#vormav

Vaguely art blocked, so some messy stuff to loosen up ensued.

Treat with me.

Vormav would sooner trust an asp. The voice in the Stone has been a steadfast companion for – it has been years now. From the first he was aware that the being in the Stone was no angel called down to aid the Zodiac Braves. It had come into his possession as such, a gift to a newly ordained Grand Master, and for many years it had remained just that – a gift. Inert as it had been with Molay, beautiful and strangely tempting, but silent. He kept it nearby out of respect for his position and because it was a pleasant thing to behold in the austerity of his office.

 Were Loffrey any other man he would have taken the knocking at his door for an armed force, the racket it was making. Three loud knocks, half a second apart; it was like a death knoll. 

 "Good evening to you, too, Vormav," he drawled. He could see in his mind's eye Vormav punishing the door with the flat of his palm and then standing, waiting.

 He was, however, surprised. When he opened the door he started to find Vormav leaning heavily on the door frame and withs uncharacteristic pallor. Loffrey wondered if the Templar had been taken ill.

 Then Vormav looked at him, and he knew.

 "She's dead," Loffrey said, pitilessly, and didn't move.

 "It... took her, Loffrey," Vormav growled. Even now he had more anger than grief, to hear him talk - but Loffrey knew better.

 "It took her a long time ago, you fool," he said, "You said so yourself, 'Eleth is gone, we wait for the certificate'. Why are you here?"

 Vormav's eyes narrowed and he straightened. He'd been taller than Loffrey even bent against the doorframe.

 "Grief cannot tolerate solitude."

 Loffrey grunted. Honesty was more than he expected - making the situation worse than he had thought. Getting Vormav to admit to a fault was like pulling chocobo teeth.

 "If I recall Eleth left you two children."

 "A father must be strong for his children. If they see me like... this, how can they be expected to remain strong?"

 "A father would know better than to leave his children alone, even if one of them is Meliadoul Tengille."

 Vormav glared. "Cletienne watches them."

 "So, do you come where your children cannot see, or do you come for me?" Loffrey asked, then repeated, "Why are you here?"

 "You're a merciless dog, Wodring," snapped Vormav. That made Loffrey smile, if not with much enthusiasm. 

 "Tell me," Loffrey said, softly. Vormav hit his fist against the doorframe and sighed through his nose.

 "I came for you, damn your eyes."

  Loffrey realised that he didn't want to see him weak. Could keep pretending at that inhuman strength, perhaps... and yet. He found himself stepping back without another word. When he put a glass of wine in Vormav's hand the man neither thanked him nor refused.

 He had his own and sat with it and a book, near Vormav. it was all that was needed. Loffrey read about demonspawn and the purging of them in various gruesome ways in silence. When he looked up, Vormav was staring into the fireplace, eyes opaque as flint.

 "She was a good woman," Loffrey offered. "Why it is traditional to compliment the dead is beyond me... they neither know or care. It reminds you of what you have lost, does it not?"

 If Vormav expected anything other than blunt sincerity then he was stupid and morally weak, so he deserved the remark. Vormav nodded, though, seeming to remember the wine quite suddenly. With a fingernail he pinged the side of the glass and listened to the clear note, head cocked. 

 Loffrey frowned, went back to the purging of the unclean. Unguarded and human like that, Vormav was in danger of making him fond of him.

 "She was more than a good woman," Vormav started, then shook his head. In here Loffrey could hear the rasp of his voice. How long had he been crying before he came?

 "No, go on." Loffrey closed the book, his finger tucked into a page on possession.

 Vormav sighed. "She was the only woman."

 Loffrey understood. He set the book aside entirely and turned to face him, poured another drink without comment. he drank his own glass as an afterthought, and did the same again.

 "Take your damn coat off, Tengille," he ordered, after a pause. "I'm damned if you're leaving in a hurry."

 Not without reluctance, Vormav obeyed. He settled close to Loffrey, not touching and stony-faced, but Loffrey could see his hands shake and the ripples in the wine from it.

 You bastard, Loffrey thought, savagely, You say you cared about her, I see you cared about her. You're here and you hate me like you hate everyone, you loved her and yet when she weakened you blamed her. Poor Eleth, maybe she died ignorant to what you did with me.

 Loffrey put a hand on Vormav's shoulder, not unkindly, and silently made Vormav meet his eyes.

 Even though he knew every thread in the web of ugliness inside of Vormav and that his heart was hollow for Loffrey. It didn't matter. He breathed, he spoke, his rotten heart beat. That was all.

 Not that his own heart was less black. When Vormav broke and pressed his forehead to Loffrey's chest he carded through his hair and, mixed with the pity and frustration, there was a dark pleasure in it, not 'you deserve this', no but, 'good, come to me, show me'.

That said. "You think us monsters?" was one of the more interesting lines in FFT. Something about it talks of 'I have a higher purpose than you can know, so you just call it evil!'. Then again Belias just goes on about chaos and the screams of innocents.

It's my headcanon that Hashmal's done a Jehovah (all the Espers corrupted over time, like a broken discs, became 'caricatures' of themselves, theor purposes taken to an illogical conclusion, such as Belias the warrior becoming a brute, 'Lech becoming an arrogant bully, etc.) and 'no-one is innocent', probably taking a leaf out of Exodus' book, the copy-cat cat. Ergo what he's doing isn't wrong, it's a just punishment. Besides, humans are disorderly things. Eradicating them might make an unnecessary ruckus to start with, but the means suit the ends - nothing is more systematic or orderly than oblivion after all.