Caius knew it wouldn't be an easy story to tell, with the personal parts. Usually he just kept it to the tale of the Chosen King returning to reclaim his throne and expunge the land of darkness and everyone lived happily ever after. But this girl... There was an air of trustworthiness to her. An air of gentleness that made him comfortable with telling his side of the story. Would he do it again? Honestly, he wasn't sure. With Yuna, she'd been comfortable to share her side of things. For him, it just felt... Right. It felt fair. It felt fair to repay that in kind. Though sharing his shame of once being a bandit, a looter... Even if he was only young... That still stung. It was a great shame he would likely carry with him for the rest of his life. All he could do was try his best to repent for it.

As for Yuna... He just hoped his trust wasn't misplaced.

Caius realized he perhaps could have given context to answer the chocobo question, but... Eh, he figured the story explained it well enough. Looking toward Yuna, curious of how she would react to both the story, his own past, as well as what he'd seen... And what he'd done, he watched her with a careful eye. She was sympathetic, and even explained herself that this "Sin" had killed her own father. She brought comfort, and he was thankful for that. All he could do was lower his head in respect when it came to her own father. "I'm sorry."

“But we’ve both continued on and made it this far. I think that takes more bravery than you’re giving yourself credit for.”

He smiled lightly at that. He supposed she was right. "Yeah" He spoke softly. "I guess so."

She was gentle. Easy to open up to. Caius respected that, looked up to that even. He hoped he could be that way with people who needed it one day.

Though seeing her be this gentle, this thoughtful, so easy to talk to, to open up to... He could tell she could easily be a leader. Someone who leads, someone who empowers their followers if she chose to... It made him feel a little inadequate. He'd started the Dragonblades... But did he have what it took to lead them? It'd been something he had been considering more lately. Was he really up to the task? Yuna was a reminder that he had a ways to go.

“Noctis sounds like a great man,”

"He is" He answered. "I truly wish to meet him again one day. Perhaps the fates might will him here... As I don't think I could leave here."

He was surprised to hear himself admitting that, and yet...

"I feel like this land and it's people still need me... Just as my world needed people like Noctis."

Yuna was fine with the detour, which he appreciated and he nodded his head. "The forest isn't far" He answered as he would take the reins again and direct them to a nearby forest. Once they were far enough, he would dismount his chocobo, not wanting to alarm their potential prey.

It seems Yuna hadn't noticed the word "three" he had used earlier. To feed three, he had said. But that indeed wasn't a mistake. Caius would hold out his hand.

"Vordun."

As if on cue, a small creature would crawl out from the armored jacket the Glaive was wearing and perch on his arm. The small, blue creature would sniff the air a moment, seeming to be getting a scent.

"Let's begin our lesson again."

The dragon would coo in turn, and Caius would smile brightly, seeming far more bright and warm than before with Vordun out and about. He would look toward Yuna.

"This is Vordun, my companion. I figured this might be a good time to continue teaching him to hunt" Caius would explain. "A bit tedious and time-consuming now... Very useful later."

Caius would pull out what remained of a piece of meat. Vordun would immediately try to eat it whole, but Caius stopped him by gently clamping his jaws between his fingers.

"No" Caius spoke softly but firmly. "No, Vordun. Scent. Get the scent."

Clearly the scent gathering portion was still a work in progress but the small dragon eventually understood and began to smell the meat. Putting him down, Caius would let the dragon smell the air again.

"According to my research, his kind can smell prey from miles away" He spoke to Yuna, before Vordun would suddenly take off with Caius after him.

---

"We're mercenaries, Celes and I" answered Caius when Yuna would ask. "To help the people, to protect the people, to provide for ourselves, each other and everyone. To do justice, and punish the unjust. To be a family to those that need it. To never having to be alone, no matter where you came from. That is our creed. And in a world where most of us have been pulled from our own... That's something I think a lot of people would appreciate. A home, a family... A sense of belonging. A purpose. Things she and I sorely lacked... And realized that others also lacked. Many of us who were pulled into Zephon are warriors, fighters, plying combat trades. But obviously not being from this world means that we're without a means of plying that trade full time. I can't be a Kingsglaive anymore, for example. I have no King to serve, and no funding for my expeditions as part of the Kingsglaive even if he was here. Thus I have no purpose. The Dragonblades... Have given me all of that. Work, that satisfaction of helping people, a purpose... Others have joined our cause as well, though we are still small in number. But I hope one day to provide all of that to many. Many who can help each other... And the world around us. And keep it safe."

“You’re well-travelled if you’ve managed to find all these places.”

