. It made his heart hurt, especially Ayameru's words. He had, honestly, hoped for a better reaction from her toward his earlier confession.

After their words berated him Ryst let them sink in. He stepped up to the throne, to where his sword was sitting, and picked it up. "Vriska, you're a Seraphine, you're world-weary and you don't think the same as the rest of the oocca. That's what the people need. They need an outside mindset, someone who doesn't fall victim to those courtly games and all that. Trust me, I've thought about it, and you've survived this long, you'll serve the people well. You couldn't do much worse than I did, anyway."

Ayameru raised a different set of objections. "I've taken care of all of the hard stuff. The desperate hour is over with now. Vriska will be eased into it and should be more than ready before any trouble arises. The steward already voice all those concerns, but I've been working constantly for the last few days on making this transition as flawless as possible. It's not for me. It's not for her. It's for the City. If such destruction happens because of me, I have to leave. People should've been saved."

He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "Vriska, I want you to take my sword. It was Lord Jyshra's sword before me, and his father's before then. It's symbolic. I won't be using it while I am away." He held the sword out hilt first for Vriska to take. Not very ceremonial, but this business was hard and Ryst didn't see Vriska wanting to take the throne in front of an entire congregation. Plus Ryst planned on slipping away that night, after the meeting. In the shadows, under the cover of darkness. He even had the watch reassigned to clean up duty near the gate he planned to leave by.

[Vriska]

Well, at least Ayameru was seeing Vriska's side of this argument. Until all of a sudden she wasn't. Oh that *****. As Ryst pressed on implacably, Vriska instinctively backed away a few steps, almost as if she were going to run away. "But - but I have a life down there, I have duties I- I'm a knight I- You- What will my girlfriend say, I-"

Vriska paused. Girlfriend may have been a slight exaggeration. Okay, a major exaggeration, but this was a pretty major situation. She sighed. "I have everything except a choice, apparently. Fine. Fine. I made my bed, I might as well lie in it while the world f8cks me over." She stalked over to Ryst and snatched the sword from his hands. Then she hugged him, talking so that only he could hear her properly, murmuring in the Sky Language.

"It's not your fault. You need to realize that. You chose to enter the forest but it's not your fault they found you. You did nothing wrong. Nothing."

[Ayameru]

Aya couldn't say she was happy with the choice all the same, but she couldn't sway Ryst from changing his mind. There was only so much that an outsider could do to influence the changing course of others around them. This was a big change. Bigger than any of them had ever expect. Nonetheless, it would seem that Feathers was ready to take whatever consequences that may come his way from making this choice. It gave the crimson fairy strength to strengthen her own resolve. She could feel the tension suffocating her inside of the room as she watched Vriska finally coming to accepting that she was fighting a losing battle or so to speak.

I really do hope he knows what he's doing, she thought to herself.

She blinked a couple times confused. Now that wasn't fair excluding her out of the conversation like that by going all sky language on Ryst. Her firelight eyes flickered brightly wishing she could be that close. Close enough to give that kind of comfort for him. However she had to come to terms that Vriska had the right to, being the sister. It was like to Aya how Ani had full rights to be so close. Speaking of which, she hoped her twin didn't worry too much since the the disaster must have been caught by the surface dwellers by now. The news of the catastrophe would no doubt be a wide spread news.

"Feathers..." she murmured softly, "No... Ryst~"

There, she waited, held out her hand, ready whenever he was. When everything is said and done, they were still looking for answers, if only one. Soon enough there wouldn't be anymore words to speak of, but what laid in the room were emotions that the three of them did not speak of. It was there, but everything was left out in the open. The two between two siblings... Ryst's confession towards Aya.

"Just waiting on you now," she said softly.

[Ryst Seraphine]

Vriska seemed to resent the position. That was fine. "Vriska, you're not the kind of person to be dampened by the likes of the throne. I can see you being a fine leader," Ryst said simply. His sister hugged him, and he did the only thing he could do in response and hugged her back. She used the Sky Language to talk to him in private, where Ayameru couldn't understand. Was she resentful of the fairy? Did Vriska think Ayameru was the reason for this decision?

"Vriska, I should've been ready. I should've had some sort of plan set up," he responded in the Sky Language, the switched back to the common tongue. "Wrong or not, the City needs someone else sitting on that throne. I've thought about it. You have to trust me, as your brother, that this is best for everyone, even you." He had spent much of their childhood, before her exile, looking out for Vriska. Even now he was looking for what was best for her in his decision. This would help her mature, give her the experience she really needed to help the hybrids.

He let go of the embrace and stepped down from the raised platform the throne rested on. "You can still do your duties to the Knights and the hybrids, Vriska. As I understand it Rwaht is planning on taking Sky Rim soon, and this puts you in a prime location to help him. If the hybrids are coming to the sky, having someone who understands their plight ruling the sky might help." That was all he was going to offer on that. He closed his eyes and turned his back to the throne, walking away.

