#mcd vincent

GUESS WHO'S BACK TO RAMBLE HEHE

I'm sorry for the horrible ms paint doodles but I needed something to explain my Shadow Knights

anyways ramble under cut as always

cw mention of cannibalism and light gore (?)

Vincent-Xavier meeting Garroth, dear god. Esmunc would have definitely been his loyalty kill, and at the sight of Garroth who is Esmund's spitting image, the Calling acts up for the first time in decades.

Laurance can feel something is happening with Vincent and goes on high alert thinking he’s gonna do something to Cadenza, only to find him looking at Garroth with this twisted expression of terror and heartbreak, clutching his chest where the armor unfurls from as though trying to physically hold it in from coming out.

Oh, it’s been so very long, but Xavier could never forget Esmund’s diplomatic smiles and perfected mannerisms, and Garroth has the same hitch in his laugh as he did, and when he looks at Irene Xavier can see he’s in love, and oh god it’s Esmund returned to life. And he cannot stop the thought of "What did Shad do to him?"

And to make matters worse, Garroth has Esmund's relic at this point! So Xavier-Vincent can sense Esmund's relic, sense Esmund's soul inside this guy who looks exactly like him except for the scars on his face. He even fights like Esmund - protecting his people above all else at all costs even if the cost is himself, and after the fight is done Irene scolds him and he demures and yields to her as he always has, and Xavier - Vincent - Xavier can't breathe. And he looks around, and he can see Enki and Kul'zak gathered around Esmund alongside Irene, and Cadenza lays a hand on his shoulder to ask if he's okay and for a moment when he looks at her he sees Menphia, and oh goddess, oh lord what the fuck has he done? How could he have done what he did to them, to his friends? Why did it take so long for Esmund to return to haunt him?

And Dante was supposed to be Xavier's successor before the soul that was supposed to be Xavier's was knocked out of alignment, so when he looks at Dante he sees the phantom of the man he once was. And Dante has this, this feeling in his chest of something missing, because he was supposed to have parts of Xavier's soul, and when their eyes meet he knows there is something here connecting them even if he can't figure it out for the life of him, and that pushes Xavier-Vincent over the edge into having to disengage and flee before he does something he regrets. He usually has such good control over his emotions, he has to when the emergence of the Shadow Knight form is directly connected to his emotions, but seeing all his friends and his own self from an age long past, a part of himself that he had tucked away and thought he'd lost to Shad, makes it so hard to keep enough control to hold on to his humanity.

Oh, and Shad possessing Aaron! Shad knows who he is, after all how could he not recognize his old friend and first knight, and he calls him Xavier. In front of everyone, he calls him Xavier and basically outs the whole story that Xavier-Vincent had managed to keep under wraps for so long. It knocks something loose in Aph/Ana's head about her time as Irene, and suddenly she never looks at him the same, and neither does Garroth.

Garroth knows about Xavier and Esmund, since this is a big part of his family's history. And he now sees himself as having becoming another's scar to remind of lessons hard learned and moments of grief and regret like his own scars, and he has become the cross carved into Xavier just as he bears his own cross from his own brother. He tries to avoid Vincent - avoid Xavier outside diplomatic meetings after that, thinking that maybe if he's out of sight Xavier can put the reminder of Esmund out of his mind, but that makes it worse because all Xavier can think of now is not being there when Esmund dies a second time, and it certainly doesn't help that Shad calls Garroth Esmund, which leaves Xavier wondering if Shad brought him back the way he did Xavier centuries ago.

And to make matters worse, Shadow Knights can sense each other. He can sense that Laurance, who reminds him so much of Kul'zak, is a Shadow Knight, presumably meaning that he was brought back to life by Shad exactly as Xavier had been? He has to wonder, how many others? How many of their friends, of their families, has Shad torn from the peaceful rest they earned with blood and sweat and tears? Are they even his friends anymore? Kul'zak has been changed, hasn't he? Twisted into new shapes that make what doesn't match up between Laurance and Kul'zak that much more jarring.

