"My mother told me I'd grow up to be a good man. 'Artyom', she said. 'My light'. And I believed her. When I spared a life, I believed her. And then when I kill, believed her. It was a lie. These things I have done. My hands are blackened with blood. My soul is damned to purgatory. If I could have my time again, I would, and then maybe I could become a good man."
The smell of smoke and taste of ash was all that could be smelled throughout the bunker-complex. The aroma of death was around everyone while communist soldiers stormed the broken defenses. The guardians of the Metro - the Polis Rangers - were unable to hold back the tide while the best of them woke up from his slumber.
Artyom Alekseyevich Chyornyj opened his eyes to see several of his fallen brethren - both wounded and dead - lying on the ground. His gaze checked his surroundings while he noticed a good friend of his laying his back against the wall while he sat in the pool of his own blood. Yet, he was still alive. Artyom struggled to speak to his superior. "Colonel Miller…"
The bearded man with the scar on his left face glanced towards him as he looked down at his legs. "Shit, I don't think we'll be able to walk out of this one." He answered.
He noticed movement up ahead, only to see another familiar Ranger crawling over to the colonel. "Sir, I didn't think you'd be this quick to go into retirement." Before expressing a laugh.
"Uhlman, enough with the fucking jokes."
"I think it's the perfect time to joke. Might as well get the last one in before we all go out with a bang."
Artyom looked past the Ranger crawling on the floor as he paid his full attention towards the hole in the wall on the other side of the room. An assault train had broken through the defenses and into the D6 control room. Off in the distance, he could see train cars open as dozens of Reds stormed the facility. He could hear one of the officers spouting orders to his troops as they spilled into the control room with their weapons drawn.
The first to enter were a couple of heavily armored flamethrowers in sheets of metal while armored shock troopers entered with their makeshift shotguns. The last to join them were the unarmored conscripts who had taken full control and surrounded the three Polis Rangers in the corner. The sea of enemies was very difficult to ignore before he noticed them split open for their commander to show himself.
He gritted his teeth. This was the man who orchestrated everything up to this point. General Moskvin, the intelligence general of the Red Line. This man needed to pay for what he did to the Spartan Order and Oktyabrskaya. Many innocents died because of this man's ambitions; however, there was nothing he could do with all of his loyal soldiers present in the room. He could try, but the odds didn't look well for him. Damned if he did anything and damned if he did nothing.
Unlike Colonel Miller, General Moskvin had a large scare on the left side of his face, but it was difficult to ignore his blind eye there. His hands were behind his back while he chuckled at the situation he found himself in. "Such a waste of men and resources. All of this for the Order and Polis Council." Then he sighed at the thought. "Doesn't matter, the revolution shall cleanse everything that has happened here." When he was close enough to the three Rangers, his evil gaze fell upon the fallen Spartan Commander. "Hello Colonel Miller, what a pleasant surprise to see you or what's left of you."
The bleeding commanding officer shook his head. "You will pay for what you did to us."
"Will I?" Moskvin wondered. "I fail to see how the Order will stop the Red Line when we will conquer the rest of the Metro for ourselves. Who will stop us? God?" He scoffed at Miller's statement.
The young Polis Ranger in the room looked around as he glanced towards the right to see a switch with red numbers above. If he pulled the kill switch, the explosives attached would kill those who stood in D6. He slowly crawled away from the general as he made his way towards it.
His actions didn't make him unnoticed as the general spoke his next words. "Who might this be? Ah, isn't it the Savior of the Metro. Tell me Artyom, where are you going?"
Artyom's hand latched onto the switch as he turned his head towards the communist general. "To kill all of you."
Moskvin's eyes widened like plates as his hand reached for his holster. "Stop him! He's got the self-destruct switch!"
The young man was met with a surprise when a small black creature appeared before him. The baby eldritch abomination was here as its hand grabbed ahold of his arm. "There is no need for that. We have arrived."
"Shit, it's a Dark One!"
In a blink of an eye, the baby Dark One had already turned around as it stood tall and directed its black palm towards the terrified general. Yet, he was not the only one to do that. Artyom watched in amazement as more tall dark figures suddenly appeared throughout the entire room just to sow death in the ranks of the Red Army. The enemy found itself fighting against one-another while the Dark Ones broke their minds. No amount of discipline could help a soldier deal with the horrors of what the new man was capable of.
Colonel Miller looked at the scene before him and laughed. "Goddamnit Khan, I hate it when you are right."
