and the truth is, the beginning of it is terribly muffled.

you're at the bottom of a hole. vox machina and their friendly band of adventurers have just fought off a beholder in a tomb - the tomb of the champion of the raven queen, in search of a vestige, a godly weapon to help you defeat a conclave of dragons as they attempt to raze your world to the ground. the beholder, while annoying, powerful, and armed with a terrible disintegrate ray, was ultimately not much of a match for you all. you're down at the bottom of this hole, retrieving kima, one of your allies, and you wait for scanlan to throw down the rope so you can clamber back up.

the chaos happens while you're away. you climb, and you climb - you hear a distant thump, and then the sound of footsteps, but that's not unusual.

and you pull yourself to the top of the hole, and you look at your friends, all gathered together, and the joy and easy warmth of a victory on your face turns to nothing.

because as percy turns back to look at you, you realize that he's holding your sister propped up against his body, and she's not moving. not breathing, and your entire world stops.

you're moving before you can even really realize it, the entire world narrowing down to just vex'ahlia, her wide open eyes, her slumped frame. you shove past zhara and kashaw and you drop to your knees in front of vex, your hands shaking, your heart pounding

and you barely have it in you to say: ] ...The fuck happened?

[ your voice is impossibly hoarse, small, barely there, as tears well up in your eyes and drop down your cheeks, as the world seems to go topsy turvy in front of you. not thirty seconds ago, you could hear vex, cooing delightedly to percy about some treasure or other, you looked away for one second just one second and she's -- she's gone.

vex. vex, your sister. your life. your whole heart.
she's gone.

you panic. you reach for the strongest healing potion you have and you pour it in her open mouth. nothing. nothing happens, as the rest of the party stands shellshocked around. it does nothing - you barely even hear as kashaw appears at your shoulder, nudges you away from her, saying something about a ritual, or casting, or something. you want to shove him back, push him away, but you see the glimmer of diamond in his hands and hope sweeps into your chest, desperate. desperate.

"I can bring her back." kashaw says. your chest heaves.

he pulls diamonds, he hesitates, and you, desperate, yell, yell - ] The fuck are you hesitating for?! Do it - what are you hesitating for? Do it!

[ kashaw says something about his god, or something, that she could destroy the entire world in the process of doing this, but you don't care. you don't fucking care, fuck the entire world and fuck the people in it, you don't give a shit if it means that vex'ahlia comes back.

as kashaw starts the resurrection ritual, you watch, staring at vex, watching the energy from the spell move to vex's body.

percy helps first. then zhara. (to 4:30:02, for more details.)

and then it's you.

and you know what you're going to do. you sit in this temple, in this tomb to the goddess of death, the matron of death (and you see her standing behind your sister, waiting to take her soul away - you can see her silhouette) and you think to yourself

no.

you push past kashaw and you grab your sister's body, and you pull her close, and you look that silhouette straight in the face, and you say, with all of the fury and the misery and the grief driven courage that you have: ] Take me instead, you raven bitch.

[ the dark, female form stares back at you. the raven queen. you know it, just by looking, and you don't care. you face down god herself.

she steps forward, and reaches her hand towards you. you do not break. you stare.

she nods.

and then, suddenly, you feel the rush of magic through your veins - and you wait, and you wait, and you stare this figure down, down, down - and the silence kills you, one moment, two

then the raven queen is gone.

and vex'ahlia, your sister, your entire heart, your life, your other half, your everything, takes a deep, gasping, living breath as the pact is complete. (@ 4:32:54.) ]