TW: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Blood, Angst, Sad Stuff

Notes: Based on the tekkit war basically, with Ridge as Sjin, Kirin as Lalna, Strife as Rythian and Parv as Zoeya...  

A large rumble woke him up. He was still groggy from sleeping, head spinning, limbs heavy. A groan came from the mess of black hair next to him. Another rumble.

"Is that thunder?" Strife whispered, his voice hoarse. It must be around four in the morning, it was still dark outside. Parv rolled over sighing, mumbling something inaudible. Strife rubbed his eyes, he wanted to go to sleep again. But as he closed his eyelids, the thunder rolled again.

"Yeah, I can hear thunder." Strife stated. Why now, he had been looking forward to getting a full night's sleep for once, but apparently the gods didn't like him enough for that. He moved closer to Parv, seeking comfort from the other man's warm body; not that he was scared, but more so because every thunder strike sent a cold shiver through his spine. Sighing he inhaled the familiar scent of Parv's hair, hoping that the weather would soon pass. But he barely had time for that before another loud noise made the building shake. This wasn't thunder though, this was something else.

"Parvis, did you hear that?" Strife nudged Parv's shoulder slightly.

"Huh? Yeah, it sounded like an explosion." Parv yawned. Strife got a nagging feeling in his gut. If that was an explosion, what had caused it?

"I'm gonna check it out okay Parvis?" Strife said, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Parv stretched out his arms after Strife, groaning at the sudden loss of heat next to him.

"I'll be quick I promise, I just wanna make sure nothing important is damaged." Strife grabbed his exoskeleton, putting his armour on just in case.

As he walked out in the cool night air he could see orange light in the distance. Relief made the knot in his stomach loosen, the silhouette of Solution Towers contrasted the night sky in the west whilst the lightning struck towards the north. He was prepared to go back inside when another explosion went off. Strife bit his lip unsure whether he should leave Parv alone, but his curiosity took over and he ascended into air, the wind breezing through his blonde hair. It didn't take much time to cover the distance from Parv's base to the origin of the blast. As he came closer, smoke stung in his eyes and nose, and he could see that the area was burning.

"What the hell!" Strife's eyes wandered over the burning forest. This was some serious damage. From out of nowhere a glowing spark flew at him, he could feel it whiz past his ear, inches from damaging him. As he turned his head towards the direction from where the magic spell had come from, he saw two figures circling each other above the rising smoke. The two cloaked demigods had eyes for nothing but each other, swirling around in a lethal dance, dark blue and burgundy. Strife furrowed his brow, this wasn't just pranks any more. Flying higher up, his eyes blurry with tears from the slipstream, Strife approached the mage closest to him. Kirin turned his head, noticing the blond, somewhat mortal, hovering next to him.

"Hello there Strife" Kirin said, only half focusing on the conversation as he was still dodging Ridge's attacks.

"What the hell are you doing! Those explosions could be heard across the land!" Strife shouted partly because he was angry, and partly so that it would be heard over the thunder and winds this high up in the air. Kirin shrugged apologizing, and fired a spell at Ridge, blinding Strife for a second.

"That wasn't me, that was Ridge, he blew up my house. I mean I might have ticked him off with that small-ish curse that I put on him, but I swear it's not my fault." Kirin replied, his voice calm and controlled, almost relaxed. Strife inhaled sharply, his fingers itching to punch the demigod for his arrogance.

"I don't care who started this. Just stop, before someone gets hurt!" This was worryingly close to a full blown war between the two immortals, and the powers they possessed could easily create collateral damage. Strife wanted none of that. A shadow flashed in Kirin's eyes before he once again resumed his neutral expression.

"Su was in that house." Kirin said blankly. Laughter was heard above them; during the short distraction, Ridge had taken the opportunity to fly even higher, getting an advantage point. Strife knew enough about the sadistic ginger to understand that the destruction of the house wasn't something he'd done on a whim. Ridge raised his arm, aiming a spell at them both.

Too slow to react, Strife fell several feet when Ridge's attack hit him in the chest. He cursed as he tried to regain his balance again, shutting the armour's visor and loading his gun. If Ridge wanted to fight, he was gonna get a fight. Strife's and Kirin's combined power was way too much for him to handle. But when Strife gained back the height he'd lost, he saw Kirin being pushed back more and more - his spells badly aimed and his reactions too slow. Strife looked from Ridge's triumphing grin to Kirin's tense jaw and blank eyes.

