(you’re good! and okay wait pause do we think Arquis should tell them now or should he tell him later when the guards come to get him? or should we have him tell them and then maybe the guards come to get him while Rin’s panicking over it? what do you think?)
(oo uhmm so many good options. Uhm. honestly idk. I think the third option could be interesting (plus the most angst lmao) but idk)
(I feel like it’d also help speed the story along a little bit if Arquis told Rin now, since we’ve been going a bit in circles with their dialogue? and then they came to get him shortly after?)
(works for me!)
A minute passed, then several more. Arquis didn't say a word. A war raged on inside his mind. Half of him wanted to spill it all to his partner, but the other half battled against that instinct. He was so used to keeping secrets that telling the truth felt like an impossible task, as difficult as touching the sky. Secrecy was comforting. Honesty was overwhelming. If he was honest, he ran the risk of Rin getting up and walking out. If he wasn't, however, they'd likely never trust him again. They might even hate him.
In the end, he supposed the choice wasn't that hard at all.
He took off one of his gloves, placed his scarred hand on top of Rin's, and gave it a soft squeeze. His heart felt like it wasn't beating at all. His mouth was horribly dry.
"Last night, I went to turn myself in.”
(very gentle bump)
(;-; I have no explanation for myself, I'm so sorry)
Rin watched Arquis, as the nobleman seemed to wrestle with his thoughts. He could see Arquis's mind working, could see how his brain was churning as he searched for the words to say. Rin remained quiet, giving Arquis the time and space to collect himself, to collect his htoughts, into some semblance of a thing, something that would make sense. And then Arquis spoke and it was not what Rin had thought would be said, but it was also not any better, at all.
"You what?" he asked, brows drawing together as they looked up at their partner, returning that gentle squeeze that Arquis had given them. He was about to ask another question, and then bit his words back. No. He wasn't going to pepper Arquis with questions, not now. The nobleman would explain on his own, but Rinlos would have to give him the space to do that. Which meant he had to save his concerned questions for a little while.
(you're good! it happens)
Arquis raised his spare hand to his own face and dragged his knuckles across his brow. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see Rin's reaction to the news. He was scared that their shock would give way to hurt and anger, and then he'd be left alone. He wanted so badly not to be alone.
"I turned myself in. I thought… I had thought that perhaps it was the best course of action, considering…" With every word, his voice grew softer and more unsure. After a moment of silence, he attempted to straighten up and put on an authoritative tone. "We had fun together. It was lovely. But I have responsibilities. I cannot hide here forever, and the longer I wait, the more…" He broke, his chest shaking with a near sob. "The more impossible it seems that I will ever return. But I must. I know I must, yet I do not want to return to the Palace, Rin. I do not want to go back. They will drag me through the doors, and then I will be there again, in that dreadful place, with… with…"
He didn't finish the sentence. The notion was so unbearable that he didn't want to think it, much less say it. He squeezed his eyes more tightly shut and tried to take a deep breath.
"Why would you turn yourself in, darling?" Rin's voice was impossibly soft and gentle, not at all trying to hurt Arquis. "I… I understand that you feel responsible, but… but you can't just… darling, I just don't understand why you would do this. You did not have to turn yourself in, my love." he reached over to cup Arquis's cheek, biting his lip faintly as he struggled to understand. "Your mother will be… will be furious, to put it lightly, darling, I… are you planning on just leaving me here?" his voice raised faintly as he spoke, as the realization hit him that Arquis might have been planning to just abandon him there.
"If you hadn't told me now, would you have just abandoned me? Is that still what you are planning to do?" he asked, scooting just a little bit closer to Arquis. "Darling, I love you, and I wish you would have…I wish you would have talked this over with me first, we could have figured out some kind of a plan. It… I just don't…"
"We do not have any other options now," was the nobleman's only answer. He had taken on a flat affect, like he was reading from a manual or script. Any hint of the emotion that had plagued him just moments ago had vanished like a drop of water in a hot pan. He opened his eyes and looked tiredly at Rin.
"Sooner or later, they will come for me. When they do, they will take me back to the Palace, where I will undergo a small trial. It is likely that nothing will come of it and I will be expected to live with my family once more." His gaze dropped to the floor. "Muria will undoubtedly make another attempt on my life. She will not use poison again. I imagine it will be more subtle. Perhaps I will be in an accident. I will fall from a height or have a fatal asthma attack." He was still speaking in that unaffected way, seeming almost bored. "Or perhaps she will make it look like I have done away with myself, that the stress of the trial and the rumors surrounding it led me to spiral. She is very clever. She will figure something out."