"Aye" He answered then. "Though I haven't traveled far beyond a certain point... There is more to this world than what I have seen, much more. Lands with different varieties of technological advancement... But the ones around here I am experienced with, from my travels over the last year. Perhaps if I get a chance, I might regale some tales of places I've visited though."

While Caius was preparing Vordun, he heard Yuna talking about a Bahamut, calling him her summon. He turned a moment to stare at her, quirking a brow.

"Bahamut" He repeated. "Bahamut is one of the Astrals. The only person I've ever heard him to back was the Chosen King... How did you come to receive the aid of Bahamut?"

Despite his questions, Caius kept his eye on the ball as he knew time was of the essence. Though when she asked how he came to meet Vordun, he smiled slightly.

"We've found our camp night story then."

Caius didn't answer when she said he was more than met the eye, only smiled slightly. A lot had changed for him, though he wasn't sure if this was one of those changes... There were things about Caius that even he was still figuring out.

“You’re right. If you’re looking for meat, that could be helpful. Though I think he’ll eat a lot more than you do soon,”

"That's exactly why I'm giving him lessons now" Caius would explain gingerly as the dragon finished getting the scent and took off. "I can hunt for myself and for him just fine as he is right now. I used to hunt to survive. This is something I'm used to. But I am going to need Vordun's help in order to increase the amount to fit his increasing dietary habits. And teach him to hunt by himself if we get separated."

Vordun wasn't the fastest creature in the world at his current size but the small lizard was no slouch either. Caius still had to strain a fair bit in order to keep up. They would come across a large buck that would immediately start running when it heard them, and Vordun would turn his head back to Caius as if not sure what to do.

"Throat!" Caius commanded as Vordun would recognize the command and go after it. Vordun was clearly having trouble but it would eventually manage to leap upwards, using it's wings to propel itself up a bit and clamp it's jaws on the throat of the buck. The animal would stop and begin flailing around. If Vordun were a dog or another hunting animal, Caius would have told him to go for the legs. But Vordun needed to learn to go for the throat now, in order to ease the animal's suffering when his teeth got sharper. The quicker and cleaner the kill, the better. But for now, Vordun still needed to learn. Vordun wasn't going to be able to take this animal down by itself at his current size though, and a gunblade and gundagger would materialize in Caius' hands. Itamen and Isp, they were called. Using his energy in place of ammo, a quick shot from the dagger into the leg of the creature would cripple it and slow it down, before Caius would aim the gunblade now that he had less of a chance of hitting Vordun.

"DOWN!"

Vordun heard the command and dropped down, just in time for Caius to aim and fire at the animal's head for a quick kill. As the animal dropped, Caius would take a deep breath. These lessons were still nerve-wracking, as anything that went wrong could be risky to Vordun. Luckily, Vordun seemed to be adjusting to the lessons quickly. Though he was still hesitating, and still relying on Caius too much for instructions for the same scenarios over and over during times that it should be clear what was needed. Vordun had almost lost the prey due to that hesitation, but they would iron it out. Vordun would return to Caius, who would let his weapons disappear as he would open his arms for Vordun to leap into them for a hug.

"Who's a good boy?" Caius would suddenly coo toward the dragon, who began letting out cooing noises of his own at the attention as Caius would stroke his head and scratch his chin. "You did a good job, yes you did!"

Laughing a bit, Caius would let Vordun climb onto his shoulder as he would pull out his dagger again and get to work on skinning the animal.

"We can set up camp in a few hours. Once we've skinned this one, we should have enough food for the trip, easily" He spoke toward Yuna. "Thank you for letting us take the detour."

---

Caius would smile gingerly when Yuna would compliment the choice in goals for the Dragonblades. Caius had to wonder though, if perhaps Yuna would be a fit? Celes did say they had to begin recruiting, after all... Suppose they'd just have to wait until this trip was finished for him to decide.

Noctis? A summoner? Did she mean like her? Caius looked utterly confused as Yuna would speculate on what the Chosen King was. Caius didn't know him as anything else but the Chosen King and his boss. So the Glaive just sort of stared at Yuna for a little while, blinking a few times here and there with a blank look on his face. Aeons? Bahamut was an Aeon? The hell was an Aeon? Okay, so it was something she could curry favour with and summon...

When Yuna would ask if he needed any help though, he smiled and shook his head. "I used to do this to survive, with what little meat I could manage to get ahold of" Caius would respond. As Caius would finish skinning the deer, he would cut the meat into pieces for easier storage. Once he was finished with that, he would assemble the cut pieces into a compartment of his pack set aside for this sort of thing, before holding out a hand. "Blizzard" He would mutter as his hands would radiate a freezing cold for a few moments before stopping. It was a way of preserving the meat for a little longer, by keeping them cool. It took some regular effort, but it was a good alternative when there wasn't a fridge in sight.

