In Another Life- Short Stories

Alternate Endings

Trigger warning: death and blood

VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

 It wasn't supposed to turn out this way.

Tristan was dodging and weaving between enemies, his sword covered with blood. Blood that he would wipe off, but never forget. How did things go so wrong so quickly?

They had a plan. Zephyrus would contaminate the water system with that mind control potion. What had happened? They were now under Groundhog's control. A mindless minion unleashing all of their skill on their former family. Things had been going so well. Too well. Guess something was bound to go wrong.

"THEIA!" Tristan shouts, trying to spot her in the sea of attackers, only barely held off by her magic. Soon, he found her. Hugging Lucas. Begging him not to approach Rogue.

"Don't you get it!? It's not them anymore." she cries, an expression of pain on her face. "They're not there. They're gone, Lucas. They can't come back even if they wanted to." just when i started to trust them. Just when I started to consider them a friend. Consider them family... this is why you must never get attached Theia. How many times must you learn this lesson.

"Please! I can get through to them, I know I can!" Lucas continues to pull away, trying to approach Rogue who was currently slaughtering their newfound allies. He wanted nothing more than to just pull them away from the chaos and fray, to hold them close until they came to their senses, but he didn't have the antidote to that poison they so desperately wanted. Logically he knew. Rogue was a lost cause. But that didn't make it hurt any less.

The slightest movement, a shift of the air. Tristan whirls around and there was Rogue with their dull and empty eyes, a dagger already swinging straight towards his face. Tristan's training kicked in and he instinctively moved his arms up to block. A stabbing pain. The knight looked down slowly, as if time itself had slowed down. Another dagger. In his chest. Of course. Rogue was always skilled at feints.

A scream. But not his. No. Theia's...? The sounds of scuffling. Tristan felt his body being drained of the life giving blood as Rogue pulls the dagger out. The knight collapsed to the ground, the only thing going through his head was how he couldn't even tell whose blood was on his hands now. Did it matter at this point? Did anything ever matter? Did he ever matter?

Meanwhile Theia was relentlessly sending attack after attack at Rogue, but they were clearly skilled. They dodged with a grace that even Groundhog had never witnessed before, not even flinching the few times they got hit. Lucas stood conflicted in the back, his hands shaking. Save Zeph or help Tristan? What do I do? What do I do!?

Once Rogue got in close enough, they started grappling with Theia, the sorceress desperately attempting to back away as Rogue was much stronger than her. When she finally does manage to put some distance between them though, she barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief before realising there was a small object being thrown at her. An exploding seed pod. Her breath hitched. She wouldn't dodge fast enough. She was too tired out, her magic had drained her. This was the end. She took one last glance at Tristan, who now had Lucas kneeling beside him, trying to stop the bleeding. How silly it seems to dislike him now. He was... an honourable ally. She closes her eyes and braces for impact. An impact that never arrived.

The sorceress opens her eyes to a heartstopping sight. Fora. Standing in front of her. The Featherling's lips moved, mouthing a short I love you before the seed pods hit. A blinding flash of light and a deafening boom. Theia's ears were ringing as she was thrown back from the impact. The only small mercy was that she doesn't remember the sight of her love's remains. Mostly because in her shock, Rogue pounced, and all the pain went away.

Lucas sobbed as Tristan drew his final breath, gazing up at the moon that was just starting to rise. "I want to see the stars one last time. They were her favourite." he had whispered. But fate was cruel, the first twinkling star appeared only a few seconds after Tristan joined them in the sky.

Lucas looked up at Rogue who was now towering over them. "...any last words." They asked in a dull voice. It wasn't Zeph saying them, it was Groundhog commanding their lips to move and their vocal cords to vibrate and their tongue to form the words. It was Groundhog, trying to torture both Zeph and Lucas with just a few words. And it worked. All Lucas could think was 'that's not Zeph's voice. This isn't Zeph. It never will be again. I'll never hear their voice again...'

"...just make it quick." he whispers.

And that they did.

As Rogue stood there with their daggers, hands, clothes, boots, all covered in blood, they began to tremble. Inside, Zephyrus was screaming. Screaming in pain, in anger, in sorrow, in desperation, in guilt. They had just killed the only family they ever known, and the Groundhog wanted him to watch. After all, they kept the young mercenary lucid for a reason. He could've easily put them in a trance, let them hallucinate about a better life while their body did the dirty work, but he didn't. They had just witnessed their hands murder the only people that had ever cared about them, and that they had ever cared about. And they didn't even have the choice to end it all there. No. They had to go on. They would go on for however long Orion ordered Groundhog to and they'll kill anyone they're ordered to. Because this wasn't their body anymore. The body that they permanently lost ownership of.

There were 4 deaths that night. But all 5 had lost their lives.