“ Of course I can fix it ; it’s magitek – “ The weapon rolled keenly in his fingers, careful examination given to the mechanisms, though the man’s face appeared so rarely guarded. “ But why not ask Cid or the others to do it ? ”
Backstory : Instead of being adopted into an orphanage, this AU has Icarus being found and raised by Garlean troops that were kidnapping children.
He still has Hydaelyn's blessing but uses it for the Empire's benefit. Using his unimagineable strength and invincibility against primals to spread Garlean influence. ( "If you wish for protection against the primals ((THIS TIME IT WORKS 100%)) then pledge legiance to us" )
He also still intensely shows interest and flirts with Zenos yae Galvus (cuz mmm otp braimworms).
I initially thought him to be a RDM main but whome the effeth in the Garlean empire wud teach him. bruh.
Twitter had a Garlean AU meme going around for a bit, so took a few screenshots to go along with mine. I always thought it was ironic that the Skallic gear reminded me a lot of Asahi's outfit due to all the white, gold, and strong lines.
I figure in Garlean AU land, Tiergan was originally one of the Crania Lupi, but his mother's latent magic made him an interesting if sometimes volatile weapon without anyone on the imperial side to provide proper training. He's forced to wear dampeners to cope.
I like to think that eventually someone's able to slowly, gradually get through to Garlean!Tiergan and get him to defect, because there's the secret part of him that's painfully aware he's a weapon against his own people. But it takes time to earn his trust to trigger defection.
A super self-indulgent fic I’ve been trying to finish. It involves the Garlean AU where Eclair and Mory are scientists working on the Resonance project, but Eclair decides to go with Aulus to Castrum Abania. This is based off of a certain ask meme.
Sirens wailed, signalling the breach of Castrum Abania’s innermost levels. Scientists of all kinds sought either the single remaining transport or attempted to flee into the underground bunkers.
Of all the things to happen, when Aulus had been called to Ala Mhigo to speak with the crown prince. How was she to help her fellow scientists? What was she to do except wait for her own demise? Eclair sat, curled into a corner, holding her knees to her chest. She would be found eventually. They would surely seek the servers for the Castrum, hoping to find the information abound about both the Empire and the experiments which had taken place there.
A small bleep of sound recalled Eclair to the one terminal in the small room. She tapped on the keyboard, entering the requisite information.
[Accepted]
[Cloud Upload Complete]
She breathed heavily, the heat of the servers stifling the room. The cooling had been one of the things necessary to disengage once the Alliance began pushing further into the Castrum. They had to reserve those small stores of energy.
[Delete Server Cache?]
[Accepted]
[Working....]
A loud bang startled the duskwight from the terminal. Yelling, more banging.
“Fuck me…” She glared back at the terminal, just as it reached completion. “Good, just a little more. Work with me.”
[Format Server Mainframe? (This will delete all data from the server storage memory)]
[Accepted]
[Working…]
The heavy metal door creaked. Another loud bang, sending flames sputtering through the small spaces between the wall and the door. Explosives? She would soon be found out, but all there was left was to pray, to whomever would hear her, that her task would finish before they found her.
She retreated to the darkest corner of the room, hidden behind a mass of wires and steel and magitek. She ran her hands through her coat carefully. Twas unfortunate that she had not been in the labs when the initial sirens sounded. She would have at least been able to arm herself with the multitude of acids or oxygen-aided explosives they had developed.
The door shook, finally giving way to whatever explosives they had used to splinter the metal. She shrank against the wall, hoping they would only give a cursory glance over the room before leaving.
“Well, what do we ‘ave here?” The distinct Ala Mhigan accent gave Eclair worry. She knew that meant trouble for her if they found her. After all, they would be blood thirsty after their victory over the Castrum.
“Suppose i’s some sort o’ terminal. Nothin’ real interestin’ except to the commanders.” A second man, one who stepped a bit too close to the long file of drives Eclair was hiding behind. She held her breath.
[Complete]
“Eh? Looks like someone was in here not long ago. Not that I know much about these Garlean junkers. But they don’ just do shite on their own do they?”
“It’s a magitek terminal, o’ course they do you utter dodo. Come on, there ain’t nothin’ in here to kill.”
