Fi snickered, grabbing Levi's arm to tow him in deeper. He was up to his knees now and regretting most of the decisions he'd made, but if Johan could jump into this kind of hellish ice pit, he and Levi could meekly wander in. "Your brother has no fear and apparently no brain, we normal people have to suffer." Johan might've had the right idea, actually. Sure, it would probably give you a mild case of shock, but at least you'd be all the way in all at once. "Maybe we should follow his lead. It wouldn't be so bad to get it over with.
“Are you kidding?” Leviticus snorted, then sharply inhaled as he was pulled deeper into the water. Where the water met Fiori’s knees, it was easily past Levi’s mid thighs. “It would be so bad. I wouldn’t be surprised if I died of hypothermia on the spot.” An exaggeration, of course, but he knew both his brother and Fiori were right. He was just too hesitant. As he always was.
Fi made his way in deeper, bit by bit, and by the time he was up to his waist he wasn't actually as cold as he worried he might be, but that was because he'd gone numb from the knee down. "Come now, Leviticus. Do you really want to suffer through wandering your way in? Because I think I'd much rather just… drop. Get it over with very quickly." He could probably dunk his whole body if he sat down, but he wasn't going to try it without moral support in the form of Levi doing it too.
Levi looked down uneasily at the water. Submerged in darkness, he couldn’t see anything below the surface. That in itself made him wary of dipping his whole head under the water. “No. No way.” He was already freezing, shivering vehemently, but then again he had his friend by his side. If there was any time to try something like this, it would be now. “Actually, fine,” he relented with a dramatic sigh. Fiori had a point. Why deny the inevitable and prolong his suffering? “I know I’m going to immediately regret this. You better do it with me.”
Fi laughed loudly and grabbed his hand. "Of course, of course. Suffering is only fun when you're doing it with other people, now let us get it over with." He didn't give Levi any time to answer, just let his legs buckle beneath him and collapsed into the water, dragging Levi down with him. It was kind of the worst decision of his life. Every part of him felt like it was being poked with a little needle made of ice, expect, of course, for the parts that had gone completely numb.
When his head broke through the surface of the water he gasped, still clutching at Levi's hand, and the air seemed almost warm. "Alright! Bad plan, how do you feel?"
Levi was about to say something else, but then he was being dragged down in the water—thankfully—managing time shut his mouth before submerging. His insides seized, the shock strong no enough for him to forget about how frigid his fingers were and the very brief feeling like he was going to vomit. He dug his fingers into Fiori’s hand. Whether for moral support or anger was unclear.
The ordeal was over sooner than he thought. It didn’t make it any less horrifying of an experience. He sucked in several breaths once they broke the surface, frigid and shivering perhaps more violently than before. Though, quickly, the temperature of both air and water were getting more tolerable. Little by little. “Like hell,” he sputtered back, words interspersed with trembling bouts of laughter. “You?”
Fi nodded, sucking in a few more breaths as he struggled to get used to the freezing cold water. Coming out wasn't any better than going in. The light breeze, which had been so pleasant before, now sent him and sinking down just to escape it—and it really wasn't an escape at all. He gave Levi's hand a reassuring squeeze, cracking a smile at his answer. It was too cold to laugh but that didn't keep him from trying, all breathless and crackling. "Same. Too cold, shitty plan. Your brother really is a lunatic if he just jumps in every time."
Leviticus nodded enthusiastically. “I tried to tell you! He’s been doing lunatic things like this since we were kids. And—“ He paused to let out another very audible shudder, teeth chattering; the water was still painfully freezing, and it made the air so unbearable that following Fiori down again seemed like a good idea at the time— “and now it seems I’m a lunatic for doing the same thing.” Another shudder, then a smile. “Maybe you’ve been spending too much time with Johannan. His bad ideas are rubbing off on you.”
