There's Crows In The Garden | 3rd Life AU

.: The End Of Everything :.

TWs: war, death, blood, slight gore, more death, more blood, uhhh assisted suicide kinda?? (depends on how you want to interpret it really)

I know this is the finale and everything, but PLEASE do not read it if it's going to trigger you. Please put your own mental well-being over a silly little fanfic about block people <3

***

Ren stopped at the muddy top of yet another soggy hill (we'd come across a lot of them on our trek through the thawing tundra), looking out over the portion of Dogwarts that could be seen from his vantage point. "Martyn," he said, voice grave. I'd been hanging back, so I stepped forward to be next to My King. He pointed, and I followed his finger.

There, in the distance, was the Dogwarts castle. I almost celebrated, but then I realized that Ren was pointing to something else, a short distance outside the walls surrounding the castle. An army, and a large one at that, looking to be starting an advance toward our position.

"What do we do?" I asked, glancing over at Ren.

His face settled into unwavering determination. "We'll stand our ground and fight."

While the oncoming army approached, Ren set to organizing our soldiers. The ones with the best armor and weapons were placed in the front, while the ones with barely anything but a flimsy sword were ushered to the back. The few surviving archers were posted on the next hill back with a few swordsmen, so they'd be in a spot with both good protection and range. Finally, Ren posted himself, myself, Etho, and BigB in the front center of the army, and we waited.

Grian and Scar, who were leading the enemy army, brought it to the bottom of the hill, then left it there as they climbed up to where we were. "Here to surrender?" Grian asked when they reached the top.

"No, here to liberate," Ren responded coolly.

Grian and Scar exchanged a look. "Listen, I don't think this will end especially well for you," said Grian. "You've been losing for a long time, and I don't think your little excursion will have helped with that."

"We slaughtered Joel, Scott, and their entire army."

"Oh, good for you!" Surprisingly, Grian didn't seem shaken by that at all. Scar, on the other hand, was starting to look like he regretted this entire situation. 

Ren looked about as shocked as I was about Grian's response. "We kill two of your allies and that's what you say?"

Grian shrugged. "It's not like I expected them to do that well. Joel is impulsive, and Scott— well, I expected him to do a little better than he did, but Jimmy's death affected him so strongly that I can't say I'm surprised. I am curious how you managed to defeat Joel's dogs, though."

"It really wasn't all that hard," Ren lied. "A few dogs are no match for our soldiers."

Scar shrank back a bit at that, half-hiding himself behind Grian. Grian just frowned. "If you say so."

I was starting to get sick of all the conversation, so I stepped in to end it. "This talk is getting boring. If we're going to fight, we might as well get on with it, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah, let's do that," Scar said quickly, before Grian could object. "C'mon, G, let's get back to the army."

"Fine," Grian huffed. Scar took his hand and dragged him back down the hill, to where their army was anxiously awaiting instruction. As they rallied their troops, Ren rallied our own.

"Listen," he said, "we may seem to be at a disadvantage, but what we don't have in numbers we have in spirit. The heart of our kingdom and our freedom is under siege; I'm going to need every single one of you to fight until your very last breath to take it back. Swallow your courage, keep your humanity, and fight with a vengeance."