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Nyx crouched behind what was left of the wall, clutching his kukris and trying to catch his breath. How had this turned into such a clusterfuck so fast? Daemon activity had been on the rise, sure, but not this many in one place. And the damn Niffs, too! His luck was usually shit, but this was pushing it.
Another explosion from somewhere to the right of him, and he tapped his comm to check on Pelna and the group of baby glaives he was babysitting.
The tension in Pelna’s voice told him all he needed to know about how things were going.
"Get them out of here, Pelna! I'll cover you." He ducked out of cover to shoot lightning at the nearest group of MTs.
He didn't care if the Captain sent them out here to clear the area, he was pulling them out. If the council was that worried about the influx of daemons along the route to their vacation homes, they could damn well send in backup.
"Just don't be too much of a hero, Hero!" Pelna shot back.
Nyx snorted, but didn't dignify that with an answer. He could see Pelna herding the newbies away, that was what mattered.
He breathed in, ignoring the probably bruised ribs and various bleeding claw marks. He had a job to do.
Nyx threw his kukri, coming out in the middle of a group of MTs. Before they could finish adjusting to his sudden arrival, he grabbed the nearest one and yanked, throwing it in the direction of Grenade sneaking up from the right. Then, with another throw of his kukri, he was gone before the explosion hit.
Exhaustion dragged at him as he blinked across the field, sowing enough chaos to keep the daemons and MTs mostly fighting each other, and most importantly, not concentrating on the retreating glaives. He'd hit stasis soon, but hopefully not before the retreat was done.
Movement around the glaive vans caught his eye, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Finally.
A roar cut through the night, and Nyx looked up to see not one, but two Red Giants.
Well, fuck.
He threw his kukri again, landing a solid hit on the shoulder joint of one Giant, before pushing off in a flip that pulled at his ribs but successfully avoided the retaliatory strike. He warped in fast succession, striking at every vulnerable spot he could reach and then blinking out of reach. He could feel his magic draining, but he couldn't stop. Not yet.
He came out in a shower of sparks and fell to a knee, vision swimming. Six dammit. Not yet!
A grunt, an explosion, and Nyx looked up to see the back of the Marshal between him and the now disappearing Giants.
What the hell was Cor doing here?
He really needed to stop calling him that in his mind before he slipped and called the Marshal Cor to his face. He might have found Nyx's quips amusing on their recent joint missions, even sort of smiled once or twice, but he was still the Marshal of the Crownsguard and well out of Nyx's league.
Even if he was unfairly attractive.
And Nyx needed to get his head in the game.
The Marshal turned to eye Nyx, and Nyx chose to believe that was concern on his face, not annoyance.
He grinned up at Cor, pushing himself to his feet. He was searching for an appropriate quip when metal flashed through the cloud of miasma that was all that was left of the Giants.
Cor swung with his katana, but it was too late. The damn MT exploded as soon as it got within range.
The blast of heat hit Nyx, and, ears ringing, he was on his feet and to where Cor had fallen in an instant. Cor lay in an inelegant heap, looking more vulnerable than Nyx would have thought possible.
Nyx knelt down, brushing away the jacket and the - three? - shirts to feel for a pulse. The wave of relief he felt at the steady thrum of a heartbeat was washed away by the electric tingle flying up his arm from where his fingers touched Cor's skin. Warm and cold and tingly, like a fire and ice and lightning spell all at once, but it didn't hurt. It felt good, like something snapping back into place that you hadn't even realized was missing.
He'd read enough, heard enough stories to know what this had to be. Soulmates weren't as common as they'd once been, but everyone knew what matching was supposed to feel like.
Thankfully, before he could full on spiral about being soulmates with the Marshal of the fucking Crownsguard, Cor made a noise and opened his eyes.
Nyx pushed away his impending emotional crisis to a hopefully much later date, and went back to his quick and dirty battlefield assessment, ignoring Cor's attempts to brush him off.
"Am I going to live?" Cor asked dryly.
"Seems like," Nyx replied, standing up and offering a hand. His heartbeat sped up when Cor took the offer of help.
"You should probably get yourself checked out back at the Citadel, though." Nyx grinned at Cor and ignored Libertus' voice in his head calling him a hypocrite.
Cor snorted. "Just as you will, no doubt."
