Chapter Text
Flux's plan worked. The Islands weren't fighting. Everyone wanted to kill him.
What was the point? It was a useless endeavor, trying to fight back; Saparata was bound to get hunted down by the hundreds of people after his bounty, killed for that stupid rigged trial, killed for Flux. His little conspiracy that everybody in Island Two believed, and by the looks of it, Island One too—and... well.
Winds howled across the tundra, biting into his skin now that he'd taken off his armor. Maybe he shouldn't have built his tower out of snow and stone; it was an unpleasant, cold way to die, and Saps hated the idea that he was giving up, isolated and freezing in a foreign land. Saps wasn't going to give up. Not when Fluixon was still alive out there, walking around scot-free.
Not before Saparata killed him for what he did.
His breath was coming in shorts bursts of air, gasping in faster and faster, fingers frozen on the precipice of the ledge. His chest ached, and his lungs rattled with freezing snow. A figure appeared out of the side of his vision, dark-haired and right behind him—
For a mediator, Saps was shockingly quiet during the meeting—although perhaps it wasn't too surprising, given that it was mostly Jophiel vying for peace and order while Saparata looked he was half-dissociating and silently panicking before a blank look had wiped it all clean. He wasn't entirely mute throughout; he had snapped at Flux to get off the table once or twice, glanced at Jophiel with one-too-many haunted looks, gaze skimming over half the Island Two leaders like they were ghosts.
And wasn't that concerning?
It took a fair bit to break that unruffled, cheery composure of his—that, Fluixon knew firsthand. Just yesterday, Saparata was nervous, yes, but certainly not shaken, and especially not over a meeting that technically had no political consequence over him personally. He didn't look like the pale, thin-lipped man standing at the edge of the meeting table, hand clenched on the smooth wood surface, wearily watching as leaders filed out, one-by-one.
It couldn't have been Flux's ideas about Island One, right? No, that was a foolish thought; Saps already knew what he really thought about those... barbarians and all their propaganda, ready to attack them for their resources the second the storm receded, Flux was sure of it!
He looked back at Saparata, now talking to Seraphim in low, hushed tones. He had replaced that veil of his with a porcelain mask half-covering his face and left eye, and he tensed up as Flux approached them, looking all the more like he wanted to run. Or attack either Fluixon or Seraphim, which was... hurtful (interesting), but considering the potential plans he had for Saps; well. He wouldn't blame him for a bit of weariness, though there was no way Saps knew.
"...aid we send to the poor island will be used against us," Seraphim sighed, sounding like she didn't have one of the best positions to maneuver the political tides whichever way she wanted if she put some work into it. "I just wish there was something I could do about it."
There it was.
Flux opened his mouth to interject, because were they kidding? She was second-in-command, Jophiel's trusted one, she could request as many dalliances with the Queen of Tricolor for all she wanted to convince or kill—
"Maybe," Saps murmured, voice coming out stronger than he looked. He was looking at Fluixon now, emotion flickering through the one eye that was exposed. "But we can't know for sure right now, and the best we can do is just prepare a good defense. And... you have political sway, Seraphim. If you really believe what you believe, Jophiel is not called an understanding ruler for nothing."
Saparata worked his jaw, then nodded towards Jophiel, still waiting for their second-in-command at the other side of the meeting area.
"You should go, Seraphim. If you want, we can talk later." His eyes were still on Flux, fingers tapping uneasily on his sword. Geez, what had Flux done to make him this paranoid?
Seraphim narrowed her eyes, but she conceded, turning sharply on her heel to join Jophiel, but Fluixon stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, Seraphim. You are the second-in-command of Tricolor. Figure it out."
Something in their gaze shifted, colder and sharper—maybe it was in his favor, maybe it wasn't. Time would tell. And if it wasn't, then, well, it wouldn't be too hard to tell NewKids there was a another problem to take care of. Flux turned back to Saparata, the blank facade still firmly plastered all over his face.
...Contrary to what direction his plans were going in currently, Fluixon still cared about Saps. They were still friends, despite all their differences in ideology, and something about the hidden fear and caution packed tightly behind that mask of his made Flux worried.
For the plan? For the betrayal? Or your friendship with him?
