The Many Meetings of Death and Death (1/5) - Poetic Justice
Daud is a wreck. Corvo is a player avatar. Neither of them is happy about it.
Well maybe the Outsider is.
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Read here or on Ao3 (2528 words)
Have fun! Comments always welcome! :)
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Daud is a wreck. He knows it, even without seeing the looks his Whalers give him. He knows he scares them but there is nothing he can do about it anymore. He's been cracked down the middle for a long time, and the sword he's rammed into the empress had equally rammed a wedge into that crack, ruining his careful paint job. Sitting here now at his same old desk waiting for Attano to come and get his revenge was the closest he's felt to peace in six months. Either way, whatever comes of it, today it will be over.
Thomas stands in front of him, masked and stiff, as he reports sightings of Attano's rather chaotic escape and the slew of unconscious bodies he's already left behind. Even without seeing his face Daud knows well what his now second thinks of the plan. Knows that Thomas knows he doesn't expect to survive this. Knows that Thomas agrees and resents him for it.
Daud doesn't want to die. He thought he did for a while, deliberated ending it himself even, thinking that surely it would be better for everyone if he simply took himself off of their hands rather than dragging it out and everyone down with him. Billie's coup could have almost been a relief, had she not so succinctly demonstrated what he's done to her, to all his Whalers. He knows Thomas thinks that Attano is his bolt to the head but he is wrong. The knife to his wrist brought Daud no relief and instead made him realize that what he really wants is what he gave Billie. He wants out. He wants another chance. He wants something other than blood on his hands.
Attano may very well prove a bolt to his head, he wouldn't be surprised by it despite the man's strangely non-lethal approach to his prior escapades, but it will not be Daud who fires it.
"Understood. Get new lookouts on the roofs but make sure they know not to engage. Deal with the sentries as you will." Even if he dies today, his Whalers should not. Attano has proven shockingly merciful considering his fate, leaving far more bruised egos and throats behind than corpses. The bodyguard doesn't know which of his people were involved in the assassination, and Daud is hoping that anonymity will grant them some protection. If they don't actively get in his way, Attano shouldn't feel the need to kill them. Daud doesn't want to lose more of his people, even though they shittalk him, even though they grumble and whine, even though they play inane games and try to bother him into joining, even though he tried his best to be a distant leader and not care about them. Now, at what is very likely the end of his life, there is no point in lying to himself anymore. He does care. He cares about every face and name, he remembers all of them, even those he hasn't picked up himself, and it hurts far beyond the snapping of the bond when he loses one of them. This is between him and Attano, and Daud can only hope the bodyguard will see that too. But his Whalers he can order to let it be.
Thomas remains silent for some moments, though they both know Daud will not change his mind. He's known what will - what must - happen today, since the moment his men reported finding Attano barely alive on that boat. He also knows Thomas will not disobey. He's known the young man for much of his short life, has taken him in as a lanky, abused teenager like so many of their group, and has shaped him into one of their most proficient and loyal scouts. Billie would have fought him tooth and nail on the order. Thomas will obey.
It doesn't take Thomas long to crumble. His shoulders slump and he sighs. Daud is glad for the young man's mask, so he doesn't have to see the defeat in his eyes.
"Yes, sir." Thomas doesn't mumble, has been trained far too well for it. The Whaler bows shallowly and turns to leave. Daud silently watches him. At the door Thomas stops for a moment and turns to look but says nothing else, as if he simply wants to memorize the last moment he will see his master alive. He closes to door behind himself when he finally does leave.
Daud remains alone, sitting at his desk with nothing more to do, and waits for death to come.
Death eventually comes in the form of the ugly sound of metal striking metal. The sound comes from above him though and Daud jumps up from his seat and whirls around, seeing nothing. He doesn't bother with his void vision, that would be too easy. Instead he listens and indeed, now that he is alerted, he can hear quiet footsteps sneaking around the room. He announces as much, and the steps hesitate for barely a moment. There from the bookshelf.
Well, if Attano wants to make a game of it, he has plenty of practice playing. A bunch of urchins and street-rats don't train themselves into nearly undetectable assassins.
Daud draws his sword and starts walking over, slowly and deliberately.
"Do you think you can hide from a hunter of men?" He is taunting the man, poking at him, trying to see if he can bait him out. But when he rounds the shelf (and walks past the portrait of Burrows that he shoved a sword into during one of his more... difficult moments), there is no one there. The footsteps return after a moment from the other side of the room. So he can transverse too, can he. Unsurprising, it is one of the black-eyed bastard's most useful gifts, and it explains many of Attano's miracles. Daud turns and once again follows his ears, though he also keeps an eye on the top of the shelves. It's the first lesson he teaches the novices, 'up' is usually the right direction for them, and he doesn't doubt that Attano has realized it too.
They make another few rounds like that, Daud getting close only for Attano to transverse away at the last moment to another corner of the room, clearly there but never in view. Daud is beginning to get frustrated with this pointless game of cat and mouse.
"Is that how you protected the empress?" It's a low blow and he knows it, but he wants to finally get it over with. Get Attano to fight him, one on one, until only one of them will remain standing. The waterlogged wood under his feet creaks as he stalks forward, again to that damn bookshelf and the sword in it.
Daud doesn't know if it's the reference to his beloved empress, the insult, or if Attano has simply grown tired of dancing circles around him, but finally, he steps out of the shadows, sword drawn and mark ready.
"There you are.'' The man in the mask before him doesn't answer, simply holds his sword in front of his chest. All the better. Someone else tries to answer though and he feels the arcane bond flare to life as first two then three of his Whalers jump out of the shadow, unsummoned and unbidden. He thinks he can pick out Galia and Rinaldo, and possibly Quinn. (Not Thomas though, never obedient, loyal Thomas.) For a moment anger floods through him hard enough to drown out his own trepidation.
