An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1 ~1000 words
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alisaie Leveilleur & Alphinaud Leveilleur
Characters: Alisaie Leveilleur, Alphinaud Leveilleur
Additional Tags: Ghosts, Siblings, No Spoilers, Patch 4.0: Stormblood (Final Fantasy XIV), Based on a fanart
Summary:
With Alphinaud convinced their lodgings are haunted, Alisaie leads on to investigate.
Based on a fanart: https://www.tumblr.com/warrior-of-fight-or-flight/811658757584076800
New chapter of Even A Man Pure In Heart out now! Alphinaud has memory-dreams about an incident i made up featuring a guy that i made up and thinks some really concerning things!
You can read it here, or under the cut if you don’t like going to secondary locations.
Not even the turning of seasons could lessen the biting cold of Garlemald’s evenings. Alphinaud huddled into his clothes even further as the wind tried to pierce them, watching as the sun kissed the horizon. Alisaie was likewise bundled into her coat, shivering even with her hood pulled up.
They had hoped to be able to spend the night laid out next to ceruleum heaters, the highest comfort possible for an outsider in the ruins of Garlemald, but one of the citizens had requested their presence for reasons not yet explained, so there they stood in front of a recently repaired home, almost clear across the district from Tertium, awaiting whatever demands would be made of them.
… He enjoyed the work, though. Of course he did. As much as it challenged him, and as much as the people of Garlemald at times loathed to accept help from their former enemies. It made him proud to see the progress he, his sister, and the Ilsabard Contingent had made in the space of not even two moons. Power had been partially restored to the capital, homes were being reoccupied, and the threat of encroaching monsters and rogue machina were gradually being driven back. Whatever assistance was asked from them, he would gladly give it. Assuming that they would answer the door before he and Alisaie needed to retreat to warm themselves.
Alphinaud pressed a button next to the entrance. He had done so once already, but that had been some time ago. Seconds? Minutes? The only indicator of passing time was the sun’s slow descent.
“Alright, that’s it.” Alisaie said before walking up to the door, pulling her fists back, and smacking on it with her full might. It clanged loudly, ever-so-slightly loose in its frame, the sound accompanied by Alisaie shouting, “You asked for us, so open the door!”
Before she could give it a kick for good measure, the lock suddenly clicked, the great cermet slab drawing into the surrounding wall. Behind the door was an older man, with gray stubble all along his jaw. He stood with square shoulders and a raised chin, the proud stature of a military officer.
“You will have to forgive me for leaving you in the cold. I had assumed that that Maxima whelp and his ilk were at my door,” he said, his distaste apparent in his voice. “But now that you are here, let’s get to business. My name is Remus Pyr Venari, I was a breeder and trainer of war hounds in the time before Garlemald’s fall, and I seek to bring the strays around the city back under heel, and you two, heroes of Eorzea that you are, are certainly strong enough to subdue some starving dogs.”
Alphinaud nodded. “Indeed, that is within our ability. We shall notify the Contingent of your request, and get started as soon as-“
“Actually, you shall start now,” Remus interrupted. “I need those dogs contained at the first available opportunity. Them being feral is my life’s work gone to waste, to say nothing of the risk they pose to any lone man wandering in the night.”
Alphinaud blinked. “That may be true, however, we cannot simply rush into that same danger without at least notifying our comrades of our whereabouts.”
“Heroes who ventured to the edge of the universe, and you’re scared of dogs? Perhaps you and your ilk are more like Jullus and Maxima’s weaklings than I had first thought.” Remus made a face like he wanted to spit at them, the urge barely restrained by military decorum. “I will keep this in mind for when Senatus requires assistance again, we shall not rely on such easily cowed ‘help.’”
A hard knot of frustration formed in Alphinaud’s jaw. The people of Senatus already spurned the Ilsabard Contingency. It would only grow more difficult if they were smeared as cowards. This was a situation requiring a great deal of tact, an outburst now could cost them weeks worth of good will. He very quietly took a deep breath, choking back the treasonous feeling.
However, Alisaie had already decided to speak. “You cannot be serious,” she said, “how are these hounds and your countrymen’s safety so important that they mustn’t wait even a single bell yet worth so little that you may turn away your best chance of solving the problem?”
His face blanched. Remus’ nostrils flared at the remark. “You would accuse me, girl?”
“When it is true, yes,” she said. “If it is so important to you, however, we may skirt the rules. A linkpearl call to Lucia should be enough that they will know that we are busy.”