Their laugh is the same, but Laurance has perfected the same array of masks that Xavier and Esmund once had. They wear their hair the same, but Laurance often doesn’t wear the flowers and twigs Kul’zak wove into crowns at every opportunity unless they’re woven into his hair by someone else. They both have this mottled birthmark over the hip shaped like a leaf, but the rest of the marks, the rest of the scars are all wrong. Laurance’s eyes are dull, and if you watch closely they follow movement too fast or too slow like they’re not quite connected to the body the way they should be, and Laurance avoids solid eye contact so adamantly. Kul’zak was always warm, always so free with affection, and Laurance is rarely as affectionate with touch as he is reliant on it. Kul’zak used to hang off Esmund’s arm, giggling and whispering with their heads bowed together like children sharing secrets, but not like this. Not like Laurance, who folds his hand into the crook of Esmund - Garroth’s arm and allows Garroth to subtly guide him as though afraid of where he might step without the help, often pressing close and leaning against his shoulder like he’s too tired to refuse the help anymore. And the way he looks at Esmund, at Irene - Kul’zak had only ever had eyes for Enki as long as Xavier had known him, but the way he looks at Enki now, it . . . Kul’zak has been twisted into something else entirely by Shad’s hand, just as Xavier - as the man Vincent was before he slipped away once was.

And the Garrance relationship also makes it very clear just how different Esmund and Garroth are. Esmund was not the kind to yield to anyone but Irene, he was used to being in charge and he was a natural leader, but Garroth is very emphatically . . . not that. He hates being in charge, dreads it, but he is the one best suited to the job so he does it. He’s relieved to have someone he can defer to, and treats his second as though he has just as much power as he does, because in their situation he does. Laurance actually has more power than him just by virtue of being seen by Garroth on the same level as Irene. Garroth takes orders so easily, listens so well, just a touch and he yields and defers and goes exactly where he needs to be with only the barest pressure at his back to guide him. In the middle of a fight, he goes exactly where the charge he protects wants him to, and all it takes is a look across a crowded field for Garroth to understand and move, and it’s so so easy for him to yield to Laurance. To be drawn in by him. To linger with their sides pressed together from shoulder to hip to ankle, temple to temple, quiet words shared in the scant space between them when no one is looking. The way he looks at Irene, and the way he looks at Laurance, and the way he looks at the divine in prayer, it’s all the same. And there is something between them, this guard and his second. Esmund was not - could not be that way. Esmund could never bring himself to admit he had any feelings at all beneath the shell of heir, guard, protector, Divine Warrior. Confessions trip off Garroth’s tongue in the night, and though they never see the light of day, at least sometimes they are heard.

Maybe Vincent also smokes, and he and Laurance end up in the same out of the way place for a quiet cigarette and for a while they sit in silence until Laurance asks what’s up with the looks he keeps sending everyone. Vincent sighs, says, “Kul’zak, you - “

“What did you just call me?”

He looks back as Laurance’s face is in the middle of flickering between masks, and for the first time he sees the scars like nail marks around his eyes, and the angle of the corners of his mouth and the curl of his shoulders and the way his body faces away from Vincent is all wrong and this isn’t Kul’zak at all. Not anymore.

Laurance is disturbed by this, being called by the name of the divinity he worships as though he were an old friend when he has never met Vincent before. and Vincent can’t come up with an explanation. It’s tense until Laurance leaves, and he goes to Cadenza to tell her what happened because of course he tells his big sister, and that’s when he learns just how long Vincent has been alive, and he starts wondering how many of his loved one’s he’ll outlive.

According to my writing Vincent is guilty of murder, assault, vandalism, armed robbery, and cannibalism, but bro is just chill about all that.

Like yeah he did that shit what about it?

...

God I have got to come up with a better name shadow knights is so freaking edgy

SKs are really confusing in the series when it comes to design. It’s suggested that full SKs have permanently red eyes, but the only ones that’s actually true for are Zenix and Vincent. Gene, Sasha, and Zane never change eye color, and Vylad and Laurance seem to transform the same way, even though Laurance is a halfing (my own name for an incomplete SK) and Vylad seems to be a full SK (pretty cold and logical throughout the series, compared to mystreet)

So here’s my take on them!

This is not my normal fancast for Liochant but I wanted to change things up! Really drive in the home sickness and mystical feeling of MCD. Vincent's fancast is Luke Evans as Vlad Dracula Tepes in Dracula Untold......... I thought it was funny and I am sticking to it. Gotta help push the Shadow Knights are vampire adjacent agenda somehow.