I'll try to make this quick. I don't own Darksiders so ha. Oh, and ha. Feel free to hate me, review, or just read it and leave. Just know that if you choose the last one you'll be crushing the heart that I don't have. ^v^
Briar
The she demon wondered aimlessly around for the next few days, or maybe it was weeks… she couldn't tell anymore.
She'd lost the one man she'd ever loved, excluding family. No, she didn't lose him. She pushed him away. All to protect her brother from the entities that were supposed to protect him themselves.
So much for that, she snorted, almost tripping over her own two feet in her drunken state and taking another swig from the bottle of whiskey in her hand. She enjoyed the burn of the liquid sliding down her throat. It was the only thing that kept despair at bay. And no, she didn't mean Death's horse.
So what she'd promised the Horseman to stop drinking? That was a long time ago… maybe. And she would never see him again anyway so what was the point?
Eventually, she did topple over and lay in the grass in the middle of the field and underneath the stars.
Briar gazed up at the countless distant suns, her mind blank, until a familiar face popped into her field of vision.
"Go away." She slurred "I dun wanna look at your ugly mug right now."
"My 'ugly mug' is the same as yours, sister."
"Nuh-uh, mine's more feminine. Therefore I am prettier and you should go away so I can sulk."
"And drink until you're puking?"
"That's the idea." She tried to take a sip from the bottle but only managed to get the majority poured on her face.
Her brother sighed, "Briar-"
"Shaddup."
"If you were going to regret it this much then why did you break up with the Horseman?"
"I didn't have much of a choice, thanks to somebudy."
"What do you mean?"
"None o' your bidness, now go away!"
A demon roared in the distance and while Briar ignored it in favor of trying to get more whiskey in her mouth than on her face, Zephyr began to worry.
"Sister, get up and let's go."
"Dun wanna!"
"If you get up now I'll get you more liquor." He lied.
"Whooo! Booze!" she yelled, springing to her feet and would have fallen back over in Zephyr wasn't there to keep her up.
"You're such a good brother. I love you sho much." She said, suddenly hugging him.
Zephyr was shocked speechless. No wonder the Horseman made her stop drinking. In the end, he returned her hug, since it seemed she wouldn't let go until he did, "I-I love you too, sister."
"Of course you do, who doesn't?"
He was wondering if he should answer her alphabetically or chronologically when he heard the demon roar again, sounding much closer.
"Where's your home sister?"
She ignored him, "You know where I haven't been in a while? Our home. Our old one. We should totally go there."
For whatever reason, Zephyr agreed.
*Maniacal laughter* Prepare thineself! Pretty sure I used and/or spelled that wrong but do it anyway!
Zephyr opened the door to the little cabin and Briar rushed ahead of him, "Were hoooome!"
As expected, no one answered. This didn't seem to bother the she demon as she took another swig from her almost empty bottle and sat on the old couch, sending up a cloud of dust.
"Ooh, pretty." She said, watching the dust particles float through the moonlight coming in through the window.
Zephyr watched his sister for a moment as she tried to catch some of the dust only to open her hands and find nothing there. He turned his attention from her to their old home. Honestly, he had forgotten about the place and was surprised that it was still standing after so long.
"I've been taking care of it." Briar said. She sounded sober but when Zephyr looked over she was sitting upside-down on the couch.
"Go look around if you want, your stuff's still in your room."
He started to walk off but stopped when he thought of something. "Don't go anywhere." He told her.
"Where would I go Brother? To see my boyfriend? As if…"
He decided to let it go for now and went to explore the rest of the house.
Her twin gone, Briar sat up straight and stared into the empty bottle. "Damn Council…" she said, pressing the cold bottle to her forehead, thinking she would enjoy the sensation but finding that it only made her angrier.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Standing up, she threw the bottle at the opposite wall, causing it to shatter into a million pieces.
Zephyr ran back into the living room to find out what the loud noise was and saw his twin sitting back on the couch, head leaned back and eyes closed. He also saw the shards of glass on the floor.
"Briar," he sighed "what happened?"
"The bottle insulted my heritage."
"So you threw it at the wall?"
"Yep."
"Did the wall insult your heritage too?"
"Yep. You wanna hit it?"
"Why would I want to hit the wall?"
"Because my heritage is also your heritage. Plus I already destroyed the bottle."
"I doubt either one of them insulted our heritage sister."
"You don't know that. You weren't here."
"Forget that, tell me what happened."
"Whaddya mean what happened?"
"Why did you leave the Horseman?"
"…I need some air."
Briar quickly stumbled outside and Zephyr followed to find her leaned against a tree, retching into some bushes.
"That's what you get for drinking so much." He said, holding her hair back like the kind brother he was.
The she demon fell to the ground, unable to stand on shaky legs, "Shaddup, nobody asked you."