Remus stared her down. A moment later, he threw his hands up in defeat. “Very well. You may make your call. After that, you will come with me without delay.”
Alphinaud breathed a quiet sigh of relief. To act on frustration as his sister did was to court humiliation, as he had learned by force from his time in Eorzea. It had been a long, oft painful process to learn the lesson that just because things felt true did not mean that he could say them.
He envied her, that she had not needed to do the same. Alas, where his sister’s instincts and impulses led her straight to the betterment of the realm, Alphinaud could not say the same for his own. One would need only ask the Sultana for proof.
No use in agonizing over the topic. They were complimentary, of course, where she was bold and unconstrained, he was instead collected, cool-headed, and, above all else, controlled. It was his nature and his duty both.
Remus stood in the doorway glaring at Alisaie as she called the Contingent over linkpearl.
And yet, Alphinaud suddenly felt as though he was being watched. A presence behind him, one he had no recollection of being there on this night.
Hairs on the back of his neck raised as he tensed. This scene was but a memory, he knew now, but his heart screamed that there was real danger present all the same. He whipped around, searching by the dim light of the freshly-set sun for the threat.
Alphinaud turned around and froze. There was a figure in the alleyway across from him, slouched over and nearly flat to the ground.
Slim, blonde, with a reddened ruin where it should have a face.
A keening sound like a poorly-tuned radio rang in his ears, joined by the percussive backing of his heartbeat. The sound grew more intense as, above and behind Hancock’s body, a pair of eyes stared back at him, two points of light like distant, blazing stars, full of malice and directed right towards him. They pierced through him as he stared back, keeping him transfixed despite his body screaming at him to run.
After what felt like an eternity of those burning yellow eyes boring through him, they moved, creeping leisurely towards the light. Beneath them, he could barely make out a mouth full of fangs, glinting like knives. Grinning like a tormentor.
Alphinaud woke up.
A jolt ran through his body, fighting against his stiff limbs, as his eyes shot open. In front of him was a wooden ceiling, its roofing just barely enough to keep out potential rain. He is in Onokoro, far away from that place and time.
His heart raced still, despite the danger having been naught but the previous day’s stresses making their mark in his subconscious.
He was mostly convinced of that.
His chest rose and fell, rapid and shallow at first, before slowing into a state of relative calm. As the stiffness of sleep left him, he sat up, his back making known its displeasure for the poor excuse of a bed it had been laid upon. He still sat in the humble shed Alisaie had bargained from the pirates, and she herself had sprawled herself out on the sailcloth next to him, taking up the remaining space on its surface.
Before they had gone to bed, he had asked her to watch over him during the night, to be ready to subdue him should something happen. Even in her sleep now, she faced him, the tension in her face gently lit by the moon. He shuffled closer to her, careful not to wake her.
He had made a shameful display the previous day, losing control of his emotions as he had and nearly sabotaging her plans on an impulse. But she had pulled through, despite his best, flailing efforts. Now, with her by his side and the Archons surely on their way, things felt a little less chaotic, a little less hopeless. They were sure to find an answer as to what had killed Hancock, and why it had used him to do the deed.
His eyes wandered and his lids slowly drooped down as he held on to his sister’s hand. As he drifted off back to sleep, he peered out the window and up to the night sky, where the waning moon peered back.
New chapter of Heart and Fury out now! Watch that girl have really complicated feelings about her brother here!
(Or, if you hate going to secondary locations, you can read it under the cut!)
As soon as Alisaie found a spot where she could watch over the site of the inevitable execution, she followed up on her promise to Fray, pulling the soul crystal from its resting place. Holding it close, she called his name once more, only to be met with silence.
Very well then. If that’s how he wanted to be, then she would simply have to take initiative. Fray was an immaterial being, she knew. One who was blessed by half-existence by some quirk of the stone she held. And, as she had just recently discovered, could speak to her within the confines of her own skull, offering assistance in a way a truly separate being would be hard-pressed to do.
He did not exist without. So he must instead exist within.
She closed her eyes, blotting out the world, focusing on naught but her own breath and heartbeat.
Without Fray’s assistance, it was not so easy to fall under. Especially not when the world above still demanded her attention so. Aedwyn could be led to her execution at any moment still, and if Alisaie was distracted at that moment, there would be no saving her.
But, if she did not seek out Fray, it would not matter.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Ignore the world outside and focus on her heartbeat. Ignore it all. And just
Go
Under…
This time, the shadows roiled. Coalescing into fragments of scenes before scattering just as quickly. Brief glimpses of memory, flowing into being and fading away just as fast, threatening to drag her along with them.
