Piecing the past together

"Hold the fuck up. So someone manipulated princess and her merry band to walk straight into a trap?" Fenri asked as Verdi glared at her.

"Is that a statement of fact or an insult?" He asked cautiously. Rather than dignify him with an answer, Fenri smirked and patted him on the head like a puppy, serving to annoy him far more than either answer.

"You'd need to control the forces of light, know how Rael thinks, have a firm knowledge of the region, and have perfect timing for this to occur when we were in the area! The sheer complexity of the matter would make this impossible!" Citrinas said indignantly, unwilling to acknowledge that she was just a pawn in some greater scheme. Rather than being objective, she seemed to be in denial of the reality staring her in the face. She'd been a puppet manipulated far longer than she ever realized, and she'd never noticed it until now.

"So you're saying you just so happened to meet a random person who just so happens to be connected to your dead sister?" Daria asked as Citrinas went quiet, unable to formulate a response. The laws of probability were against her, and merely saying that fate brought them together was illogical.

"If someone was after us, why wasn't Tomoko and Ruya with us that day? If someone could manipulate so many different factors, they should have been able to keep those two with us." She countered as Fenri frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"Bonds wasn't there with you guys?" She asked, confused as Verdi thought back to the day they met. At the time only Citrinas, Elmeria, and Alka were there. Tomoko and Ruya weren't present at the time. He never put much thought into it at the time since he was too busy trying not to die from Elmeria's voice, but now he realized how strange it was that they split up. They were a party, and a diplomatic team for propaganda. Separating them would cause more problems than they would solve. Furthermore, they'd been sent out to deal with two people that were universally viewed as mild annoyances at best.

"There was an issue with the carnation seneschal and hornet empress at the time. They were coming as the demon king's diplomats, Halicarnassus seduced the local noble, his wife found out, and tried to kill her. Hornet Empress intervened, and it got messy. Elmeria asked if they could go smooth things over since Tomoko and Hali are friends while Ruya's friends with the Hornet Empress." Citrinas explained as Fenri looked even more lost.

"Who's Ruya?" She asked as everyone looked to her, as though she'd asked the dumbest question of all time. The only person that seemed nervous was Varrick as he tried to look nonchalant underneath his armor.

"You don't know who Runa Ruya is?" Belsach asked, using Ruya's entire name as though he were addressing royalty. For the briefest of moments, there was a tinge of respect in the Goblins voice, as though he were addressing something greater than him.

"Their friend. You've never met her." Varrick answered quickly, as though he were talking about a particularly dangerous subject. Picking up on Varrick's cue, Verdi changed the subject.

"Why is it the more I learn about Tomoko, it's just her sex life?" He asked, reminiscing about Tomoko's odd habits. She talked to Citrinas about how sex slaves were a worse choice than just getting a maid and a prostitute. Now it turned out she was friends with the leader of an obscure sex cult, and willing to go out of her way to help her get out of trouble. Considering how reserved she was when he met her, he was surprised she was such a debauched person.

"They're just friends!" Citrinas said indignantly, defending her friend as Verdi snorted.

"Right. Tomoko is just friends with the leader of the sex cult, just like how Fenri and I are just friends." He said dismissively, the hero's inventory still packed with his seed from their last tryst.

"Yes, we're all aware Bonds REALLY likes Carnachias. Can we get on with it?" Belsach asked, as though the world knew of Tomoko's love for the depraved sex goddess.

"Is Bonds famous for being a degenerate? Cause, everyone else says she's the perfect virgin hero." Fenri asked, now interested in the subject matter.

"She just likes the cult's perfume, clothing, and the members who worship Carnachias. She just isn't as promiscuous as the cult." Citrinas explained, still denying the reality that her friend was a huge pervert.

"Right." Fenri said

"Focus!" Varrick scolded, annoyed and disturbed by how they were blatantly disrespecting Tomoko by insinuating she was in any way connected to the depraved goddess Carnachias. "So who sent you out there?" He asked, getting everyone back onto the main topic.

"Well, Elmeria asked us to come since a group of elves were trapped behind rubble, and she wanted to help after hearing about it." Citrinas answered as Verdi rubbed his chin.