"But you must not try to interfere. When they come to take me away, you must let them." Finally, some emotion bled into his voice. He placed his hand on Rin's shoulder and looked them in the eyes. "Honey and Ari can stay with you. You may miss me for a little while, but it will pass. We said in the beginning of this that it likely wouldn't work. I am still glad we tried, but we were right. This cannot last, no matter how much we wish it would. My fate is sealed.”
"You were going to abandon me." Rin said, eyes soft and more than a little hurt as he spoke. "You would have just vanished and I wouldn't have known where you went or if you were okay." he met Arquis's eyes for only a moment, before looking away again and taking a deep breath. "You… I can't…" how could he respond to this? What could he say, when Arquis was so easily and willingly handing himself over to be killed, and didn't seem to think Rinlos would miss him?
"We could have found another way, darling, if you had only talked to me about this. I…I can't believe you wouldn't have even talked to me beforehand." he couldn't even begin to process this whole thing. The things that Arquis was saying to him, the things that were going to happen. "I just…I can't believe you would do this." he stood up. The roles had swapped again and now he was the one pulling away, wanting space. "You hardly even gave us a chance before you just… decided to go back." he looked over at Arquis, expression full of hurt and upset. "You didn't give us a chance. I…"
"We did not have a chance. And besides, you would have been fine," Arquis responded. Weariness colored his tone, like he'd lived through their future once before. "It would have hurt for a while, but then, over time, that pain would have dissipated. You would have found someone else that made you terribly, wonderfully happy, and I would have just been a memory."
From somewhere in the hotel, people began to argue. Arquis couldn't hear what they were arguing about, but he could tell it was serious. After a moment, the bitter exchange escalated to a full-on screaming match, and Arquis felt a pang of anxiety in his chest. He had the creeping feeling that it wasn't just two lovebirds having a spat, that somehow it involved him. He wasn't sure what gave him that idea, other than the fact he could hear multiple voices. That didn't necessarily mean anything. Perhaps someone was confronting their partner and their partner's lover for having an affair. That sort of thing was likely to happen at such a place.
He stood, preparing to come over to Rin, but stopped when he heard somebody racing down the hall. Their footsteps stopped at the door to he and Rin's room. Arquis felt his heart spike into his throat. Someone opened the door, but it wasn't a guard, or Muria, or even a stranger. It was Lovey, and she looked worried.
"You need to go. Both of you, right now. There's a back door, um, and if you hurry, you should be able to get out and into the fields. After that, if you keep running, you should be okay, I think, but you have to go or else they'll block the exits."
"Lovey?" Arquis asked. She glanced at him, and her wide eyes confirmed what he'd been fearing. He drew in a shuddering breath. "That was rather fast. I had not expected… well. I had been hoping for a little more time."
"You don't have time to be standing around. You need to leave!" She surged forward and grabbed Arquis's arm, then reached and snagged Rin's, too. She started to drag them to the door. "Don't worry about your stuff. Just go!"
"We had a chance!" Rin snapped, starting to tear up a little as he stared at his partner. "But then you got scared and refused to give it to us." he jabbed an accusatory finger at Arquis, mouth parting to speak again but breaking off as the door opened and Lovey stepped inside. He let Lovey drag him along, though he knew Arquis would not allow it. His breathing was quick and a little uneven, and god, he was right on the edge of tears about this. Because Arquis had just…decided that the two of them wouldn't make it. That they didn't have a chance. This should have been something they could have discussed, could have talked about, but no. No, instead, he wouldn't even get a proper goodbye.
He sniffled faintly, scrubbing a hand over their face as they tried not to completely break down about this right now. Gods, he couldn't even do anything. With time to prepare, he could have pulled proof of who he was, could have tried to pull rank or something, but without any of that…without any of that, he couldn't. He was helpless.
Arquis flinched when Rin snapped, but he didn't say anything until Lovey was pulling them out the door. He freed his arm from her grip, gently took her by the shoulders, and gave her what he hoped was a calm, collected smile.
"Thank you very much for trying to warn me, Miss Lovey, but I am afraid there is nothing that can be done."
"You can run! I told Pretty to keep the guards distracted. There's still time! Just, come on, follow me, and we'll get you outside." She took hold of his hand again and tugged it. He dug his heels into the carpet, making sure he didn't move an inch. She wailed and turned to Rin.
"Tell him he still has a chance! Make him go!"
"He is not going to make me do anything. I chose this. Now, may I ask you for a favor?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "Your brother—and Ari, of course—should look after Rin while I am away. My trial will not take that long. The lesser courts tend to prefer short, quick sessions, and I imagine mine will be over in an hour once I clear Muria's name. That being said, I will likely not be able to return here afterwards. Do you understand? I need someone, Miss Lovey, to be here for my partner."