“All these science types have been borin’ anyways. No challenge.” The two men’s voices faded away beyond the doorway. Eclair finally took several deep breaths, her trembling fingers fumbling to help her stand. She obviously couldn’t just stay in the room…
She peaked beyond the doorway, her eyes widening in horror at the mass of bodies lining the halls. The Alliance was pulling the corpses of the science staff out for disposal, most likely. Distant explosions, screams, yells, so many things that mired her senses. The stench of the smoke that hung around was not just that of explosives, but of burning flesh as well. At least the flame traps had worked as intended, she supposed.
The hall outside, besides the bodies, seemed relatively clear. Every now and again she would hear the distant footfalls of what surely must be Alliance or Resistance. She took a deep breath and stuck to the darker corridors, hoping to make it to any of the communication hubs deeper in the castrum. She knew the place intimately, and could surely outmaneuver any outsiders, who were likely to run into magitek sentries or other traps. She continued, ever alert, bound for the nearest safe room.
Meanwhile, none too far away, in the Ala Mhigan palace:
“Lord Zenos…” Aulus mal Asina appeared from behind the throne, removing his hand from the linkpearl at his ear.
“What is it, Aulus?” Zenos seemed preoccupied, his fingers dragging through the fabric at his waist.
“The mainframe has been breached..”
“What is the status?”
“She managed to delete it, my lord.”
“Good. Tis a shame that we will lose one of the few competent people we have, is it not?” Zenos’ voice remained ever the same. It was as if he was referring to a stranger and not someone who had helped the entirety of the aether and resonance projects.
“Most… unfortunate.” Aulus sounded more dejected than Zenos would have thought. Then again, he had always wished for the woman to follow him wherever he went. Perhaps he had found a kindred spirit, someone much like Zenos’ own Warrior of Light.
"Don't fret, Aulus. Should you perish, I'm sure you too will be promoted."
“My Lord.” Aulus’ voice wavered, “She asked if you intended to send rescue teams or units to assist the survivors here.”
“Hmm? Survivors... After the substantial losses in the fringes and the peaks, sparing the guard here would be most foolish, do you not agree, mal Asina? The Alliance will surely direct their forces upon Porta Praetoria next and set up their final charge against us. Castrum Abania is a lost cause.”
“... Very well, I shall relay that then, Lord Zenos.”
“Asina. Do also relay something else for me.” He peered up through darkened eyes, half-lidded, “I shall inform her little sister.”
“Yes, my lord.” Aulus found it hard to walk away without demanding his staff be given more respect than to leave them to die. Surely Zenos had known this was coming. Why else would the viceroy have recalled him so suddenly, and so conveniently?
He held his hand up to his ear, a sigh passing through his lips before he spoke.
“Eclair, Zenos has no intention of sending a search and rescue team. Nor does he intend to send even an escort for those escaping into the lochs. If you manage to find yourself through Porta Praetoria before the Alliance… you are faced with a invariably dangerous journey to the palace.”
“Aulus, I appreciate the concern… I will do my best to save those who are left in our team. I’ve seen things, terrible things, Aulus. I don’t know how many of us there are left, but I’ll open the gate to Porta Praetoria. If there is anyone left, I swear I will help them. I refuse to sit by and die.”
“I wish you luck, my… friend.” Aulus had never really had friends. If anyone were close enough to be called one, surely it would be his assistant of nearly a decade.
“Thank you, Aulus. If… if this is the last we ever speak, please take care of yourself. Don’t huff anymore of those spray chemicals, alright? They’re not good for you, you know.” She laughed before they exchanged their farewells over the linkpearl. If Zenos wouldn’t help, there was perhaps one more option she could try.
She keyed in a number that she had never had to call before, one she had been given only for an emergency.
“Your Radiance?”
“No, he is in a meeting at the moment. May I take a message for him?” The voice was one she recognized, but barely. Likely a scribe of some sort.
“No, is there any way you could call for him, for even a moment?”
“Absolutely not. The fact that you would even ask about such a thing- I will take a name and a mes-”
“No, I don’t believe it will matter by the time he’s out.” She ended the call before the other person could respond. Of course, in her last moments, she was being deflected by diplomacy.
Very well, if that was how it was going to be… She pulled her coat off, ridding herself of the useless weight. It held too little protection to be worth how much it weighed. She walked to the door, pressing her ear to the outside. Nothing. The shaft she had traveled down had been barren then. Though it was likely the alliance would come by the wing at any moment.
One last time on the terminal. She keyed out several numbers, connected to linkpearls. “Attention, this is lux E’vila. Is there anyone still out there?”
Silence…
“Once again, this is lux E’vila. Is there anyone still alive?”
