#wrangling naive children to fight in a war

[witchering10123]

this man walked so shiro could fly

[blueyemxn]

My Persephone (Pt. 6)

Calamity Days

Spoiler Warning: Content below contains spoilers for the lvl 80 Shadowbringers MSQ, if you have not reached this point in the game and do not wish to be spoiled please refrain from reading. Otherwise enjoy my trash shipping at your own risk.

Relationship: Emet-SelchxWoL          

Ao3 Story - Here    Part One: Here    Part Two: Here    Part Three: Here    Part Four: Here    Part Five: Here

“Welcome to the final days of Amaurot.” 

His voice towered above them, scornful and all knowing, setting the stage of disaster. The screams and the fire, the towering Amaurotines running and quaking in fear, their wisdom lost in the hysteria. Nua had only taken one step and she could barely breathe, grief striking at her core.  

“This is so… terrible,” Ryne’s voice was just above a whisper, but it spoke with an unmistakable quiver. But then, who wouldn’t be? 

“Steady, Ryne! Remember: this is just a recreation.” And, as ever, Thancred’s voice was a stable sound of reasoning, but seeing the look on his face spelled the opposite of calm. 

“A recreation it may be, but I can see storms of emotion… the aether here is seething with it.” 

However, she was not interested in the destruction set before them, for as Emet-Selch set the stage with entitled grandeur the test he was so stubbornly committed to began. A test to see if they, if she was worthy of his patronage.

With nary a word, Nua hauled out her axe and proceeded, heart heavy and mind bracing itself for harsh memories that would assault her being. The smoke and ash of the world filling her lungs and bringing a sense of despair that she hadn’t felt in what seemed like millennia. 

“The fabric of our star began to fray… and the unchecked energies of creation begat malformed beasts. And lo, vile beasts did rise, leaving naught in their wake but blood and ash.”

Leaving naught but terror and panic, flailing around like frightened children, helpless in their endeavor to survive. Her companions called out to her, their voices drowning out amongst the roars and aching pains of the world around her. 

“...re.”

Within the heated streets, battling Dooms and avoiding the buildings crumbling from above, a stray sound made it to her. 

“K...ore.”

Ringing in her ears, the world shattering and crackling while another horde of horrors fell at her feet. But the voice was still there, coming back to her mind, inching it towards another memory, another shard. Another shard she didn’t have time for.

“...Kore.” 

Hacking away at all those in her path, ignoring the cries of her people, ignoring the pain and the agony and the despair as their screams became the chorus of a horrendous discord. Her axe-head swung, etched in blood and all manor of disgusting gore from the corpses of dead creatures. The way the metal sang was low, half-hearted and melancholy, her focus elsewhere, staving off the past that was determined to remember.  

“Kore!”

Nua shut her eyes, baring her fangs as she ripped apart another monster. But the voices didn’t stop. They never could.

“Kore!”

“What?!” Unable to bear the voice anymore, she opened her eyes and violently turned with a snarl, only to be met with a tall figure with neither hood nor mask, revealing a slender and tired face of an irritated mother. 

“Kore, inside voice.” She said, her tone hollow and soft. “That’s no way to talk to your mother.”

“Why are you here?” She asked. “Don’t you have something better to do?”

“We need to talk. I know you’re irritated—”

“Is it that obvious? Gee, I wonder why! You’re keeping me from Hades!”

“Emet-Selch is participating in a dangerous thing, you are no longer allowed to be around him.”

“I have a right to decide who I can and can’t stay with; I’m an—”

“Enough.” Her arm motioned for silence, the exhausted Amaurotine ending the interruption. “Emet-Selch cannot and will not be your patron any longer. You must stay here, where it is safe.”

A twitch. An anger filled her chest. This was unfair. This was not right. She was not going to leave Hades. She was not going to abandon him now as their star fell apart. 

“I’m going whether you will it or not, Mother.” Kore turned away.She reached out to grab her arm, determined to spare her from her fate. Kore turned on her heel and lashed out, her other arm swerving in for a devastating blow—

“Nua!” Through the memories did her true name ring, calling and pulling her away from the intruding thoughts just in time for her axe to stop short before a wide-eyed Ryne.

Blue eyes blinked, fear pooling from their irises. “I...” she put on a brave face, but Nua could hear the tinge of fear in her voice. The Auri cursed.

“Dammit—Ryne, what were you doing? I could’ve killed you!”

“I… I saw the Light within you fluctuate and feared something was wrong.” She looked away in shame and Nua felt a pang of guilt run through her. As wise as she was for her age, Ryne was still a naive child, wanting to help and make peace and preserve life; unlike Nua who only knew war, and battle and death.

