The Image Behind, "if My Tongue Doesn't Say It, My Face Definitely Will."

✞ 666 ✞

FMA: Final Transmutation → Kuriyama Chiaki as Olivier Mira Armstrong

​

“Eh? A knock at the door? Whomever could it be at this hour?”

“So, you’re the guy who has been helping the Rilanox family? Don’t suppose you have room for one more?”

“Oh, this is getting ridiculous. My home is not a Garlean half-way house.”

“Trust me, guy. There are plenty of other places I would rather be right now.”

“…!”

“Name’s Ash, by the way. I’m sure Arc mentioned me? Anyway, where do I sleep, little guy?”

“Little guy? You do realize you’re not much taller than I am and you are a Garlean, right?”

“Tch. Careful now. Arcuris is the more reasonable one out of the two of us for what it’s worth mentioning.”

“…oh, joy…”

@asharri​​ my alt and mentions of @voidtekarc​.

Asharri smirks as she hits send on her tomestone…

“Hey Arc, I got something for ya.”

@voidtekarc

“So it was true. All of it…”

–

The bitter cold winds bit at her skin. Tears frozen unable to further fall as they stuck to her cheeks, made solid not even a full second after they formed. She wasn’t used to feeling everything all at once like this. The emotion was raw and it ripped from her throat painfully as she screamed out into the heavens above. 

It was mourning. Grief unmeasurable and overflowing. Disbelief. Shock that continued to make her blood run cold even now after it was all said and done. Not only had the Empire and all she had ever stood for been crushed beyond anything she could now recognize, but her father had been taken from her and it had been by his own doing the hand of fate been drawn like this. 

Unimaginable. To think her own father had been the very hand of suffering enacted upon some of their own people was unbelievable the moment she heard it fall from the lips of Arcuris Rilanox. The very man she had been charged with by her father to track down. That her friend was a traitor to the Empire was a large enough pill to swallow as it was but that it was her father who had enacted such terrible deeds in reality? It was a laughable notion at first.

Impossible. Not the man whose shoulders once carried her in her youth. Not the man whose exemplary service of duty became everything she aspired to be. Not the man who challenged her to be her absolute best. 

…not the man that was a father. 

Her father.

Arcuris had enacted his vengeance on the man that had murdered his wife. Kidnapped his parents. Sabotaged his very life. It was a vengeance that once Asharri had discovered the truth in everything, she couldn’t prevent him from going after as it fell from the mouth of the wolf himself. Tallian Pyr Luculla was deserving of his fate. Any sane person could and should see that, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. It didn’t make any of this any less jarring for his daughter who took the side her father prevented her from taking for quite some time because even when Arcuris was tagged a traitor, it was something she had a hard time accepting initially.

Now here she stood on the grounds of her family home that miraculously still stood intact after everything had been said and done; the blood stained wedding band of her father’s held tightly in a clenched fist. It was all that was left of him. No body. No last words. Just this token of affection he shared with her mother; the other half of him that was still no where to be found at this time. Asharri was very much left alone now it would seem and maybe it was best this way.

“My heart broken,” she said, kneeling low to the ground holding that ring in her hand, close to her chest. “Fed nothing but lies…”

“…and yet I mourn for you…” she sobbed into the harsh winds. 

Mentions of @voidtekarc​.

Catching Crosshairs

RP between Asharri and @voidtekarc​.

—-

Having stolen one of these strange talismans from an unsuspecting Eorzean she had been tailing for a couple of days, Asharri found that she was able to escape the effects of the nightmarish tower that loomed from the ruins of her homeland’s capital city - giving her a better area of coverage in tracking down an old friend and traitor that her father had ordered of her. The time had come to finally put an end to this - or so she thought. 

Repeating to herself internally not to engage the target and to only report back her findings of Arcuris’s whereabouts, she found it difficult to imagine not confronting someone she once thought of like family in a time that now seemed so long ago. How could he betray them? Didn’t he know that he still had people here who cared for him after all that transpired? She found him selfish for abandoning them. 

 Crouched low on the second story of a crumbling structure, she kept her guard up for patrols moving by of citizens who had been tempered. Those out of their minds who would attack her on sight just as anyone else despite they were Garlean. The scene was sorrowful and also angered the woman unlike anything she ever felt before. Their emperor betrayed them…. so, was this just going to be the story of her life for now on? Betrayal? 

 Leaning into the scope of her rifle, she sighed as she looked at the landscape - looking for any signs of Arcuris. Her father said he would come. He was confident in that for reasons he didn’t feel necessary to divulge to his daughter. Whatever. Duty was duty, she supposed. 