The silence was deafening. There was no way she was the only one, was there? All of the people she had come to know, like a second family away from the capital. They were all…? That realization hit her like a mountain of bricks. Thank the twelve that Mory had stayed back home. She should have as well. She should have listened to Varis’ concerns, to Claudia’s. But she was too stubborn. She wanted so much to see the project to completion. And what had it done? Created a monster of a viceroy, killed far more than it aided, and for all of it… she was left to die by someone she considered family. How could he? She knew he wasn’t who he had been, but, to leave her there to die as if she were nothing.
A loud bang, and several more, shook the entire building. What exactly… no, a ram? To blast through the door leading to the final path to the Lochs, most likely. Had they already reached so far? She placed her hand against the pad of the door, and peered around the edge when it opened.
Alliance everywhere. How had she not heard them? Her eyes widened at the realization… the communications rooms were all sound padded. In her certainty that she could reach the outside, she had locked herself in a void, unable to hear just how dangerous the situation outside was becoming.
Loud voices came from right down the hall, and as she went to shut the door, all of the backup generators running the castrum finally died. Suddenly, she was lost in the pitch black. And just as quickly, she was unsure of how to progress from here. All of her peers were dead. The Alliance was breaking into the Lochs at that very instant. She shrank against the inside wall, her fingers trembling as she faced what was almost certainly the end. There were no survivors to the Alliance, not this time, at least. It was plain they were unforgiving, unwilling to even gaol the unarmed, opting to slay at will. Savages is what the Garleans called them. And, perhaps, Eclair agreed. For she had never seen a worse sight than that which she had quietly stepped through, holding in her cries of rage at the dead around her.
Despite all they had done in the resonance project, despite the experimentation - she had never meant to harm anyone. She hadn’t intended to. And she always worked to make sure the subjects were as comfortable as possible.
The voices came close, on just the other side of the wall. Eclair held her breath, choking back tears again. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a switchblade and releasing it to a prone position.
It was from there that everything seemed to slip from reality into a strange haze of action and consequence. She waited for the voices to go past the door, before trying to dart to the next hallway she could remember. The doors were locked. All of the doors would be inaccessible now, of course…
She let out a curse, perhaps a little too loudly. And found herself at the unfortunate end of a group of Alliance soldiers with the only exit past them.
“Well, what have we? A Garlean?” A light was shone on her face, causing her to squint.
“Hardly. I am blue and have pointed ears. Though I suppose I could pretend if you really wanted me to.”
“A traitor then? Even worse if you ask me.” A second soldier growled, already reaching for his weapon.
“You lot come barging in here, killing everyone. Not asking a single damn question. Killing unarmed people, killing people who were taken from their homes by war, killing people born to parents of annexed nations. Killing your own kin and blood just like the savages they say you are. Like they say WE are. And you’ve done naught but prove them right because you bastards slaughtered a castrum filled with mainly non-Garlean personnel. You killed the staff that was left when the Viceroy recalled the important purebloods back to Ala Mhigo.”
The soldiers glanced at each other through the dim light before drawing closer to her. The first glared at her, “So you are an Imperial then? You didn’t have to go spilling your guts like that.”
“Someone has to. Because, for some reason, your Alliance leaders have about as much wit between them as a spriggan. When they decide to raid the next castrum, maybe they can remember that there are people that never wanted to be there in the first place.”
“Traitor!” The soldier, a fellow elezen, lunged at her with his blade. She barely even tried to dodge it, taking the blade right through the viscera. Perhaps it was because she knew, even back in the mainframe, that this would be where she died. None of the staff had deserved their deaths. None.
“You’re right. I am a traitor, gladly. Because the best Eorzea had to offer me was beatings. And now you offer me what?” Blood soaked her clothing, spreading into her pants. A fast motion, unnerving in its silence, found Eclair’s switchblade in the throat of the soldier. He fell back onto the ground with a wet gargle. “Death?”
She stepped over the body, still with the blade through her abdomen. It seemed as if it phased her little at all. For some reason, the soldiers were backing away from her. Did she seem frightening for some reason?
The two others drew their blades, shakily. The woman’s eyes, was she one of those experiments like they saw in the bottom floors? Like the dead bodies that lay in mutilated heaps.
“What in the seven hells - kill her!” Even saying that, neither of the two were keen on lunging at the woman with a sword through her tip to hilt and eyes pink as a carnation. It was only when she finally stood within touching distance that they drove their blades into her multiple times. And yet, she took the hits without a sound, as if she were a phantom, unfeeling. A pool of blood formed under her, growing wider by the second.