"Think she's behind this?" Verdi asked, mulling over Elmeria's actions. She didn't act like she was some shadowy conspirator, but she did convince the party to come. It would be idiotic to not suspect her.

"Do you honestly think someone blessed by the goddess of music is smart enough to orchestrate this whole plot but dumb enough to just stroll into an ambush after dismissing two members of her party to chase a pair of perverts?" Daria asked as Verdi shrugged.

"She could literally kill by talking, so she might have expected to beat whatever was after her." Verdi answered, still fearing Elmeria more than any other person he'd met. She was never outright hostile to him, but just standing near him or talking was enough to cause him to melt.

"It's not as powerful as you think. It's only effective to monsters weaker than her with a darkness attribute. Furthermore, priests aren't known for close combat prowess." Citrinas countered, viewing her friend not as the walking holy nuke Verdi saw her as, but as a **** priestess who needed protecting.

"Neither are mages and Verdi's slugging it out with freaks like Evangeline." Fenri reminded, siding with Verdi and viewing Elmeria with suspicion.

"He's the exception, not the rule." Varrick said before sighing. "Besides, Elmeria's the least likely person to be manipulating everyone. She's just a lowly priestess ordered around by elven royalty, who are in turn ordered around by their parliament." He explained as Fenri groaned.

"Can't we keep her on a list of suspects? I'm tired of trying to find out who's the traitor backstabbing us." She complained, for more interested in chasing down suspects and snatching them up like a dog than playing detective.

"I've known Elmeria for years. She's always asked us to help out whenever elves are hurt. This was just her doing her usual response. I think someone exploited that. We should be focusing on what Rael knows." Citrinas said, defending her friend as Belsach chimed in.

"Rael was responding to what the forces of light did. This wasn't her fault. Furthermore, if she could manipulate the forces of light to mobilize an army, march east, and then fall victim to her trap, she wouldn't be having problems right now." Belsach said, the current demon king still dealing with the fallout of the previous war and fixated solely on ending her civil war. Had Rael been capable of such intricate ploys, she'd have reunited her country years ago. She was competent, but she wasn't omnipotent.

"Who sent the armies of light east?" Verdi asked, moving the conversation along and ruling out two suspects.

"It was a vote among nobility. The heroes of peace and equality voted against it, so they're ruled out." Citrinas answered as Belsach leaned forward and spoke in a hushed voice, his green face contorted into pure disgust.

"... And what did Deceit say?" He snarled, his crooked yellow teeth almost spitting the name like phlegm as Citrinas looked at her hands, seemingly understanding something. After a moment of thought, she recollected herself and spoke up.

"Nothing." She answered, finally identifying their best suspect. "We never had the hero of Deceit send a messenger or a letter approving or rejecting the mobilization. They just stayed silent." The silence was deafening as Varrick cleared his voice. Despite him being one of the few to defend the hero in their previous conversation with Belsach, his voice seemed dejected as he gave his input.

"Someone as savvy as Deceit would know sending an army east would only incite tensions. He should have stopped the entire plan or at least spoke out." He said, his tone solemn as he realized the scope of the hero's actions. "Unless Deceit was incapable of responding, the mobilization happened with his permission." He concluded as Daria chimed in.

"Deceit's also been quite good at predicting how monsters and elves think, could **** nobility into voting one way or another, and orchestrated the fall of the previous demon king. A plan like this isn't outside their capabilities." Daria noted, everyone in the room knowing full well just how clever the hero was. As a direct result of their planning, 15 heroes were dead. 2 of them were crippled beyond recovery. 1 was on the run and viewed as a traitor to all. 1 was a mere pawn to machinations beyond her comprehension. And the last was in the shadows plotting. Upon this revelation, Belsach hopped to his feet and spoke, his voice tinged with malice.

"I warned you! I warned all of you Deceit is up to no good! Deceit fucking tricked peace and equality to shit on Eren's reputation, **** him to go underground, and now he's after Bonds! I fucking knew it!" Belsach exclaimed, vindication in his eyes as he saw his worst preconceptions of the hero come true. Though he was furious, there was a trace of pride in his eye knowing that his initial guess had been correct.