Arcuris moved across the frozen hills as the blizzard was hitting the lands hard this evening. Snow and wind whipped the ice across his armor, the sleet tapping lightly against it as he advanced. With rifle in hand, he crept near the last hill that was overlooking the city. Cautious before raising up, he used a magitek camera to scope the outskirts of the city for anyone that might be waiting for him.

“Looks lovely the time of evening. I think I can make out one of my friends’ burned down house." 

 After not picking up anything on the camera, he raised his head over and looked around, turning down the visibility of the red on his visor, keeping his signature low. He quickly vaulted over the top, using one arm to propel himself as his legs hit the other side in a downward sprint before moving to another piece of cover. He peeked his head around the corner ever so slightly before using his thermal scanning technology in his helmet, making out any signs of heat signatures. 

 "I wonder if I can find anyone else in there.” He spoke to himself.

Catching sight of movement, Asharri’s attention was immediately drawn to the area, focusing in her scope to get a good look at the individual. Even with the helmet concealing the man’s identity, she knew enough about him now from her own reconnaissance and from the descriptions from her father and his team. Her finger hovered on the trigger in brief thought that she could end this here and now, but that wasn’t the order she was given and so she continued to watch him through her scope until it was evident he too was scanning the area. Even in her protective gear, her heat signature would still be seen if not a little more faint given the walls she began putting between him and herself now. 

 'Whatever you do, do not engage,’ the words of her father echoed within her and she bit back in anger. There was so much she wanted to say to Arcuris. Things she felt rightfully deserving of saying to him but under no authority was she meant to engage with him. 

 "Damnit,“ she sighed under her breath as she carried her rifle and other equipment around the ruins, trying to work herself around Arcuris to gain better coverage. She went to report through her ear piece comm that she had spotted the man, but being so close to the tower caused heavy interference that all she got back was static. "Great. Now what?" 

Unexpectedly, her ear piece mitted a high-pitched frequency that was near-deafening, surprising the woman and no doubt anyone located nearby. She may have been quick enough to rip out the ear piece and crush it beneath her heel, but anyone with sharp senses would have been able to hear the static pitch that belted out. 

"Fuck!”

Arcuris could see the faint signature of Asharri, but did not know who it was. This could not be one of the tempered. This person was hiding deliberately instead of marching out in the open as the rest of those who were mind controlled. He then heard a high pitch screeching of the interference in her earpiece and raised his weapon up to her direction, aiming down the scope as he studied the target. 

 "Little bird you fly so far from the nest…“ He hovered his finger over the trigger of his weapon, hesitant to fire at the person he could not see, "What in the hell are you doing out here?" 

 Arcuris grabbed a piece of rubble as he kept his weapon trained on the hidden target before tossing it away from him to see how the person would react to it while he remained out of sight.

Asharri kept her cover even as Arcuris spoke out, looking for an exit route but given her location and the shambles that surrounded her, there was little hope for a clean break. "You have a lot of nerve coming back here, Arcuris,” she called out, unable to bite back her tongue regardless of orders. “Ballsy traitors like you are the worst kind there are." 

 She held her rifle close as her back pressed against the wall she continued to linger behind before emerging from the shelter, the barrel of her rifle pointed at him, "I have orders not to engage the target but wouldn’t it just be easier to eliminate the threat so we can finally be free of your treachery? I am sick and tired of hearing your name at every fucking point of the day and night.”

“Do you have any idea how taxing it is to be reminded day in and day out of how someone you once trusted betrayed everyone and everything they once held dear? Or were you just working us all the whole time?" 

Arcuris looked to her sadly, hearing traitor, treachery, and betrayal from her, "And I’m sick of everyone calling me a fucking traitor. Funny since your father decided to ally himself with fucking voidsent. I’m sure he didn’t let daughter dearest in on that secret." 

 He kept his rifle pointed at her, "I really don’t want to shoot you, especially with you still being a friend of mine regardless of whatever you think or were brainwashed into thinking happened. Look the hell around you! Do you really think they care for any of us anymore? Why in the hell are you still following their fucking orders, Ash?!" 

 The wind picked up as it pecked his armor with snow, his eyes focused on Asharri, "Do not make me fight you.”

Asharri narrowed her eyes angrily beneath the transparent visor that covered her eyes, unflinching when it came to keeping her rifle aimed at him, “That’s one hell of an accusation, Arc. I wouldn’t have considered you’d stoop so low with such tall tales about my father of all people. After all he’s done for you? Guess those experiments really did fuck your mind." 

