knightsoflegend | flight ♔ pride can stand a thousand trials

WHO || Failboat [closed]
WHAT || The Knights return in the wake of the Keijen Blade concert, much worse for the wear
WHERE ||On a plane
WHEN || Directly after the concert
HOW || Actionspam or prose

The mood is darker than it's ever been as the Knights' plane takes off from the blackening skies above Los Angeles, which continue to spread out after them. They expected a trap, they expected the worst, but what actually happened dwarfed even those dire expectations.

Painful revelations about their teammates themselves, followed by the separation of Vi from the team, and then being forced to watch Blade enact a dark ritual in the concert-hall-turned-dark-temple that culminated in the sacrifice of hundreds, including the deaths of those who had been on the mission back-up team were only the beginning. Realizing at the last moment that Crombe still had no understanding of what Blade was truly doing, the team made a last minute bid to change his mind and get him to stop the ritual, but it was far too late, and as things escalated quickly, the Nightmare God Malaak'a was freed from his prison, the seal broken with the final step - Nadia's death. The god himself appeared before them, and Blade stood triumphantly behind him - only to use the dagger soaked in Nadia's blood to plunge into his father, and usurp his power for his own, ascending to some sort of deity-like powers himself.

This scene lies further and further behind them now, the images forever etched in their minds, and the silent forms of two of their teammates - one mysteriously incapacitated, the other dead, act as haunting reminders on their journey back towards the castle of what has befallen and what may be to come.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She's a bit hard to miss.

I can imagine. Myri showed me pictures on the flight over ... I was hoping to get to meet her under better circumstances.

Things never work out quite the way we imagine.

[so dry, like maybe 85% normal:] An understatement if I've ever heard one.

I can't help but wonder, what Wynn's best case scenario was for all that. [ a beat ] Or why I never realized he was actually a dragon before.

I don't know. Maybe he thought we could have stopped the ritual, or ... [he shakes his head. that's the only assumption he can make and even that feels wild.]

Have you considered the possibility that he was gunning for that one-on-one fight the entire time?

[UM NO HE HAD NOT WANTED TO ENTERTAIN THAT POSSIBILITY BUT HE SURE IS NOW.]

Then why bring us along? Smoke and mirrors?

Edited 2017-09-07 02:46 (UTC)

Because it was the only way to guarantee a front row seat, given Crombe's specifications. Think about it. He's been obsessed for... who knows how long. Decades? Centuries? Longer? That entire collection in the hallway of his, of a prophesied dragon fighting a drow god - perhaps he wasn't looking at that quite so metaphorically.

[finnick considers this ... then relents with a half-shrug.] I don't like it, but it doesn't surprise me. Everyone has their own agenda. Thinking Wynn is any different is naive. [but he still thinks some of their team would be offended by ... how life actually works.]

None of it was ever really any different. [he glances down at myri, talking more to himself now.] We're just pawns in another game.

Edited (don't mind me just rereading my half-conscious tags) 2017-09-07 17:04 (UTC)

Sometimes the best we can hope for is some say in which game we're going to play.

I chose this one. I choose this one. I still — [he hesitates, considering that talking about it will make him lose his tenuous grasp on sanity (which must be slipping if he's sharing this with dumage of all people tbh), but then he keeps going.] — I don't know what's real or not. If I'm awake or if this is some kind of dream. Or nightmare. More and more, I think it's a nightmare. But there are things in it worth fighting for.

Considering the god of Nightmares was just unleashed, you might not be the one who's wrong. I don't think what's real matters anymore - we have to deal with the situation we're in, one way or another.

But ... How much can people like us do, really? Against any of this?

Drink copiously, I suppose.

I tried that. I grew tired of it.

I'll just have to pick up your slack, then.

I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines.

Do you have a better idea?

If I had one, you'd be the first to hear of it. [he sighs slightly.] But I think you have the right idea. Maybe there's no true place for people like us in this fight. We'll be slaughtered. [like felicity. and ALL THOSE PEOPLE jesus fucking christ]

Precisely. You or I standing toe to toe with a god isn't going to do anyone any favors.

It all seems so hopeless when it's laid out.

Wishing you'd stayed away?

Do you know where I came from? What home was like for me? Have I ever told you?

You said you were a bit of celebrity, if I remember correctly.

(no subject)

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