Rayne Drops (FFXV)

X) Chasing Cor

Blood, all around me. Painted on the crumbed buildings, dripping onto the streets, pouring from my hands. But it's not my own. It's pooling up around my ankles, creating a warm sea of red around me. I rush to pull myself up onto a pile of rubble, grabbing onto the rocks and climbing. There's no sound, just the brush of the wind and the slight swishing of the blood. But the smell... Coppery. Sickening.

I turn around to get a good look at my surroundings. Where am I? I try to calm my quickening heart, staring at the dead bodies that lay across the ground or that float below me. I turn away from the destroyed building to my right. Insomnia. But something horrifyingly new catches my eye. My breath catches in my throat, my heart stopping. I choke on air, staring into the dead, blank eyes of King Regis. I feel sick. Suddenly, I feel something resting in my left hand, weighing it down. I look down to see my gunblade, coated in streaks of blood. I... I look back at Regis. Killed him?

Bodies start floating higher, washing against my stony shore with each crimson wave. My chest aches horribly. My head's spinning. I scramble toward the most familiar ones, hands shaking. "Noct?" I whimper, taking hold of that blood-soaked shoulder and shaking. "Noct, are you...?" He rolls over limply, empty blue eyes directed toward the sky. I gasp, falling backward and away from him. Looking past him, I see stained blonde hair and leopard print pants. Prompto?

Scrambling to my feet, I look around me. My stomach twists. Ignis lays face up on the ground, glasses cracked and shattered. Gladio's body rests even farther away, tossed up against the walls of concrete mercilessly. Blood pours from his left eyelid. I gulp. I should've gauged your eye out when I had the chance. My sword clatters to the ground instead of disappearing. Did I...? I step back, yelping when something grabs my ankle. I look down the see Prompto's bloody hand around my leg. He coughs, red staining the ground.

"Should've been there..." he chokes out before his head falls, eyes lifeless. My heart's pounding now, my feet slipping and stumbling as I run from their bodies. My eyes are burning, my head is spinning, my lungs stop working. I trip over a loose wire, looking straight into the face of Arma. Crying out in surprise, I jerk back, staring at his pale skin with wide eyes. He doesn't move. And then I notice the other bodies. Signum, Tallin, my father, my mother... The list could go on forever. I spot a stained white uniform, so familiar and yet damaged beyond recognition. Wyn... My frustrated tears fall crimson too.

"It was you," an old voice croaks. I swivel around to see Cid with Cindy glued to his side. He gives me a rather nasty glare, coughing roughly before speaking once more as he and his granddaughter collapse. "Why'd ya do it, Rayne?" He grasps his bleeding side with a pained grimace. "Why'd ya kill us all?" His eyes pierce mine sharply. Cindy goes limp. "Doesn't anyone else matter but you?!"

Suddenly, the red waves rise, coming up over my head and swallowing me in their depths. I squeeze my burning eyes shut, holding my breath. And then I'm attacked by a merciless crowd of beasts from the wildlands. They rip at my flesh, adding my own blood to the crimson ocean and filling it further. I have no control over my body, screaming, begging for help, sobbing as I choke out apologies for what I've done, begging for forgivene...

"Rayne."

My eyes snap open as I sit upright. I hiss when my forehead knocks into a heavy bar on the top bunk. Beside me, Gladio rests his body on the weight of his elbow, his other hand resting on my shoulder.

"Hey. You okay?"

"Huh?" I blink at him through the darkness. Blood, bodies, murder...

"You were making a lot of noise. Didn't want to wake everyone up," he explains, keeping his voice low. Then he gives me a slight smile. "You do kick pretty hard though."