#also. if i say s.ev and v.al are submuses. don't at me. they are

[heirbane]

I think before Gaius knew the extent of Valdeaulin's history and injuries gained during his time with the Alliance, he just thought the elf was just a little bit Moogle-minded. Val struggles with shorter term memory and rapid mood shifts, and often isn't able to find the words he needs to speak, all of which infuriate him to no end and feed his emotional explosions.

It was obvious that Val had a personal vendetta against Gaius. To Val, Gaius was the closest to the heart of the Empire he could get - and, to his knowledge, had been the one behind the Black Rose testing.

In the depths of his darkest days, Val believed the only thing to mend his broken spirit was to break Gaius's. His wife and child had suffered an unimaginable death.

Valdeaulin didn't believe Gaius deserved that much - oh, no. He had to suffer, too, and to an extent that Val hadn't yet decided.

Throughout their travels and picking up Severa along the way, Gaius never mentioned his children. He explained his stance on the Black Rose project; he tried to express his empathy, his regret, his failings.

And while kicking up Valdeaulin's memories often cost him, throwing the man off kilter and forcing him to grieve when he simply wished not to, it ultimately helped them find a middle ground.

Valdeaulin didn't know of Allie and her siblings until they arrived in Werlyt. He had suspected the man had mentored youth in his service - given that he knew how to talk to Alphinaud - but had believed the man to truly be a lone wolf until the truth of the weapons project came to light.

And while Valdeaulin will never fully forgive Gaius - not for what he did and what he didn't do - his antagonistic, bitter hatred began to quell.

He dreamt of his own daughter, soul pulled from her body. He dreamt of many daughters and sons being taken from him, their spirit kidnapped, nothing left of their bodies to bury, just like him.

Maybe, he thought, they were more alike than he believed. Maybe his fury had disappeared because he looked into a mirror, seeing a man who had trusted his family and peers with his children and had returned to death and decay.

Seeing a man who had not been given the luxury of dying with them.

Many things are still wrong with Valdeaulin. His struggles with mood regulation and migranes. He struggles to sleep and to speak as he once did. But, under their differences are the men's similarities, and those weigh heavier than anything wrong with either of them.