Alexander. We're fighting.

A bad mood. That's what was plastered on his face when he entered the courtyard and literally barged into a conversation that was already heated, bringing a barrel of verbal oil.

"Alexander. We're fighting."

Said with too much conviction.

"Now."
(Kofe)


Marie ras Petrakis says, "---"
The Petrakis just stares. He did not forget the conversation they had earlier but with the shift of tone and the way the war leaned?

"No."
(Alexander rei Petrakis)

The Princess raised her eyebrows - clearly her and Alexanders conversation wasn't so heated, judging by her jovial attitude; but it seemed her mood plummeted, as she could only wonder what Alexander did this time.

"Kofe, what happened."

She'd ask, squinting his way.
(Marie ras Petrakis)

The refusal wasn't well taken. At all. Hel, the Rhoynish would probably alert a few guards with his approach of the King and a hand reaching out to grab at his clothes, if only to pull him closer.

"Your stupid, selfish war over an insult over your wife and for her safety has made the girl I love decide to throw herself in the middle of battle for real, all in a public address.

Alice doesn't even think that she can speak to the people anymore; she thinks all that'll matter is getting blood on her hands and showing all of Osrona that she can protect them."

His grip tightened, and Marie's question found an answer faster than she may have expected.

"Maybe you don't fuckin' care about your sister anymore, but I care about her. You can't fight the world, Alex. You can't expect yourself to face everything that'll happen just because someone said it was your divine right. This isn't Avalon. There's no angels around. This is the real world— this is the place where the champion of Esshar died because you made it a personal affair!

I don't wanna hear about Asta's intention. I know them. I know it all. And I know that they wanted to put Alice in charge until Penny stepped in, knowing that it'd ruin my happiness if it happened. Because that's what family does for family. They care for eachother.

So Njorun help me if you don't stop being a selfish asshole who's making even his younger brother think he's ruling Esshar instead of ruling for Esshar, I'll hit you until you realize it.

King or not."
(Kofe)

Hands move to grab at his clothes but Alexander does not make move against them yet. He is pulled closer and guards stand at the ready in the back, before Kofe starts berating and berating.

Then the Petrakis extends a hand, pushing Kofe back and starting to break the grip that the rhoynish had on his apparel.

"I do not know what world you live in, Kofe. We were going to have a peace summit if we won today. It does not matter what we do. They will still come. This was always in the works. And if you do not believe me, you are being beyond foolish."

"And the fact you would tell me to give up two hundred lives as sacrifice to Asta? You do not even know my sister at all. That was one of Asta's terms if you did not know - a real peace-lover, isn't she? Willing to declare war, kill people all because I arrested her husband and her for assault and sedition against the Crown."

"Family help each other but it is clear we are not family if you can not even lift a finger to help," the Petrakis said and with that, he had little more words. He addresses what Kofe says but nothing more.
(Alexander rei Petrakis)

Marie would pause - unfortunately, it seemed like it was an actual problem; the Princess turning her head to stare at Kofe as he let loose on his tangent, frowning just a bit - the answer clear. Marie usually stayed out of these things, but her eyes would close.

A long sigh releasing after Alexanders words.

"Kofe - you know better than anyone that is not what this war started over; this war started over Asta being a disrespectful conniving snake. She went behind our backs, freely broke our treaties terms, has been as consistent as my views on war over the past ten years which is to say not at all, and on top of that decided that after all of that?"

"She'd crash a wedding party, and then try to use her magic on the Queen as an intimidation tactic." Firmly speaking, the Princess laid down the law on that first and foremost; a staunch hater of war and destruction, openly justifying the battle at hand, as a thin lipped frown rested on her face. "It was bound to happen. I don't agree with the spark, but I do agree with the flame."

"Now, onto this Alice situation."

A deep breath had, one that filled her lungs, her eyes closing tightly as that one was more difficult. More important, and more of what this was all about clearly.

Voicing out, after a pause to think. "Stop disrespecting Alice."

"If she choose that, that's /her/ decision - it's an opinion that I've had for years, that she's parroting. We are Petrakis', Kofe - this is what we do; we are not pretty Princess that sit behind walls, people do not respect us for that - Alice has likely made the same decision that we all will, Eirene eventually, Odin too: That she needs to be out there, among the people who are dying, suffering, and killing in /our/ name."

"Why do people respect us if we watch them die from behind castle wall? Why do people care? They don't - that's the truth of the matter. Serea doesn't represent us on the field, and sparks wars; Alexander often cannot, because the loss of his life is greater than the loss of any other in the big picture. Me? Alice? Eirene? Odin? We're expendable, if it means that the citizens have faith in us; see that we truly care."

"If we're fighting the world, we have to do it together; because it would always come to this. If you want to protect your future wife? Take some time, reflect on why this war is actually happening; stop pretending like you know all of the details, and take part in mitigating the damage done so she doesn't die out there, or feel like she needs too." They were words that maybe the Princess needed to hear, years back, but she was saying them now; honest, and scolding of Kofe's sudden emotional outburst - staring the way of whatshe would consider her best friend.