“Ishgard… Gridania… all of Eorzea. A heap of garbage waiting for the incinerator. Just like my friends that you murdered.” Everything was suddenly quiet, when she had nearly pried one man’s head from his neck with the switchblade. The other ran, leaving his fallen comrades and his sword behind.
She walked back into the hallway she had come from. The swords hit the floor with a sharp rattling after she pulled them from her gut. It was strange, this new sensation. How was she still going? That should have surely killed her. And yet, her body felt more at ease than it ever had. For once, nothing hurt, her mind didn’t race. She had noticed, in smaller scale, that her wounds would heal much faster. That pulled muscles didn’t stay that way for long. But this was a totally different kind of resonance. Not at all like what Zenos or Mory had.
All at once, that feeling of euphoric calm left, and the shooting pain brought her to kneel. Had she run out of aether? It mattered little now. She had counted herself dead already, so what else was there to care about? She would be free. But that brought little comfort considering the shock her body was going through. Her instincts told her to fight. But there was no fighting this. Nothing left to aid herself with in the pitch black, surrounded by a legion’s worth of murderers.
There was only one regret. And as her eyes closed for the last time, she swore she heard Regula calling out to her.
This is a drabble based on a thought I had, one where Naih'a had never defected from Garlemald. Instead, he continued to lead his squadron of Scouts and Assassins, and even made it so far as to become known as Kace Tol Eisold, one of Gaius's Tribune. The setting is based around the Riskbreaker raid on the many Castrum.
Potential TW for murder and harassment? Either way, all to be posted below the read more.
Kace stood atop a wall of the Praetorium. Hearing from Gaius himself that both Cape Westwind and Castrum Meridianum fell to a small handful of Eorzean adventurers, he could not help but want to meet them in person. Him and Nero both agreed that Kace and his squad would make an attempt to pick them off one by one, and Nero himself would meet the remainder in the final room before their Legatus.
From the looks of it, there were only eight. He smiled and held a hand up, and two of his squad quickly came to the scene. "..Grimhet I want you to pick up on their linkpearl transmission. Lucian I want you to take the remainder to try and pick them off."
Grimhet pulled a machinated box from his rucksack and set it to the floor. He wore typical armor that would be seen on an Engineer. As he began tweaking with the device, Lucian was quick to bow, his blonde hair covering his face, "Yes, brother. I'll see to it all of this filth is purged from our establishment. What of you?"
"I'll step in when the timing is right, worry not. I want to know what we're dealing with, first and foremost."
There was a sudden burst of white noise, the transceiver had begun to work. Grimhet and Lucian both began to trot away as Kace leaned against a wall, listening close to what the transceiver would pick up.
"Alright Riskbreakers, this is the final push. Enea I'd like you to cover our six. Rael, we had A'zaela covering anything I could manage to distract."
Kace smiled to himself, "Riskbreakers, eh? Riot's child makes her move. Enea, from that damned tribe. And Rael? I know nothing of her name. The last name. A'zaela... Hmm, I may have to step in earlier than anticipated."
He kept his gaze on the eight as they made quick work of any foot soldier they passed. Even the Vanguards stood little chance. Then came Lucian and the remainder of the squad. It was enjoyable watching the Riskbreakers work. Enea Ithihoh quickly took notice to the scouts, which Kace fully anticipated. Though, there was the fact that she noticed soon after they were already surrounded.
"Goodnight, friends. You fought well. I'll allow you to serve as fodder whilst I make way."
-------------------------------------------------
Ashelia cleaved through one of the assassins as if they were nothing. There was also Sylvan and Edge, whose fists swatted away the assassins as if they were flies. Lucian and Grimhet stood as the remaining assassins before long. Rael and Enea stood in front of them, both with smirks on their face.
Lucian held his shotgun cesti high and Grimhet readied his lance. Rael and Enea looked to one another and then mimicked. Enea unsheathed her daggers, and Rael readied her spear. The four darted at one another exchanging blows rather furiously.
Lucian pounded his fist into the ground and unleashed a blast from the cesti, causing a shockwave to propel towards the two opponents. Enea held her hands together to form a handsign, and Rael leaped over the blast accordingly. The shockwave his Enea to cause a plummet of smoke that ended in being a block of wood. Enea herself held a dagger to Lucian's back with a smirk, "Going to have to be quicker than that, I'm afraid."
