Chapter Text
Alador knows, in all truth, that he is probably going to die.
Whether it's from the draining spell clawing at his insides or at the hand of his own creations (poetic justice, isn't it, dear?), the universe hasn't yet decided.
At least he will die fighting for something, instead of as an apathetic shell.
He doesn't deserve his kids, and that is why he will die for them.
Alador's back hits rock, and he spares a moment to look up.
Oh, by the Titan's bloody balls-
The Abomatons have pushed him, slowly but surely, towards the Head. The Head where his kids are, the Head where everyone is surely in as much agony as he is-
His sigil burns, as do the wounds on his back and side.
Alador spots the energy field around a panicking crowd and gets an idea.
Might as well go out in style.
The purple force field crackles with pure energy as he approaches, but it takes a lot more than mild electricity to faze Alador Blight. As the ring of Abomatons stares blankly at him, daring him to cross, he cracks a smile.
It is not a pretty smile. It is not a reassuring one. It is brutal and glorious and a promise of more pain than he's ever endured.
He is still smiling as he steps into the barrier, electricity tearing across his skin in savage fractals, and begins to blast it apart.
Darius cannot see.
(a million shattering souls)
Well, he can, but everything is fuzzy and blinding and burning burning burning-
(your sins won't save you now)
"Darius!"
He tries to jolt up out of pure instinct, because that is his son's Hunter's voice and he must protect him.
(last of the dead and you thought you could stay)
"Hey- wait, you don't have to- just rest, okay? We-we're finding a way to stop the spell, you'll be fine soon-," and Hunter leaves, his voice fading as his blurry shape retreats.
That is not acceptable, that isn't right, he can't help Hunter if Hunter is gone.
(followed everyone else into the abyss)
He can feel the magic flooding from his veins as it happens, but he has too much dignity (dignity, ha!) to make a sound. Across the circle, Eberwolf is curled into a ball, paws over their ears as they let out little whimpers of pain.
(allied with the night only for the moon to betray you)
A vise clamps around Darius' chest and he collapses fully.
Eda is sobbing, holding a comatose Raine on the ground.
(songbird and owlet and I should have saved you all those years ago)
Adrian's tail lashes frantically and Terra trembles and even Hettie has fallen to her knees.
(even traitors turn to something)
The crowd below screams with one voice. The symphony of the dead, Darius thinks dizzily, calling for their Reaper.
(you've certainly gone mad now, haven't you, child)
There's a flare in the distance. Darius' vision clears enough to see the Abomaton force field (thanks to whoever thought that was a good idea, Alador) glowing with new energy. A new power-up? It's not like this day can get any worse.
But the screaming stops. Or, at least, it muffles to where the ringing in his ears is louder than it.
Darius forces himself into a sitting position. He will not be laying on the ground while his people need him.
Head rush head rush sky eclipse rock crowd.
(pity the masses, for as they flee they run into the jaws of desolation)
Darius blinks away the white spots in his vision, and tries to find the source of the odd calm.
And then he sees them. One witch, standing in the force field and clawing it to shreds with huge tendrils of ether. Darius catches his breath.
With the agony from the draining spell and the instant-paralysis function of the force field, it would take a singularly powerful witch to accomplish that. And one with nothing - no, everything - to lose, to be willing to put themself through that torment.
The crowd spills out of the ever-growing gap as Abomatons are torn to their base parts by the witch in the barrier, who still stands strong despite the lashing waves of energy battering them from every side.
They will be fine. Everyone will be fine.
(oh, you'd like to think so, wouldn't you, child)
And then the unfailing pressure on his head stops.
The moon shifts position in the sky.
His magic isn't refilled, but it's no longer being dragged out of him. Darius looses a breath as his tense muscles relax a bit.
And then pulls himself up in one swift motion, because the lure of unconsciousness is too strong and he has to get to Eber, has to reach Hunter-
Darius stumble-runs to Eber, cradling their limp body in his arms. They subconsciously curl into him, but their eyes don't open.
If Darius thought he was terrified before-
He fumbles for a pulse, biting his lip raw until he finds one. It's weak and stuttering, but it's there. Darius wills himself not to cry.
He has to find Hunter. He cannot leave Eberwolf. Darius takes a second to calculate and then scoops Eber up fully. His knees wobble from the aftershocks, but he's up and Eber is safe in his arms.
Darius staggers up the Head, praying to a Titan he no longer believes in for everything to be all right.
Alador is dead several times over, but he is not gone. He will not be gone until there is proof in front of his eyes that his kids are safe. Then, he can rest, knowing he may have failed them their entire lives but at least rescued them from this.
He might not see Edric's proud smile over a bubbling cauldron again, or the incomprehensible notes Emira scribbles in the margins of her Illusions textbooks, or hear Amity's enthused giggle when she read a particularly well-written scene in one of her fantasy novels.