"That dick!" Strife growled, firing his gun at Ridge. Of course the demigod would use something so dirty as to attack the ones close to his enemy to get an advantage. At least Kirin cared about mortal people, he didn't play around with them like they were pieces in his game. And that's why he was so upset now - because he cared. One precise shot after another, Strife managed to push Ridge back enough to give Kirin some time to breathe. The three-eyed mage gave a thankful nod to Strife, directing his attention back to the trickster.

Not long after the two blonds had managed to get the advantage ground on Ridge, rapidly covering him in attacks from two angles. The heat of the fight made Strife's head fuzzy, the adrenaline reducing his thoughts to nothing more than fight or flight. Until he heard a familiar voice.

"Strife! You got a problem?" Parv shouted and Strife turned his head with a devastated expression. Dashing down to Parv, he shielded the dark haired man with his body.

"Parvis why are you here!" Strife yelled.

"To help.You didn't come back so I assumed you were in trouble, and I was right", Parv grinned at Strife who shook his head.

"No Parvis! You're not strong enough! Your altar isn't working properly!" Strife exclaimed, he didn't want Parv here, in danger. Why was this boy so reckless.

"No Strife, I can help, you don't even know how strong I am!" Parv shook Strife off himself, but at that moment both of them were hit by the force of a shock wave originating from the two immortals clashing together. Strife tumbled downwards through the air once again, losing all sense of direction. When he stopped his fall, he couldn't see Parv anywhere. He slowly ascended, careful to not get hit again. He felt relieved when he saw the black figure that was the guitarist skipping around the two fighting demigods. Strife couldn't help but smile a little, Parv looked so fearless as he whizzed around in the air, spell in one hand, sword in the other.

When he was within reach he fired his gun, now the three of them were attacking Ridge; it felt like they would be able to win this finally. Maybe Parv joining wasn't such a bad idea. Strife wiped some sweat from his brow, hindering it from running into his eyes and disturbing his aim. It was very hot up here amongst the smoke and lightning, whilst fighting intensely. Suddenly a loud bang filled the air and Strife couldn't see, everything was yellow and smoke, and a ringing filled his ears. He called out for Parv and Kirin, not sure where they were. After some time, he didn't know how long, maybe a couple of seconds, maybe ten minutes, he regained his senses. He saw Kirin and Ridge fighting again, some distance away in the air. But he couldn't find Parv anywhere. Hearing a scream, he looked down and saw a body plummeting down towards the burning ground, followed by a red orb.

Heart racing, with no regards for his own safety, Strife hurried after Parv hoping that he wouldn't be too late. When he approached the ground he couldn't see Parv through the fire and rubble, the smoke filled his lungs making him cough heavily.

"Parvis!" He called out hoping for some response. He called again, this time he heard a low whine from somewhere to his right. Strife stumbled in that direction and called Parv's name again. There between the burning debris, Parv's battered body was lying. Strife sunk down on his knees next to the other man.

"Parvis are you alright? Tell me where you are hurt" Strife brushed Parv's hair out of the man's eyes.

"I, ah" Parv grimaced. "I'm f-fine Strife" he replied smiling half-heartedly. Strife started to cry silently, Parv never asked for help when he needed it. Parv coughed and some blood trailed out of the corner of his mouth, but as Strife tried to wipe it away the dark-haired man grabbed his arm weakly.

"This isn't a problem you can solve Strifeykins." Parv whispered softly. Strife's lip quivered as his tears dripped on Parv's torn up, bloody t-shirt.

"Please Parvy, please." Strife said, his voice breaking. Parv was badly wounded. There was blood everywhere, both his and from the magic, his clothes were ripped and he had an open wound in his abdomen. Strife desperately tried to press at it, hoping to cease the blood flow.

"Shhh," Parv was now crying as well. "I love you Will." Strife's heart dropped.

"No, no, please. Not this, please", Strife rubbed Parv's cheek, trying to get a reaction, but the blood mage's face was cold, his eyes staring blankly.

"Please! Parvis come back, I love you, please", Strife sobbed loudly as he shook Parv's shoulders, running his blood covered hands over the other man's face and hair, but it was too late. Strife shook him again. He couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it.

"ALEX PLEASE!" Strife screamed.

But Parv couldn't hear him anymore.

Credit to Owlpig on Ao3