As Rael was in midair, Grimhet altered his stance to where he was about to use his lance as a throwing spear. He clenched tight the hilt and cocked his arm back, the enlarged head of the lance blasted off towards the suspended Dragoon, a chain linking the head to the pole. Rael attempted to deflect with her own lance and deliberately entangled the two. She kicked the spear behind her towards the ground below. The impact yanked Grimhet's chain and caused him to stagger. Next he knew, Rael delivered a forceful kick from her spiked greaves to the top of the man's head. The sheer force implanted his face into the dirt below, lifeless.
She looked to Enea, and held out an arm, "Enea, behind you!"
Enea's eyes widened as the cold touch of a dagger gently grazed along the rear of her neck, "And here I thought I had rid the world of that damned tribe. The last tie to my past lie before me, all but capable to combat me."
"B-brother, allow me to handle this!" Lucian jumped forward and turned to Kace, but was met with a throwing knife between the eyes.
Kace bore a cold-hearted smile as Lucian's body keeled over, "You've spent your worth and lost, Lucy. Sleep well."
Enea glanced to the dagger next to her throat, "N-Naih'a? I thought you--"
"Don't you dare sputter that name. It has no place on this field. I am known as Kace Tol Eisold. You are the sole member of that tribe, and I intend to wipe you out along with your Riskbreaker friends."
A voice cried out from somewhere above, "N-not if I can't help it!"
Kace looked up along with the full party that stood before him, then proceeded to leap back as a spear slammed into the ground. Soon after, a Miqo'te smoothly landed next to it. She dusted herself off and lifted the spear from the ground, then glanced back at Ashelia, "I.. Sorry I left the battle. I had some things to sort out."
Kace's confused expression turned to a smug smirk, "Miss A'zaela Linh. The girl who got away."
"Ashe, you all go on, please. I've got this guy." A'zaela held a confident face about her.
Ashelia nodded hesitantly and looked to the remainder of the group. She nudged her head on and they all, including Enea, continued deeper withing the Praetorium.
Kace looked to A'zaela, "I'd not thought you'd have the gall to bring the fight to us for what we did. I do apologize for your sister, I told them to be level-headed about it."
She swung her spear slowly about her, still maintaining a calm expression, "So, you.. Were the man who ordered that. Then I'll feel.. Even better once this is over, for I'll have avenged my sister."
Kace held his daggers in a defensive stance and took a deep breath, "You had a special circumstance, and we desired it. /I/ desired it."
A'zaela looked down momentarily, to let what he had said sink in. She lunged forward with a hesitant step, and Kace ducked down. To make up for the missed strike, she stepped on his lowered back and kicked off, to avoid his counter. As she landed out of his reach, she panted out slightly, "S-sorry.."
"Why are you apologizing? We are enemies."
"I-it just happened.."
Kace shook his head and stuck his hands in his coat pockets. He pulled out two handfuls of throwing knives and hurled every one at her, "We were to have something.. There was a future in motion for us were we to obtain you."
A'zaela spun her spear to deflect as many as possible, but was clipped by a few of the knives. As she changed stance with her lance, she saw Kace dead center in front of her, tears streaming down his face. She altered the positioning of her spear and he leaped back as a feint. A'zaela's ears lurched back, "Why are you.. Crying?"
Wiping away his tears, he looked to her with confusion, "..." Kace twirled the daggers in his fingers to a reverse-grip motion, as she went for a signature Dragoon jump. As she dove down to impale the ground, he sidestepped to avoid. The moment she touched down, he dove in for a prone strike, but..
The daggers stopped inches from her, his hands shaking unstably. He looked to her with rage, "Wh-what are you doing to me?!" A'zaela took this moment to kick him back towards a wall and withdraw her spear. As he staggered backwards, she reared her arm back and hurled the spear at him.
He had no time to recover and defend, the lance impaled him in the gut. The force of this blow pinned him to the wall, as he gripped the head of the spear. Kace's head slowly looked down in shock, knowing full well his end was fast approaching. His gaze rose back up to see her solemnly walking towards him. She gripped the polearm and looked to him with a frown, "I.. Something tells me it wasn't.. Supposed to end like this, but..."
"I.. I lo--" his voice cut out from the shock of her forcefully pulling the spear from the gut of the Tribunus whose life was swiftly fading. She turned away and went to join her comrades as he slowly raised a hand at her. His vision blurred and for a moment all he could see was a life he did not live, the one that could have been.
His body slid down the side of the wall as the life faded from his eyes. He forced out one final weak mutter, "Z-zae.."