Nodding, just a bit, at him.

"You know my feelings on the past wars; I am saying this now, this one? It isn't like those.. It's much different."
(Marie ras Petrakis)

You do not even know my sister at all.
Me? Alice? Eirene? Odin? We're expendable

Those words reached deep. Real deep. Both from the returned insult, and from the demeaning of one's self — and much more.

Kofe may have been pushed back, but he wasn't done. In fact? It was the complete opposite. His emotions had been dragged across the ground. Him pleading Alice over and over and over to not throw herself at death itself hadn't worked.

How was he meant to protect the people he loved when that happened? He knew exactly what Asta was about— he'd told Alexander she was a villain previously and it still stood, Hel, from the looks of it it was proven. But right now this wasn't about Asta, or the war. This was about Kofe's own... inability to protect those he cared about.

For there were people he cared about on both sides. Family.

He'd probably be arrested for this. Maybe put back in shackles. Or exiled. He'd demolish everything he had worked for for... years. Break down the man he'd built himself up to be. But he was still himself. Still honest. He couldn't turn down what his heart felt, nor could he ignore what he wanted to do. Edelaide's words echoed in his mind and he just...

... stopped holding it all in.

A clenched right fist was swung forth, aimed right at Alexander's left cheek.

"I've protected both your sisters with my damn life on the line countless times because I care about them! I was the one who was there when Marie was at her lowest! I listened to Odin's words, and I barely know him! People all across the world call you names, and I defend you!

I don't know what kinda world you live in, Alex, but the guy I made friends with would find a solution to all of this!"

Because Kofe had none.
There were people he cared on both sides of that battlefield.
Marie was right; he was disrespecting Alice and trying to tune her down because he didn't have a solution.
(Kofe)

A clenched fist meets cheek and in turn, the King's head was popped back. The sound of fist hitting flesh, and then, the Petrakis bares his own fist, knuckles white as he sends a strike right back at Kofe.

That was what this was always going to come down to. The Rhoynish wanted someone to let his anger out on, like everyone else in the world. Constantly finding excuses and reasons to attack Osrona. Fighting over some damn bridge. Not able to accept terms for peace.

Rinn, Alya, Asta, Regulus.

It never mattered. They all wanted more and more and more. Greed that bubbled beneath the surface. And at the end of the day, the Petrakis was the one who stood to his moral beliefs. His duties. All he wanted was to be left alone on Osronan soil and have his people not be left sitting ducks while every other city felt fine to prod and poke. To unleash a dragon on them and then complain when it's remains are handed back.

And Alexander paid, forced to go to war again and again.

For what?

The strike back would likely not end there however and depending on how far Kofe took it, would change Alexander's response.
(Alexander rei Petrakis)

"Kofe! Alexander!"

Marie stepped in at the punches, glaring at them. Her hands reached out, grabbing at Kofe's arm; her form, shoving in-between him and Alexander, as she immediately grew defensive over her cousin. Kofe was her friend, and she understood his grief like any other; she knew it was frustrating, it was miserable, that everything seemed so bad; yet she tried to wedge between the two, frustrated as she tried to intervene.

It was a terrible position to be in; her best friend and beloved cousin seeming soon to break out in fights.

"You hitting each other doesn't solve anything! You're both just going to upset Alice more! Enough!" Maybe it was an attempt at putting some authority in her voice, maybe she was trying to replicate Serea's cold angry glares, but despite both of those things; Marie still seemed panicked, and tiny, as the two would hit each other.

Trying to stop them both before it got out of hand.

"Use your words! If you think there's a solution then Kofe, tell us! Alexander would listen; but you don't have an answer, and just because he's King doesn't mean he'll magically have one either!"

"This is a lot of things meeting at once and you know it, these things take time to solve."

It was hopeless - she saw Alexander's frustrations better now, in the moment. A situation out of his control, with people blaming him no matter which decision he made; her glaring at Kofe, staring, as she hoped to quell the argument.

At least for the moments sake.
(Marie ras Petrakis)

The fist that was returned was met with Kofe's own head shifting to the side from the sheer impact of it. Teeth came to a grit and blood was drawn already from the strike. Why'd he have to pick a fistfight with the guy who was used to fighting people from up-close?

Yellow eyes narrowed upon their target, and a frown was given as Kofe's heart boomed forth with all of those witheld emotions from before. He played no instrument, yet this song of a clear challenge would ring in the King's very mind, transmitted through an unseen link.

The Rhoynish turned his head, spat blood on the cobblestone beneath their feet, and moved forward to headbutt the crown that ruled all of Esshar. Had it not been for Marie's intervention his head might've been ringing more than ever before.

There was a level of respect that Alexander was getting for obliging him. The song that played both in his heart and in Alex's mind wasn't one packed with quite some anger, but more... heat. There wasn't any ill-will, but a load of emotions that were intermingling together.

The Petrakis would be able to read Kofe's feelings clearly enough: Sadness, cluelessness, and a sense of duty that couldn't be met. As if the odds were impossible for him to reach.