Lovey shook her head. Arquis, confused, opened his mouth, but she moved forward and shoved him in the chest. He staggered backwards into Rin.
"You have no clue what you're talking about!"
"I am quite sure I do," he replied, brow furrowed.
"Your case isn't going to be heard by a lesser court!"
Arquis frowned. "There is not going to be a trial?"
She laughed. It sounded a little hysterical, as if she was on the verge of tears. "No, there is!"
It took Arquis a moment to realize what she meant. There were only two types of courts in Anvillea. A dizzy spell hit him, and, breathless, he said, "The High Court. I am going to testify before The High Court of Anvillea."
They'd discussed it the other day, but he hadn't believed it would happen. If he was tried before a lesser court, he'd be punished, likely given some sort of monetary damages to pay or confinement to a certain area for a period of time. He'd expected to be restricted to the Palace. But The High Court wouldn't give him such a light sanction. It only dealt in the death penalty. When he lost—and he would, Muria was too clever to lose—he'd be sentenced to death. He didn't have months or a couple years left to live, as he'd suspected. He didn't even have a week. He had days. He was a dead man walking.
"You should've run," Lovey said sadly. The arguing was coming closer and closer, to the point where he could hear Pretty now, demanding that the guards give their customers privacy. She looked directly at Rin. “I’m sorry. I tried- we tried our best. I’m really sorry.”
Rin's stomach dropped when she said it would be the high court, his breath catching as he stared at Lovey, eyes moving over to Arquis. He wanted to scream. Some tiny, angry, vindictive part of him, for just a moment, felt justified. Felt that he had been right, and now Arquis was learning it. But he very quickly squashed that thought. It didn't matter now if Rinlos had been right, now. He was shaking, though, even as he grabbed onto Arquis. "It…it's not your fault." he managed in response to Lovey, gaze finding Arquis. There were still tears in Rin's eyes, clinging hard to the other, his grasp so tight that his fingers were digging into the nobleman.
They had discussed the High Court the other day. Arquis had thought that it wouldn't happen. Had even told Rinlos that this wouldn't happen, but yet. Here they were. And oh, gods, Rinlos didn't know what to do. He couldn't do anything. Maybe that was the worst part, he was completely helpless to all of this. They could do nothing to try and save their partner, and he was still so angry with them. So angry that Arquis didn't even discuss this with them a little bit, and now this was happening and Arquis could die. Rin's breathing was already starting to pick up, and they were visibly shaking as the reality of this slowly began to truly filter in.
(sorry these are kinda long lol)
Arquis's hands began to tremble. He really did feel quite faint, like he usually did right before he passed out. He felt quite grateful for Rin. Their grip on him was tight, but it was helping to keep him upright.
"There must be a mistake. My case should not have gone to the High Court." For as weak as he felt, his voice was shockingly firm. "On what grounds am I being sued?"
Lovey began to answer, but it was much too late. Pretty entered the doorframe behind her, followed by what looked to be at least five guards in steel body armor. Their leader, the only one with the nation's emblem embossed on his chest plate, pushed past Pretty into the room. He had salt-and-pepper hair that reminded Arquis a little of his father, though his eyes were amber, not blue, and his face was scarred.
"I should arrest all of you for assisting a criminal," he snarled. "You know I can do that, right? I could arrest the whole lot of you for messing with my investigation."
"They were only trying to protect their clients, not harbor a fugitive," Arquis insisted, pushing Rin behind his back. He'd be damned if he let his partner get arrested for his mistakes.
The older man's eyes slid over to him, and his mouth stretched into a humorless smile. "Well, looks like we've found our man." His tone switched to something haughty and proper, as if he was mimicking someone. "Arquis de Vey, I have been granted the authority by the High Court of Anvillea to put you under arrest and bring you to the location of your trial." He grinned. The faux accent dropped. "I've also been advised to use sedation and knock you out during your transport, 'cause you've been deemed a danger to society. You're also a runner, which means that we've gotta chain you up. Though maybe you'll like that, considering you've made this place your little hideout, huh?"
Lovey flushed. When the man had pushed himself into the room, she'd been jostled into Rin. She put her head on his shoulder and began to gently pat his back.
"Why am I being brought before the High Court?” Arquis demanded. “Surely you have to inform me of the charges being brought against me so that I can prepare my case."
"Didn't you just hear what I said, tough guy? You're going to be dreaming of lambs the whole way there, you're not gonna have time to prepare jack shit." He crossed his arms and sighed. "Fine, whatever. Arquis de Vey, son of blah, whatever, who cares. You're got several allegations against you, biggest one being murder."
