This was written in a collaboration with fullmetalgrigori and edited by l0chn3ss, both of whom were amazing writing partners. The cover art was done by the awesome kaitlinmarley.
Dark clouds poured in from every direction like rolling, poisonous waves of smog, blocking out the bright sun. Searing white lightning crackled between the higher buildings. Claps of thunder deafening the boy cowering under a table as rain beat rhythmically on the city, accompanied by screams and the wail of a siren. The song of pain and fear was interrupted by a shout. "Soul, come along - we have to get to safety!" called out an elderly woman, her lined face streaked with terror as the blue light above the city grew brighter, red spotlights scouring the streets. The child huddled under their table, unable to hear her. His grandmother crouched down and dragged him out, clutching his hand in hers painfully tight as she rushed outside.
Outside, her eyes widened in shock as she saw walls of water rise around the city. "Gods help us," she whispered, the words falling from her lips and landing as softly as a feather on the boy's cloudy hair. The crimson beams suddenly turned turquoise, causing the woman to look up towards the sky in shock. The boy glanced up at his grandmother, smiling as she seemed to calm, not noticing as a blue light surrounded them and threw everything else into shadow. Her grip loosened and she started to rise, floating towards the beacon far above.
"Bunaya!" the child shrieked, hands reaching for his grandmother as she rose upwards serenely, eyes glowing solid blue and white hair floating ethereally.
"Look away!" a teenager screamed, shattering the quiet as he slid to the ground beside the child and curling up around his little brother protectively, hiding the boy's face in his robes. The older boy watched their grandmother get surrounded by the light, enveloped until she was hidden away completely, the brightness of it searing his eyes painfully.
A beam of blue energy shot out from the crystal, hitting one of the enormous statues on the outside of the city. The figure rose to his feet from its kneeling position, stone hands clapping together with a resounding boom. As they spread apart, a blue material stretched between them like a web made of pure energy, darks and lights and achingly bright white. The wall kept growing, a shield against the typhoon and tsunami. Waves crashed against it, covering the surface of the dome and plunging the city into darkness until they washed over. As the older brother, Wes, got a glimpse of the stormy clouds again, he realized the the top of the main building was missing, having been sheared off by the shield and then washed away in the first swell.
The older brother buried his face in Soul's wild hair and he sobbed, "Matim. Pater. Bunaya." Understanding somehow, Soul started crying as well, the two orphaned brothers holding each other tightly enough to bruise as another wave covered the protective dome, plunging them into darkness as the ground started shaking with the force of a thousand earthquakes again. They started sinking, lurching lopsidedly downwards into the bowels of the earth.