Not that she would let them, of course. She had a goal. She just had to remain firm. She walked forward, letting each one pass by until she found her mentor. She could just make out what each vision was before it faded away, recognizing such locales as depths of Dalamud’s fallen shards and the roads of Eorzea.
They fell behind her as she passed them by. As much as the concept of “behind” existed here, at least. She grumbled in annoyance. Of all the times for Fray to make himself scarce, did it have to be now? Every second she spent searching for him was one where Ishgard could execute their prisoner with her never even knowing.
Was she even making progress towards him? Between flashes of memory, the world was nothing more than an undifferentiated morass of shadows, and she could see no sign of her progress.
Nor any sign of Fray. Her pace began to flag as her determination wavered. Of course she couldn’t just make him show himself. To need her mentor and find no sign of him was just the way of things, and her thinking that she could simply brute force her way into changing that? Folly.
Alisaie’s quick walk slowed to a solemn trudge, then to a stop. She was being dramatic. She knew that. She just needed to gather herself before pressing onwards once more.
But her legs didn’t follow her command, remaining rooted to the ground. She stayed still, unable to force herself to take a step as memory coalesced around her once more, shadows giving way to white marble and deep green tile, the spitting image of the Noumenon. In one of its many alcoves, standing next to a desk piled high with tomes, was herself, temporarily free of her brother as he picked through the towering shelves for the resources required for his latest project, whatever it had been at the time.
It was as bizarre a feeling as it had been the first time, seeing herself from without and yet recalling events so clearly as they progressed that there was no cutoff between the Alisaie of the present and the Alisaie of the past. She felt as if she was back standing at that desk herself, buried to her nose in coursework.
So involved in her readings in fact, that she hadn’t noticed the approach of one of her fellow classmates. A miqo’te boy with short brown hair, shy enough of full grown that he couldn’t stoop far without losing the advantage of height to lord over her. “Ah, Alisaie! Fancy seeing you here. I would have assumed you’d be off somewhere you didn’t have to see us peasants!”
A huff escaped her. A grave mistake in front of a nuisance like him. “What do you want, E’nim?” she said with a note of barely-contained venom.
“Hostility already? A poor showing from a child of one of Sharlayan’s most respected families,” he said, putting on a face of faux-concern. “Your grandfather’s poor morals must have rubbed off on you.”
One should never engage with hecklers such as him, she knew. It was wisdom from her father, mother, and brother alike. The correct course of action by any standard she knew was to put up a veneer of impassibility and let him grow bored until he gave up. She had even done so to him before, ignoring him and walking away to leave him alone with his own frustrations as he tried to besmirch Louisoix’s good name. She wasn’t even the real target of his ire, as he was much more interested in her brother, only choosing to bother her when Alphinaud was beyond his reach.
But it did not change the fact that her blood boiled at the comment now just as it did then. She had kept the anger lodged in her throat, though, of course, the pest took notice of her clenched fist and jaw and couldn’t help himself but to prod further.
“My! Such a temper! All the work your father does to clean up the Leveilleur name, all for his children to soil it again with foul attitude and childish dreams of leaving us all behind to play hero among the Eorzeans. What would he think?” He couldn’t help the smirk that slowly spread across his features.
Just as she couldn’t help the prickling of tears in her eyes, or the rush of heat and blood in her ears. She wanted to shout at him, how dare you! Grandfather was a greater man than you’ll ever be!
She had to settle for hissing between clenched teeth, “I am not in the mood for your games, E’nim. Go bother my brother, as I know you so dearly want to.”
His ears pinned, tail flicking. He was very near to giving up, relenting to resume his harassment another day. However, he could not refrain from wagging his hateful tongue one last time.
“It’s true. You’re no fun to argue with, what with you being the greater of two fools. So incapable of anything more than plaintive cries for anyone to please put respect on the name of that traitor you call Grandfather,” he ranted to her as she tried to remain expressionless. “It’s incoherent is what it is. After all, what kind of ‘good man’ would run away from his country, offering himself to strangers an ocean away?” his stupid grin nearly covered his whole face, growing only more malicious, “what kind of man would run away from his family for it?”
That was it. Alisaie glanced between him, his distance from her face, and her hand, balled into a white-knuckled fist. Before she could reason with herself, it landed against his nose with a hard crack.
