[youtube]iSUzeR7JAlo[/youtube]
There was fire, and snow.Â
And bitter cold wrapped in darkness.
And pain.
So much pain.
The miqo'te opened his eyes; one black, one gold.
Brown hair fell around his face as the wind howled around him; spraying him with snow.Â
The miqo'te shivered despite his thick, red coat as he tried to move. He flexed the gyros of his magitek arm. They squeaked but functioned as intended. His right arm, however, did not move.Â
Askier rolled over onto his back and howled as the the pain agony ran through his ruin of a right arm. His shattered bones had ruptured the flesh and blood and muscle tissue spilled out as he gasped at frozen air. The sleeve of his coat has been melted around the flesh and bone and stuck to his scorched muscle like a lover to her returned partner.
His teeth gnashed as he began to sob tears of pain as he tried to make sense of the world.
All around him burned the wrecked of a crashed airship.
The airship!
That's right, he had been flying north to Ishgard. To look for...something.Â
The Garlean's mind was wrapped in fear and he could not think. Not comprehend. Not rationalize as he screamed again.
The winds. The blizzard had engulfed the airship. And then that damnable drake had attacked the airship! Out of no where it had rent their airship apart with its wretched talons and sharp teeth. The ruined airship had fallen down...down...down...him...and the crew and...
"Drumstick!"Â Askier shrieked in horror, suddenly fearing for the fate of his chocobo that had accompanied him this trip.
His head danced around and...
Blood dripped down his head and he suddenly realized he could not feel his left ear. The one from which his bomb earing had hung.
His ticket home.
His ear had been severed and must now be...
"Squawk."Â came a small, caw and Askier turned his head and strained his neck.Â
There, pinned beneath debris, was his mount. The same yellow bird that had been with him almost ten years.Â
"Drumstick!" Askier croaked as he staggered to his feet, and limped over to the bird's side. Blood was staining the snow around the bird and it's eyes were half open as they watched Askier close the gap between them. Drumstick cooed weakly, but happily as Askier fell to his knees and leaned against the bird.
Askier didn't say anything. He simply began to cry. Tears ran down his face as he realized Drumstick would be dead soon and there was nothing Askier could do to stop it. He used his metal hand to gently caress the bird.
"I'm so sorry, buddy." Askier wept. "I-"
"This one did inform you, once, that he would be reuniting you and the Lady Adonis one day." came a voice.
Askier's head jerked up. There, not ten feet away, his black coat dancing around his tiny body, was the abomination of a miqo'te that dared to be his brother. The little monster named Jin'li, hough his hair was black now. Askier went to speak but was cut off as Jin'li's thin lips moved:
"Course it seems you'd rather continue fornicating with inexpensive whores than have constructed a romantic, fairy tale ending to your story." Jin'li was leaning on a cane and was smiling, clearly pleased with himself. Which was wrong. Jin'li having emotions was wrong. What in the hell?
"What the hell are you talking about?" Askier gasped, his ribs protesting and he realized several were broken. The Garlean coughed, blood flying from his lips.
"Tell this one, did you bed a whore the next day after Lady Adonis passed, or did you at least wait a week out of respect for the dead?" Jin'li shifted his weight as his hair danced around his face. "That woman was a saint for ever even considering you, but you never deserved her. You've never deserved anything that you've obtained."
"Oh shut up. You don't know shit! Besides, since when did you care about anything?" Askier wheezed, blood dribbling down his chin as he coughed.
"Ironically, when -I- was set free from myself." Jin'li smiled. "I'm still debating if I need to thank Jin'to or Adin for -that-. But either way, I've come to send you to hell. And this time-" Jin'li lifted up something in his right hand.Â
It was Askier's ear. And his bomb earing with the aetherstone inside was still dangling from it as blood dripped onto the snow
"You won't be escaping." Jin'li finished his statement with a smile. "You see, normally the things this one does aren't personal. I kill, I murder, I destroy beautiful things because I must to bring down the chains that bind the masses. This one is natural selection made flesh and takes pride in that. But you. Oh you, you've disgusted me for years. Even when I was a slave. I just never let myself realize emotions till recently. But, more so than our mother, more so than the slavers that owned me, more so than even the people who raped and molested me, I hate you. Because you embody everything I hate."