With that, he started work on skinning the pelt. For an animal like this one, there was no point in wasting the pelt when it could either serve for warmth if needed, or fetch a price later. To Caius, every animal he killed should have what was left be used to it's upmost potential, out of respect for the animal. No wasted parts if he could, to waste would be to take for granted the loss of life that brought this all about.

"In my world, Bahamut is one of the our Gods, so to speak. The Astrals. Bahamut... Shiva... Ifrit... Titan... Leviathan... Ramuh... They are the ones who watch over us. To curry their favour and wield them in battle was virtually unheard of, aside from the tale of The Chosen King. None, as far as I know, have commanded them before... And none have since.

So to hear that you command Bahamut, possibly the most powerful of the Astrals... It's a bit much to swallow" Caius would admit, his calm tone a contrast in comparison to perhaps how one might normally react in this situation. As Caius was storing the pelt, he would decide to open the section now most likely dubbed "Frozen Foods" and break off a piece from one of the meats. Closing the section again, he would close his eyes as he would utter "Fire" as the meat would begin heating quickly. Once it was roasted quite nicely, he would toss it to Vordun as a reward for his hard work. Caius smiled slightly as Vordun jumped on the piece of meat, rolling around in the dirt as he gobbled it eagerly.

"For a good job" Caius encouraged the small dragon with a gentle smile. With that, their detour had finished. He supposed it was time to get back on the main road. Hoisting his pack back up, he would wait for Vordun to return to position in his jacket as he would motion for Yuna that it was time to move on. "If you'd like to perform any sort of burial, the floor is yours" He did mention though, having been watching her reactions to the whole thing from the corner of his eye throughout. He figured it possible her own culture had their own ways of handling hunting prey. He didn't want to discourage her from it.

Once whatever Yuna wished to do was finished out, the two would get back on the main road...

--------------

Some time passed after that, the two had taken some time to make camp as it was getting dark. Caius remembered some of Yuna's questions from earlier, though he'd originally forgotten them with all that was going on at the time. Caius would lay his head back against a large rock shape nearby the fire, looking toward Vordun who was eying the roasting meat with vigour. Gee, it was almost like he hadn't eaten a thing today. On the side, also being cooked, was something that Caius especially enjoyed. He'd have to get Yuna to try it when it was ready.

"So you asked before about my weapons" Caius would bring up toward Yuna after some silence had passed. "As a Kingsglaive, we borrow our power from the Chosen King. It allows us to use some of his abilities, including summoning weaponry. Though you have to supply the weapons yourself."

Caius held up a hand to the sky as his gunblade would appear in his hand. "This is Itamen" Caius would explain, referring to the blade. "It was my father's blade. Hardly knew him, but having it is a small comfort for me. Isp means "Bright-eyed". It used to be called Lonoaw, referring to a solitary, tragic existence. After meeting Celes and forming the Dragonblades, I decided maybe it was time for a new start for the weapon... Just as I began a new start myself."

The weapon disappeared and was replaced with the two-sided short sword. Pulling them apart, Caius held two gun-daggers in his hands. "And this is Isp. Referring to the calm and the serene. I built it myself, here in this world. It's name is a reminder of how important refusing to lose yourself is in every battle. Both weapons can fire ammunition, though since ammunition isn't as easy to come by in this world... I've learned to use magic to transfer my own energy into the reserves to use as ammo."

As the weapons disappeared, Caius looked to the sleeping chocobos nearby, then went to check on the food. Seeming satisfied, he would place one of the venisons from the deer at the feet of Vordun.

"Eat up, bud. Gotta keep eating if you're going to grow up big and strong" Caius would encourage toward the dragon who'd been drooling by the time the meat was laid at his feet. As the small lizard tried to tear the meat apart, Caius would pull two cups from the fire and open them. The smell would waft through the camp, as steam radiated from them. Caius let out a deep breath, a grin crossing his face as he would hand one to Yuna.

"Hold it at the sides. Make sure you blow on it first, it's hot" Caius would advise. "These are Cup Noodles, they're made best with meat."

Even Caius couldn't keep from almost drooling as he would stare at his own, and before long would begin to slurp on the noodles. The meat in the boiled water added texture to the noodles that just made it... Wow!