Fi gave another one of those crackling, chest-ache laughs and sank down until his shoulders were sunk under the water. "What can I say?" It was easy to match Levi's smile, easy to give him a playful nudge in the ribs. The numbness was creeping up his fingers now, his wrists. "His tenacity is one of the few things I still admire about him, and… well, it did not seem like there would be any harm in this." If they thought getting in was miserable, getting out would be even worse. They had no towels, few dry articles of clothing, and a long ride back to the stables, let alone the castle. " I was wrong, of course, but at the time this seemed like a very good idea."
“I beg to differ: this never seemed like a good idea to me.” Just for good measure, he nudged Fiori right back. Playfully, of course. By the day it was getting easier to banter with him. “His tenacity, well.” He shrugged, casting a subtle back towards the shore. “Not like I can argue with you there. He’s got a lot of persistence, good or bad. I mean… anyway. We should start heading back, right? It’s getting late.” Who knew what sort of trouble his brother could’ve gotten into while they were gone. Even with broken ribs, he was pesky. Like a little goblin.
Fi nodded. He had faith that Johan wouldn't do anything stupid, not after the tentative peace they'd managed to establish, but he knew that was more hope than anything else. He started the slow march to the shore, doing his best not to shiver as inch after inch of soaked skin was exposed to the freezing night air. "Yes. No use staying here, we will just freeze ourselves to death." Once they were half out of the water, he turned to Levi with a curious look. "Would you mind terribly if we stopped at the armory again? It would be nice to grab an arm guard, if you have one. Just in case Johan tries something."
Levi nodded, shivering in agreement as they made their way back to the shore. He turned his gaze back to Fiori when he spoke again, pausing to mull over the idea. Sadly, it was only inevitable that Johannan would try something violent. He should have given up by now, and it would have gone over so much easier. For both himself and everyone else. “Oh, no, I wouldn’t mind at all. That’s a good idea, actually. But I can’t promise the guard will be too thrilled about opening it up for us again.” He forced out a chuckle.
"I could manage without it if I need to, I just…" He shrugged, shaking a bit as he grabbed for the jacket he'd discarded. It was still tight at the shoulders and elbows, but at least he didn't feel like he was freezing anymore. "… well, it would be much easier if I had one. No need to worry about getting stabbed somewhere serious." He could kick Johan's ass right now if he needed to, but not without getting a beating of his own. He'd already been stabbed once, he didn't fancy having it happen again. "But if it is too much hassle, we can skip it."
“It’s no hassle,” Leviticus insisted, pausing to wipe some excess water off himself before grabbing his own jacket. It didn’t help much. “Makes sense. I wouldn’t want to get stabbed either. Who knows what kind of weapon he could have come up with while we were gone anyway?” He scoffed, and pulled himself into the saddle. The sooner they got to the weaponry the better, and subsequently inside earlier.
Fi slid into the jacket as slowly as he could force himself to, shivering hard enough to spook the horse as he hefted himself up onto her back. There was water dripping down his legs, itchy and lukewarm from the faint heat of his body. "Probably a shiv. Or…" He flushed a little, sheepish. "… Well, I suppose he could have grabbed one of the knives off the wall. My time has been otherwise occupied as of late, I have not made much leeway in cleaning out the room."
Leviticus watched for Fi to be ready before he started forward down the trail. He nodded, almost understandingly, but his expression betraying concern. “I see. If you’d like me to stay with you while you head into your room I can. Not like I’d be able to defend you any better,” he chuckled breathlessly, “but security in numbers.” Thinking back to the night of his abduction, he wasn’t entirely sure how Johan pulled it off. Everything was too hazy, too dark, but scarily impressive nonetheless. Even dwelling on the thought made him shudder. “I know I keep repeating myself, but I hate to think what he could have planned.”
Fi pushed out a laugh and gave Levi reassuring smile, an attempt to sooth his friend's worries. He was worried too, of course he was, but it didn't scare him the way it might if Johan were actually healthy. The prince was only a force to be reckoned with when he could walk without using a wall for support. "You are more than welcome to come with me, Leviticus, but your presence would likely only upset him. And… well, I do not want to worry about him hurting you in whatever plot he's made. Whatever it is, the danger is much worse for you than for me."