"But regardless,” she sighed heavily, “I was warned you might try to pull one over on me if I had to engage you.” She said nothing for a few passing moments. The wind whistling through the air as the snow drifted this way and that with the frigid breeze that picked up. As the two stood there with their guns pointed at each other, she snapped at him, “You were like a brother to me! What the hell, Arc?”

Suddenly, she dropped her gun and started for him with her fist balled. She didn’t know what it was that came over her to drop her guard so easily and go right for him, instinct believing he would have shot her already had he really wanted to. Once she closed the distance, she took a swing up at his head, “You selfish prick!”

Arcuris grabbed her arm and glared to her under his helmet. He kept a tight grip on her arm as he spoke once more, “You’re right, it did fuck with my head pretty bad. Funny your father is the one that okayed the entire project. You want to know why? Something about my ancestors being infused with void energy. The same kind of things that was possessing your father when I encountered him last!" 

He did not let go of her arm knowing how stubborn she was, "I am not going to fight you! Don’t you see what’s fucking happened?! Just look around! Everything is in ruins because of everything they’ve done to us! Our people!”

Even though he was evidently stronger than she was, she still wrestled him for her arm back as she shouted at him, “Your fucking nuts! This is my father you’re accusing! My father!" 

"You’re not going to fight me? Oh, what a big man you are, Arc,” she holstered her gun and swung at him with her other fist. “You don’t fucking think that I can see what happened here? Go on ahead and do it Arc - what are you waiting for? Off me as well because I’m not stepping aside because I sure as hell won’t let you take my father from me too with this warped image you have in your head about him!" 

He dodged the punch and put his weapon away before putting up his hands, "I am not going to fight you and I’m sure as fuck not thinking about killing you. You don’t understand what forces are at work here playing you. I am not here for that. I’m here to rescue my parents from none other than your own father, Asharri!" 

 He took a few steps back trying to put some distance in between the both of them, "I know he’s your father but he is not himself anymore. Not after what he’s told me and what he has done. He’s only sent you after me because he knows I will tell you and others how much damage he has helped do to our country…”

“Why in the hells would my father be holding your parents captive, Arc? Do you not hear the insanity coming from your own lips?” She took another swing at him before the distance between them was given.  She was furious. Her breathing heavy and uneven. “First, you’re betrayal. And then that of our own leaders. I don’t know how much… more of this I can take!" 

She leaned over, her hands on her knees as she caught her breath, ”…Arc. Don’t you think I would know… if my own father… was a part of something as terrible as you say? For fucks sake, my father! How do you expect me to take you at your word?“

"After everything you’ve been told and all of the actions I’ve taken, I’m not sure I can convince you of anything, especially when accusing your father of it.” He looked to her as he pulled off his helmet so she could see his face, “I would not have abandoned all of this without a good fucking reason, Asharri. I was selfish in it. I left my parents here to worry if I were dead or not or whatever even happened to me. It’s the only thing I regret in the decision.”

He held his helmet under his arm as he continued to talk to her, “The only way you can be convinced is see it all for yourself. The problem is you’ve been shown it already from the tower, our people being possessed, and monsters running around destroying everything. I’m not even sure you’d believe me seeing your own father do any of this.”

Asharri balled her fists to her sides even harder, the leather creaking against the metal armor plating in her equipment, “….just go.” Her voice was low and aggressive. “They’ll know you’re coming and I have orders not to engage you. So, go." 

Without any concrete proof with her own eyes when it came to her father, Asharri found it difficult to believe a word that fell from Arcuris’s lips and so the only thing she could do was to let him go and report the man’s sighting to the others. Perhaps she’d lurk and see what she could find on her own. It was the only way she could figure out if this was truly desperate nonsense or not. 

"I have trouble believing any of this shit you’re saying, so get out of here before I change my mind.”

Arcuris looked to her with a disappointed face, placing his helmet back on his head, “Join me in this and we’ll see this to the end. I know you’ve got that deep voice telling you something isn’t right with this entire situation, Asharri. You know I wouldn’t lie. I never have." 

He stood there for a moment, turning his head to see if she would follow him to whatever end awaited him. She did not. She sat there in anger, loathing his very existence as he stepped away from her and into the city, drawing his rifle once more. He stopped and spoke up before he made his exit, "I know you’ll do the right thing in the end, Asharri.”

Her hand trembled at her side, hovering over the holster of the gun attached at her hip but she did not draw it. Watching Arcuris take his leave, she turned around sharply and darted off into the opposite direction, disappearing into the sheets of snow that moved across the landscape.