"You didn't answer my question."
"Excuse me for not being able to talk and barf at the same time."
"If you hadn't drank so much you wouldn't have had to barf."
"It was only like two or three bottles."
"Of what? Whiskey, vodka, tequila, or wine?"
"Two or three bottles of each."
"Briar…"
"You."
"What?"
"I'm answering your question. You're the reason I left him."
"How could I be the reason?"
"Because you're the dumbass who actually gave his name out to some stone headed bastards."
"I didn't have much of a choice. Tell me everything that happened."
So Briar told him of her talk with the Council, not leaving out one detail.
"Then I'll leave them." Was his answer.
"What? It's not that simple Brother. You know that."
"It's about time I started standing on my own two feet and learned how to fight myself."
"That's not what I mean. They have-"
"A fake name I gave them. You do not think I would be so stupid as to really give it to them do you?"
"Well… That's not the point. You can't just… leave."
"I don't see why not. I can hide out here until they forget about me. Plus they've got other clairvoyants working for them, they won't miss one. And this way you can go back to the Horseman."
Briar stared at her twin in amazement, "Y-you would do that?"
"You've helped me countless times Briar, it's time I returned the favor."
"We're family, it's what we do for each other."
"And this is what I'm doing for you."
Zephyr was more or less tacked by his twin as she tried to give him a hug, "Thank you brother."
"It's nothing. It's time I quit anyway, the hours were horrible."
The she demon laughed and soon he brother joined her. It didn't take them that long before they were rolling on the ground. Briar couldn't remember the last time she laughed so hard and didn't know exactly why she was now. The joke wasn't that funny, she'd heard way better. Maybe it was because she so desperately needed a good laugh right now, maybe it was because it was her brother who was laughing with her, maybe the joke was that funny after all. Whatever it was, Briar didn't care.
She rolled onto her back as the laughter suddenly died on her lips. She could see her brother leaning over her, asking is she was okay, but it was as if it was all from a distance. As if that was the vision and the scene unfolding before her eyes was the real world.
The Council appeared before her, in all their lame flaming glory.
"Abbadon MUST be punished. He bends the Law to his will! Laughs in the face of the Council!" the middle head said.
What's going on? What did Abaddon do this time? she wondered.
"What proof do we have? The Seals are intact! No doubt the angel had help. But from whom? Until we know, we must WAIT!" said Left
Abbadon tried to break the seals? Idiot! And what other idiot helped him?
"His act breeds open defiance! The Council weakens… How long before we are overthrown?" Middle asked.
So much for the almighty Council. Pathetic.
"We cannot stop Abaddon… but there are others who might - if they had a reason…" Left said.
They can't send them. Are they seriously that stupid?
"We dare not send the Four! Without proof, there is not justice. Only murder. They will see no reason for this… assassination!" Right spoke up for the first time.
You bet your stone asses they won't! Okay, maybe Strife would but the others definitely wouldn't.
"We will send one, for whom vengeance is reason enough." Left stated.
No… They wouldn't…
The Council vanished and was replaced by a scene on Earth. Angels and demons both flew through the sky. In the center of it all, above a pool of lava, floated Abaddon himself.
Walking down the street was War. Immediately, Briar could tell that something was wrong with him.
They didn't… those bastards!
"Impossible…" the Archangel said.
"Abaddon… What is this? Where are my brothers?"
"This cannot be. The… final Seal…" While he was distracted, a demon took the chance to attack the angel but was stopped by Uriel who came flying out of nowhere.
"My Lord!"
"…how… did this happen…? The Seventh Seal was not broken!"
Meaning that all the others were…
A stone hand reached up out of the lava pool and grabbed Abaddon in a bone crushing grip, ending the angel.
Well, that was easy. Being a demon, she had no love for the angels, especially Abaddon. She also had no love for other demons but that's beside the point.
"Abbadon! What in Heaven's name have you done?" the Champion accused the Rider.
"I answer the call."
You can't War! It's not real! They're tricking you!
But they couldn't hear her. The scene disappeared to be replaced by her brother's worried face leaning over her.
"We have to warn him!" was the first thing she said, trying to sit up and knocking her forehead into her brother's.
"Warn who? And about what?" Zephyr asked, rubbing his head.
"War! The call is a fake! He can't answer it! It's all a trap!" she answered, running off.
"What are you talking about?!" He chased after her, both forgetting they had wings in their hurry.
"Abaddon and some other idiots are going to break all of the seals except the seventh and start the End War. Then the Council's going to send War and blame the whole Apocalypse on him. We have to tell him not to answer the call!"
"Briar, wait."
The she demon stopped and turned back to her brother, huffing in her impatience, "What?"
"We-"
He was interrupted by a spear coming through his chest, spraying Briar with her brother's blood. She could only stare in horror as the spear was yanked out and he fell backwards onto the grass already painted red with his blood.
