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laur-rants · 6 years

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Fic Update: Whale-Wolf Chronicles

Chapter 6: Seeds of Doubt

A new one shot, where Billie and Galia end up having a conversation about how Daud is dealing with Emily being on premises. Their conflicting views on the matter will help the stage for Chapter 11 in the first main installment. *Note: The read more may not appear for mobile users. For this, I sincerely apologize.

Read on AO3

“This whole stunt has been doomed from the start.”

Galia bristled, turning too sharply towards her companion. The figure in red, clad in a heavy mask and a heavier disposition stood just a few meters to her left, arms crossed while looking down on the city streets below. Dunwall was experiencing a surprisingly bright night, though it wasn't at all festive; in the wake of the Empress' death, the electric and terrifying Walls of Light were being erected all around the major provinces, acting as check points for entry and exit. The eerie blue of their sinister lightshow reflected off of her superior's mask, the glass of the eyes shining in the dark like those of a predator. Not for the first time, Galia was glad for her own whaler mask currently hiding the deep scowl playing on her lips.

“The plan isn't a stunt, Billie. Daud knows what he's doing.”

Billie huffed, her long mask dipping slightly, looking all the more like her lupine face than anything remotely human.

“Galia, your blind loyalty to our master is commendable, but misplaced. Taking coin to kill an Empress is one thing, but stealing her daughter? Keeping her captive? Daud is beckoning the Fates for our destruction, not our salvation.”

Galia’s unseen scowl deepened further, the leather of her gloves straining against a clenched fist.

“If you're so worried, why don't you talk to him about it? You're one of the few he will listen to, see reason from.”

“Because…” Billie started, but trailed away as she tensed, carefully watching a City Watch officer break off and veer down an alley towards their position. Without a word spoken between them, the two assassins disappeared, leaping through ash and Void to a new vantage point. Billie kept an eye on the officers, dropping her arms as she walked the rooftop.

“Because I do not think Daud is of sound mind. I think he has fallen off the wagon, so to speak. The child is-is dangerous. He spends too much time in her company, we all do-- can you not feel the pull she exerts on all of us?” She shook her arms out, as if disturbed by her own words, pacing like a caged dog.

Galia gaped at her, hardly moving.

“The child. A girl of not even ten. You think she is dangerous? Are you mad?” Galia tossed her head, disbelieving. “She may be royalty, yes, but there is no one looking for her in the weeper-filled Flooded District, no one stupid enough to try and get her there, with all our traps.”

“It is not what she attracts that I fear, but what she's doing to us, to Daud. I don't trust this, I don't trust her.”

Billie squirmed. She bristled. She paced and huffed and growled with a barely restrained venom in her voice. There was no concern there, only paranoia and anger and fear.

Galia laughed.

Billie swiveled on her heel, glaring as best she could through the leather of her whaler mask, snarling through the ventilator.

“What?” Billie demanded. “What is so funny to you? The destruction of the Whalers, of all of us? Be out with it!”

Billie was Galia's superior, so much so that she was Daud's second, his heir. Which only made Galia shake her head, laughing all the harder.

“Outsider's ass, Billie,” Galia sneered. “You're jealous.”

Billie stiffened, her arms jerky at her side, her hands balling into fists. “What?”

Galia knew she shouldn't push it. She shouldn't, because Billie was a powerful Bonded, taking to Daud's magic better than any of them. She nearly had the power to push Galia over with her overwhelming magical energy alone.

But Galia didn't see a superior before her now. She only saw a child, a whelp, an upset teenager pouting over a lost game.

“You're mad that Daud is giving the girl extra attention, especially since she wasn't supposed to end up with us in the first place,” she rationalized, pointing a disbelieving finger at Billie all the while, “You're scared she'll never go back to the tower, you're nervous Daud knows she has innate talent and she'll outshine you one day as heir and assassin apprentice.”

Every explanation made Billie more tense. Galia could see the smoke billowing from her frame as she fought to remain calm and human. The boiling anger bleeding over their mental connection told a similar emotional tale.

“How dare you accuse me of something so-so petty as--”

“Is it not true?” Galia asked, arms open and incredulous. “Children are not dangerous, only their potential is. She has the potential to be something great, someone greater than you, and that scares you. Doesn't it?”

“Nothing scares me,” she snarled out, body stiff, words surgical. “I was built to destroy threats. And if she threatens the existence of the Whalers, I'll do what I must.”

“It is Daud who will make that call, not you.”

“Daud knows nothing because he is lost!” Billie shouted back. Galia flinched and Billie's head dipped, her voice going soft. “You cannot tell me you don't feel his turmoil.”

Galia faltered, biting at her lip, and Billie sent affirmation across their bond.

“Yes, you do feel it,” Billie breathed out. Galia twitched, going silent. She was never one to speak ill of their Master, of Daud, but it was true; Daud's thoughts had been closed off and hidden, and whenever she caught a glimpse of his mental state, it was overtaxed and over-strained. Her instinct was always to reach out, to mentally offer a lifeline of reassurance, but Daud was not sentimental. If anyone got suspicious, he closed up again, tight as a river krust. It left her worried, confused, agitated.

What's worse is that all her doubts were now loud and clear across the bond with Billie, and she was reading each and every one like an open book.

“Please, Galia,” she said, pleaded . “I'm saying this to try and help, so of course I cannot say anything to Daud,” Galia's head swam, her nose and sinuses filled with the stench of roses. She shook herself, fighting off the instinct to sneeze. “I've even cut him off for now, because I can't be sure of how sane he really is, not until I can figure out what's going on. If you do too, it could help to understand, to get to the bottom of this.”

Billie took a step towards Galia. It made sense. It sounded reasonable. And yet…

“I'm sorry, Billie,” Galia finally said, as the lights below illuminated them both in sickly blues and yellows. The red of Billie's coat burned, hot and cold, while she stopped and stared blankly at Galia from behind her mask. “I won't tell Daud, because maybe- maybe, you are right.” She took a shaky breath, straightening her back. “But I cannot doubt Daud so easily or block him off without reason. I have to see this through.”

Billie was silent for a time, weighing her responses. Finally she nodded, curt and professional. The link between their minds was severed so harshly that Galia stumbled from the mental whiplash.

“Hopefully such a lapse in judgement will not come back to haunt you,” Billie sneered, cheekily transforming to her lupine form. The ruddy fur flashed yellow and blue, teeth glinting like the crackle of the electricity flowing below them.

“Same to you,” Galia nodded, but if Billie heard her, she didn't know. The wolf was already bounding off, leaving Galia to deal with the lingering smell of roses and the sharp prickling pain settling on her mood like thorns.

#dishonored #werewolf au #dishonored au #wolfbann #wolfssegner #billie lurk #galia #the whalers #fic #my fic #fanfic #my fanfic #i honestly just #needed to get into billie's head #i think i accomplished that here #enjoy!#we'll be back to our regularly scheduled fic soon!

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