Jowy looked up, as suddenly he became aware of someone studying him intently. "You're.." The man nodded. "I am." Jowy flushed. He made to stand up, but the man before him stopped him by sitting down instead, on the chair opposite his. They were silent for a while, the tension warring with silence in Jowy's small office. "I would have knocked, but the door was open," the man said. Jowy let fall the papers he had been studying. "I.. should have noticed," he said. Their eyes met for a second, and suddenly he wasn't in awe of the older man anymore. ==== "Give the signal for a full retreat." The soldier was shocked into looking him full in the face. "Your Majesty-" "Do it." Jowy hardened his gaze, and the man obeyed without further comment. The flares went up in bursts of brilliantly colored smoke. Much like his dreams, he thought. Much like his hopes. He could see in their dissipation his failure. The death of Highland. His generals sent back messages almost immediately- angry, shocked, and demanding, but he had expected as much. What did protests matter now? They could win this battle- they would still lose the war. He couldn't kill his best friend, and he would never reunite the halves of the true Rune. If Riou failed, the Beast Rune would consume them all- but Riou wouldn't fail. All that was left, then, was to bring an end. Jowy listened to the couriers impassively, then turned away. "We head for L'Renouille," he said. Mildly. The voice of a boy, the stature of the king. The soldiers followed him. It was a long march to the capital, but his forces had not suffered overmuch in body, only in spirit. Until he arrived, they had been winning. Now that Mathilda was lost, it was the beginning of the end. Jowy did not issue further orders, nor were there messages from his generals. Hans guarding the rear, Culgan and Seed on the respective right and left flanks. Halfway through, Leon rode to meet him, Lucia by his side. He found he could not greet them, nor could he look at them. ==== "The enemy has entered the city, Your Majesty." Jowy looked around the table at those present. It was a meeting no King should have to call, but he wouldn't be a king for much longer. Yuber was absent- no surprise there, the hired general had never struck Jowy as particularly trustworthy, but of all his other commmanders, not one was absent. Not one had fallen in battle. He tried not to think of the soldiers who had. Hans was there, as were Culgan and Seed, and Lucia. It was Hans, last of the old guard, who had spoken, and now he was silent. Perhaps, thought Jowy, there is nothing left to say. He wished he could apologise, but knew that to do so would destroy what little they had left. And that little was dignity. At the end, there was always that. "You must leave, my King." This from Lucia, who alone of all of them seemed to have any fire left. "We can retreat to Harmonia- if not, to the Grasslands- we can raise an army there-" She had more years to her name than he did, but he felt older, so much older. "/No/, Lucia." To his surprise, it was Seed who said this. " Don't you understand? It's over." His voice softened as Jowy looked at him, even though their eyes did not meet. He should hate me, Jowy thought. He and Culgan both. But they do not. "Of course it's not over!" Lucia cried, passionate. She was always so, in whatever she did. Her Rage rune fit her well- fire and blood commingled flowed in her veins. "It is, Lucia." Jowy said gently. She turned to look at him; incredulous, hurt. "Your Majesty-" He forestalled further protest by baring his hand, the hand that bore the rune. She gasped to see it, as did the others. Hans alone seemed unsurprised, although he also seemed sad. "I am dying." Jowy said. He was surprised to find that his voice did not tremble. "And I cannot hold back the Beast Rune for much longer." In his hand, the Black Sword Rune glowed not black, but red at the edges. It had sucked enough life from him that its jagged lines were visible even palmside up. Jowy watched as one by one, they turned away from the sight. "Even so.." Lucia said, her fury transmuted to an equally fierce grief. For him, for Highland, or for a future that would not be, Jowy couldn't say. Leon walked in, then, and surveyed the room. "News," he said. "The State army is at the gates." His words garnered only minimal action from most, but galvanised one. "I'll hold them off!" Lucia cried, as she fled the room. Leon shook his head when Jowy made as if to send a guard after her. "Let her go, Your Majesty. There are things she has to settle," He said. "They won't kill her," he added, after a while. "Teresa Wisemail was among those outside the gates." Jowy bowed his head. "And Riou?" he asked.