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Ignacio had a lot of thoughts.

It had been hard, pulling up the bravery to tell Richard. Harder still was the blase way he had taken the news, something of a guess this is what’s happening now! that had taken him momentarily by surprise seeing as, over the years, Richard had gotten more hurt by the one at the center of the conversations. Faustite–Elex–stressed him out. He had taken Richard’s starseed once and about drained him to death another time.

How did he take the concept of by the way, he’s actually possibly purifying with such damn ease?

Perhaps he was the one that was stubborn about change, or his husband was so used to how chaotic life had been that something like this might-as-well happen. And it was for the best, if he could resolve Faustite fleeing. All they had to do from here really was find a royal that could handle it. Or Cosmos. That would probably work too, And a court. if Faustite’s heart was truly in it. Was his heart in it? All the insistence of getting rid of the youma didn’t quite match up with the realities of it, and they’d have to bridge that gap if Faustite was going to–

He heard the taps on his door.

live.

Ignacio let the thought hang in his mind as he moved to the door, scooting by a cat Viatrix that had been happily walking over to let him know someone was at the door, and a very eager golden retriever who sat near the door and wagged her tail. There were only so many people who would knock versus using the doorbell, so he had a pretty good feeling as to who that was without even checking the app.

He smiled in relief when it turned out he was correct in his guess. And cupcakes too? It brightened his mood, just a little bit.

“Sadie!” He stepped to the side, bowing gallantly as a joke moreso than anything else. “Come in!”

He did catch the lack of energy, but it wasn’t so low as to alarm him. She was there now, and if she was there to talk, Ignacio was pretty sure she would bring up the reasons as to why.

Viatrix chirped, “Hey Sadie! Good to see you! How’s your brother?” followed by looking very closely at the plate Sadie was holding with her free hand. “Also, can I have a cupcake?”

“Vi,” Ignacio wrapped an arm around Sadie’s waist in turn to hug her close as Luz let out a happy bark and then trotted back into Luke’s office, satisfied with the attention she had received from the new guest, “she just got here–”

“Hey,” she giggled, “doesn’t mean I can’t ask for a cupcake.”

He rolled his eyes, offering a louder, “Don’t mind her,” and ignoring the following hey she got from below. Ignacio leaned back into Sadie, murmuring, “it has been a while, hasn’t it. Are you doing alright?”

It hadn’t been as long as it could have been, but it had been long enough for enough. A lot had happened over the past few weeks alone, and he was still trying to wrap his mind around the bulk of the last few days. To believe he had gone from believing the worst was inevitable to believing that, perhaps, there was a different kind of worst on the horizon. A different kind of worst, still involving the same person, ********. Where did he even start with this?

Viatrix was absolutely delighted that Sadie immediately took her up on it, and she glanced up to stick out her tongue at her bonded–which to Ignacio, honestly looked more like she was blepping at him, but he’d roll his eyes and let her have it. Just as he was going to let her have the cupcake that she looked enamoured by, and she purred a, “He’s so talented!” at just how it smelled in front of her.

She loved the gentle purple that the lavender provided to the cupcake, and found herself tearing right into it as Sadie gave her the requested update. It was good to hear that he was doing good, even if he wasn’t powering up very much. With his magic, even if he only powered up to rid some youma from his surroundings, he was safer than he ever could have been as just a civilian. Especially with an unawakened starseed. Viatrix never wanted to find out someone she could have saved got corrupted instead.

“Good! Let him know I say hello, and his cupcakes are delicious,” she swallowed, ignoring the bit of frosting on her nose for the moment. She really could have just taken on her civilian guise–too late now. “If he needs any help with senshi stuff, lemme know. I don’t abandon my charges.”

She deferred to Ignacio for the rest, then, more interested in eating the cupcake she was presented with than interfering with their conversation. Perhaps Ignacio might have appreciated it if it had afforded him more time to think. “I had a feeling.” He let out a quiet sigh, finally sitting down himself and taking a cupcake as well. “You were real determined, I could tell even despite how tired you were. And then you became harder to contact, even if we have texted and such.”

Maybe she had been helping. Had that been part of the reason why Faustite had been willing to approach Order at all? Or was he simply so desperate that his hatred of them as a group had stopped mattering?

Of course, he wasn’t sure if Faustite had been fully convinced to purify, yet.

He took a bite of the cupcake, buying himself another moment before he responded, “I’ve been okay. The last little bit has some with some really unexpected things, is all.”

That was, somehow, still an understatement.

“It is his passion, isn’t it?” mused Viatrix, glancing up thoughtfully. “I think that’s why he’s so good at it! Kinda like the resident dad here– I’m glad you two are working together on things though, cooking is a good bonding activity.”

She swallowed again, before stating with a smattering of giggles, “Maybe I can convince him to give me some.”

Viatrix was absolutely willing to pop in on her charges at any time! She liked to keep track of the people she had awakened and helped reach a higher power. It felt like what she was supposed to do as a Mauvian, sure, but she also just generally felt responsible for the people she had pulled into this world. Viatrix wanted to make sure they thrived.

She wanted to make sure Ignacio thrived too, but to be honest, his increasing stress was also a bit amusing. Viatrix glanced up to the way he bit his bottom lip when asked about the unexpected comment directly, and did not do anything to help him recover from it. Consider this a long-term revenge for sticking her in the position where she was stuck explaining what Richard and Ignacio had been arguing about to Luke and Safira–

Ignacio ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Just working with someone who might be a new purification candidate is all.”

