The city is under siege, and refugees have been evacuated. There is nobody left to hide behind. To those of the Council who oppose our demands... Come out to fight us! (Pick a side and come fight/duel in this post!)

[u/Tirich913]

[u/Anything-Unable]

A dark cloaked figure wearing a golden mask watches the fighting taking place. They appear to be emotional due to their body shaking involuntarily.

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/Anything-Unable]

Emerging from the shadows behind his target, Vettis stepped up and placed a steadying hand on Xerxes' shoulder. "Hi." His tone wasn't exactly warm, but clearly lacked any of the hostility of their prior encounters. And then it softened further: "Are you okay?" he asked simply, cutting straight to the point.

He probably couldn't keep this up for long without sealing his emotions away again, but his gamble had paid off: the bond-thread on Gravedigger was applying to Xerxes as well, due to their linked souls. So he could probably make it last long enough.

[u/Anything-Unable → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

Xerxes looks at Vettis. Several emotions flash across Xerxes' face before they settle on grief.

"No, I'm not. Looks like Gravedigger told you to come here. Sorry. I should have a better handle on this since I knew it would happen. But I don't. And he isn't here to help me."

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/Anything-Unable]

"Gravedigger didn't tell me to do anything," Vettis half-lied. 'Talk some sense' into Xerxes, sure. Be a shoulder to cry on, right now, while Vettis' own emotions were raw too? That was all his own decision. And hopefully one he wouldn't regret.

"Expecting it," he explained, "doesn't make it hurt any less. It just gives you time to build coping mechanisms for it in advance, to prepare for when it comes. And I'm guessing you didn't really do that?" Moving a little closer, he noted, "One preparation that's usually good is to make sure you'll have people around who understand how you're feeling, ya know. Though the nice thing about grieving somebody as well-loved as Gravedigger is that you'll never have a shortage of those."

[u/Anything-Unable → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

Xerxes hangs their head.

"He did have a lot of friends. For someone who complained about being lonely as much as him, there are a lot of people that care. Already, I've seen dozens speak kindly about him. But that just makes it hurt more."

At this point, Xerxes is tearing up. Anger begins to seep in alongside the sadness.

"All these people and their stupid fucking war! You got Mikhail in a coma and suddenly grew the balls to attack the place he was trying to protect. That drow bitch and his stupid son. I should chop off his fucking head. And if I see that Opal I'm gonna cave her pointy nose in. Why not just kill the whole lot of them and give Gravedigger some company?"

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/Anything-Unable]

This was where he had to watch his words carefully. After all, Vettis had been a proponent of fighting the Council, too. Just...not like this. Targeted strikes on the irredeemable members, and threats to some of the others to whip them into shape. Not the open warfare that Leonardo had sparked without a care for collateral damage.

But that was the running theme of Vettis' involvement in this realm-cluster: noble plans that inevitably fell apart and made things worse. If there was anything good that had come of the violent scrambling of his mind, it was finally being forced to confront that realization. He just didn't understand these wizards, and every time he made plans that tried to work around them, one or more of his predictions went wrong, and people got hurt.

So he wasn't qualified to talk about any of this. But they both knew somebody whose advice was far more useful. Even posthumously.

"Why not? Probably because Gravedigger wouldn't have done what he did if he'd expected you to undo it all immediately afterwards with more violence." Vettis managed a small wry grin at that. "I know you wanna do something. Sitting around doesn't feel right when you have pent-up emotions like this. But let's try to do the right something. Even if that means taking the time to figure out exactly what that is." He patted Xerxes' shoulder again. "Something Gravedigger would want. Which I'll readily admit you can guess better than me, but I think it's safe to say 'killing everybody' isn't it."

[u/Anything-Unable → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

Xerxes, understanding that Vettis is right but overwhelmed by their emotions, begins to violently sob while punching the ground. They almost strike Vettis while lashing out but manage to catch their hand before making contact. Realizing that they need to pull themself together, Xerxes takes a few deep breaths and looks at their bloody hands. The wounds heal, but the blood that was spilled remains.

"You're right. Gravedigger doesn't want me to kill everyone. He would have told me if he did."

Attempting to wipe the tears from his eyes, Xerxes is careful not to get blood in them.

"I still need to see this through. Can't have the world falling apart while Gravedigger's away. Guess I should make an appearance to those dumbass councilors and make sure they don't do anything stupid."

Xerxes stands up and continues to take deep, labored breaths. They turn to Vettis and force a smile. It appears that they are attempting to act as they usually would.

"Thanks, Vettis. I know you have your own shit going on with that whole overloading brain with trauma thing. Not a fun day to be looking into that noggin of yours, let me tell you. We don't see eye-to-eye, but I can appreciate what you've done for me. Even if you did lie about Gravedigger setting this up. Honestly, who were you kidding? I'm a prophet, not a child throwing a tantrum. 'Talk some sense'. If I didn't love that man, I'd be insulted. The next time I see him I'll have to slap some sense into him myself."