"We still don't know if Deceit planned all this. Maybe they're deep undercover and couldn't respond." Varrick said, returning to defending the hero in the vain hope that they didn't have a traitor in their midst. Verdi raised his hand at that moment, clearing his throat to get their attention.

"By the way, the only one I was supposed to kill was Ruya. I was supposed to turn everyone else into my sex ****." He reminded, relaying the demands Carnachias and Melanoche had given him. As he looked to Citrinas, an idle thought popped into his head as he gasped in horror. "Oh no, everything's gone according to plan!" He said, already corrupting 20% of the hero party as Citrinas bopped him on the head.

"I don't know Deceit's plans, but that is not a main part of it!" Citrinas shouted, blushing profusely at his ill timed joke. Meanwhile, everyone else in the room save Fenri was staring at him in disbelief.

"Why do you want to kill Ruya?" Varrick asked with a worried voice, as though he'd threatened to kill a puppy just now.

"I don't! Melanoche told me to kill her!" Verdi reminded, refusing to let any of them even conceive of him holding ill will to the hero party. He had no urges to harass the party in any way save for Citrinas, and even that was less about him being commanded to do so and more so that he enjoyed bullying the arch-imago.

"So why do they want her dead?" Varrick asked, focusing intently on Verdi as the alchemist rubbed his chin, thinking deeply about what he was told.

"They said she she betrayed her father, and that she's the weakest member of the team." He answered after a moment, recollecting a conversation from almost a year and a half ago. Ruya had betrayed her father, was convinced to join the forces of light, and was the weakest member of the heroes. Not much else was in her backstory. Upon hearing his explanation everyone seemed to wait for him to burst out laughing or give a punchline, only to worry further when they realized he was dead serious.

"They told you that?" Daria asked, the vampire staring at him in complete disbelief at his explanation.

"Yeah. Something wrong with what I said?" Verdi asked.

"She isn't the weakest member of Tomoko's party." Varrick said succinctly as Fenri pointed her thumb to Citrinas, leaning back in her chair while doing so.

"Yeah, I think that title goes to princess." She said, the sentiment shared by Verdi. Of the members of Tomoko's party, Citrinas was by far the least threatening of the bunch. Alka was invulnerable to physical damage, Tomoko could do anything her friends could do, and Elmeria could melt him with her voice. He never saw Ruya fight, but Citrinas was by far the most **** of the bunch. Fenri had taken her down with toxic gas, and Verdi was quite sure he could take her on in a wrestling match. Even Citrinas admitted that she couldn't cast magic while fighting in close quarters, and that such things were reserved for "freaks like Mathias" who could maintain focus while being stabbed.

"Ruya is a Great Terror. Not as bad as Evangeline or Eren, but she's the strongest on Tomoko's team. She could beat them all at the same time if she wanted to." Belsach explained, finally giving context to just why everyone in the room went quiet when Verdi dubbed her to be the weakest.

"Really? She's that strong?" Fenri asked, almost salivating at the prospect of fighting the dragonkin as Varrick face palmed, silently regretting ever bringing up Ruya's name in the hero's presence. Considering how her fight with Verdi ended up, she was going to either end up killing Ruya or bedding her.

"She's fought other Great Terrors and heroes in the past. She even survived a fight with Eren. She isn't someone to mess around with." Varrick warned, his words akin to foreplay for Fenri.

"She picked a fight with him?" Verdi asked with a confused voice. He'd never seen Eren fight, but everyone he'd met had spoken about the hero with awe and respect, stating him to be the undisputed strongest. It was hard to imagine the taciturn dragonkin wanting to fight the hero. To his relief, Citrinas shook her head.

"Eren just attacked her out of the blue one day when he saw her. He actually came close to outright killing her before throwing her aside." She explained as Fenri raised a confused eyebrow, the prospect of letting prey go an alien concept to her.

"Why?" She asked as Citrinas shrugged in response, unable to comprehend the hero's train of thought. Verdi and Fenri looked over to the people that personally knew Eren, hoping they could shed some light. Instead, they found the same sheepish expressions plastered on their faces, none of them knowing the logic behind the hero's abrupt ****.