Nyx's grin widened into a smirk. Maybe there was something to this whole soulmate thing after all.
Nope, not thinking about that now. Or maybe ever.
"What brings the illustrious Marshal out to our little corner of the world?" Nyx steered them away, eyeing Cor to make sure he was steady on his feet.
Cor gave him a look that told him he knew what Nyx was doing, but he went along with the change of subject. "Heard you ran into some trouble and I was in the area."
"We're honored, truly." Nyx clapped his hand on Cor's shoulder, and did not react at all when he felt Cor's amusement through their bond.
He just needed to check on Pelna and the baby glaives. And Pelna bullied him into the medic van on the way back, and there were all those reports to write after he managed to convince the medics that he was fine, really, he was barely even bruised. Yes, he would go home and get some rest, promise. After the reports are done so the Captain won't throw a fit.
Exhaustion meant it took him twice as long to fill out the right forms in the correct format and file them with the correct labels. Habit kept him on his feet until he made it home, and collapsed into bed without even taking his clothes off.
He rolled over in the morning and immediately decided he'd earned a day off. He texted Luche, and after convincing him that Nyx was neither dying nor under duress, Nyx fell back asleep.
Cor frowned at the report without really seeing it. The increased daemon activity combined with the MT drops dangerously close to the main arteries to Insomnia were concerning to more than the council members worried about the arrival of their pretties. It hinted at some of the rumors Cor's agents had picked up about Niff involvement with daemon experiments, which is just what they needed.
But if Cor was honest with himself, and he tried to be honest at least in the privacy of his own head, what was really distracting him had less to do with the ominous rumblings of Niff conspiracies and more to do with a certain troublesome Kingsglaive.
He'd been hearing Titus' complaints about Nyx Ulric for years before chance had them working together. He'd been pleasantly surprised when instead of the loose cannon he'd expected, he found a competent, dedicated soldier. Ulric was unconventional, sure, and he took risks, but he pulled them off. No one had ever accused Cor of playing it safe, and he appreciated someone willing to think outside the box to get the job done.
He also appreciated someone willing to treat him like a fellow soldier and not some legend come to life.
Ulric was clever and irreverent, no wonder Titus was annoyed.
Cor found himself taking an interest, going on more missions with the Kingsglaive, even though he knew it was a bad idea.
For all his bitching, Titus would never let him poach Ulric for the Guard.
Still, they worked well together, and when he wandered over to Glaive HQ for some reason or other, Ulric would stop for a chat if he had time.
It was - nice.
Except after the latest clusterfuck, Ulric was avoiding him, and Cor couldn't figure out why.
He had passed out for a second after that mishap with the MT, but nothing in Cor's experience with Ulric said he was the kind of person to lose respect for someone after seeing them injured.
It didn't make sense and Ulric wasn't exactly in his chain of command to press the issue.
Heart to hearts weren't really his thing, ask anyone.
Cor rubbed his eyes and cursed the vagaries of interpersonal relations.
These reports weren't going to write themselves, more's the pity.
Maybe he could take them over to Glaive HQ for a consult with Titus and see if he could gather some intel on Ulric.
But when he went over to see Titus, Ulric was nowhere to be found. He couldn't quite explain to himself the twist in his chest, but checking in on the latest Crownsguard recruits and putting them through their paces helped work it out.
He buried himself in organizing his agents in their search for the source of the latest Niff mischief and all the usual issues that came with running Lucis' defense and intelligence force. He'd long ago learned to delegate to Dustin and Monica, but there was still always more to do. Some things required his personal attention, especially where the Council was concerned, and Regis still wouldn't let him indulge in some light stabbing for the particularly difficult members. He was sure it would help move things along, but Regis said no.
Halfway through sifting through another stack of complaints from various Council hangers on, trying to find something actually useful, Cor realized his hands were cramping. He sat up and winced at the stabbing behind his eyes. How long had he been at this?
He flexed his fingers to work out the kinks and stood up, stretching his back. Six, he knew he wasn't a teenager anymore, but he shouldn't ache this much from paperwork, of all damn things. Time to go for a run and put his body through its paces.
Except that the headache didn't let up even once he was out in the fresh air, and his sides ached more than they should from a simple run. He sat down on one of the benches in the Citadel garden and breathed.
What was going on?