He reeled away, only barely catching himself on a bookcase, clutching his face as a bright red smear formed between his fingers. He cursed her in an even stuffier voice than before.
Alisaie stood up as straight as she could, crimson flecks adorning her own hand as she stared him down. “Don’t you dare speak about him that way,” she said, keeping tears from her eyes, “he was a greater man than anyone in this city!”
Footsteps came from behind her, light, even, and steady. As they grew closer, a shadow fell over the both of them.
“Pardon me, what is going on here?” said a voice she immediately recognized as her brother. Gods, it had already been a mistake to act so impulsively, the fact that Alphinaud had been nearby to witness it only made it moreso.
“Your rabid sister just broke my nose!” E’nim said, nasally.
“And what, exactly, did you do to provoke her?”
“He insulted our grandfather, for one thing,” said Alisaie. The question was not directed to her, but like hells she’d leave the story in the other boy’s hands.
“Oh, and that is reason enough to strike me? Perhaps you should reconsider careers, Alphinaud, if this is what you share blood with. I doubt the Forum will have places for interventionists and warmongers like your kin.”
“My goals are irrelevant to the matter at hand, to say nothing of your assumption that my nature is decided by a person other than myself,” said Alphinaud. “Or likewise, that my sister’s conduct reflects in any way upon our grandsire. Her choosing action over words bears little meaning for the rest of us who share her surname. Rest assured, I shall prove a much more productive target than she for your sorry attempts at debate.”
Alisaie shrank in on herself, hoping that E’nim was too distracted by her brother’s words and that her weakness would pass without notice. Thankfully, their fellow student seemed willing to take the bait, quickly diverting his attention away from her.
“And, sister?” Alphinaud shot her a glance, a brief flash of concern or the like in his eyes before it vanished beneath his haughty Sharlayan stoicism. “We shall talk later.”
… The memory reached its end, the scenery slowly dissolving as Alphinaud’s words formed a pit in her stomach. She slumped as his words still ran about inside her skull. He’d always had his moments of annoyance, but gods, he had become so much worse since Louisoix’s disappearance. The boy who had always been so concerned for his own image then seemed to drown in it, determined to make himself into an idol of stiff-lipped rationality, playing games of politics as practice for his eventual journey to Eorzea.
Even if he had to step on her to get there.
A hand rests on her shoulder. It doesn’t startle her. Instead, she turns to its owner, and she already knows his identity. “Took you long enough to show up,” she said to Fray, now sat down next to her.
“I did not expect you to come here on your own,” he said.
“I said that we needed to talk. I was not about to take silence as an answer.”
“You will have to forgive me my weakness, it was…” he searched for his next word. He did not seem to find it. “… It shall not happen again.”
“Good. I will need you to keep me fighting no matter what when the Temple Knights make their move. That poor woman’s life depends on us, now.”
Fray nods. “And we cannot afford to fail again.”
The only defined sound for the next moment was her own heartbeat, just under the white noise of the abyss. Alisaie elected to break the silence first. “Was showing me this memory your decision?” she asked.
“It was not,” Fray replied, “but perhaps we can still eke out some understanding from it, regardless.”
Alisaie frowned. “So my brother was a pompous arse sometimes in his school years. I already knew that. What else is there to learn?”
“Was it only in his school years? This memory seems too fresh to all be in the past,” said Fray.
Her jaw clenched. “That is not your business,” she said firmly, “and even if it were, he is still my brother. He’s been a part of my life since the moment I was born, I could never consider him a source of pain.”
“And yet, he seemed to take no issue in considering you a source of shame.”
The words sent a spike through her chest. She wanted to say it wasn’t true, to shout it and make Fray regret ever suggesting such a thing, but the truth was obvious in the fact that she had relived this memory in the first place.
She still remembered how he had been when they had delved into the remains of Dalamud together. Just as arrogant as he had been back at home, if not even more egoistic since the success of his little stratagem.
Operation Archon, he had called it. And he had accused her of being too attached to Grandfather’s memory.
Her grip on her legs tightened. “Let’s get out of here. Gods know how long it’s been since I arrived.”
Fray shrugged, “if that is what you wish.”
Before Alisaie could ask how, he snapped his fingers.
And she was awake once more, left to pull herself up from a slump.
In the setting sun, she could see that the path between Dragonhead and the ravine nearby remained mercifully untread.
“They won’t try to carry out a trial in the night. Too easy to ambush them then,” said Fray, standing beside her once again. “It would be best to sneak in some rest before sunrise. Make a meal of those fallen men’s rations too. You’ll want to have energy when the time comes.”