---

Learning Yuna could also call Shiva and Ifrit somehow didn't surprise Caius anymore. If Bahamut was already one of her "aeons" then what was to say that she couldn't call the other Astrals as well?

This... This was a lot to take in. It wasn't that Caius was overly religious or anything, but... They were Gods. Despite not having a whole lot of time to really care about religion, they were still these beings that were proven to rule over them, govern them, watch over them... And dictate them. And Yuna could both summon and control them. It was a lot all at once for Caius to really accept. But it wouldn't be the most batshit insane thing he had heard.

Once the two were at camp and Caius had given her the cup noodles, he couldn't help but laugh a bit at her reaction to it. A great, big, hearty laugh. The colder exterior seemed to be coming apart at the seams.

"Nah, no magic. The sealing keeps the water and noodles from spoiling, and then you put in the meat, to add the texture, without completely unsealing the wrap... Simmer and boil it to the right temperature for the right amount of time... And bam. Perfection in a cup. The meat tastes great when it's been tenderized in the water with the heat as well. So that's a double whammy. It's great and filling too. I used to stock up on these as they were cheap to get the ingredients for and I did a lot of hunting anyway to survive. So it's become my absolute favorite."

While they ate, he would swallow a moment to answer her questions about Noctis.

"I've thought about that, but... I never lost my powers to begin with when I came here. And Noctis was nowhere to be seen when I was first sent here. So the odds are slim. It's been a year, maybe close to two now. No sign of him. I suppose it's for the best, I'm just one of many Kingsglaive, after all. He is the Chosen King. If anyone needed to stay there and ensure they were able to rebuild, it was him."

Yuna would remind him, once they had settled down, that they each owed each other one more story. She asked about Vordun, and he smiled a bit as he finished his cup noodles, letting out a satisfied sigh as he would put the cup to the side. Of course, Vordun would sneak up behind him and begin slurping up the water, gnawing at some of the noodles and meat that Caus had purposely left in there for him. Caius chuckled a bit at the sight. It seemed this was not the first time this had happened, and Caius had learned to prepare accordingly.

"Vordun, Vordun... Well, I guess it can't hurt to tie this all into the story I was telling earlier. So let's see... Hmm, for some context, I guess I gotta go into the background a bit, if that's alright with you."

He smirked slightly. Yuna seemed to enjoy the long stories, so he didn't mind as much as before.

"So, how I got here. Well... It all started with an assassin in the palace, after his Highness. I diverted him from his target, but something otherworldly pulled me away and when I woke up... Well, here I was. Obviously, as much as I hated to say it, I had to carve out a life here. I had been robbed of everything. My... Family, so to speak, my kingdom, my home... My belonging. I was here, with nothing, right when I was finally beginning to accept that I had a place I belonged."

A bitter pill to swallow, but he'd told this story once before, to a group at a bar who had given personal stories of their own. It was... A little easier this time, he supposed.

"Thing was... I don't really have much knowledge in trade. I can build a decent weapon, I built Isp myself later on. But at the time, I didn't have any experience with any of the tools in the part of the world I ended up in, so that was out. I had to wait until I made my way to Sonora to get the parts I needed, which is much more technologically advanced than here.

But... Yeah. If I hadn't indicated already, there was only one thing I knew how to do, in order to survive. And that was fight. So I became a mercenary again. Kind of bittersweet, returning to my roots, but only to survive, and when I didn't even want to. But it was what it was. So I mostly worked alone, aside from with the Kingsglaive, I wasn't used to working with other people and I sank back into that lone wolf, isolated state again when I came here. Then Celes comes in and I think I've talked about her quite enough as it is" He remarked, laughing a bit in turn.

"But before that, when I was working alone... I ended up being tasked with defeating a monster terrorizing a village. So, climbed a mountain... Met a dragon. Fun times. Almost died, also fun, some serious burn wounds that meant I couldn't work for awhile afterword... Managed to put it down. Trying to climb down, find a nest. One egg. Realized I just killed the baby mama. Cue the immeasurable guilt and now I've got a dragon egg attached to my back that nobody is willing to take.

Fast forward to meeting Celes, and several jobs together later... During one of our jobs, we ended up investigating the sight of strange undead in a cave. It turned out they weren't undead at all... But the very daemons that had plagued my entire life up until now. But, as horrifying as that was... It didn't compare to the sight we found when we got to the end of the cave.

Because commanding them was the very assassin that led me here to start with."

He let that suspense hang for a moment.

"This man... Well... He was after Noctis, yes, but he was just looking for another thrall to turn into a daemon. It turned out that, and while I won't get too heavily into detail as that would take me all night... While he did want to use that army of daemons to seize control, to get people to see that his way of thinking is the right one or something like that... His biggest target was my family. My family had... Apparently wronged him in some way. And he was the one that killed them. When he found out I still lived..."