"You talk to damn much." Askier chuckled.Â
"Perhaps. But this one is setting the record straight. You die. And, while the original story was you greet your first bride in Nald'thal's ream, you can rot in the hells and watch as chaos envelops everything you now care for."
"So I'm guessing that drake that attacked our airship was a friend of yours." Askier wheezed.
"This one prefers to assume it was simple charisma that gained the drake's assistance."
"I think I liked you when you didn't have a personality." Askier spat as he glared up at his little brother.
"You won't be the last whom remarks the same by the time this one is done." Jin'li stated flatly.
Askier saw them then. Three mangy wolves slinking out of the darkness. Glowing red eyes blazing in their skulls. Yellow, blood stained teeth shined through rotted gums and torn lips. They gazed at him as they slowly strolled forward, paws soft in the snow as they walked past Jin'li.
Drumstick cawed in fear but it was a weak, gargling noise. Askier moved his metal arm into his coat and pulled out a grenade. Jin'li raised an eyebrow.
"I'd have figured by now you'd know such trivial weapons cannot, permanatly, kill me."
"I tend to be very stubborn." Askier snorted as he pulled the pin out with his teeth and let hit drop from is lips into the snow.Â
The wolves growled.
"Is this the part where you tell this one to meet you in hell?" Jin'li blinked.
"Doubt it. Even hell is too good for you, you fuck." Askier looked at his chocobo. "Keep her company for me, Drumstick." Askier dropped the grenade and the primer handle.
There was a gun shot and Askier jerked back as the bullet slammed into his chest. With wide, agonized eyes, Askier looked at Jin'li and the smoking gun he held.
Askier had just enough time to give Jin'li the middle finger before the grenade detonated with a tremendous explosion that sent debris and smoke into the air.
The fire and snows danced on the winds. Jin'li's black eyes took in the carnage as he lowered his firearm.Â
There was fire, and snow.Â
And bitter cold wrapped in darkness.
And pain.
So much pain.
The miqo'te opened his eyes; one black, one gold.
Brown hair fell around his face as the wind howled around him; spraying him with snow.Â
The miqo'te shivered despite his thick, red coat as he tried to move. He flexed the gyros of his magitek arm. They squeaked but functioned as intended. His right arm, however, did not move.Â
Askier rolled over onto his back and howled as the the pain agony ran through his ruin of a right arm. His shattered bones had ruptured the flesh and blood and muscle tissue spilled out as he gasped at frozen air. The sleeve of his coat has been melted around the flesh and bone and stuck to his scorched muscle like a lover to her returned partner.
His teeth gnashed as he began to sob tears of pain as he tried to make sense of the world.
All around him burned the wrecked of a crashed airship.
The airship!
That's right, he had been flying north to Ishgard. To look for...something.Â
The Garlean's mind was wrapped in fear and he could not think. Not comprehend. Not rationalize as he screamed again.
The winds. The blizzard had engulfed the airship. And then that damnable drake had attacked the airship! Out of no where it had rent their airship apart with its wretched talons and sharp teeth. The ruined airship had fallen down...down...down...him...and the crew and...
"Drumstick!"Â Askier shrieked in horror, suddenly fearing for the fate of his chocobo that had accompanied him this trip.
His head danced around and...
Blood dripped down his head and he suddenly realized he could not feel his left ear. The one from which his bomb earing had hung.
His ticket home.
His ear had been severed and must now be...
"Squawk."Â came a small, caw and Askier turned his head and strained his neck.Â
There, pinned beneath debris, was his mount. The same yellow bird that had been with him almost ten years.Â
"Drumstick!" Askier croaked as he staggered to his feet, and limped over to the bird's side. Blood was staining the snow around the bird and it's eyes were half open as they watched Askier close the gap between them. Drumstick cooed weakly, but happily as Askier fell to his knees and leaned against the bird.
Askier didn't say anything. He simply began to cry. Tears ran down his face as he realized Drumstick would be dead soon and there was nothing Askier could do to stop it. He used his metal hand to gently caress the bird.
