A little way back on the higher ground that sat above the field hospitals, Lexi stood watch. Bella circled slowly overhead, her wings catching the wind just enough to keep her airborne while staying high enough not to disturb the wounded below.
Allen had walked off a little way to check the traps that had been placed along the north path, leaving Lexi relatively free to scan the horizon and let her mind wander a little bit. Every so often she caught a flicker of movement near the broken castle, but nothing was really close enough to even be considered a threat.
"Nothing new?" someone asked behind her and Lexi didn't even bother to turn around.
She knew her fathers voice as soon as she heard it.
"Not really. It's all the same shadows, the same empty windows and little to no movement inside. It wouldn't surprise me if they were all dead inside. Maybe Ely decided to stitch them together and make them perform some kind of sick and twisted strip show for him." She mused as she scrunched her face up as she thought about it a little longer, "Maaaybe he's even using little reanimated Raccoons as little concession stand workers too...you know…the ones that hand out snacks mid performance."
Brarthroroz stepped beside her silently and made a non-committal grunt as he lifted a broken piece of twisted metal off the ground and examined it with a frown.
"Is that what you think about when you're keeping watch?" He asked with the faintest hint of amusement.
"Sometimes," Lexi nodded seriously, "Amongst other things that are probably pretty high up on the scale of fucked-up-ness to be honest."
Lord Brarthroroz paused for a second before asking her slowly:
"And you don't think that particular scenario qualifies as being highly ranked in the category of "fucked up-ed ness" as you put it?"
Lexi snorted as she side eyed her father.
"It's 'Fucked-up-ness Papa…but whatever. Besides, after Eromaug? I suppose I'm not fully sure what's fucked up now and whats not. My life seems to be a litany of extremes and the line between things seems to be getting blurrier as time goes on."
He huffed softly and it was then that Lexi realized her mother, Ximena, was standing a few paces behind him, calm, patient and observing everything in only the way that she could.
"The darkness lives in everyone Lexi," she said as she moved towards her and Lexi finally took her eyes away from the horizon to stare at her mothers, beautiful but tired face, "The important thing is to not give in to your first impulse. You carry the weight of your ancestors inside of you and I know, just from my side, that its a heavy burden to bear. And when you add the weight of your fathers legacy…"
Her sentence hung in the air unfinished as they both turned to look at Lord Brarthroroz.
"Hmmm," He rumbled, completely oblivious to their conversation as he squinted at the piece of metal in his hand and rubbed at it furiously with his nail, "The fleshcrafting residue is more stubborn than I expected...I wonder how he buried it so deep."
Ximena's mouth set in an unimpressed line as she shared an irritated look with Lexi .
"You would think in all the centuries that he'd been alive, he would have learned to be a little more observant." She murmured as her eyes narrowed dangerously at him.
"Maybe it's tactical ignorance," Lexi offered as she pursed her lips and Ximena snorted.
"No my sweet child, it's just men in general." she nodded wisely, "Once they get past a certain age they're all the same."
"I heard that." Brarthroroz answered sullenly.
"I'm sure you did dear," Ximena simpered as she patted his arm lightly.
Lexi found herself having to stifle a laugh because she could see it as clear as day. In another forty years or so, this same sort of scenario would be playing out between her, Allen and Grayson.
Brarthroroz looked down at Ximena and LExi could see that there was something soft and tender in his gaze as he did so.
"You should rest." He rumbled gently as he cupped his hand to her cheek.
"I will when you will," Ximena answered with a smirk and the longer that Lexi watched them, the closer something seemed to wrap itself around her soul.
She didn't have a name or a word that would describe it sufficiently.Peace, maybe, or something close to it.
She had grown up expecting nothing from the world, from a non-existent family and nothing from a fate that had abandoned her at an early age. But now, seeing her parents side by side…it was more than she had ever let herself hope for.
Brarthroroz smashed the corrupted metal with one decisive strike and it shattered easily in his grip as Ximena brushed dirt from her sleeve.
Lexi smiled without even bothering to try and hide it.
"Even though getting here was the most harrowing thing that has ever happened to me," she said quietly. "To have you both here, in front of me, I can't help but feel that in some twisted way…it was worth it."
Her fathers expression darkened suddenly and Ximena's face became very still.
"What you gave up Lexi, was something that never should have happened. I should have put an end to him in the very beginning but I didn't take him seriously. I was arrogant to think otherwise."
"Papa it's not..."
"What he means, Lexi," Ximena interrupted, "Is that I don't think you fully understand the complete implications of what happened to you in there."
"What do you mean?" Lexi huffed indignantly, "I'm here aren't I? I'm alive. That's all that matters."
"After all of this is over, we'll talk more about it but…" she sighed heavily, "Just know that we love you very much."
She wasn't sure why, but that sentence alone filled her with dread.
As she watched them make their way back down to the camp below she glanced up at Bella with a sneaking suspicion that even though she had thought she had been through the worst, that perhaps, there was still more to come.
"Do not worry," Bella's reassuring hum reverberated through her, "Whatever happens, all of the lives that are tied to you will face it with you, at your side, and there is nothing in this world, or the next, that could ever tear any of us away from each other now. Not even death itself."