Viatrix watched him, saying nothing.

“Not really someone I ever expected to approach me, honestly.”

That was, somehow, still an understatement.

“I can play cute cat,” hummed Viatrix thoughtfully, under her breath and to herself as she noticed the conversation had noticeably shifted to Ignacio, “do also have a civilian guise that won’t set off the auric alarms of everyone in a hundred mile radius. Could use that.” Of course, Viatrix was exaggerating, but there was a small bit of bitterness related to the fact that she couldn’t really stay in her preferred form. Not on Earth, anyway.

Not important. She’d figure out how exactly to get cupcakes later. For now–

Sadie wasn’t wrong, necessarily. He didn’t think he agreed with the plenty–experience taught him that many of them were content to continue following a malignant force. But enough of them did leave that it wasn’t an entire impossibility. Enough of one that.

Well.

The subject of the conversation came in herself, and Ignacio offered a sheepish, “Hi Livie,” relieved that she was momentarily distracted by cupcakes but knowing it was just that: a distraction. Her brain whipped around topics as fast as his did, and Sadie wasn’t going to let this one go, either.

Honestly, they’d probably be happy about it, overall. Probably even Livie, considering how she had been effectively blowing up Sadie’s proverbial phone about his worries about her being near Faustite in the first place. Encke knew they were working together to at least some degree.

He sighed and decided to join the set of people sitting in the entryway, picking up another cupcake.

“It’s complicated,” he warned, because this wasn’t quite as simple as someone in deep deciding that it was bad and they needed to get out, “but a certain man of fire may be looking to extinguish it.”

Viatrix’s mouth hung open.

The squealing tackle hug didn't take Ignacio by any actual surprise but it did make him minutely jump nevertheless as he watched Livie and Sadie. He had a sense this was going to be the reaction. Especially from Livie, honestly. His first thought was that she was never going to let him hear the end of it and she already wasn't.

He did not have any hope for Albite, even still.

Viatrix was looking at him with enough suspicion that he felt some relief that he didn't have to temper everyone's excitement.

"Does Arra know?"

"Told him first," murmured Ignacio to Viatrix, before shifting his gaze to look to Livie and Sadie. "It's not so much that there's hope for everyone. He's not looking at it as purification and was very insistent he's just looking to get rid of the youma. Offering to help both because he's tugging on my heartstrings somehow," because he was wondering what trippy dream he had stepped into even still, "and because if we can convince him to permanently let go of chaos he'd be free, not dying by means out of his control, and no longer a threat to us. He can heal from it, perhaps."

The wording was specific. Youma ridding, not purification. The problem was for Faustite, they both came as one.

"But yeah, something happened. He didn't need to tell me what's going on though he did anyway, indirectly. Youma half is killing him. He's coughing, he's weak, think I spotted him scoop up some ashes. He's feeling hopeless, literally trying not to die."

"Strong of you not to tell him to just go do it, then," murmured Viatrix. To be honest? She remembered that day she saved Basiluzzo from him. She was uncertain she would have been that much of the better person.

Something to think about.

"Don't think he would have come to me or anyone else if he wasn't dying. He's not talking like he wants to leave, and he's already walked away from it on me once.

"I do think there's a chance, though, that he could be brought to wanting the whole thing."

If he had once… maybe they could do it again.

Ignacio fidgeted. The twinsies comment was cute, honestly, and not wrong. They were twins in one perspective, in that they would both be fleeing the Negaverse to avoid death. Sadie, though, pointed out the operative word there. Or words, really. If he wanted to. If. Faustite was reinforcing the concept of ridding the youma so hard in their conversation that he knew that Faustite wasn’t at the point of wanting to purify, even if he had once been years ago. It made him worry about the prospects.

But to be honest, he couldn’t withhold what had allowed Encke to continue to survive from Faustite. Encke wasn’t going to hold back.

He knew why Livie was citing the husband, he did. And she wasn’t wrong, but–

“If we could convince his husband and all the people he’s attached to, I think that’d not only help but it would also be miraculous.”

Did he think they were incapable of miracles? No, not exactly, but he was also tempered in his expectation of them. He didn’t get the impression from anything he knew of Albite that he would ever even consider leaving. He didn’t get the impression that Faustite would dump any considerable effort into getting him to do so, either. Honestly, he might even consider the opposite. If Albite really figured that was where he belonged, according to the database entries, would his husband disrupt that? Especially if Faustite didn’t or barely wanted to let go of Chaos’ hold on him?

Not that he knew how either party was ultimately going to respond to the news. Faustite’s reaction was negative if sullen. He had no idea how Albite would react.

One problem at a time.

“We’re gonna have a lot of work to do, I think.” Ignacio leaned forward, the cupcakes entirely forgotten–even if his guardian cat hadn’t forgotten them, swapping to her humanoid civilian guise so she could grab another. “Not just in those moments his mind is free, but also leading up to those moments. It’s hard to rid yourself of chaos even briefly if you’re still attached to it, I think.”

Purification couldn’t be forced. He knew that via the stories Metis had told him of Iris trying to force Labyrithite. He knew that via the fact that not all of his classmates had survived being youmaified. He knew that just via experience of dealing with purifications over the years. If an attachment to chaos existed, it wouldn’t happen. Would just wanting rid of the youma do it if he still wanted to keep everything else he had?

“So we’ll have to convince him he wants to leave and make sure it’s not an exit by death in the process."