Where Alexander was tired of wielding his blade, Kofe was tired of speaking his words.

Yet, it was the Rhoynish who forced this upon his friend.

"There's no fucking solution, Marie! I've resolved myself to stop trying to save a whole city after seeing how many times it was rebuilt, but I can't even protect the people who'll carry on that tradition— how am I supposed to make sure my family's safe when they're joining both sides of this war?!"

There it was. Unloaded and made clear as to why Alice's presence on the battlefield was a problem. Even if he knew Basil or his parent wouldn't hurt her intentionally it didn't mean she was safe. Asta was a monster. She really was.

"I've managed to hold back my mother from joining by giving her the convenient excuse of Ilburg's own problem, but now that we fixed it? She can't just pretend like she's doing something meaningful with her people just to protect the other end of this large family!"

His gaze shifted from Marie who'd been addressed to Alexander.

"You're supposed to be the better one between the two of us. I hate seeing you clueless."

The more he spoke of how he actually felt and the more he opened up, the clearer that song intruding Alexander's mind would be. Those feelings of... impossible demands, of constant challenges that never came the way he wanted them to kept on echoing between the both of them.

Ilbug's involvement, Finley's decision, Asta being given back the crown, Alice joining the fray.

His words did nothing to stop it. And he couldn't bring himself to draw spells and fists alike.
(Kofe)

What follows is something that does not cause pause yet. Still the Petrakis King was frustrated but it starts to settle when Marie's shout echoes and Kofe's song plays. At first it causes confusion, wondering what he felt in his mind but then it simmers and he understands a bit more.

The Petrakis princess separates them and Alexander does not make move for another punch. He just stares, letting the song in his head settle, the tune of which reeks of tough times. Impossible demands. Challenges.

Well, in the very least, Kofe had gotten what he wanted earlier. A way to bring Alexander's mind back into focus. One eye still sat shut and then the Petrakis turns, slow steps taking him away.

"Why would Illburg join? Why would Theria?," a pause, where he did not see the reason. But. Despite it. With Kofe's magic playing a tune, it at least has him zone in more than he had been prior, he says a few words as he leaves.

"I'll think of something."

And then he is gone, exiting out the nearby gates.
(Alexander rei Petrakis)

I'll think of something.

A few words said in such a manner that could defuse any magic-enhanced bomb threatening to blow up the city. It wasn't a spar they had, but a real fight. However brief it was? It was there.

As Iberl watched from above and observed this performance, this life-changing twist that lead Kofe to aim towards new heights, to aim for the protection of those he cared about — of his clan and family — over any city.

For swearing loyalty to Osrona would be a lie. His lips part as Alexander takes a few steps away. He wouldn't stop him, but instead bring the words that brought a soft end to this melody, allowing the King to focus... on his own.

Albeit with an ally in mind.

"I can't swear to be loyal to Osrona, but I'll always be loyal to my family, Alex. I hope that's enough for you to welcome me in yours." A pause, and a compliment as a hand reached up to his cheek.

"Slugger."

Guy had a mean hook.
(Kofe)

A pause.

"It's not," he admits tensely. There was a degree in which he could allow marriage for 'love' to be had, or however you wanted to reason it. But there was limits. Some sort of action would be needed to prove these claims. The song played prior does start to die down, but he remembers the thoughts echoing. The hint of them.

"You need to decide what sort of person you want to be remembered as Kofe. Because soon, they are going to siege these walls. If you are loyal to family, then that will be the time to prove it."

And then the Petrakis is gone.
(Alexander rei Petrakis)


Kofe asks, ".. You think I'd let my family's home fall?"
-- Marie didn't quite understand what happened.

One moment they were punching each other, and the next Kofe was complimenting him and talking about family; the Princess pausing as she turned her head, looking between each of them, as her arms hung slack. Slowly, the worried expression turned into a stale one - as she stood there, glaring.

"Romani was right." About?

She turned to walk off with a huff, pausing to let Alexander go inside to hold her dramatic exit off; since it'd be weird if they made one together, yet separately.

"Maybe men and women are entirely different species. I don't understand you idiots at all - next time? Start by talking, you're both going to look real stupid missing your front teeth." Huffing - she moved inside for a bit of a break, rolling her eyes.

Was it a pride thing? Or were they both just stupid?

Marie didn't know the answer.
(Marie ras Petrakis)

As Marie walked away Kofe gave just a few extra parting words to Alex, moving in the opposite direction— it'd be awkward to move in the same direction after all.

"Can't get married until the war's over anyway. Can hardly marry without a church.

I'll be there."

He wouldn't kill or try to harm those he cared about, but at this point? Breaking those bonds with the people he loved in Myllenoris, Theria, and even Ilburg may just be necessary to protect his family. To ensure that the Petrakis side would live.

Basil, Pariah, and eventually Mars would be fine on their own.

Reducing the circle. Narrowing his aim.

And with it? Delivering those cosmic-enhanced tunes more precisely.

Alexander had given his word he'd try and find a solution. That was enough for him.
(Kofe)