Maybe he doesn't deserve to. Maybe this is too little too late. Maybe this is something that he just. Can't. Fix.
A-and he's okay with that. If his kids never wanted to see him again (of course they don't want to see you, dear), he'd respect that.
But he's going to die anyway, so they won't even have to deal with that.
Good for them.
Electricity - why did he have to make these so powerful? - crackles around him, and his arms are starting to burn. Yet he sends his magic out again and again, aware that his eyes are glowing amethyst and this is some of the strongest ether he's summoned in his life.
Abomatons crumble around him.
He's still smiling, something feral and agonized and free.
But it morphs into a thing of pure joy when he spots two emerald heads in the crowd.
One last surge of magic and a resounding thud echoes around the circle of the Head. Every abomaton falls to a pile of sludge and metal.
Edric and Emira gape at the destruction and then up at him. "D-dad?" Emira finds her voice first.
Is the world swaying?
"Sorry- sorry ab't th' mess. Hafta- clean. Words. Have. To. Clean. It. Up," Alador makes sure to carefully enunciate. No reason to worry the kids.
They are silent and Alador gives himself a mental pat on the back. A pat that lasts for about half a second, because suddenly he has two children clinging onto him like he's the last rock in a vast sea.
This is. . . strange.
Why would they. . .
And then Alador realises Edric's shoulders are trembling just like they used to when-
"Don't ever do something like that again, Dad!" And both the twins are sobbing and he's holding them like he used to during thunderstorms and they would burst into his workshop at midnight begging for hot shocklate.
. . . he can't see why they would care about his saving thousands of lives over the half-life that is his.
Alador staggers and suddenly he is on the ground, two concerned faces standing over him.
His ears are ringing and snippets of sound fly past him like birds in a slipstream.
(of course you collapsed again)
Someone is speaking and he has to follow the blue light-
- back to the children who seem to think they need him.
And so he allows himself to be pulled up, to stand, and-
"Dad, we should get you to a proper healer." Emira's spell circles dissipate. "What I did is only a temporary fix; it kills the pain but I can't do any actual healing until we're somewhere more magically stable. And these are some wicked burns."
Alador looks down at his arms and notices with an odd sort of uncaring that spiky electrical burns are winding up them.
And then memories come crashing down on top of him and he fought Odalia and the kids are gone and the airship is falling falling falling
"Where's Amity?"
The way Edric and Emira look at each other portends nothing good. "She- well, she's- she's up there," Edric finally says, gesturing up at-
At the inside of the Head.
Where the draining spell started.
Where Belos is.
The world goes black at the edges and Alador doesn't know what he's doing except that he's moving on autopilot now.
"She went-,"
Emira looks at him, knowing exactly what he's thinking, and simply says, "Go."
Alador pulls his children in close and presses a kiss to each of their foreheads. "I know I haven't said it enough, and you may never want to hear it from me again, but I love you to the Wailing Star and back. I'll return with your sister soon. Stay safe."
And he doesn't have time to analyze the expressions on the twins' faces - admittedly, he's never been very good at that in the first place - because he's running as fast as he can up the ramps to the top of the Head.
Darius can't quite tell if all of this chaos is real. He is relatively certain the literal child beating up Belos is a construct of leftover madness from the draining spell, but who knows at this point?
The Head breaks apart around him, and it is then that Darius realises the child is very much real. And flying. And blasting the world apart.
And Hunter is up there behind them-
The world is a blur but that doesn't really matter because the walls and floor are crumbling and Hunter is at least getting out of the way.
By running further into the Head.
For Titan's sake-
The human - Luz - is stretched between lengths of vine, trying desperately to hold the Head together. She's going to kill herself, and Darius refuses to lose yet another person.
He sets Eber down gently on one of the last pieces of stable rock and cards his fingers through their wild mane, whispering, "Stay safe; I'll be back soon."
Their eyes open fuzzily, blink a few times, and then close again with an infinitesimal nod. Darius takes a deep breath and pulls.
Ether wraps around the gaps in the colossal bone, and Darius can feel the last drops of his magic screaming at the strain, but the rest of the kids are safe and that's what matters-
Luz grasps tight to her vines and meets his eyes, the caramel swimming with confusion. Darius manages a nod in her direction.
She doesn't let go.
Eda's - son? Dog? Amalgamation of the two? - child clings to his sister's hand as he is summoned towards the sky. Whatever he's saying, it's making Luz cry. Darius feels a surge of odd protectiveness before he tamps it down to concentrate on the Titan-damned skull that's splintering while we're still in it-
There's a flash of familiar brown hair up the steps-
There's a childish cackle from the tiny god-
There's an earthshaking roar-
and he feels himself spinning and crashing and (you're in-between now, child, just hold your breath)
The door slams shut, then blows apart.