This fic has not been updated; this is a notice to anyone who comes by it that End of Times is currently being rewritten and will, hopefully, maybe, one day be posted to my Archive of Our Own account. (It's the same as here, "devilishkurumi"!) I wanted to let people know that, if they actually slogged through this, that there will hopefully be a better written version of this floating around one day. I'll be uploading another notice when the first few chapters are posted (I'm thinking I'll start publishing it when they reach Lindblum or the Outer Continent, depending on how things work out).
The new version is already shaping up to be a LOT different from the original story, so I thought I'd post a part that I just wrote, unbeta'd, so you guys might have an idea of what to look forward to if the rewrite takes shape.
If you'd like updates on my writing, both in general and in regards to this fic, feel free to find me on tumblr - the username is also "devilishkurumi" :)
So! To the noble ladies and lords, and our rooftop viewers, here's what the first chapter looks like rewritten so far!
(PS: keep in mind that up until Ramuh, the writing here is about 3 years old. i haven't actually gone through and done a ton of edits yet, hahahaaaa oops)
Treno explodes in a blast of heat and light and Amarant Coral dies.
Except he isn't dead, because he can feel his feet hitting the ground as he runs, he can feel the burning sensation across his face and he can see and hear the people around him who are screaming, as well as some unidentifiable roaring noise that he has no time to think about. He can't get his bearings, and in his disorientation he runs into a wall – a wall that crumbles at his weight, pitching him forward into what was once the Treno Inn. Only now, it's a hole in the ground, a pit of broken wood and blades of glass and screams and the smell of blood. He cracks his head into something and searing pain runs through his temple, something liquid dripping down his cheek, and his disorientation hits new, dizzying heights. He needs to get out of here, but he doesn't know which way is up, he doesn't know where he's going or who he's taking with him; he hears screaming and he climbs towards it, not knowing if it's up or down or some new, previously unidentified direction.
Finally, finally, he feels cool air across his burning, bloody face, and though he can hardly see, he manages to pull himself up, slithering like a lizard onto the decimated porch. He lays there and breathes for what feels like an eternity, hearing now that the roar has faded. He feels precariously close to passing out.
Lani comes to him through a crowd of fleeing noblemen, her already tattered clothes nearly beyond repair and a definite limp in her step – one he can see, even though he feels blind – and she cries out his name. "Red," she shouts, falling to her knees by him, "It's going to be okay, Red, you have to get up." Then, "Please, Red. Please. Don't be dead."
He knows he has to speak, but all that comes out is a low, hoarse groan. He accompanies it with an attempt to roll over, however futile it might be. It's enough for her, and he's surprised to hear her actually sob in relief. She tells him that he has to get up again, but it's only with her help that he manages to push himself to his hands and knees. When he finally manages to lift his head enough to look at her, she draws back in revulsion.
"What," he coughs, "Why aren't you helping me?"
"Red," she says, and it's the first time he's ever seen her so horrified. "Your eye..."
He lifts a hand and feels his soaking cheek; when he pulls his hand away, it's covered in a gritty, dark fluid that's strangely cool. He realizes that this entire time, what he thought had been blood hadn't been blood at all, and all he can say is, "Oh."
The first thing Steiner can feel after the initial explosion is hot, wet pain. He's pinned beneath the heavy, ornate bookcase Beatrix had insisted they put in their chambers, every nerve of his right arm on fire from the bicep up, and all he can think is, I knew it was a bad idea.
He calls out for his wife, hoarsely shouting her name even as smoke invades his lungs, and then attempts to free his arm from the bookcase that has surely crushed it. He can't see straight, his eyes watering from dust and pain and smoke, and so it's only when he hears her call his name that he thinks to look for her.
She's approaching through the flames, parting them with Save The Queen as though they're errant vines in the jungle, and when she sees him her face goes blank. Her once long hair is a mat of burnt edges, but as he takes in his last moment with her, he can't help but think that she's still the most beautiful person he's ever seen.
"Help me up," he says, "We must find her Majesty."
She kneels by him and lifts a gloved hand to his eyes; he closes them and she wipes away the tears that have been blurring his vision. When he looks down, now, he can see that she will not be able to lift the bookcase. Not by herself.
And, he sees, it would hardly matter if she did. No healer could repair the damage that he can now see has been done to his right arm. It looks less like a structured piece of his body, and more like a squished gyshal pickle. He laughs at that thought.
"We must do this quickly," Beatrix is saying, her voice cracking despite her stony expression. "If we are to escape..."
"Then do it," he says, and she lifts her sword to the expected height.
