Week 6 cyoa: hei, jiuqing, vin, and kashuu

[saturations]

spoiler warnings: ff14 heavensward and some light endwalker elements
content warnings: violence, death, war, terrorism (short), brief mentions/references for eyegore, brief mention/reference for decapitation, depression, suicidal ideation (nihilist flavor), suicide, dragons and monsters eating people

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[slashay]

[Don't let them take you.

With the last burst of energy he has in his dying, transforming body, he launches himself forward, trying to grab hold of Vin. He's laughing - he's crying - his eyes are feverbright with corruption, but his smile is so apologetic, so soft and genuine, even through the dance of flame and blood and flaying skin.]

I'm sorry, Vin.

[He wanted to do something better. He wanted to save her. He wanted to save the both of them, even knowing what these adventures bring. But in the end, isn't it just selfishness that had dragged out her suffering? There's no place for cowardice in a sword. There's only one thing to do when one loses touch with what makes them human.

He raises a hand toward the sky, a bright flash of light piercing through - a dying star. Summoning the last of him, he uses his final move to send numerous blades hurtling from the sky toward the earth. They puncture deep into the blood-soaked dirt with a thunderous impact, splitting the ground, discarded weapons, stray shields, any corpses unfortunate enough to be nearby. They skewer through his body with ease, too, like he's a doll made of spun silk; it's a more merciful death than what many, many others have been granted in this battle, though he only takes it to spare those he'd have torn in two if he were to join the rest of the monsters prowling the battlefield.

This way, he can honor Okita's wish. He can save even one more life, maybe. And if he's lucky, he can put Vin out of her misery, too.]

[allomantic]

[when all this is over, she will be so grateful for this one moment of mercy, of what she will only view as kindness after everything that's happened.

but that's not here or now. at this moment, as his aether begins to fade away and he starts to change, the monster seems to lose interest, beginning to turn from him. but, then he moves forward to latch onto it. there's another roar thundering through the air as it tries to pull away, and it might ordinarily have succeeded because of his rapidly fading consciousness. as it is, though, one of the blades he's summoned moves down and pierces into a wing, pinning it to the ground.

how strange it is. her existence has been marked with a desire to survive - enough that for most of her life, she has pushed herself as far away from other people as possible, viewing them as a threat unless she could not deny their utility to her. it's changed since meeting kelsier, but the marks of that mindset are slow to fade; she cannot count the times she's wondered why she stayed with him, in a mission that she has only ever believed would end in her death. she can't count the times even since coming here that she has wondered whether she should truly go back there, to embark on a last task that she is reasonably sure will amount to the same thing.

but right now, as the blade falls and pierces into the monster's heart - if she were herself, the only thing she would feel beyond the agony and weight of what she's done would be gratefulness and forgiveness towards kashuu for making a choice that she's certain she wouldn't be able to.

that's not the reality she finds herself in, though, and as she bleeds out into the dirt - the only thing to be heard is another roar, a cry of pain, before it's over.]

[countermeasures]

[fare fucking well, wyvern.

the monster stares up at chang geng with eyes that are empty of anything that had made her jiuqing, once. it's questionable whether it even recognizes him as anything other than a source of aether that it desires to bleed dry.

it moves, drawn to him, and dodges the first arrow, the first strike. it lunges, teeth bared, claws bloodied, and grapples with him to take him apart.

britt 🧃 sip juicing Roll: [9] Result: 9 Reason: 9 or less she lives 10+ she dies
hei ❄ het pleasantry Roll: [14] Result: 14 Reason: DOES CHANG GENG 2 GET A STABBY IN

...in the end, it kills him. it's a monster, after all. it's what monsters are wont to do. but it doesn't escape without a stab to the heart - not entirely through, not enough to kill, but it's there, and it stings.

it looks down at the corpse beneath it.

there's nothing here. just death.

...just as hraesvelgr had said. why did she come here? to change their fates? to save just a few? she didn't - she couldn't...]

...I couldn't... save anyone...

[a shudder wracks the creature's body.]

I'm sorry...

[disestablishment]

[ Damn. His first arrow... Chang Geng struggles in its hold, but finally Jiuqing is close enough to properly see who it is. He doesn't recognize her, however, and draws another arrow in his hand. A substance sheens on the tip as he checks to see which he pulled, then it's stabbed right into one of her main arteries. He drives it further in before it kills him.

Even when he dies, something runs rampant in the monster's body. It's in pain, but it doesn't know what else to do but run rampant and go into a frenzy.

...

They won't be here to see it, seeing as two are dead and one is dying, but somehow. Some way. Ishgard will survive this.

But it's still not journey's end. ]