#emon is sort of a disaster zone but there are clues/people there that can lead stragglers to the waystone inn

[azaisya]

@maliro-t replied to your post:

your mind,,, this concept is so powerful (i mean like. horribly tragic but POWERFUL)

aaaa thank you! this au is definitely full of many tragic thoughts but also they are such deeply satisfying thoughts. here’s a snippet from what little i wrote:

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"So what should we do?" Vex hissed. She and Vax were huddled in an alcove, elbows pressed awkwardly into each other. The hall was quiet, but not for much longer. Cassandra’s old bedroom door loomed across the hallway. "What if she's not even in there? What if—"

Vax opened his mouth to reply, but Vex heard footsteps—the quiet, measured footsteps of somebody used to needing stealth—and hissed, "Someone’s coming.”

A second later, a young man turned the corner. Vax sucked in his breath in a sharp gasp, and he took a half-step out of the alcove; Vex grabbed his arm and squeezed mercilessly.

It was Kynan.

A Kynan who was older and gaunter than he should’ve been, his frame thinned from a lack of food and his face hardened by whatever horrors he'd been forced to endure.

Vex’s stomach sank. The horrible suspicion that she’d been nursing since the faulty teleportation spell had spit them out in a Whitestone covered in Vecna’s flags and guarded by a skeletal dragon hardened into an undeniable truth.

Kynan knocked on Cassandra's door. “It’s me.”

Vax twitched at the sound of Kynan’s voice, and Vex's fingers tightened even more around his arm. Vord’s ring cut into her flesh, and oh god Vord’s ring. She had no idea where the rest of Vox Machina was, which meant they were far enough from the ring that Vecna knew where they were. 

After a heartbeat, Cassandra’s door swung open. She wore a long blue overcoat and riding pants in the same style that she once had, but she too was undeniably older. "Kynan?"

Kynan’s head dipped into a nod, but he was strangely stiff. "Hey, Cass. Where are the Briarwoods?"

Cassandra's lips twitched into the smallest of smiles. She was terribly pale. "I don't fucking know."

Vex's heart skipped a beat, but Kynan's shoulders visibly relaxed and his hand dropped away from his dagger’s pommel. "Oh, good. The executions went well, then?"

Cassandra shrugged. "Do they ever?" She stepped out from the room, sliding the door shut behind her. "Shall we head out?"

Kynan slipped into step beside her, and the two started walking away. Vex was frozen in place, unable to untangle whatever interaction had just occurred. By the time she noticed Vax’s change of resolve, it was too late. He slipped from her grasp and sprang into the hall, uncaring of who might see. She swore, simultaneously reaching for him and her bow, but then Vax called, "Kynan!"

Both teenagers—although they weren't teenagers now, were they?—whirled about. Faster than the eye could follow, Kynan had a dagger in his hand and a  free arm thrown over Cassandra's torso as if to protect her.

But Cassandra—Cassandra, who'd ever abhorred Percy's bloodiest creations and flinched from the sounds of gunfire—drew a pepperbox pistol. Her arm was steady, her fingers molding to the weapon with the ease of familiarity, but then she saw who it was and went stark white.

Kynan's dagger drifted ever so slightly towards the ground. His eyes were huge as dinner plates. "Vax?" he asked, breathless.

"And Vex," Vex said, quickly stepping up beside her brother because like hell was she going to leave him there by himself. Besides, her instincts told her that this wasn’t a trick. Cassandra’s and Kynan’s shock was too real, too visceral.

Cassandra pointed the pistol at her, blue-grey eyes flashing around the hall as if searching for somebody else. "I don't know what game you're playing," she called, "but I won't hesitate to shoot them, too. I won tonight, fair and square. I gave up the rebels. Give me your end of the deal.” There was no response, and Vex’s heartbeat rang eerily loud in her ears.

Cassandra’s voice rose. “I won my freedom for tonight, and I will not let you take it from me!"

"What are you talking about?" Vax demanded, and Vex could hear the heartbreak in his voice, "It's us."

Cassandra snorted, eyes dropping back down to his. "Shall I shoot you in the head and see who you really are?"

"It really is us, darling," Vex said, eyes flashing over both Cassandra's and Kynan's faces to try and get a gasp of how old they were now. Cassandra's hair was even whiter than it'd been, and her eyes had always been old. But Kynan looked less like a boy and more like a man, now, his shoulders broader and his eyes harder.

"I don't believe you," Cassandra said, although the gun in her hands dipped towards the ground.

"Ask us anything," Vex said immediately, "We'll tell you anything you want to know.”

"Kynan," Vax said, expression fierce, "we first met outside of Castle Greyskull, when I foolishly attacked you. I searched for you afterwards. I gave you my dagger. I gave you Simon."

Kynan visibly wavered, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. "I—"

"I don't trust that!" Cassandra interrupted, expression fierce, "I don't trust that they can't just tear our thoughts from our heads."

"Cassandra—" Vex began, but Cassandra shook her head.

"Tell me something I don't know," she said, eyes blazing with challenge, "Tell me why you're here now. Vex'ahlia and Vax'ildan are dead. The Whispered One killed them."

"He didn't," Vex said, voice as gentle as she could when panic threatened to burst from her chest, "We were forced to flee. We went to the Feywild, and we only spent a day there, I swear, but—"

"The Feywild and time don’t always mesh," Cassandra murmured. She lowered the pistol completely, slipping it into the hidden holster under her overcoat. ”Percy used to tell me about that.” Her expression wavered, just slightly. She’d always had a good poker face. “Where is he?”

“We don’t exactly know,” Vex said, with feigned lightness. “There was a problem with the teleportation spell. But, Cass—”

“If you’re a trick,” Cassandra interrupted, but Vex cut her off.

"We're not. I'll swear to Pelor, even, if you want."

Cassandra sucked in a deep breath, eyes fluttering shut. "Fine." She looked sideways at Kynan. When she spoke, her voice was soft, nearly inaudible. "If this is a trick, then you were never here."

Kynan shook his head, jaw set stubbornly. "If they punish you for this, then I'm going with you."

Cassandra's lips twitched, just slightly. She turned back to the twins, and Vex felt a shiver run down her spine. It was Cassandra’s eyes, she thought. Cassandra had always had old eyes, but now they were darkly cynical. Dead eyes, Vex thought, with no small amount of discomfort.

"If you really are my brother's friends," Cassandra said, voice low and trembling with what might have been warning, "then you need to leave now. Get out of Whitestone."

"We're not leaving you here with them," Vax said, immediately.

Cassandra let out a bitter laugh. "I don't trust you enough to go with you. But if you're real—find the Waystone Inn."

"Where is that?" Vex asked.

"If they're spies—" Kynan murmured, voice sharp with anxiety.

"I know." Cassandra didn't look away. "You’ll find answers in Emon, although you won’t like them.”

“But—”

Cassandra’s eyes flashed. “That’s all you’re getting out of me. If you’re real, then go. Go and come back. If you’re not—” She laughed, low and bitter. “Well then. I suppose I should prepare to die.”

Neither twin moved for a very long time. Vex’s eyes burned, and she could hear Vax’s breathing beside her, ragged with emotion. But then there were footsteps coming around the corner, and Cassandra and Kynan were retreating down the hall, and Vex could do nothing but grab her brother’s arm and disappear into the shadows.