"Zephyr!" she cried, dashing forward to catch him before he hit the ground, not caring if whoever just stabbed him heard his name. She knew it wouldn't make a difference. It was already too late.
"Briar," he whispered, coughing up blood, "go warn the Horseman. Before it's too late."
"No, I won't leave you here."
"We both know I'm not going to make it. It's no use pretending otherwise."
"But-" Briar could feel the tears welling up as she held her dying brother. Her only family left.
"No buts. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything for you."
"You never had to do anything for me." She chuckled nervously.
"I love you sister."
"I love you too brother."
Zephyr drew one last shuddering breath and Briar watched as the light left his iridescent eyes. Eyes just like hers. She ran a hand over his face, closing his eyes then held him close to her as she sobbed into his corpse until it finally turned to ash.
Her tears gone, the she demon stood to face his killers.
They were just a bunch of pathetic Phantom Guards. Probably running through the forest looking for something to kill and finding it. This was no evil plan of some higher demon. No plot for revenge against her, Zephyr, or the Council. Just a mere coincidence. As if the Cosmos or the Creator or whatever there was out there hadn't fucked up her life enough, they decided to kill the only family she had left.
She drew her blades, ready to fight to the death. The weak demons let out a roar and charged at her. She dodged every attack, slicing off arms, legs, heads, cutting open torsos, splitting skulls, and painting the trees and grass red with their blood. At one point she even grabbed one of their axes and used it to slice its owner in half and pin the head of another to a tree. Soon, the only one left was her brother's killer.
Briar grabbed the cowering demon's spear and yanked, making him loose his balance and fall to the ground. He tried to push himself up but Briar kicked him, sending him rolling. Once he had stopped, Briar stabbed him through the stomach with his own spear and pinned him to the ground. He tried to pull it out and get up but Briar flew up and landed on the butt of the weapon and balanced there, driving it deeper into the demon and the ground.
"Ah, ah, ah, we can't have that now can we?" She jumped on the end, pushing it even deeper.
The demon tried to roar at her but only succeeded in letting out a weak groan.
She jumped down onto the demon's chest, crushing his ribs and puncturing both lungs.
"You know what I hate most? Besides you, of course. I hate dumbasses like yourself who think that they can do whatever the hell they want." She crouched closer to the demon below her, placing her blade against his throat. "I think that they should all. Just. Die." Briar slowly slid the blade across the already dying demon's throat, slitting his jugular and spraying more blood.
The she demon stood there amongst the ashes and blood. Death had been right, she couldn't protect her brother. But she'd sure as Hell tried.
"I'm sorry Zephyr." She said before flying off. She still had a Horseman to warn.
Yeah… Who hates me? I do! Anyway, scene change!
She found War's home and banged on doors and windows and even flew to the roof to try and find a way in. No matter what she did, nobody answered. She didn't know where War was but maybe she did someone else who did.
Another scene change! Yay!
Again, Briar banged on the door, trying to get the attention of the owner of the home.
Death finally came outside to see what all the noise was about, "What do you want demon?"
"Where is War?"
"I thought you would know better than I."
"Now is no time for jokes or petty jealousy! Where is your brother?!"
The eldest Horseman was surprised by the she demons outburst, "Last I heard he was on a mission for the Charred Council."
"Dammit! I'm too late!" Not waiting to give him an explanation she flew off again and headed for the portal that would take her to Earth.
And another scene change! Meh…
She got there in time to see War stab the demon Straga's eye and almost finish the fight. He could have, and would have, done so if it hadn't been for the horn blast signifying War losing more of his power. He dropped Chaoseater into the pool of lava Straga was sitting in and fell to the ground.
"No!" she cried.
The giant demon backhanded the weakened Horseman.
"The Law… has been broken…" he said getting up.
Briar would have gone to help him but a few angels, who thought that killing her was more important than going after the huge demon that just killed Abaddon, figured that it was a good time to attack her.
Straga grabbed War in one hand, "And so have you, Horseman." He threw War into the air and caught him again, getting a better grip, before crushing him.
The Horseman tried to stop him but was unable to due to his weakened state and eventually succumbed to the demon's strength.
"War!" Ignoring the angels, Briar flew to the demon and watched as her Horseman was crushed. She had no chance against Straga, she knew this. All she could do was watch in helpless horror. Suddenly it seemed as if she was being weighted down. She fell to the ground, her wings unable to hold her up anymore. She didn't know how long she sat there but by the time she had snapped out of whatever trance she was in, Straga had disappeared.
She spotted demons climbing out of the lava pool with their prize. Chaoseater. It didn't take her long to separate souls from bodies and take the sword for herself. They didn't deserve it. Neither did she. She would take it to someone who did. Family. His family. Death.
Yay! One more!