empathy <asheiji>

6. last night i...

A/N Above is a really nice song, just for you <3
Be sure to wait for the vocals, I promise it'll be worth it. I listened to it while writing the majority of this chapter. Apart from the first part, of course. Haha.

Ash doesn't know where he is.

Somewhere dark, musty, grimy, the smell of blood alarming his senses. He can't see beyond a meter, and the dead silence doesn't calm him down.

Suddenly, footsteps.

A scream, and then a gunshot. Ash feels fear sink it's talons into him, sweat bead forming despite the cold air. More gunshots pierced the air, and then things suddenly got flooded with light, and he saw him. His brother, features twisted in terror, running towards him with a staggering gait.

"Aslan," the older brother choked, "RUN!!!"

Fuck, fuck, fuck, what the fuck is this...

He turned and ran. Griffin's footsteps followed desperately, distant but approaching gunshots ensued causing the older man to choke out a frightened shout. The blonde's heart was pounding against his chest, howling in fear. Whatever was chasing them was enough to make griffin this scared, and it was probably going to kill them if he didn't --

"ASLAN!!!! LOOK OUT, THEY'RE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!" Griffin screamed in a strangled breath before something stopped ash dead on his tracks. He didn't move, not a step. He just couldn't. But he didn't question when wounds began tearing in his flesh.

Griffin was on the ground now, pinned to the dirt by some unseen force that only allowed his head to peer up at his little brother while cuts and grazes and bruises seared themselves on ash's pale skin. The kind pair of blue eyes that gazed at ash with care and love was now gripped with a horrified despair, unable to move, the griffin was only able to manage "ASLA--" before

They killed him.

Ash didn't want to ever think about that image again. His brother was just a corpse now, riddled with violent bullet wounds and blood splattered in every direction. Sky blue eyes now a dull, dead cerulean, capturing the pain and horror griffin had experienced in that moment of death.

And it was too much for him to take. Never mind the wounds that continued to blossom in his body, his heart felt like it was being crushed to juice. Pain bloomed in his chest but his body didn't respond, the breath being knocked clean out of him. "b-brother..." Screaming. Hyperventilation. The smell of death. More gunshots. His vision went gray and unbearable.

The floor began to shake and crumble, and then everything went black.

The next thing he saw was hazel brown.

---

Ash was somewhere new again. His head hurt. But he felt different, lighter, softer, calm. The forest around him reflected this. His feet treaded on the grass, as if he already knew where to go. They led him to a little open field, faraway birds tweeting in sing while someone in the field was singing along sweetly.

As he brushed away the leaves in his view, he was greeted with a silhouette standing in the field, backlit by the sunlight streaming in through the foliage.

Griffin? Ash first thought, brushing his golden fringe out of his face to get a better view. "Brothe..."

The person turned around.

It was Eiji, and he looked fucking gorgeous.

The ebony haired man giggled. "it took you some time," he turned to face ash more directly, smiling. "But you're here now, ash."