He took a deep breath. This was still a bit difficult, but he'd manage.

"... He was the one who sent those looters our way, promising them they'd find a great bounty there. He is the reason I lost my family, and my adopted family. He is the reason for much of the suffering I've gone through. And my sword, the one I now call Itamen... While he had sent it anonymously before, he revealed he was the one to give me it. He wanted me to wield it when he snuffed me out."

"He toyed with me. He's spent all this time toying with me, making me suffer because I am the last one. He feels as though with his goal almost being reached... He wants to hurt me. And hurt me he did. With every one of my family members he had killed... Each of them he daemonified to summon and use at his command."

Second time or not, the bitterness was still there a bit in his expression and his tone. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to move past it, but... Talking about it did help, he supposed.

"My birth brother, I had to put down once more. It was hard, but... I managed. But all these walls I'd put in front of myself to protect myself after all that's happened, everything I'd done, all that I was... Everything just... Ahh. I don't know how to describe it. It felt like... It felt like everything that I was, everything that I am was just breaking apart at the seams.

And then of course, he brought out my adopted little sister. The one that to this day, I... Still regret not being able to save. She depended on me, she looked up to me... And it was because of her that I'd repressed all those memories a long time ago to keep myself going with all that was happening around me."

It was probably clear at this point that Caius had repressed all of that trauma and closed his heart and emotions in a sense, to survive in the state the world had become. This daemon commander though, had torn those walls down and forced Caius to relive it all again.

"Unlike my brother, she recognized me. She was in pain, and... Once again I couldn't do a damn thing. I couldn't bring her harm. And that monster preyed on it. Pretending he was giving me... Mercy, of some kind. He put her under more pain before he killed her in front of me, screaming, crying... I suppose I should take solace in the fact that her soul is free now, but..."

He wished he had some alcohol like last time. He needed a flask or something.

"I just... Ahh... I don't know" He spoke quietly. "I broke, I guess you could say. Everything about me had been destroyed. And there wasn't a damn thing I could do. We survived... He wanted to toy with me more. But... There wasn't much left of me. And I'd used all my magic in the fight, overused it even, to the point that I wasn't going to be able to cast or even use the Power of Kings for awhile... If I ever got it back at all, I thought at the time.

I was bitter. I was angry. I was feeling all these emotions swirling around in a vortex that I didn't know what to do with. All I could think about was hunting him down and killing him. All I could feel was that obsession with putting my blade in his neck... It was what I wanted more than anything, and I know now that if I'd let that continue to fester, I... I don't know what I would be, but I know full well it would have consumed me and I may very well have not gone on the right path to do so. By myself... I couldn't get out of that without turning in a direction I know I wouldn't have been proud of.

But Celes... Well..."

He chuckled slightly, taking a breath, seeming to cheer up a bit at the mention. He was almost a bit flustered when he thought about how to put all this.

"She... Oh no, haha... I'm going to gush over her all over again, I'm sorry. I guess let's just say she's a wonderful woman. She may be a bit to deal with, but... She's kind. She's understanding. She's stubborn and while it took some fighting and arguing... She's the reason I'm here now, the way that I am. With the worldviews that I have, the way I handle things now, all that I see and all that I know... That's all because of her. That's all because Celes refused to let me do this alone. She told me I didn't have to do this, or any of it, alone anymore. This wasn't the old world anymore, I didn't have to be who I was... Or what I was becoming.

I uh... I can't speak enough on how incredible she is. She saved me. She helped me accept that I can move on from who I was, and be who I want to be. And it's with her that I have chosen to form the Dragonblades.

With her... I have a purpose again. With her, I have belonging again. With her, with the Dragonblades... I am whole again."

He let out an exhale, and grinned cheekily as he seemed to realize something. "As for why the name Dragonblades... Well, we got blades..."

He motioned toward Vordun.

"This little bugger decided that right when we were first forming the guild... 'Hey, why don't I just hatch right here and now, scare the Chocobos out of Celes, and inspire our name as the third founding member?"

And by motioning toward, he meant the small blue dragon that had already fallen asleep at this point. He laughed a bit when he noticed.

"And that wraps up a good, I dunno, three stories wrapped into one if we count earlier? I think I'm getting better at the tie-ins" Caius joked. "What about you? Any other stories that you have that you can think of?"

He'd told her a lot about him in all this, but... He felt like he could trust her, for one reason or another.

---