#cia and sooga are the most toxic duo of all time. love them though

[thebleedingeffect]

I promised fic last night so! This is a crucial scene in my multi-link au 'hyrules curse', specifically this is a scene between Cia and Sooga where she manages to convince him to betray Kohga. I hope it's fun to read even if you don't know the characters :]

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The room is quiet, much to Sooga’s unease, empty of any and all air with the exception of his own breaths pushing up against the mask that may as well be his second skin. The mask is a comfort now as he stands alone in the solitary room, the thin porcelain barely hiding Cia’s gaze from his frame as she leans back with a thoughtful hum. It’s a practiced, almost delicate sounding noise, but it only sounds overly sweet to his ears, honeyed and coe with poison underneath. 

Sooga remembers the warnings of those wiser, smarter than even him, to always watch for those who are calm even in a room full of blades as those are always the ones who will convince you to turn your blade onto yourself. The kind of weapon that few possess but are deadly enough that it claws into the very roots, digs its poison into your flesh and never lets go. It’s a thought that comes to his mind now as he meets her stare, unflinching even as she blinks in admiration.

“I’m impressed of your work. Your skills during that invasion of yours are perhaps one of the only things that only for your master to escape with his life.” Sooga’s dual blades are still dull with crimson on his hips, the pristine metal dripping with the dried blood of hylians and gerudo alike. It makes the slightest of puddles by his feet, the droplets of red near black in the low light underneath the flickering of the fire’s flame. 

“Spare me your words, you were there to have me killed.” 

“Wrong, I was there to have your master killed. But… plans change, and I like to believe that my ability to adapt is one of my stronger qualities.” Sooga’s eyes narrow as Cia absently spins towards the map sprawled across the table, red markings sullying the countless mountains and rivers as her eyes become critical. 

“Your clan and master have retreated to the depths, and day by day you’re losing the little foothold that you still have on the surface. Bases discovered, trainees exposed and killed, and entire settlements being rooted out and scorched.” The words are smooth, amused even, but Sooga sees the sadistic twist of her lips as she glances up, her gaze pining him to the wall with a curious glimmer.

“It’s all rather pathetic, isn’t it? A reign of a hundred years and it’s all at the hands of a worthless leader, such a waste of potential, don’t you think?”

“I think that you are straying past your bounds.”

“Hm, the truth is sometimes bitter. But I’m sure you already know, you’ve seen it for yourself! Kohga leads and recruits fools towards an end that none of them have even the slightest chance of accomplishing.” Sooga’s palms burn with the need to fight, to feel the heavy weight of blood and metal against his palms, but the glow of purple magic twisting themselves easily through Cia’s fingers is enough of a message. The magic gleams with a darkness that sucks the light around it, twisting itself until it snatches the faint glimmers of light that stray to close. 

It’s an intimidating sight and Cia hardly seems to spare any amount of attention to the motion, if Sooga dared to think- it seemed that the motion entertained her, the swirling of purple with black leaving an indulgent twist to her lips.

“Master Kohga is the one who founded the yiga clan and he’s the one who has led it all these years. His decision to lead us into the depths and continue our research and training there is not an unwise one.”

“All he’s doing is forcing the entire clan, and you, to fall into obscurity together. Nothing but darkness and death down there, hardly a thing to conquer! No, I believe the reason is that he’s done so poor a job of fighting against hyrule- that he can only surrender to the shame where no one can see.”

“...”

“You already know all of this, you’ve been by his side, you were only minutes before. But now you stand here beside me and the truth you refuse to face.” A bitter taste bubbles up from Sooga’s throat, burning and acidic, the very same as the glare that pierces Cia to the comfortable chair that she leans further back in. Hardly a note of discomfort crosses her features, instead only leaning back with a softer hum as the magic curling around her slowly disappears. 

Sooga knows then with a frightening start that perhaps Cia is even more dangerous than the warnings of words sharpened and hidden under silk told to him under the cover of night. There’s a sort of weariness that comes with knowing that a pair of fangs smile back at you with every word, that they don’t care if you see as you’re close enough to spot your reflection in their eyes. 

“...Even if you speak the truth, witch, I don’t see how the fate of the yiga clan concerns you in the slightest.” The words sink into Sooga’s skin, the truth being pulled from between his lips like rotted teeth and the pleased crinkle in Cia’s eyes at the admittance only makes the words burn more. 

“Well, it’s moreso the waste of potential that saddens me. This is my half-hearted attempt to salvage whatever sort of hope that this clan could’ve been.”

“Which started with the attempted murder of master Kohga.”

“Please, if I truly wanted him dead then he would be.” 

“Then why didn’t you?”

The purple magic flares to life once again as Cia gives the swirling smoke a contemplative look, the momentary relief of her eyes off of him bringing a second of respite. That weight returns the very next moment with a scrutiny that has Sooga straightening his back even further than before, hardly a thought given to the action. 

“One thing I’ve learned from leading a war is that an army needs direction, purpose, a figure to keep in their mind’s eye when they’re blinded by the blood on the battlefield. That figure must be what the war demands, but above all else- they must want, so incredibly badly that they bend the very nature of men around them.” A quiet confidence spills from inbetween every word and Sooga finds that in that moment, he believes her, and the underlying truth that she held the reigns of war.

Perhaps she still did, he wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

“...You believe that master Kohga lacks this want.”

“I believe that he lacks many things but yes, you understand.” 

