forgot I said i was gonna elaborate more on this post lmao um here's my additional ideas (+ hey. this is also how all my planning gets laid out so you all can see my adhd method of a process)
AKA: au idea where Cherri dies to the hands of the blue kingdom which causes Ren gets driven crazy by grief and Apo to spiral
Cherri dies to the hands of the blue kingdom. Apo is so distraught with grief but she knows she needs to go back to Soluna to tell Ren
Apo would rather die than be without Cherri and they see how bad Ren is and just. can't anymore
-> she blames herself for everything, she should've never let the conflict get to this point, she should have stopped the kingdoms from fighting, she should have told Cherri to look behind her, she should have been there to stop Owain? (not sure who yet..) she should have she should have loved them more even though it isn't her fault at all.
-> Ren's just. so consumed by grief he's lashing out at anyone and everyone. His daughter is gone. Forever. She can't come back, he's alone again, no family remaining
Ren lashes out at Apo when he first learns the news "YOU WERE THERE TO PROTECT HER AND SHE'S GONE" (Apo's just. sobbing, hollow with grief)
they're both grieving and both are not taking it well but handling it in different ways (ren by lashing out at others, apo by slowly killing herself from the inside out/self neglect)
Apo's not even working their position as a Moon Knight, barely leaving their room in the quarters. She can't think about that right now even trying to hold moon piercer feels wrong without Cherri by their side. She'd just gotten to tell them how much she cared for them. They'd just learned how much they cared for her. They'd only just gotten together, promised to live for the other and how can she do that without them?
At some point she just. Stares at herself in a mirror. All the life is gone from her face, she feels numb and hollow again. Just like she was in Thornhelm. Though she can't remember many specifics of the time in the military there as a child the feeling is familiar. Life is as robotic as it was back then, and everything is dull. Except this time, she's an adult. She's had friends and new beginnings even one person where her love for them has had been reciprocated, the sparks beginning to fan into a flame
Eventually though, that achey hollowness becomes too overwhelming, too much for her to handle, she can't take it any longer. (im not going to elaborate more, you all can figure out what happens)
Any remaining goodness in King Ren has long since gone. Not only did he lose his biological daughter, he also lost the girl who was basically his other daughter. And someday probably would have been had they both survived, he saw the look in both of their eyes