He felt bruised, like he'd been in a fight that hadn't gone well for him.
He knew he hated paperwork, but it wasn't exactly a physical altercation.
He wanted to put his head in his hands, or at least rub his temples, but he was in public and he didn't need to cause a panic.
Giving up on stretching things out, he went back to his office and his reports. Aches and pains were nothing new to him, and he had years of practice ignoring them, but usually he could pinpoint the cause.
He was going to be so annoyed if Clarus was right and all his youthful recklessness was finally catching up to him.
He woke up the next morning still sore and grumpy with it. Seeing the expression on Monica's face when he got to his office told him the day wasn't going to get any better.
He didn't even have to ask, just raised an eyebrow as Monica handed him a folder.
"A group of Kingsglaive went out looking for the Niff base and the survivors made it back last night."
Cor grunted. Bad news, certainly, but Titus' headache to deal with. "What'd they find?"
"The Niffs definitely have some kind of facility squirreled away up there. And the reports indicate that they have some way to influence at least the lower level daemons." Monica nodded at the folder in Cor's hands. "The unit was swarmed by a horde of Ahriman as they neared the suspected location. Lieutenant Ulric stayed behind to cover their retreat. He was overwhelmed and is currently listed as missing."
Cor ignored both Monica's look and the stab of alarm that shot through him at the news. Ulric was a competent soldier with the devil's own luck, but Six knew luck and skill wasn't always enough. Ulric wasn't his responsibility, anyway. Any sort of rescue/recovery mission would be Titus' call.
What was he even thinking?
Cor shook his head. "I'll coordinate with Titus. Anything else?"
Monica ran through the updates of the current operations in play while Cor listened with half an ear. His aches were getting sharper, more defined along his back and ribs. Maybe the thought of Ulric being in Niff hands was reminding his body of his own misadventures in their loving care.
Cor forced his mind back to his duties and spent the morning wading through his to do list, half expecting some kind of update from Titus on a follow up mission.
The unexplained pains persisted, and when he made it to a good stopping point, he decided he was going for a walk. Getting out of the Citadel and moving his body would give his mind something else to focus on. He always thought better when he was in motion.
He stepped out into the bright afternoon sun, blinking as his eyes adjusted from the dim interior of the Citadel. Movement registered to his left, and he turned, hand instinctively going to where Kotetsu's hilt would be. The Kingsglaive uniform had him lowering his hand, and Cor frowned at the glaive in front of him. Why did he look familiar?
"Marshal!" The glaive stopped just short of grabbing Cor's arm.
The braids and tattoos jogged Cor's memory. Ostium, Ulric's fellow Galahdan and friend. He felt for the man but he wasn't sure what he could offer him.
Ostium dropped his hand but didn't back off. "Marshal, have you heard about Nyx?"
Cor nodded. "I received the report this morning." After a brief pause, he added, "I'm sorry."
Ostium narrowed his eyes. "What do you know?"
Cor shook his head. "I haven't gotten any updates from Drautos, if that's what you mean."
The beads in Ostium's hair clinked as he shook his head "No, no. Did you feel anything?"
The emphasis on the word feel was strange. What should Cor be feeling about Ulric's situation, other than the usual frustration when bad things happen to good people?
Ostium scowled at him as the silence dragged on.
Cor wondered what kind of response the man was expecting from him.
"Dammit," Ostium cursed. "Nyx is a stubborn idiot who's slipperier than an eel, but you're the godsdamn Marshal. Aren't you supposed to be some kind of tactical genius?"
Cor's jaw tightened. Was Ostium blaming him for what happened to Nyx and the other glaives? Titus hadn't involved him in the mission planning.
Ostium waved a hand in the air between them. "Haven't you noticed any odd pains? Weird feelings? Anything?"
Cor blinked. "How-"
"Ha!" Ostium pointed a finger at him. "I knew it! You have felt something! You still are, yeah?"
Cor's hands clenched involuntarily, the aches coming back after being forgotten in the shock of Ostium's appearance.
Ostium grinned, wide and triumphant. "Thank Ramuh!"
Now Cor was even more confused. Why in all the hells was Ostium glad Cor was getting older?
Ostium sobered at the look on Cor's face. He tugged on his braid as he muttered to himself. "Why do I gotta be the one to explain?"
"Ostium," Cor said, command in his tone.