When Moskvin fell and writhed at the horrors inflicted onto his mind, the little Dark One turned back to Artyom and placed his hand on the Ranger's shoulder. "We will send you somewhere. Someplace to find peace."
"What the fuck? Artyom, what are the Dark Ones doing to you?!"
A blue light surrounded the young man's body while he remained amazed at the power of the Dark Ones. As he closed his eyes at the brightness, it would become the last scene of home for him to remember.
King Agnarr heard a commotion among the sailors, enough to get him on deck. Their swords were drawn as they surrounded a person in strange clothes. "What's going on?" He asked while he made his way towards the man in a coma. "Who is this?"
One of the sailors was quick to speak up. "Your majesty, we found this stranger appear on our ship. It's almost as if it was done by magic."
The king passed through the sailors and saw a man clad in a mix of black and grey clothes., but then he noticed he was unconscious. Yet, there was a small detail that caught his attention. There was strange words written on the side of his helmet, but his face was hidden away by his strange mask. "Bring him below deck and bring my physician." Meanwhile, Agnarr knelt beside the unconscious man as grabbed his arm. Despite his hands covered in gloves, the king could feel the man's scars on his arms. "What could possibly do this to a man?"
Another spoke up, getting the attention of everyone else. "Look out, that's a big wave!"
The king looked up and saw large waves coming towards their ship. "That's too big."
Then the captain of the ship was quick to speak up. "Alright lads, looks like the sea isn't going to let us go so easily. Let's give her a thrashing."
Without question, the sailors sheathed their swords as they returned back to their stations.
He looked around and hoped a sailor would carry him, but it appears they were dealing with the wrath of nature. Then he took the burden upon himself as he grabbed the man's arm and placed it around his neck while several strange objects hung from his body. This man had not bathed for awhile, but he could tolerate the smell as he carried the stranger down below the deck.
When he walked down the stairs, his love walked up to him. "Agnarr, who is that?"
"I don't know, but fetch the physician. He doesn't appear to be in a great state." He answered.
His wife and queen walked away as the king found a table and placed him down on the chair beside him. "Please do not retire so easily." He whispered to himself.
When he took a closer look at the man's face, he was curious what kind of man would wear such a mask. Was he truly ugly to hide his face from the rest of the world? His gaze fell upon the eye sockets and noticed the closed eyelids hidden behind the glass. King Agnarr was taken aback when they opened.
The stranger looked around frantically to his surroundings. "W-Where am I?" Came his muffled voice from behind the mask.
The king was quick to calm him down. "Good sir, look at me." However, the young man tried to stand up before stumbling onto the ground. "Don't do anything rash, I'm sending my physician to help you."
"Is he awake?" His wife wondered as she came over to with a man carrying a bag.
"Yes, Iduna. The man appears to be confused right now."
A cry from the deck above caught their attention. "Brace for impact!"
The wooden ship shook violently from the outside natural threat as water splashed through the grates and seeped into the lower decks. However, a strange creeking sound immediately resulted in parts of the ship breaking apart.
"The ship is breaking." The wooden planks that kept it together unleashed a burst of water into the ship.
King Agnarr grabbed his wife and brought her towards the stairs. "Everyone, get to the top. I'll bring our foreigner with us." Then he turned to young man sitting in his seat while his boots were surrounded by water. "Young man, could you stand."
The stranger nodded his head and rose up from his seat before moving up towards the top of the ship's deck.
When they returned to the deck, the king saw the ship slowly sinking as a partially-filled boat caught their eye. The sailors within grabbed their attention and waved their hands for him. "Your majesty, get in quick!"
The party continued towards the boat as the first to step into the boat was the physician and then the queen. When he was about to step into the book, he slipped and failed to grab ahold of anything on the tilting sinking ship. To his surprise, the foreigner caught his arm and pulled him up. "I got you, sir." The foreigner commented as he lifted him towards the side of the ship and slipped him into the boat. Then he was quick join the others.
"Get us out, now!"
Then the boat dropped from the side of the ship as everyone found themselves floating away from the sinking ship before the next set of waves swallowed the ship into the sea.
Author's Note: After seeing the stuff on E3 regarding Metro Exodus and Kingdom Hearts 3, my writing juices returned and I decided it was a good idea to post something up. This is a third attempt at this crossover and if it doesn't work I'll have a different idea waiting if this fails again.