"Murder?" Lovey whispered. Suddenly, she seemed afraid. Not of the guards, but of Arquis, who was staring blankly at the head guard.
"Yeah. He didn't tell you?" The guard smirked over Arquis's head at Rin and Lovey. "Your friend here’s a serial killer. He killed his dad, aunt, and his aunt's dogs. We've got the bodies to prove it."
(No worries!)
Rin's breathing was a little too fast, a little verging on panic now, the more the guard spoke. The more dire the situation became. He reached out blindly for Arquis again, despite the guard's words. He didn't know what the truth was, though he was aware that there was quite a lot that Arquis had not told him about Aurisi. But he didn't care about that, not now. "Arquis?" there was fear bleeding into his tone, panic and hurt and so much worry, too. "Darling, I…" his Kevran accent had grown stronger, too, spurred on by the tension and high emotions that were running through him.
He considered, for half a second, of forcing the guards to turn around and leave. But there were a little too many for him to control, and even then, what next? It wasn't as if he could make them forget that Arquis was there, and if they still knew, then they would just come right back, again and again and again. It would be an exercise in futility, and there was nothing that Rinlos could do. He was truly helpless to stop any of this, in any way. This was not his country; he could not pull rank. Here, he was just a bard, with nothing but his words and his instrument and neither of those would be helpful in this scenario.
He clung to Arquis for as long as he could. "I love you." he managed, accent stronger than normal and voice shaking. He knew he might never see Arquis again, though he was trying not to confront that reality. "I don't… whatever else is true or false, I love you." he knew there were things that Arquis had not yet managed to tell him, knew there were a lot of secrets that they had both kept. But it didn't change the fact that they loved the nobleman that they currently clung to.
Arquis stared at the guards without saying a word until he heard Rin speak. Only then did he seem to snap back to the present. He turned and saw the fear in Lovey's eyes, the way she partially hid herself behind Rin even as Rin confessed their love to him. She was terrified of him. He wondered if somewhere deep down, Rin was scared of him, too. That was the only reason why he didn't kiss them. He couldn't bear to feel him flinch as their lips met.
"Find Ari. Find Honey. They will take care of you. Do not attend the trial, no matter how tempting it might seem. Try your best to move on."
The head guard gestured, and the guards behind him surged forward. They bound his wrists so tightly in chains that his fingers went cold and blue. They tied his legs as well, then looped a cloth around his mouth. Arquis didn't struggle. Fighting would be futile, even if he was a stronger man. They'd overwhelm him in an instant.
Once they were done with the chains, one of the guards took out a small vial and a syringe. They filled the syringe with the liquid in the vial, flicked it to get the bubbles out, and plunged its needle into the nobleman's neck. Arquis winced. The needle came out, but he didn't feel any different. He blinked over at Rin, hoping his eyes showed all of the love and affection he had for them, since he hadn't gotten to say a proper goodbye. He tried his best to memorize what they looked like. If he only had days left to live, then he wanted to spend his waking moments thinking of his partner.
Finally, the sedative kicked in. His eyes shut, and he sagged against the chains. The guards tugged at him until he was upright, then dragged him back through the door. Before they were fully gone, one of the lesser guards paused, surveying Rin and Lovey. They gave them an apologetic nod before following the rest of their group.
Lovey bit her lip, unsure of what to say. It'd all happened so fast. She'd barely had time to think. She drew Rin into a hug, hoping that was alright. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I’m just real sorry. Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?"
Rinlos stared at Arquis as the nobleman spoke and was dragged away, shaking faintly as Lovey held him. It had been bad enough when they had all thoguht it would be the Lower Courts, but the High Court? Arquis might die. He might die and Rinlos had barely even been able to say goodbye. His breathing was a little too fast and panicked, shaking in Lovey's arms.
"I don't…I…" the past 24 hours had been so much of a roller coaster. And they didn't know what to do. How could they even begin to process what had just happened? "He…" what could he even say now? He was shaking hard in Lovey's arms, very clearly on the edge of breaking down. God, what could he even say or do now? Nothing. There was nothing he could do, and Arquis was gone. Perhaps gone forever, and Rin hadn't truly been able to say goodbye. Gods. "Lovey I don't know what to do." he finally started to cry, clinging to the woman beside him. "He's…I…" he couldn't even think of what to do, how to process this, any of it.
Lovey shook her head adamantly. "Oh, sweetheart, you don't have to do anything right now, okay? Here, let's just get you sitting down."
