Chapter Text
“Why is it you have taken us to Mor Dhona of all places when you had been so eager to leave Ala Mhigo and return to the First just this morning?”
“Because, there’s someone I think you should meet before we leave again. I don’t know when next we’ll be allowed to come here for a visit.”
Keeping a firm grasp on his hand, Aestelle led Hades through the many crowds of adventurers roaming the streets and straight for where the Rising Stones is. So much yet so little has changed in this one area from the time she first helped revive it with the Doman’s to where it is today. And looking off to the Crystal Tower in the distance, still standing tall just shy of Silvertear Falls, it’s surreal to think that she’s about to teleport to the First and step foot in that very tower and see someone who as of right now is still very much asleep. Surreal indeed…
Just as it was the last time she visited, the Rising Stones is all but empty. The only two to be seen are Tataru sitting at her desk and F’lhaminn cleaning behind the bar counter. Hades glanced around some as she tugged him along further into the lounge area. “Tataru! I’m home.~” Aestelle mused, snapping the receptionist away from her letters instantly while she waved to the older mi'qote.
Tataru’s bright smile morphed into an accusatory scowl while she hopped down from her chair and walked up to the black-robed astrologian. “Do you know how worried we’ve all been?” She asked with her hands on her hips, Hades now glancing down at her with an amused smirk of his own. “Maxima came all the way here to ask for you and Krile only to get a call via his linkshell that you were already leaving with Gaius to take on the Ruby Weapon! Couldn’t you have at least come to visit us before going off to fight some Allagan relic─oh? And who is this? Your, boyfriend ?”
“Well actually-”
“I am her lover, yes.” Hades cut her off with ease, his smirk only widening as both Tataru and F’lhaminn’s eyes widen while Aestelle just sighs. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“This is Emet, Emet meet Tataru and F’lhaminn.” Aestelle introduced. “Now that that’s out of the way, how have the Scions been while I’ve been gone? Any changes?”
“You expect me to not ask about your boyfriend?”
“Tataru!”
Giggling, the short girl innocently placed her hands behind her back. “I didn’t say anything.” Tataru responded and then her smile was faltering as she glanced over to the door leading to where their friends are all still locked deep in slumber. “And as for the others, there hasn’t been a single change─for better or worse. Krile left to go and talk with Master Matoya again and the rest of the Scions have been working tirelessly to keep track of Garlean movement both in and outside of Garlemald. Talks of more Weapons and instability deep within the Capitol have everyone on edge. And there’s still no information on Zenos’ whereabouts…” She sighed. “Feels like we’re all just waiting for something to happen. Oh! Speaking of things happening, I went ahead and made you your new outfit!”
Aestelle couldn’t help but laugh as Tataru hurried back over to her desk, Hades curiously following after the two girls. “The black dress I asked for? You did make sure to give me some nice astrologian flashy metal parts to it, right? I have to be able to stand beside Urianger and not be absolutely outdone by him this time around.”
The lalafell waved her off while she rummaged around in the cupboards of the cabinet behind her desk. “Yes yes, I made sure to give you nearly exactly what you asked for the last time you were here.” She said, grabbing a flat, rectangular box and then walking back over to her. “Here. Go put it on and then you can go talk to Unukalhai. He’s been meaning to get a chance to speak with you so you shouldn’t keep the kid waiting. Not very heroic of you Miss Warrior of Light.”
“Oh shush. One of these days I’ll have Alphinaud summon his carbuncle to kick you into the lake.” Aestelle scoffed, taking the box from her friends’ hands and walking towards the Solar. “I’ll put it on when I return to the First. Like you said, I shouldn’t keep our favorite Scion waiting.~ Come, Hades. I want you to meet him as well.”
“Aestelle!”
“See you around, Tataru!”
Ushering her lover into the room, Aestelle closed and locked the doors to the Ocular behind her, successfully locking out the feisty receptionist who could just as easily unlock the doors if she really wanted to. Flashing Hades a bright smile, she walked further into the room and was happy to find a certain white-robed youth turned with his back to them as he mulls over some scrolls on the large desk once belonging to the Antecedent. Hades' gaze glossed over parts of the room, his eyes stilling on the empty case hanging on the wall that once housed the Staff Tupsimati that Nabriales had coveted with all his being once upon a time.