Ostium straightened, looking Cor in the eye. "Last time you went out in the field, with Nyx. You touched. You matched."
Cor jerked back. "Matched?" he echoed.
Ostium nodded. "Yeah. I told the idiot to talk to you before he left, but of course he didn't, the coward."
Cor frowned. Ulric was a lot of things, but he wouldn't have called Ulric a coward. Then again, a soulmate match was definitely something that should have been reported.
Wait.
Wait a godsdamn minute.
He and Ulric were soulmates.
All those weird aches and pains he'd been feeling - they weren't from him, they were from Ulric. From Nyx.
He was feeling what Nyx was going through in the Niff's hands.
Cor found himself shifting into a battle stance even though there was no one here to fight. Ostium's reaction made sense, now. They had proof Nyx was alive, at least for the moment.
As his soulmate, Cor would know if Nyx died.
He wanted to run off right now and find those Niff bastards who were hurting his soulmate. He burned to find Nyx, make sure he was safe, and then yell at him a bit for not telling him.
But he was the Marshal, and that meant he had duties. Duties he couldn't put aside, even for his soulmate. Not without delegating them first, anyway.
Besides, dealing with a meddling Regis was the least Nyx deserved for running off without talking to him.
Regis was predictably thrilled to learn Cor had found his soulmate, and Clarus was familiar enough with Nyx's reputation to be unsurprised when Cor told him who he'd matched with.
With their help, Cor was able to shift his immediate responsibilities between Clarus, Monica, and Dustin. Titus was disgruntled to learn about the match when Cor dropped in, but promised to move up the timetable for the retrieval mission. Cor wasn't waiting, which made Titus even more disgruntled, but he handed over what intel they had and promised to send a unit after him.
Ostium wanted to tag along, but Cor moved faster alone. The look on Ostium's face as he headed out told Cor that Ostium was probably going to end up leading the unit Titus was sending.
He wasn't sure if Ostium and Clarus would get along or butt heads but he was probably going to find out at some point either way.
Once he was outside the wall, he got in touch with his contacts in the hunters. Their knowledge of the area helped him pinpoint the most likely location for the Niffs to be hiding. He circled around to approach from the side, carefully scanning for any sign of activity. It was daylight, so he shouldn't have to worry about daemons, but that left MTs and the increasingly rare human soldiers to watch out for.
The whole time, he cataloged every ache and every pain, mapping it to what Nyx was going through. The aches in his hands probably meant broken fingers, and the aches in his sides meant bruised ribs, if not broken. He leashed the anger at what the Niffs were doing to his soulmate, using it to fuel his focus and senses while he searched for the entrance to the Niff base.
He hissed at the sharp pain flashing across his cheek bone, much stronger than the background aches he'd been experiencing. Someone had just hit Nyx in the face, and he'd felt it like it had happened to him.
The connections between soulmates were supposed to be stronger the closer they were.
Nyx must be nearby.
He heard the soft crunch of a foot on rock and slunk forward, pushing the sensations of Nyx's pain to the back of his mind.
An MT stood a few feet in front of him, walking a circuit in front of what looked like an old storage building.
As soon as the MT turned away, Cor pulled out Kikuichimonji and slammed it into the neck joint of the MT. He dragged the body away before it could drop and hid it in the bushes he'd been hiding in.
Luckily the MT had a key on him, and Cor wasted no time in slipping into the building. The Niffs had obviously taken over an existing structure and not taken the time to install the usual security measures Cor dealt with when infiltrating more established Niff bases.
He would make them regret that.
He moved with purpose, not even slowing when he ran into the first MTs. He had a soulmate to find and nothing was going to get in his way. Each slash of Kotetsu leaving a crumpled MT in his wake was one less obstacle between himself and Nyx.
He could feel more than pain from Nyx now. Fear, despair, determination, regret. Cor would never claim to be the most in tune with his emotions, but these felt like Nyx. A sense of wildness and electricity, like lightning in a thunderstorm.
Some other time, he would allow himself to have a moment about the implications of their soulmate connection. Now he had a mission to complete and a soulmate to free.
The emotions seemed to have a direction, and he let them lead him down the halls, speeding up as the connection got stronger. He ran into a couple of actual humans as he neared where they had to be keeping Nyx, but they didn't slow him down any more than the MTs had.