Burmecia is gone.
She forces herself to stand, even though every muscle in her body protests even the smallest movement. There had been no warning, no chance for evacuation; one moment there had been the sounds of a festival, and the next, water was crashing over the mountaintops and rolling towards them, browning with dirt and plants and stone as it crashed into the outer walls. Even they could not protect her beloved kingdom; they collapsed from the pressure, and then everything had gone black.
She'd swam the moment she'd realized she was underwater, pushing herself upward until she found herself at the surface. The gates, she knows, are holding the brunt of the water within the palace, but once they break...
They break.
She grasps at the head of the courtyard's statue, a large piece carved to resemble the late King, and clings to it as the water rushes away from her, dragging bodies and carts along with it. She feels something hollow inside her as she sees Fratley sweep by, and though she grabs at his arm there is nothing to do for him.
He's gone. Everyone is gone. What in the world could have exacted such cruelty on her?
She hears a rushing noise in the distance and looks up to see a fresh wave clearing the mountains in the distance. There's no way she can escape in time, as the water crashes down the mountainside towards her. She thinks she might see the flash of silver scales in the water, but she can't be certain.
As the water comes for her, meeting no resistance, she wonders if heaven will be wet.
"Just do it," he says, waving a hand, and though Lani looks pained to listen to him, she grips the shard of glass sticking out from the corner of his eye and yanks it out in one quick, firm movement. He howls in pain and covers his eye with both hands, screaming incoherent curses and ignoring her frantic apologies.
It takes him a few minutes to calm down, and then he quietly pulls his hands away and asks her, "How bad is it?"
She can't find the words to respond, but that's all he needs to know. He can feel power coming to him unbidden, a learned reaction to severe damage, and he lifts his hands to his face once again. This time, a warm light surrounds the socket and he can feel his eye shriveling, falling right out of his eye socket as though it were an old, rotten fruit. His face stops hurting so much, and he knows that he's healed it as best he can. When she looks at him, still horrified, he just stares at her until she looks away.
"We should get out of town," he says, but she doesn't respond; she just stares at everything around them until he puts a hand on her shoulder and leads her towards the front gates.
It's then that he hears the roar returning, distant at first but gaining.
They stagger through the ruins of the castle, climbing over debris and bodies as best they can and finding alternate routes when they need to. His arm – what remains – is bandaged as tightly as they could manage with one of Beatrix's sleeping gowns, and he tries to keep pace with her even as he feels faint.
They hear screaming every so often, but no matter how sharp the pain it causes might be, they force themselves to go as carefully as possible. They can't afford to injure themselves any more, if they want to rescue her Majesty.
By the time they find her, half-pinned under fallen stones and eyes bleary and bloodshot, they've already discovered Zidane's body. Beatrix carries him with all due reverence and Steiner goes to Garnet, blocking her view as he kneels down and says, "Your Majesty."
"I can't see him," she sobs, "I can't see." Then, she cries out, "Bahamut, why?"
But the King of Dragons is only a speck on the glowing horizon by now, and nobody can answer the queen's question. The best he can do is help her out of the rubble and hold her as she sobs into his shoulder. "He's blinded me," she cries, "He's - I'm blind!"
The roar grows all around them as they run, his hand wrapped around hers as he leads her on, trying to get away from the King of Dragons before he unleashes hell upon them. He can see the great expanse of wings casting shadows over the entire town, and he knows that no matter how fast they run, they won't escape, but still he has to try.
The blast knocks them off their feet and Lani howls as she knocks her head into the cobblestones, the crunch of bone audible as her nose breaks on impact. He grabs her and pulls her anyway, not stopping, not even when she goes limp – he just pulls her up onto his back and keeps going.
Bahamut sweeps overhead, roaring as he crashes his mighty wings through high towers that had managed to avoid the first round of attacks; they crumble behind Amarant as he reaches the front gate. Only when the roaring dies away does he stop; he turns back to Treno, only to see that it's been almost completely engulfed in flames.
His head reels and his legs give out from under him. He falls to his knees and stares, feeling the heat from the fire and hearing people screaming for help inside. There's nothing he can do, except maybe hold on tight to Lani and hope that help comes soon.
It does come, in the form of warm, glowing light. Amarant tries to stand and defend himself from the approaching figure, shrouded in white and gold, but his strength is gone. Everything's gone.
The man standing before him is ancient and imposing, wearing a robe made of lightning and showing no pity in his eyes. When he speaks, his voice echoes above the sounds of destruction, deep inside Amarant's head.
"You are not alive by chance."