At a glance, the surroundings offered nowhere to rest. Alisaie did not relent, however, considering everything from the trees to such brazen moves as nestling herself in one of the camp walls’ many corners.
The answer came to her however, as she looked down into the ravine. There were a few caves along the inside, offering some shelter from the wind. While the cliff face was quite sheer, she had a great deal of skill with climbing. Not to mention how little the Temple Knights would expect an ambush to come from below.
Her decision made, Alisaie climbed down the rocky path to the bottom of the ravine. She would prove herself worthy of Eremi’s faith. She would save Aedwyn’s life. She would not allow another girl to die while she was helpless to do anything about it.
The new plushie my family brought home from their vacation might be cursed. Every time I've slept with it on my bed I've the worst nightmares I've had in the last month. Naturally I made it into a cryptid for my ttrpg group...
Meet Glimpsie. And Glimpsie. And Glimpsie. And also my OC Arthur (the boy). He might have had an incident(tm) with them. Are they territorial? Are they carnivorous despite lacking a mouth?? IDK, but they sure have big eyes to observe you with.
online numbers can really fuck you up when it comes to your creative work because you're sharing something you worked on with all your heart but it's very important to remember there's actual people behind those numbers. even if it's 1. that's one whole actual person. that's a human being who said "haha nice". that's a connection with a REAL person with a REAL life and REAL thoughts and feelings and experiences. like. damn. that should mean something
okay i gotta preface this with: I don't know too much elezen lore and i Made This All Up!!! AND I AM STILL IN EARLY SHB SO this could change, especially the hcs for Alph :) tho he'll always have big ol' ears, the details as to why may change . anyways!
Elezen ears are known to come in multiple shapes and have a limited random of motion, allowing for temporary positioning and movement. While they can respond to sound in the surrounding environment, the muscles in their ears typically don’t have the strength or control for precise/subtle shifts of the ear. Usually, the most obvious display of movement is during high emotion: their ears can shoot upwards, downwards, and even backwards depending on the Elezen’s mood and personality as a whole.
Interestingly, newborn Elezen are usually born with ears that are oversized in proportion to their head, and are too heavy for them to move due to the size and the underdeveloped muscles attached to the child’s auricle. They tend to have ears that point downward and are relatively floppy.
With time, usually right past the toddler phase, elezen children start to catch up with their ears, at least enough that the nuetral position shifts to point more outwards rather than downwards.
Occasionally, a child’s ears continue to grow at the same rate and “stay ahead” of the rest of their body rather than slow down- or the muscles in their ear don’t develop like they should. Both of these can preserve that downward angle while the former results in larger than average ears as well. It’s typically referred to as Auricle Misalignment Syndrome or Ear Misalignment Syndrome.
It doesn’t cause harm but it can slightly impact hearing and be deemed a cosmetic issue, since downturned ears are typically associated with infants and very young children. Otherwise, it's not usually much to worry about, as it typically resolves itself during the elezen's eventual growth spurt in their 20s. Typically.
An example would be Alphinaud- who has a fairly extreme and rarer case of it: Both large ears and weak ear muscles.
Physical therapy and other medical treatments can help, but the combination of both issues made it difficult to really fix it long term without more invasive methods, so it was decided against and twisted into a "benefit": Being the youngest student ever to enter the Studium with a feature that made him appear even younger.
In Sharlayan, Alphinaud never felt particularly insecure about them due to his status as a young prodigy. However, after he left for Eorzea, he discovered his condition would not be perceived quite so graciously, especially during his time in Ishgard, with some questioning why it had gone untreated for a boy of his station.
Nowadays, he’s grown more insecure about his ears, but doesn’t really have the time to dedicate to “fixing” them. Any sort of physical therapy to build the strength in his ear muscles would take time and consistency that he doesn’t have. He just hopes that he’ll grow into them in his eventual growth spurt- but in the meantime, he's just dealing with accepting an aspect of himself he thought he already had years ago. What good are they if they don't make him look more respectable? (Normal, healthy thing to think)
As for Alisaie? She had a milder case of it and had physical therapy to fix it years ago. She has her own ear problems though. If it’s not obvious.
see. Every time the voice reached out and they kept talking about how it was communicating with the scions only I thought about Alphinaud since he’s a scion too, and turns out he was definitely suffering these horrific visions more or less alone before his soul got ripped out of his fucking body
amandla
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