She kept her arms around him as she gently walked him over to the bed. She let them go just so she could sit, then pulled him back into her lap, wrapping him in her embrace. They didn't know each other that well, and normally she'd be a little hesitant to get so close with someone she'd only met a few days prior, but it didn't feel weird. This was Honey's friend, after all, and any friend of Honey's was a friend of hers. Plus, she knew that Rin and Arquis had come to the inn alone, meaning that until Ari or Honey showed up he was on their own. She didn't mind looking out for him in the meantime.
"What happened?" she whispered, hoping the question might give them something to latch onto. "I mean, how'd they know he was here? Did someone tip them off?"
Rin moved with her, curling close to Lovey and still trembling just a little bit, very clearly crying a little bit as he continued to cling to Lovey and shake. At the question, he exhaled sharply. "He told them himself." he forced out, holding onto her. "He… I don't know… I don't know why he thought…" he still couldn't understand why Arquis had done this, why he had told the authorities. Sure, maybe Arquis had thought that it would be the lower courts, but he had still alerted them himself, without even talking to Rinlos about it first. Not that Rinlos wanted to be controlling or tell Arquis what to do, but the fact that Arquis hadn't even…talked to him about it before going forward with it hurt. Especially when it had this effect.
"I don't understand why he thought this was a good idea." they said quietly, voice choked as he spoke to Lovey. "I…I wish he had…" gods, there waas nothing he could say that would actually communicate any of this. There was nothing he could say that would actually communicate what he was thinking, what he was stressed about.
That hadn't at all been what Lovey was expecting, and her shock was clear in her face. She attempted to shake it off, but her eyes were still a little too wide, her forehead a little too creased.
"Oh. I'm not sure why he would do that, either. I mean, it sounds like he didn't know exactly what he was doing, 'cause he didn't know it was the High Court and all, but, um, well. Do you think maybe it was out of guilt?" She knew that probably wasn't the right question to ask, but she couldn't help it. Ever since the guards had read the nobleman's charges, the word murder kept circling through her head. She'd hosted a murderer. He'd been mere feet away from her. At any moment, he could've harmed her or her baby, and she wouldn't have seen it coming. He'd appeared kind and a little shy, though she supposed that could’ve all been part of an act.
"I mean," she continued, trying to soften her previous question, "maybe he wanted to avoid getting you in trouble? You could've been arrested for helping him evade the law, so maybe he decided to cut it off sooner rather than later to save your reputation?”
"Arquis is not a murderer!" his voice was firm, and maybe a little harsher than he intended, but htey didn't really have the emotional bandwidth to more carefully control their tone at the moment. "And I don't think that that is what he was trying to avoid. He…I tried to ask him, before you showed up, we were talking, and I couldn't…I was trying to ask him why he would do this and I…nothing I said seemed to…" he was stammering, unable to even really think about all of this. Gods. What could he do now?
He was crying now, hiding his face in on of their hands so that Lovey didn't have to see the way that they were breaking down. "I don't understand why he would do this. I tried…I tried…and he wouldn't…" he wasn't used to feeling so helpless anymore. He had felt helpless like this with Lysander, though not in quite the same way, but it had been a few years since then. He had grown used to always having some sort of ability to make some kind of change, but all morning and even yesterday, he had been helpless in all of this. Unable to get through to Arquis and unable to change anything.
"You haven't known him very long, right? You don't know what he's done in his past," Lovey said softly. She wouldn't be saying it if she didn't think they needed to hear it. If Arquis was found guilty, and she had a suspicion he would be, then that could crush Rin. She was just trying to prepare him for the worst, or at least that was what she kept telling herself. A little part of her selfishly wanted Rin to stay away from Arquis. They seemed like such a sweet person, and she was worried Arquis might hurt him.
"Not everyone who's done bad things is a bad person. Some of the stuff Pretty had to do when she was at war wasn't great. She's still a good person, though. So maybe Arquis is a little bit like that. Maybe he did something really bad and regrets it." She reached up and pulled Rin's hands away from their face, then cupped his cheek. "You can't always know everything about a person, and if he didn't tell you, maybe that's for a reason. I know you love him. I know this is hard. But he might've been right about something. You may not want to go to the trial."
Someone appeared in the doorway. Lovey looked up, expecting Pretty, but it was her brother. He was wearing a grim expression.
"Pretty told me everything. Rin, get your stuff. Lovey, help him pack. I’ll go see if I can borrow Ophia’s carriage. We're going to the trial.“
“Honey,” Lovey cleared her throat. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Look at him. He’s upset, he doesn’t need to do anything right now. Give him some time and let them decide.”
“The trial’s in, like, three days. Pretty heard one of those guys talking about it. We don’t have much time to waste. Rin, you want to go, yeah?”
(gentle bump)