He reached a door that felt right, even though it didn't look much different than the other doors in the corridor.
But when he slammed through it, there was Nyx in the middle, tied to a chair.
Cor ran Kotetsu through the torso of the man standing between himself and Nyx, shoving the body to the side and out of his way.
"I told him you were coming." Nyx grinned at him, smile bloody from the split lip and probably broken nose.
Right. If he could feel Nyx, Nyx could feel him.
He'd freak out about that later.
First things first. He slit the zipties holding Nyx and broke a potion over his head before Nyx could move.
Nyx spluttered as the potion flowed over him, flexing his hands to get the circulation back.
Now that Nyx was here in front of him, in more or less one piece after the potion, the concern morphed into anger.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" he snapped.
Guilt flashed over Nyx's face and Cor could feel it radiating off him.
Would he ever get used to feeling what another person felt?
"I'm sorry," Nyx said, ducking his head. "I wasn't…"
Nyx trailed off, but Cor could feel the mix of emotions that filled the silence.
Shame, anxiety, insecurity.
Things he wouldn't have guessed the competent, self assured Lieutenant Ulric would be plagued by.
Oddly, it was comforting that Nyx didn't seem to know how to handle this connection either.
Nyx met his gaze. "I should have told you, but I wasn't sure how."
Cor was still mulling over his response when he heard movement outside.
"We'll finish this later," he said, motioning Nyx to stay behind him.
Nyx looked like he wanted to say something, but he fell into position like the trained soldier he was.
The potion should have healed the worst of Nyx's injuries, but Cor hadn't exactly taken the time to check him over, distracted by the soulmate thing as he was. So he took the lead, determined to not let anything get past him to Nyx on the way out.
Besides, cutting through the enemy was a great distraction from the feel of Nyx at his back.
They stumbled out into the sunlight after meeting minimal resistance, and Cor half dragged Nyx into the tree cover and out of sight of the Niff facility.
"Cor." Nyx pulled away before they could get too much further.
Cor stopped and looked at Nyx. He wanted to tell Nyx it was fine, but it wasn't. To tell him that he wasn't mad, but that wasn't entirely true. To tell Nyx Cor understood, which was more true but didn't feel right.
"You should have told me," is what came out.
Cor made a face. Why were words so much harder than battle tactics?
"Yes, I should have," Nyx agreed. "If-"
Cor held up a hand to stop him. He could feel the regret and shame coming from Nyx, and he hated it.
"No, that's-" Cor stopped, grimacing. He shook his head, frustrated with himself and the situation in general.
He breathed out what was half sigh and half chuckle. He was really glad Regis and Clarus weren't here right now.
He placed a hand on Nyx's shoulder, ignoring both the jolt of sensation at the touch and the way Nyx twitched. "Just don't do it again. We're soulmates now, after all."
He felt his lips twitch into a grin. "Regis has expectations for soulmates."
"What?!" Nyx couldn't quite hide the panic in his voice.
Cor's grin slid into a smirk as he used the hand on Nyx's shoulder to get them moving again. "Regis is looking forward to meeting you officially."
"Cor!" Nyx grabbed at his arm. "I don't have to meet His Majesty, do I?"
Cor chuckled for real this time, and patted Nyx's shoulder. "You'll survive."
Nyx made a strangled sound in the back of his throat, and Ostium had the good timing to show up right then with their ride out of there.
After the reunion, Ostium stayed behind with the unit he'd brought to finish clearing out the Niff nest, and Cor commandeered a car to drive Nyx back to Insomnia.
Not the best start to a soulmate match, Cor mused as Nyx got himself settled in the passenger seat, but not the worst one, either. Much like the rest of his life in that regard.
Nyx looked at him, storm eyes bluer than he remembered. The swirl of emotions had calmed, and there was something like awe or affection lurking in the background.
Cor's gaze traced the profile of Nyx's nose, his jaw, the dusting on ink at the corner of his eye and his cheek. Now that he was allowed to look, even with the dried blood, Nyx was beautiful.
Nyx's lips twitched, and Cor knew that Nyx had felt him think that.
Cor sighed and started the car, pulling out on the road towards Insomnia.
This was going to take some getting used to.
Nyx reached out and tangled their fingers together in a gentle squeeze before letting go.
Yeah, he could work with this.