Leviticus shifted his jaw while he considered Fi’s argument. “I hate that my presence upsets him so much.” He might have said he didn’t know why if it hadn’t been for cutting his hair. Stripping him of all his titles. Giving Fiori authority over him. All things that would drive his brother to madness—of course Johan would be clawing for any sort of revenge. He nodded weakly, lifting his gaze from the rock he’d been blankly glooming on. “You’re right. You’ll have your weapon to protect yourself, and he’s mostly incapacitated.”
Fi sighed quietly and reached over, tossing an arm across Levi's shoulders and pulling him in for an affectionate squeeze. "Family cannot always be everything we want it to. You had no choice but to punish him for what he did." He gave Levi a small smile before he let him go, slightly more soggy but warm with the feeling that he'd managed to comfort his friend, at least a little bit. "Discipline is difficult, Leviticus, but you are strong enough to take this. You survived Usige. Your home country will be a piece of cake, just give yourself time to get used to it."
Levi sloppily put his arm on Fiori’s back to return the damp-yet-very-appreciated hug. He nodded along to what his friend was saying, and the more he contemplated them the more they made sense. “Wise words,” he replied, pulling away to take the reins in both hands again once Fi let go. “Even so, I feel bad for it. And him. I tried my best to be sort of a surrogate parent for him after he got back from war, but whatever I did he wouldn’t accept. And now this…” His shoulders fell from a deep, exasperated sigh. “Now I can’t trust him at all, and I’m closing to giving up. Or rather, I already have.”
Fi laughed quietly at the compliment. "I've been told that many of the things I say are. It is very easy to act wise when you have very little stake in what is happening." It was less that he was smart and more that he could see things objectively. Or… more objectively than Levi, anyways. He was clouded by consideration for his friend and, strangely, for the man he was responsible for dealing with. "You are doing your best to deal with your brother, Leviticus, but this is not something that is easily dealt with. He is your brother and you love him, despite what he's done."
Levi couldn’t help but snicker along, mostly out of even more agreement. “All the more reason to make you my advisor, then. You think of these things more objectively.” Most of his surviving family was led by emotion, apart from Mordecai. He made a good advisor too, but he had more stake in the situation than Fiori did. “And you’re right. I have to remind myself more and more of it these days, but yes. I love him.” Whenever he thought of Johan his heart ached with heavy grief, and a nagging amount of guilt. He still imagined his brother with long, braided hair, forgetting for a fraction of a second how drastically his appearance had changed.
Fi wished he could say that Johan returned the affection, but so far all he seemed to have for his brother was disdain. It was almost funny. He'd lived the last few years idolizing the spitfire prince, the man who had so nearly managed to best him, and now he'd met him and realized how idiotic all that misplaces idolization had been. Levi was the one he should be looking up to, smart and kind and so very responsible, even for the things he shouldn't have to deal with. "It is my pleasure to help you, Leviticus. I only wish that there was more I could do for you. You should be spending time with your beloved, not worrying over all these decisions."
Leviticus was very aware Johan had no affection for him. He hadn’t for a long time, even when Levi tried to pretend otherwise. Everything was easier when he could make believe that they were close. He’d just been so naïve. “This is good.” He sent a warm, genuinely appreciative smile to Fiori. “I’ll have all the time in the world with my beloved thanks to you. And I needed this. Mordecai just wasn’t up for a trail ride tonight.” Even so, he knew what his friend meant. All the decisions weighed him down, how each choice inevitably made someone unhappy.
Fi smiled back, less appreciative but no less warm. It felt good to know he was helping, even in such a small way. And anyways, it wasn't like it was difficult to spend time with Levi. He had this way of making Fi forget about his troubles that he very much appreciated. "I know. It is good to spend this time with you, my friend, I just… I know you have not been happy in a long time. There are always troubles weighing on your mind, always so many things to worry about. You deserve a chance to unwind, spend some time alone with somebody who you love and who loves you without needing to think about all the work that will have built up when you are done."