“How’s my favorite hero-in-the-making been since I was last here? Great, I hope.” Aestelle spoke up, the young boy turning around and looking on at the two new arrivals from behind his mask and cowl.
Hades stopped beside Aestelle, looking down at the youth and placing a hand to his chin. “You’re not of the Source.” He said without hesitation, Unukalhai stiffening up slightly. “Your soul is far less dense than those of this star's inhabitants.”
“Unukalhai, this is Emet. Emet, meet Unukalhai.” Aestelle introduced.
The boy looked up at Hades for a moment before hesitantly reaching up to remove his mask, pushing back his cowl as he does so. “Emet-Selch, I presume?” Unukalhai asked after he had set his mask down beside the scrolls he was reading before they had interrupted him.
Smirking, Hades crossed his arms over his chest. “I see my reputation precedes me.”
“Elidibus spoke of you a handful of times,” Unukalhai explained. “He came to me following Lahabrea’s death, telling me of how this world was listing ever further towards oblivion and that he would need to rouse you from your slumber soon. I never thought I’d meet you in person like this.”
“Ah, so that’s where I know you from. You’re the child our dear Emissary spirited away from the Thirteenth moments before it was swallowed whole by the Darkness. I must say, ‘twas one of our less proud moments─Igeyorhm paying that price most heavily.” Hades sighed.
Aestelle cleared her throat. “So, has Elidibus come to talk to you again since last I was here? Or has he been on the First this entire time?” She asked the youth.
Unukalhai shook his head. “Nothing from my master. He didn’t seem to be particularly happy with the outcome of your conversation and after hearing the recount of your history, I can’t help but worry what he has been doing in your absence.”
“You told this child of our past?” Hades asked her.
She offered him a small smile. “Love, Unukalhai here is practically one of us considering Elidibus had taken it upon himself to rescue and mentor him for a time. He’s probably the only one of the Scions who wholeheartedly wants to see the Convocation saved from the hand fate dealt us. He most of all wouldn’t want for Elidibus to die.”
“My master might be working to realize a false dream, but I would not wish for him to meet the same fate as Lahabrea and those who are also lost to your order.” Unukalhai agreed. “And so I have been looking into ways to possibly aid you in your mission to save my master. Though my efforts have been for naught… Nothing I found was of note sadly.”
Her smile softened. “Thank you for looking, Unukalhai. As for Elidibus, I’m confident in saying that I might have a solution to dealing with him already. But I’ll have to talk to an expert on all things soul-related back on the First to know for sure. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on any news of a possible solution we might find. When all of us come home to the Source, I’ll be relying on you much more to help me with these former Ascians.”
Hades scoffed. “As if I need a child to watch over me.”
“I can’t very well leave you to your own devices when I’ll have primals to deal with.”
“And you think I will simply stand by idle while you go and take the fate of not only these shards but of the very truth of their existence into your own hands?”
“The Scions are likely to distrust you and yours, Emet-Selch.” Unukalhai added on. “It might prove useful to make a friend with someone who has already won their trust─someone other than Aestelle, that is. And what is this talk of primals? You don’t intend to at some point take on Hydaelyn and Zodiark themselves, do you..?”
Aestelle shrugged as a playful smile danced across her lips. “You know, they don’t call me an eikon slayer for nothing.” She mused and then grew a little more serious. “So long as Hydaelyn and Zodiark live, the Source and every other remaining shard out there will never know peace. Those primals cannot be allowed to live if this cycle of calamities and rejoinings is to be put to an end once and for all. Elidibus had worked to keep the Source in a balanced state so clearly we don’t need Hydaelyn and Zodiark to accomplish that.”
Hades looked from the youth to his lover. “You intend to kill the very god who saved us? Without Zodiark, the world as you know it today would not exist.”