"I'm so sorry, buddy." Askier wept. "I-"
"This one did inform you, once, that he would be reuniting you and the Lady Adonis one day." came a voice.
Askier's head jerked up. There, not ten feet away, his black coat dancing around his tiny body, was the abomination of a miqo'te that dared to be his brother. The little monster named Jin'li, hough his hair was black now. Askier went to speak but was cut off as Jin'li's thin lips moved:
"Course it seems you'd rather continue fornicating with inexpensive whores than have constructed a romantic, fairy tale ending to your story." Jin'li was leaning on a cane and was smiling, clearly pleased with himself. Which was wrong. Jin'li having emotions was wrong. What in the hell?
"What the hell are you talking about?" Askier gasped, his ribs protesting and he realized several were broken. The Garlean coughed, blood flying from his lips.
"Tell this one, did you bed a whore the next day after Lady Adonis passed, or did you at least wait a week out of respect for the dead?" Jin'li shifted his weight as his hair danced around his face. "That woman was a saint for ever even considering you, but you never deserved her. You've never deserved anything that you've obtained."
"Oh shut up. You don't know shit! Besides, since when did you care about anything?" Askier wheezed, blood dribbling down his chin as he coughed.
"Ironically, when -I- was set free from myself." Jin'li smiled. "I'm still debating if I need to thank Jin'to or Adin for -that-. But either way, I've come to send you to hell. And this time-" Jin'li lifted up something in his right hand.Â
It was Askier's ear. And his bomb earing with the aetherstone inside was still dangling from it as blood dripped onto the snow
"You won't be escaping." Jin'li finished his statement with a smile. "You see, normally the things this one does aren't personal. I kill, I murder, I destroy beautiful things because I must to bring down the chains that bind the masses. This one is natural selection made flesh and takes pride in that. But you. Oh you, you've disgusted me for years. Even when I was a slave. I just never let myself realize emotions till recently. But, more so than our mother, more so than the slavers that owned me, more so than even the people who raped and molested me, I hate you. Because you embody everything I hate."
"You talk to damn much." Askier chuckled.Â
"Perhaps. But this one is setting the record straight. You die. And, while the original story was you greet your first bride in Nald'thal's ream, you can rot in the hells and watch as chaos envelops everything you now care for."
"So I'm guessing that drake that attacked our airship was a friend of yours." Askier wheezed.
"This one prefers to assume it was simple charisma that gained the drake's assistance."
"I think I liked you when you didn't have a personality." Askier spat as he glared up at his little brother.
"You won't be the last whom remarks the same by the time this one is done." Jin'li stated flatly.
Askier saw them then. Three mangy wolves slinking out of the darkness. Glowing red eyes blazing in their skulls. Yellow, blood stained teeth shined through rotted gums and torn lips. They gazed at him as they slowly strolled forward, paws soft in the snow as they walked past Jin'li.
Drumstick cawed in fear but it was a weak, gargling noise. Askier moved his metal arm into his coat and pulled out a grenade. Jin'li raised an eyebrow.
"I'd have figured by now you'd know such trivial weapons cannot, permanatly, kill me."
"I tend to be very stubborn." Askier snorted as he pulled the pin out with his teeth and let hit drop from is lips into the snow.Â
The wolves growled.
"Is this the part where you tell this one to meet you in hell?" Jin'li blinked.
"Doubt it. Even hell is too good for you, you fuck." Askier looked at his chocobo. "Keep her company for me, Drumstick." Askier dropped the grenade and the primer handle.
There was a gun shot and Askier jerked back as the bullet slammed into his chest. With wide, agonized eyes, Askier looked at Jin'li and the smoking gun he held.
Askier had just enough time to give Jin'li the middle finger before the grenade detonated with a tremendous explosion that sent debris and smoke into the air.
The fire and snows danced on the winds. Jin'li's black eyes took in the carnage as he lowered his firearm.Â
"No wealth, no land, no silver, no gold,
Nothing satisfies me but your soul."
Nothing satisfies me but your soul."