“Well, I’m fine so—”

“Ryne!” Called out Thancred as he barreled though, gunblade out and ready. “You really need to stop running off like that you know!”

“Sorry, it’s just Nua…” 

“I’m fine, as I said.” She turned away, looking to see that the path before them had opened forward, awaiting the queue for the next slew of events to unfold within this grand theater. 

“The land buckled; the cities burned; the waters ran red with blood. For soon did the sun bend low, scorching earth and boiling seas”

The land screamed; it tore itself asunder as the illness plaguing the star erupted and corrupted, spread through a world doomed to fall. Our heroes journeyed forth, arms at the ready, plucking the life away from all who dared to block their path. Running across the bodies of Amaurotine, clutching each other in a desperate need for comfort; in pain as the illness of the star consumed them. 

“K..re!”

Another fracture, calling into a memory, pulling and sinking deep within her psyche. A warning? A beckoning? Neither matters to her; only striving forward.

“Kore!!”

It isn’t real. It isn’t real. It. Isn’t. Real!

“Kore watch out!” His voice vibrated painfully in her ears and she looked up to see one of the creatures raising it’s gnarled claws up to strike her down. Her heart beating a mile a minute, hands shaking in terror. She was frozen.

“All that I have and more, I bring to bear!” The sound of Hythlodaeus’ voice managed to wrangle her back to her senses as his magic shielded her from the blow. Her breath was ragged as she looked upon the beast so desperate to tear her apart. “My friend, if you aren’t careful you’ll end up being cut down before you reach the Convocation!” 

She could hear his usual calm, and grinning self despite the chaotic loudness sounding around them. He was there as he always was; supporting her; helping her; guiding her.

“I know! It's just…” a clenched fist and gritted teeth; what was she waiting for? Why does she hesitate? Why was she so afraid? A hand on her shoulder and she looked to see his smile radiating a reassuring glow. 

“Do not shed tears, my friend, I am here. Together we will overcome this!” He told her as he wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

“Daeus… We must move on, we can’t keep fighting everything in our path.”

“Then go without me.”

“What?!”

“I am causing you hesitation and discourse. Hurry and move on ahead, I shall keep the beasts at bay.”

“But—”

“You do not want to keep Hades waiting do you? You know how he gets when he’s kept waiting. Now go!” His magic pushed forward, staggering the creature before it was assaulted by his magics. Kore turned to him, but all he did was grin at her, a hint of mischief playing upon his lips even as the world around him crumbled to dust. 

“Yet this was far from the worst of it. Come, and I will show you… Just a little further… and you will see the end of a world.”

The voice of Emet-Selch boomed once more, clearing her mind and bringing her back. Beneath her did the dead carcass of the bird monster lay, its body plastered all over the arena after being cleaved in half. Beyond was a portal to the final part of this farce; of this judgement.

Just a little more and perhaps we can end this without having to kill each other A hopeful and impossible thought, she knew, but hoped for it nonetheless.

“What do you suppose lies beyond…?”

“Only one way to find out!” Before anyone could stop her, Alisaie charged through with weapon in hand. Thancred cursed and followed after, followed by a nervous Alphinaud and Ryne and followed more by a huffing Y’shtola and a silent Urianger. She was the only one to stay behind.

Nua stared at the portal, knowing that the ever present narrator was eager to end his tale and remind them of the folly of their past and of their future. But she couldn’t help but stare, blinking at the swirling aether while the horrifying echoes of a dying world became white noise to her inner thoughts. 

“I can only wonder if you’re doing this on purpose; provoking my memories like this, or if this is just further proof you need that I’m too broken to fix.” She said, bitterness resting on her tongue. 

“. . .”

She did not expect him to answer of course, but she knew he was watching her. While the stage was set to show everyone the tragedy of their world, his eyes were always on her. Watching. Judging. Hoping. Even now when her allies were waiting for her to jump through the portal his gaze, his attention was on her, on what she would do next. 

Nua took a step forward, feeling the aether churn before her, almost touching her armored form. But she did not go through, not yet. “We both know how this is going to end. You will judge us. You will dismiss us. You will fight us as your brethren have done before you. You say you want to follow the road of lesser tragedy and yet you repeat the mistakes of your fellows.”

“. . .”

He must hate her, ruefully gazing down on her at the audacity to say such things, but if Hades was going to spill out the entire truth then so shall she. 

Her hand clenched and finally found the will to move once more, to enter the beginning of the end; the genesis and the oblivion; the first and the last. The world beneath them glittering with chaos, a world destroying itself from the sins of its people and its past. One final time her eyes looked back, towards the heavens, to wherever he may be watching her.

“In the end it is your decision on how we walk this road. Whether it be hand in hand, or not at all.”