He tries to ask what's happening, but the man continues without waiting for him to speak. "You must go to Alexandria. There, you will become my page."
"Fuck you," he finally spits out, but even the defiance in his voice has been weakened. He tries to tell Old Man Thunder to get the fuck out of here, because he and his kind are the reason Treno is in ruins, but he can't find the words.
"You must go to Alexandria tonight. I will take you, if I must."
"I'm not going anywhere," he manages to say. The old man stares at him, and he pulls Lani around to his lap, holding her close and waiting for him to electrocute the two of them for his disobedience.
The man holds out a hand, and Amarant puts his face into Lani's hair, sucking in a breath and holding it tight. He has little idea of what it feels like to be electrocuted to death, but he isn't looking forward to it.
There's a blinding flash of light and he can hear things that no mortal should ever hear, and when he looks up it's with a newfound hysteria, one he can't for the life of him place.
They are no longer in Treno. They're huddled in the remains of an Alexandrian building, and someone is coming towards them.
"What was that light?" a voice calls, familiar in its cadence.
"Over here," he replies, too softly. Everything feels incredibly unreal.
He can see Steiner, now, and he can see Garnet and Beatrix behind him. It takes him a moment, but then he realizes that Steiner is missing his arm, and he now knows that nothing will ever be all right, ever again.
Lani stirs in his lap, then looks up at him with wide eyes.
"You okay?" he asks. "You passed out right before the most exciting part of the evening."
She looks around them, sees the three approaching figures, and then says in a too-loud voice, "Red, stop talking. I can't hear a word you're saying."
Steiner keeps watch at the doorframe of the destroyed building they've taken shelter in; he squints into the darkness, listening to the silence for any sign of life, any sign of danger - any sign at all that they aren't alone. He'd protested the decision to stop for the time being, but now that he can see the exhaustion written across Garnet's face, even in sleep, he knows it was the right idea. Beatrix, her hair scorched and practically disintegrating with every unconscious roll of her head against her shoulder, sleeps beside their Queen, one hand limp against the hilt of her sword. Nearby, partially hidden from Steiner's direct view by a large pile of rubble, Amarant and Lani rest against each other. It looks natural, as though perhaps they've had to sleep in cramped spaces before, but Steiner doesn't think it matters much.
Alexandria is destroyed.
Amarant's voice clears the room at a low whisper. "You awake?" Steiner takes his time in turning, unwilling to look away from the entrance for too long, but when he sees Amarant clearly looking at him from over the ridge of collapsed roofing, he nods. "Anything?"
"No," Steiner says, quietly, "Nothing yet."
There haven't been more than a handful of words spoken by the two bounty hunters since they arrived in dazing white light. Steiner wonders why it's only now that Amarant's speaking up. Maybe it's because everyone else is already asleep.
"Bahamut, huh. Wonder what we did to piss him off this time."
"How did you get here?" Steiner asks, ignoring the question of guilt for the time. He doesn't want to consider what might have drawn the King of Dragon's destruction, and there are much simpler mysteries to unravel at the moment.
Amarant shifts. "Can't tell you. Most of it's a blur. Some old man..." He gestures vaguely with his hand, careful to avoid jostling Lani as she lies curled against him. "Just can't think about it," he adds, as though Steiner should know what that means.
Steiner doesn't know, but he decides to let it go for now. He can approach it again later, when they've figured out what to do and there's more stability. It's not a priority of his to get Amarant to explain himself; not when there's so much left to do. Despite his exhaustion, he feels the urge to begin work - they need to search for survivors, arrange for Garnet's safe transport away from the city until things are sorted out, acquire aid from Lindblum and Burmecia...
There's so much more to do as well, but they must wait until morning. With the outer walls breached - destroyed - and no guards to patrol the perimeter, there's no doubt that wild, Mist-infected beasts will be making their way into the streets. They're a rare sight nowadays, with the end of the Mist and extensive hunts for the corrupted creatures, but Steiner has no doubt that they'll be coming. Even if they don't, there are creatures in the woods that are just as bad, and they're much stronger. There's a lot to worry about.
"I can take over," Amarant says. "You should sleep. Heard you say you lost a lot of blood."
"It's fine," Steiner replies, "I'm fine." He's too tired to lie, and so he adds, "I'm too afraid to sleep."
"Yeah," Amarant says. "Could be coming back."
"Yes."
Amarant shifts. Lani makes a frustrated noise, but she doesn't seem to wake, and Amarant doesn't speak up again. Steiner can't decide whether he appreciates the silence or not, but nobody else stirs and he finds himself watching the sun rise over the wreckage alone.