(Did it matter?)
"Hey, Saps," he greeted, guiding him so he was sitting down on the armrest of his chair, and Flux perched on the table. "What's going on with you?"
"Nothing," Saparata said, a little too quickly. He could tell, based on the grimace that appeared just a second after. "I'm doing fine, Flux. What do you want from me?"
Fluixon was pretty sure he hadn't done anything to warrant such a reaction, so he raised an eyebrow, flicking at the mask that Saps was now wearing. "I can't talk to a friend after a highly stressful political meeting that might determine all of our fates, now?"
Saparata made a face, leaning back and swatting at him when his finger hit the mask with a high ting!
"It's not really a fun topic to talk about," he muttered, sounding vaguely annoyed. The tinge of anger was slowly disappearing, though, replaced with a different type of banter—not foreign, but it didn't fit their current dynamic. It wasn't hostile though, so Fluixon counted it as a win. Then Saparata sighed, passing a hand over his face. "Yeah, yeah, my bad. What did you want to talk about, then?"
Flux hummed, considering his next words. Clearly, this was unknown territory—a skittish, wary Saparata made for new waters in their friendship, apparently. But that was fine, Fluixon knew how to adapt. "You were pretty quiet in that meeting, y'know."
"Was I?" Saparata shot back, trying not to sound defensive but failing.
"It's just an observation. And you seem a lot more stressed and tense than you were yesterday."
Saparata scoffed, but his fingers were so tightly clenched they were turning white. Saps flinched as Fluixon pulled his wrist up to unfurl his fingers from his palm, placing it flat on the table once he was done. "That was a stupid move, Flux. Calling all of the island leaders idiots? Inciting a war with Alke isn't going to do anything for us if the poor island decides to attack us, you know. It'll only make us weaker."
"Oh, so you agree that Island One will probably attack us?"
Something in Saparata's face shuttered, tracking the minute shifts of Flux's body as he snatched his hand back, cradling his wrist with his other hand. He was silent for a moment, finally looking away for the first time since Fluixon had approached him.
"...yeah. You're right." The words sounded like they were forced out from behind gritted teeth, tinged with a bitterness Saparata had never had before.
Flux tilted his head, just so he could make Saps wait. He looked like he wanted to scream, and Fluixon wondered how he didn't see this. If he'd been hiding this side of him, what he actually thought this whole time, or if he was lying to get Flux's trust. How curious.
But if Saps wasn't truthful, then he was infallibly noble, optimistic, trustworthy. Which made it all the more suspicious, and enticing.
Because if he could get Saparata, island mediator, friend of one of the most powerful nations of their Island—with Seraphim's doubts, they could make some real change. It was just... annoying, risky, that his plans could all potentially be thrown off or ruined, depending on how Saparata could fall.
Fluixon wanted to make an exception, just because Saparata was his friend, and that could prove even more dangerous than continuing with his original idea and dealing with the fallout if their conspiracy were discovered.
"Really?" Fluixon teased, just to break the tension. He wanted to push, to see the limits of where Saps stood, where he would draw the line, but that was for another time. Saparata already looked like he's about to break off into the distance, to find solitude once more like he'd been tending towards since Ish placed them all here.
Relief slipped into Saparata's expression, mixing oddly with the acerbic bitterness still plainly clear on his face.
"Hm. Maybe," he shrugged, and allowed Flux to slip an arm over his shoulder, hauling both of them up as Flux led them to lean against the stone fence to face the sunset. He was tense under Fluixon's touch, as much as he leaned into it.
"C'mon, if you don't wanna talk about politics, we could just cut it off for the rest of the night. I'm formally extending an invite to stay over at our nation, as the vice president of Luminara." Flux bowed slightly, grinning as Saps rolled his eyes, jostling the both of them as he jabbed an elbow into Fluixon's stomach.
"Yeah, yeah, I thought I already had an open invite," Saps drawled, stepping cleanly out of Fluixon's arm, a frown starting to form on his face once again. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to decline. Got some stuff to do before the barrier between Island One and Two dies down, and all that."
He waved at Flux before he could get a word out, already slipping past the meeting table and up the hill behind them.