"No! This is between me and him, out with you all, now!" He can see them flinch and hesitate, but only for a moment. Then the room is empty again, except for Daud himself and Attano, who for some reason has decided to wait out the scolding. He shuts out the arcane bond, closes himself off to all of them as well as he can without severing it completely. He's not interested in acknowledging the childish sulking of undisciplined brats who clearly need another run of the gauntlet. And when he dies, the breaking of the bond will be less painful. Attano deserves his attention at least.
He yanks at the power of the mark and halts time, just to make sure.
"And now we fight, the duel no two others could fight, against the ticking of the clock." Daud knows he's being dramatic. But then, there are only two people now who could judge him for it, one who has suffered far worse from his hands before, and one whose teeth Daud will personally kick in once he's dead if he dares comment on it. Attano thankfully does not deign to answer and finally attacks properly.
As their swords clash over and over, momentum driving them all across the room, Daud is unsure if the man is a genius or a lunatic. Perhaps both. Either way he is relentless. His swings are fast and almost aimless, making it hard to predict their direction. He seems less interested in doing actual damage than in driving Daud into a corner. There is little Daud can do but dodge and try to get a few lucky hits in before transversing away to gain distance. Interestingly Attano rarely follows with a transversal of his own or any magic at all. It seems Daud has the advantage of experience in using their abilities in combat, but it is clearly the only advantage he has. Attano is as tough as he is fast and confusing, the hits Daud does get in don't seem to faze him at all.
The fight is exhausting and while Attano is apparently running on endless stamina even hours after being poisoned, Daud is not, and soon he can feel the strain on his body rising. Prolonged combat has never been his forte, an assassin who fights his target openly has already failed. He doesn't intend to give up though. He owes Attano an honest victory. And so Daud makes one last desperate gamble and transverses out of his office to the next rooftop, putting his back to the crumbling wall and shifting into a defensive stance. But this time Attano follows the transversal, just smidge to the right of Daud. The first hit slams his sword out of his hands, the second one slashes him right across the chest, splattering blood all over the roof. One of his bones charms goes flying as it's ripped from his chest. And Daud knows he's lost.
Dragging up just the last bit of energy from somewhere in his bones he blinks again, only a few metres, and immediately collapses. He only stays upright because of the piece of wall behind his back. He's gasping for air, trying to push past the burning pain in his chest as he's trying to stifle the bleeding somewhat. The cut is too long and deep for him to truly block it, but at least the pressure should keep him from bleeding out until he says his piece. Even if it hurts like shit.
Attano comes closer, bloody sword in hand but not raised. He stands. And waits. As if he knows Daud still has something to say. As if he's listening. Well. Who is Daud to leave him waiting.
"I have one more surprise for you." Is it though with how Attano is looking at him? "I ask for my life." He is hoping beyond hope that none of his Whalers are watching. That he's scared them enough with his yelling that no one is seeing this and will be disappointed by the outcome, whatever it will be. He knows even in the moment it's a vain hope, he can see the shadows of at least two on the surrounding balconies. Probably Ricardo and Galia again, the little shits. He doesn't reach for the bond to check. "When I killed your empress and took her daughter something in me broke." He's trying hard to get out the words, focusing beyond the pain in his chest, the frustration over his Whalers, the wild, desperate hope that maybe, just maybe, Attano will actually let him live. Somehow none of these distractions are as difficult to get past as Attano himself, who starts shifting his weight around and keeps turning his head. As if he's nervous. Daud swallows down another surge of pain and nausea and decides to ignore it. "Now I see the design on your hand, the mark of the Outsider himself, and I remember all I've done. The years of w- What are you doing??" He's glanced away for barely a moment, and suddenly Attano has his mask pushed up and a rat half hanging out of his mouth.
At least the man has the decency to look awkward about it.
For a short while they simply stare at each other in silence, Attano chewing on the dead rat and Daud bleeding out on the ground with no words to describe the situation. Eventually he decides not to try.
"Look, I am trying to say that I regret my actions and if you let me live, I will leave and never kill again." Attano, once again, doesn't answer. He doesn't do much of anything except finish eating the rat. Whole it seems, because Daud cannot spy the bones anywhere. Instinct bred by more than a decade of training idiot teenagers who like to shove weird shit down their throats has him watching the man for signs of choking. There are none. Does he... Does he have practice with this?
Eventually Attano pulls the mask down again and starts awkwardly shuffling away. He doesn't turn away from Daud, but instead of being suspicious he seems to just be awkward about leaving. No comment about conditions, no threats, not even really much of any emotion. He just leaves Daud to bleed out on the roof and vanishes back inside the building.
Daud feels... Something, certainly. He's not quite sure what though. Pain is the easiest thing to name, but aside from that... He has just been gifted his life. Attano chose mercy. In a strange and unsettling way but mercy nonetheless. He is alive. He should be grateful for that. Somewhere in his bones he is, but above all, even above the pain, he is simply deeply confused about what just happened.
Then the pain catches up again and Daud bites back a groan as he doubles over. Well fuck it, if Attano wants to be a cryptic, rat-eating little shit, so be it. Daud has an unexpected life to live. Or at least he will if he takes care of the gash in his chest first, something he will... need help with. He curses under his breath and tugs on the arcane bond, for once not much caring who he reaches. The rumour mill will have everyone caught up in minutes anyway. Immediately he is surrounded by at least a dozen baffled Whalers, all nearly falling over each other on the narrow roof. Daud only sighs as he watches their antics, now that Attano is gone. This will be a long day.
(And really, he is thankful for it.)