"Ayameru, I plan on leaving as soon as possible. Are you ready or do you need some time?" he asked, glancing over at her with a solemn look. "I'm sorry to cut your visit here so short. I'll understand if you want to stay."

[Vriska]

Vriska didn't turn to follow her brother. She just stood there, staring at the throne, focusing on her breathing. Trying not to growl as she imagined herself sitting in that chair. Or worse, sitting in that chair for the rest of her life. The sword in her hand was steady. It struck Vriska that this was the only thing her father had left her. Handed to her by someone who didn't want it anymore. Ryst had been raised from birth to rule the sky and it was breaking him. How could he expect her to do any better?

Well, if I'm going to f8ck this up, I might as well get started.

Stiffly, Vriska sat down in the chair, setting the sword aside, propping it up against the side of the throne. The anger and resentment was clear on her face, but soon faded into something resembling sisterly love. Her brother was hurting. "Visit me. Often. Not here, in Castle Town. Please."

She nodded to Ayameru. "You're welcome too. Here and there."

She leaned back in her seat gingerly, as if testing to see if it would hold her. Her posture was still tense as a steel rail. "Best you be gone before this is announced. I'll give you a day."

Suddenly she stood up again, balling her hands into fists. Her voice was iron. "And I swear that if you leave me here like you left me down there I will find you. Both of you. Be safe and come home, Ryst, or I'll never forgive you."

[Ayameru]

How can he be so content with this? Ayameru didn't get it. It was times like this when she wished her heart wasn't as naïve as it appeared so her head could come up with something - a better ulterior option - perhaps. However time was not on their side. Ryst made sure not to waste anymore of anybody's time when everything was said and done. It would seem that everything about this conversation had been established, and made open between the three of them. Her firelight eyes flickered brightly as she turned her eyes to the oocca male who asked her if she was ready to leave. Even if she had the slightest thought of wanting to stay, she couldn't find it in her heart to stick around, at least not for herself. "I'm ready to go whenever you are," she replied, "This won't be the last time I visit this place, I assure you."

She turned her fiery eyes back over to Vriska who made the throne her own at that moment. As the new ruler made her position known towards the two standing before her, Aya made a perfect forty-five degree bow, acknowledging her request. "Thank you," she replied. She was rather grateful that there wasn't any resentment towards ones another because of this (or at least, if there was, Vriska would have probably made it personally known she didn't like the crimson fairy).

A small smirk escaped from her lips as she listened to Vriska's final warning. Nothing like hearing a voice as cold, and hard as steel itself when making one final statement clear. She placed her right hand against her hip tucking her scarlet hair behind her ears before fluttering her fairy wings. "I will personally see to it that no harm falls upon him, I promise," she mentioned to Vriska.

The poor fairy didn't know what would lie in store for them, but the only thing that was rest assured is the fact that she would stay by his side. For the first time in her life, she's become something more than a supporting sister for her twin, and an dangerous but innocent lover. She wasn't just a shadow of another glory anymore. "I suppose I best be getting my stuff together so I won't forget anything," she mused lightheartedly.

Her wings gave a soft buzzing noise as she hovered up off of the ground bidding her departure from the room.

[ Exit ]

[Ryst Seraphine]

Ryst offered Ayameru a thankful smile, though it was lined with sorrow. He was eternally thankful to the fairy who he had fatefully met atop Snowpeak Mountain down in Hyrule. He honestly didn't know what he would do now if he didn't have her by his side. While Ryst was always a willful individual but this was a major change, he needed her support. He knew he was putting a lot on her, though, and couldn't help but feel bad.

"I won't leave you, Vriska, but I'm not going to return to the City. I'll check in on your home whenever I'm in Castle Town," he said simply, then sighed. "I can't make any other promises. I don't know what the future will hold; but whenever I can I will see you." There was another pause. "I love you, Vriska, and I couldn't ask for a better sister."

With those words he continued out of the throne room after Ayameru. It was the last time he ever planned on seeing that room, the last time he'd leave it. With his back to the throne the Sky Lord stepped down and walked out, the weight of guilt bearing down on his consciousness.

[EXIT]

[Vriska]

Later, Vriska would probably come to regret treating Ryst like this, but she felt justified considering what he was doing to her. "Just. Ugh. Just f8ck off, Ryst."

With every step Ryst took he seemed to push deeper what Vriska had just let him do.

She was now the Lady of the Sky.

She would be the Lady of the Sky until she died.

The title had been pawned off to her by her brother who was now going to vanish and possibly get himself killed.

She might never see him again.

As Ryst was walking out through the door Vriska screamed in frustration, grabbed the Iron Maiden in her steel hand and swung it in an overarm throw with such force that when it hit the door just as Ryst was closing it it sank in up to half its length and stayed there, barely even quivering in the thick wood.

Defeated, Vriska sank back down into her throne and hid her face in her hands.

I did it, mom. I've got my birthright and the life you always wanted for me. I'm the ruler of all I survey and all I can see is empty space all around us.

fin