Only hours ago, Sooga would’ve striked down whoever had spoken such words into the earth itself with hardly a blink of hesitation and buried his own doubts alongside it. The insistent need to ignore, to deny, still burns brightly on his tongue and he knows that he’s been silent for a bit too long, been still for much longer. Cia’s stare pierces him further onto the wall and she hardly blinks and breathes around the confession tightening itself around his chest.

Betrayal of the highest order was whittling its way into his skin, but was it only making itself known now? Being coaxed so easily from her words that he could feel them melting away at his nerves. Treachery burned at his blood-soaked palms, and the near-black crimson in the low light melded into the darkness until only the purplish sheen of Cia’s eyes smiled back. 

“Truth is one thing, but action is another, even if master Kohga were to die- that loyalty has been bred for hundred years now and would live on even past his death. Such a monumental loss would destroy the yiga clan, poor leader or not.”  

“Not if someone of near equal standing and prestige took his place, use all of that grief to lead the clan into something greater than it had ever once hoped to be.” 

Sooga’s breath steals itself from his chest as he openly gapes at the words, such a stunned silence that he can hardly muster up the feeling of embarrassment as Cia laughs at his expense. 

“I- I wouldn’t dare-”

“Someone must take up that mantle, and who else but you? Truthfully, I’m sure you’re holding together the last few pieces of the yiga’s reputation in the first place.” The words are sharp, cruel even, the words twisting themselves distastefully along the long line of Cia’s disgusted frown. It’s the stark reminder that he not only stands before a leader, but a conqueror, one who has happily dealt with the passing tides of death and time.

“...And I’m just supposed to believe that I would inherit that same loyalty that Kohga has cultivated over years?”

“You would if you make yourself a heroine in their eyes, the noble, dedicated second-in-command who takes up their last masters passing in stride and commands the clan forward. Such a touching display of loyalty even in death demands some sort of reverence.”

“A display bathed in complete and utter lies.”

“One that they’ll believe, and if they’ve truly dedicated themselves to this cause- then they have nowhere else to go. Once you’ve taken your proper role as master then you can begin to shape the clan into what it was always meant to be.” Destiny peers down on Sooga, its heavy gaze near overwhelming but he pushes it down less he be engulfed in madness- instead he ponders, soaks in the very idea being laid before him. 

Such an idea is the highest level of betrayal, such an act that hasn’t been witnessed by the yiga clan in all of its existence and held in the hands of the one closest to stringing its creator by the throat. Would it be easy? Would Kohga’s neck simply snap with the faintest pop? Would there be any fight at all?

Of course, Sooga knows the answer to every single one of those questions and it’s that realization that hardens the resolve rapidly making its home underneath his skin. 

“Such an act would require… careful planning and the perfect moment, it would require an audience. The entire clan would have to witness the death of its master.” 

“I would be more than happy to lead you in the right direction, but I’m also curious to see how you would choose to bring the yiga clan into a new age. See it as a final test of sorts.”

“...A test?” The very prospect of a challenge alights in Sooga’s blood, enough that the sharpened edge of her smile that follows his question only commands more of his attention. It’s a terrifying thought, staging the death of his master for all of hyrule to see, and above all else- to an audience which worships the very earth Kohga walks upon. What would become of such devotion when mercilessly dashed away by death? Would it simply fester and disappear into nothing, such as the miserable state of the clan they’ve devoted themselves to?

Or would such a death fan the flames of the yiga clan until such a small flame enveloped the lands of hyrule and brought it to its knees?

Such sacrifices must be expected if they’re to follow their lord’s example, and their leader's blood would make for a thrilling start to a new age.

“Yes, you see Sooga, I am looking for commanders myself. Those who are willing to wretch the strings of fate from the goddesses themselves and to take such power into their own hands. If you do prove yourself… Well, we can save such talk until then.” Distant images of Astor’s body, gnarled and twisted to a sickening degree in a pool of his own viscera flash unbidden into Sooga’s mind. The flames in Sooga’s blood pauses then, drinking in the image before speaking.

“Did Astor not meet your expectations then?” Sooga hardly felt an ounce of pity for the man, even with such an undignified death, as it was the fate of men who attempted to control powers much greater than their own. The incensed eye-roll that crosses over Cia’s face at the name is hardly a surprise, but Sooga spares the smallest of grins at the reaction.

“Why I ever decided to entertain him- I’ll never know, but it doesn’t matter now. I have some errands that I must attend to and I’ve already been here for longer than I would’ve liked, but I believe that it was worth it.” 

Cia’s smile turns into something satisfied, honeyed and so incredibly sweet that it curls around the air until it’s just as corrupt as the magic still weaving itself around her fingers. The expectation whistles softly in Sooga’s ears, as teasing and sweet as its beholder but Sooga can feel the threat underneath the silkened steel. 

Astor was an example.

Sooga refused to become something so incredibly pitiful that was only worth the dirt at the bottom of his heels.

“And if I pass your test?”

“Then I will return here and give you all that you’ve earned and more. I will give you three days to earn my continued attention and only until then, I value those who know the meaning of being clean and efficient.” 

The invisible clock leans heavily onto Sooga’s shoulders, but he refuses to bend, to slouch, to give in to that sharpened blade of fear that dances lightly at the skin of his throat. The promised threat rings loudly in the open air and clings to the dried stench of blood still coating his hands, promising with it to either be covered once again by his own blood or his master’s.

The choice is more than clear, now more than ever.