moonbasebahamut | garlean jail

Normally, being unsure of Estinien's location would be no cause for concern. Ever since leaving Ishgard - and even before, honestly speaking - him vanishing to places unknown without a word has been customary. Only a handful of individuals seemed to have any luck with tracking him down.

So, when said individuals fail to accomplish what they set out to do, it does seem to ring some alarm bells. As Krile explained after coming back empty-handed, she had been using her abilities to track the unique nature of his aether. Yet now, it would seem, it's impossible to get so much of a whiff of him. The only real clue comes later, in the form of a white dragonet looking for the Warrior of Light.

The little wyrm introduced himself as Orn Khai to Val, saying that he was a friend of Estinien and that the dragoon had been helping him search for his father in the northern regions of Eorzea: Vedrfolnir, one of Hraesvelgr's brood - the wyvern that had tested Ser Aymeric during Hraesvelgr's trial. Apparently, Vedrfolnir had gone missing, bidding Orn Khai to seek help, only for that help to go missing as well after they entered Garlean territory.

With naught else to do, Orn Khai had returned to find one of Estinien's more famous associates - surely the Warrior of Light could sort it out, now that she was back in this world. He's insistent in his requests, perhaps even obnoxious, and after a series of investigative quests, that is how Val will find herself fighting through a Garlean stronghold.

She can handle if, of course - she's been through worse. Yet, something about it may seem ever so slightly off... almost as if there isn't as much resistance as there should be, as if the troops are being told to pull back. On the other hand, should she really look a gift horse in the mouth?

It's not as if she hasn't done this before.

Maybe not exactly this. While she has decimated a Garlean base or two, her objective usually trends more toward break everything. Rescuing a friend, though; that's new.

Frankly, it's an experience Val would rather not repeat.

The soldiers don't seem to be putting much into the fight and Val does make note of that. For all that she sometimes presents an image of absolutely ditziness, she's not unintelligent. She would not have survived thus far without a brain in her head. The Garleans are pulling back, leaving her with less shooting to do.

(It occurs to her that there could be a trap yet to be sprung - it wouldn't be the first time such has happened in her experience - but she honestly wants to believe that it's simply because whoever is in charge knows that he might as well just give Estinien up if she's here to rescue him.)

There's no reason to let up, though; Val sends a hail of bullets toward a group of soldiers taking scant shelter behind a stack of crates and then darts forward before the ones behind her can get a bead on her. There's only one place to go (other than simply abandoning her friend to his fate and she will not do that.)

So deeper into the facility she goes, away from the sunlight and away from the wider spaces. It's a little claustrophobic, dark like Garlean design always is, and of course her intel would indicate that Estinien is deep in the heart of the stronghold.

What she wouldn't give for a little room to fight, but these corridors are narrow. Val hates feeling pinned down, hates when a fight forces her to stay in one place. She feels exposed, but the soldiers are still falling away and she keeps going without trouble.

As she approaches the end of her path, it remains unclear whether it has the makings of a trap, or if the Garleans have succumbed to the futility of resistance. In the last corridor there don't appear to be any soldiers at all, and it only leads to one place - a mechanical bulkhead that seems just as likely to keep things out as it does to hold things within it.

Of course... that makes it all the stranger that it seems primed to open as soon as she arrived. Yet, she won't have much of a chance to ponder that turn of events, because the first thing it reveals is perhaps of greater concern. At the far wall of the chamber, with his hands and wrist bound behind his with by some kind of mechanism, is Estinien.

He's conscious enough to stay upright on his knees, but seemingly not much more than that. He doesn't even really raise his head when Val arrives, his ragged hair draped across his face. His lack of shirt makes the abuse his body has been under all too obvious, darkened with bruising and various incisions.

The rest of the details are hard to make out, dimly lit as the chamber is. Though there are other devices present, they are all set off to the sides of the room. Currently, there is no sound of immediate pursuit.

In her experience, there is nothing good behind doors such as what stands in front of her. She had intended to take a moment here, gather her thoughts and regroup. This infiltration has been easier than anything else she'd done on a Garlean base and she feels as if she needs a moment to put it all together.

Something doesn't feel quite right.

But she has to put those thoughts aside when the doors open as she approaches and Estinien is framed by the open door.

Val doesn't hesitate to cross the threshold, all uneasy thoughts falling away in the face of his condition. She can't make out much detail in the darkened chamber, but what she sees is more than enough to steal her breath. His name falls from her lips as she approaches.

He stirs, but there's no immediate recognition. Instead, it's shown by his tightening shoulders and a harsh intake of breath. His head lulls - at his temple, beneath white hair, is a small bead of light. Around his neck is nestled some kind of metallic collar.

A twitch goes through his body, his muscles tensing again, as if something has shaken him awake. Still, all that comes out of his mouth is an indistinct groan. His weight shifts back, closer to the wall, as if wary of whatever's come for him.