“I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that Zodiark was manipulating you and the rest of the Convocation into sacrificing millions to sate His hunger for aether. Whose to say He won’t do so again if He’s ever resurrected? And what’s stopping Hydaelyn from doing the same when no more rejoinings happen to feed Her?” Aestelle asked. “You know as well as anyone that eikons cannot be allowed to live if the star is to live as well since eikons feed on the star itself. It’s why Garlemald is so opposed to summonings, something you instilled in that empire.”
He huffed in response. “You know dear, I hate it when you’re right.”
Aestelle smiled brightly up at him. “I know you do. But talk for taking on the two eldest and most powerful of primals can wait till after we’ve saved Elidibus and dealt with everything else threatening the Source and the First.”
“Such as the Weapon Project being carried out by the VIIth Legion?” Unukalhai asked.
“Exactly. There are plenty of things still left up in the air that need to be dealt with before I can turn my attention to Hydaelyn and Zodiark.” She agreed. “So back to the First we must go! Thancred and Ryne have been looking into the Empty─the wasteland outside of what remains of the First following the Flood of Light─and if Ryne is right, there may be a way to revive the Empty and make it habitable again.”
“Restoring land where aether has been all but swayed towards one single element?” Hades murmured to himself.
“If that proves successful, there may yet be hope for my homeworld.” Unukalhai then said. “Please, see what can be done on the First and bring back any news you have on my master and on Ryne’s progress into the Empty. I will do what I can to keep things here on the Source from spiraling out of control in your absence, Aestelle. And Emet-Selch, can I ask that you send a message along to my master should you meet him?”
Hades looked down at the youth with a single eyebrow raised. “A message? And what would you ask me to pass onto our Emissary?”
Pausing for a moment, Unukalhai’s eyes fell to the ground at their feet. “I have been thinking much in the time since you returned to the First following your conversation with my master, Aestelle. That his memories have slowly been fading with time, I couldn’t help but wonder why is it he saw me─no more than a hapless child, beaten and broken and awaiting death─as someone worthy of becoming his student? And for a time, I had resolved that Elidibus had no rhyme or reason to his choosing of me. Shere convenience and nothing more. But then it dawned on me, you had said that when my master was returned to you from Zodiark’s core, he was a child not so unlike myself.” A soft sigh escaped his lips as he grasped at his white robes. “Elidibus may very well have been looking into a mirror when he chanced upon me. Though he had saved your world from the Final Days, he was helpless to prevent the Great Sundering just as I couldn’t protect my home. And because of this, I ask that you tell him that contrary to what he believes, he is not alone.” Unukalhai offered them both a small smile as he looked up to Aestelle and Hades. “That there are those still fighting not only for the good of the world, but for him. If I had known what it meant to have comrades such as the Scions when the Flood of Darkness threatened the Thirteenth, there might have been a chance to prevent its drowning. But I have friends now and can see that having those wanting nothing more than to stand by your side can very well be the difference between triumph and defeat. Tell him to try and remember why it is he fought in the first place because I am sure it was not for Zodiark.”
“That he is not alone..?” Hades whispered under his breath before nodding. “Alright, I understand your message and should I happen to cross paths with that ever-elusive man, I will be sure to relay your words. Now if you would excuse us, boy, we should be off before my dearly beloved gets sidetracked yet again and tries to spend an eternity perusing the vendor stalls outside.”
Aestelle couldn’t help but laugh as Hades went ahead and created a portal to their right, the dark aether pulsating as the magicks continue to whirl and ripple. “It’s not my fault the things that are sold here in Mor Dhona are ever-changing. And besides, last I checked you yourself quite love merchant strips so you have no room to talk.” She said, pausing to glance back over her shoulder towards Unukalhai after Hades had walked into his portal and was already being carried off on the currents of aether. “Oh, and thank you again Unukalhai. I’ll be sure to bring back some good news for you upon my next visit. Stay safe and keep training on becoming the best hero you can be! We’ll be needing your help if we do find a way to help the Thirteenth.~”
The white-robed youth nodded and gave her a small wave, the vaunted Warrior of Darkness stepping through the deep purple portal only for it to disappear moments after she was fully through. Unukalhai watched her go for a moment longer before turning to grab his mask off of the Antecedents’ desk, turning it around in his hands a few times and then setting it down once more. “Master...are you truly lost to the darkness..?”