"I don't know. He just said she's an irredeemable piece of shit, and that she's going to burn for what she did." Belsach said with a shrug as Verdi stiffened, a specific word triggering a response.

"Irredeemable? Are you sure he said irredeemable?" Verdi asked cautiously, thinking back to his conversation with Melanoche and hoping he remembered it wrong. Sadly, after he woke up, his memory had been impeccable. The wording on describing Ruya was alliterative, so it was easy to remember.

"Yeah. Why?" Belsach asked as Verdi wet his lips with saliva, finding another clue to his past.

"Belsach, what did Ruya do?" He asked as the hobgoblin traced his long, dirty fingernails across his chin, as though he were stroking an invisible beard.

"I dunno. She's just as mysterious as Eren to be honest. She just appeared 10,000 years ago, and she's been trying to end the war ever since she showed up." Belsach answered, the hobgoblin shrugging in defeat at investigating the dragonkin. "Still, if Eren says she did something bad, it must have been terrible. He said Evangeline of all people had some positive qualities." He added, his friend's description of Ruya tainting whatever opinions he had of the dragonkin. Despite her usual calm demeanor, Citrinas threw a dirty look at Belsach, personally insulted by his words.

"You guys should stop pointing fingers to my friends. None of us could or would manipulate so many factors to walk into a trap." Citrinas said firmly, accepting the reality that she was being manipulated for the sake of defending her friends' good reputation. At that moment, Verdi raised his hand, tossing in another fun fact about what the dark gods told him.

"The gods in my head called her Ruya the Redeemed." He said, causing everyone to stare at him once more. Judging by how Varrick and Daria were looking at him, Verdi could tell that Eren had referred to the dragonkin as irredeemable on more than one occasion.

"... You're sure?" Daria asked warily.

"Positive. He ever say why he hated Ruya?" Verdi asked, mounting further evidence that he'd met Eren in the past. Knowing about Belsach's bar and referring to Ruya as the Redeemed meant that he'd met the hero at least once. He also recognized the hero's face, and knew without a doubt he'd seen it before.

"Not much. Just said that she caused a lot of trouble for his mentor back in the day, and that he was pissed he had to clean up her mess." Daria said as Verdi sighed.

"That's pretty vague." He complained, hoping to have more intel on the mysterious hero.

"Eren was a private guy." Varrick said with a shrug, knowing little, if anything about the man that had raised him. "Still, it's proof you've met him, and that you two talked. That's a clue."

"It's just weird. Why was I on that mountain if I was close enough to this Eren guy to befriend him, and why the hell was Deceit so intent on having Tomoko's party come to me?" Verdi wondered, still unsure just where his past life's allegiances lied. If he was working with Deceit, then it implied he was plotting against Eren. Yet, he knew a significant amount of information about Eren, and that implied he was on good terms with the hero. In the end, he woke up on that mountain with no memories outside of some vague recollections, with neither faction interested in keeping him around. While he tried to mull over theories as to his past life and his life, Fenri patted him on the head, snapping him out of it.

"Fuck it, let's just stick to plan A. Go get the artifacts, bait out fox-girl, beat her up, and get our answers from her." She said, unable or unwilling to keep up with the facts and far more interested in fulfilling her own needs. Though everyone wanted to rebut her simplistic mindset, they couldn't muster an answer that they themselves were content with. Verdi's seemingly contradictory past, the machinations of Deceit, Eren scavenging artifacts, hybrids of dead heroes appearing, all of it just didn't add up. They just didn't have enough pieces to the puzzle, and they knew it. Eventually, Varrick sighed and rubbed his helmet.

"For now, Belsach, keep trying to find Pelrin and Tristiana. We'll keep trying to get things done on our end." He said, giving into Fenri's plans as he let out a sigh. Every lead they had to solving the mystery lied just outside their reach, either being wiped completely in Verdi's case or just being elusive as with Eren and Tristiana. Regardless, he took solace that at the very least they weren't aimlessly wandering and had a rough idea of who to suspect.

Author's note: Sorry for the long waits between chapters. Darkest Dungeon II is addictive as fuck.