Val slows as she approaches, hand not occupied by her weapon up in a gesture of peace. "It's Val, my friend." She might have said more, but even in this state, she's almost certain that if she tried to hand him reassurance and platitudes, he would have thrown them right back at her.

She stops short of him and crouches, peering up at the collar and whatever is giving off light at his temple. "Estinien?"

Wanting badly to reach for him but thinking better of it, Val instead turns her attention to their surroundings, hoping against hope that no one is nearby.

Focused vitriol may actually be beyond him, it seems, because as she approaches and speaks to him he seems to have nothing to say in return. Instead, he sinks at the shoulders, turning his head away for a moment - only to abruptly turn his gaze towards her, red eyes peeking through his bangs for the first time. Their pupils are slit, their irises glowing in the time lighting.

...And only a moment after that, the device holding his arms shackled behind him shifts and clicks open. He sags downward as his arms fall free, with some metal still wrapped around his wrists and forearms even as they separate from the wall. He grips at the floor, bending forward, a ragged breath shooting through him.

He lunges for her, sparing her no moment of realization. It's a bestial motion, thoughtless and wild - instead of finesse, he's bearing his weight and strength against her, aiming to tackle her to the ground.

There's movement in the corner of her eye and Val turns toward him as he falls from the shackles. Her breath catches even as he draws a ragged breath and, for a moment, all she knows is terrible worry for her friend. She's seen him struggling before, suffering under foul influence, and she had hoped that would have been the end of his troubles - but he is a friend of hers and, as such, would have been drawn into something sooner or later.

It makes her want to renounce all her friendships and go live in the wilds somewhere.

As she reaches for him, he lunges for her. It's certainly not the first time something's caught her by surprise; she's been battle-hardened, after all. It's not even the first time a friend - or someone wearing a friend's face - has come after her. It's definitely unexpected, in this case. (As she yelps, it's in the back of her mind that she likely should have been a little more paranoid.)

Val is slight and short; Estinien, had he ever been so inclined, probably could pick her up and toss her around with one hand. Her saving grace is that she's quick, as it always has been. She drops as Estinien lunges and she feels his hands rake through her hair. Her shoulder takes the brunt of her fall, but she rolls with it and then to her feet.

"Estinien?" She is almost certain the he's not hearing her, but she has to try. "It's me, Valeria."

If only it mattered whether he could hear her or not. The force driving him defies all of that, running on pure physical and emotional impulses that cannot be altered by knowledge or rational thought. It's a prerogative that defies what he hears and what he sees.

He doesn't hesitate. He can't hesitate. Instead, he only roots to the floor for a moment before launching himself again, this time upwards at a rapid pace, only to dive downward against just as quickly.

A shockwave of energy and heat explodes out around him, a familiar dark red aura radiating around his body. As soon as he's struck, he's lunging forward again, with clear intent to grab her at the cost of all else.

He doesn't hesitate even for the slightest moment. Val curses, short and sharp, as Estinien gathers himself for that attack. She's seen that a thousand times before and always with deadly intent behind it. She dances backward, one arm over her face to shield the brunt of the energy, and still doesn't raise her weapon.

(She's an idiot. She's an idiot, she knows it, but this is Estinien and she wants more of a read on the situation before she simply attacks him.)

So she's on the defensive, by her own choice, and using that natural quickness that has served her so well before to get out of his way. There's precious little more she can do, not without a moment to actually peruse her surroundings.

She tries to give herself that, spinning away from Estinien and heading for the unlit edge of the room.

At some point while they do this, the bulkhead doors slide closed behind them.

Some part of him notices that slim chance of freedom slipping away, while the rest of him focuses in on Val as she dashes to the other side of the room. If there was any hope of her escaping, it's just been made significantly more complicated. With wild, incoherent need he wishes she would just leave, or if not that, that she would stop eluding him.

He wants it to stop, the pain of being driven like this causing more anguish than the moral consequences. He buckles at the knees, his claws digging at the metal floor, as fury and agony boil in his gut.

He cries out in a horrible roar, the kind that Val may remember from her battles with Nidhogg himself. A destructive force that goes beyond mundane sound, it tears through the air with an impact that bends metal. It's a cry of his spirit more than a cry of his actual voice, and it's filled with his pain.

That roar stops her, not because of the destruction in it or the dread that carries it, but because of the horror that fills her soul when she hears it. Her foot skids on the metal floor as she turns to face him - briefly taking note of the bulkhead that's now closed behind them - and her breath catches. Her dread and horror are not fear; not for her, at least.

She's danced this dance before with Estinien, but she had Alphinaud at her side then. (Alphinaud and his tireless faith when even Valeria herself had been near to calling it a lost cause would have been a boon to her spirit at this moment.) She doesn't want to hurt him, but she also has no plans on simply laying down and dying.

Any plan, though, would be an improvement to her situation here.

"Can you hear me at all, Estinien?" she calls, her gaze darting around the room and onto Estinien.

garlean jail

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