The Blessed Army of the Most Beneficent Truth needs you
ȶɦɛ ɮʟɛֆֆɛɖ ǟʀʍʏ օʄ ȶɦɛ ʍօֆȶ ɮɛռɛʄɨƈɛռȶ ȶʀʊȶɦ ռɛɛɖֆ ʏօʊ
ᏖᏂᏋ ᏰᏝᏋᏕᏕᏋᎴ ᏗᏒᎷᎩ ᎧᎦ ᏖᏂᏋ ᎷᎧᏕᏖ ᏰᏋᏁᏋᎦᎥፈᏋᏁᏖ ᏖᏒᏬᏖᏂ ᏁᏋᏋᎴᏕ ᎩᎧᏬ
ɬɧɛ ცƖɛʂʂɛɖ ąཞɱყ ơʄ ɬɧɛ ɱơʂɬ ცɛŋɛʄıƈɛŋɬ ɬཞųɬɧ ŋɛɛɖʂ ყơų
thē ๖lēŞŞē໓ คr๓ฯ ໐f thē ๓໐Şt ๖ēຖēfi¢ēຖt trนth ຖēē໓Ş ฯ໐น
T̶̢͖̩̜͈̤̜̫̰̥̂̄̍̇̚h̵̡̲̲͖̝̯̘̜̟̥̽͆̽̅̀̌e̵̢̧̨͎̗̜̥̘͚̥̓͝ ̵͈̫̅̇̀̔̔̾̓B̷̨̧̛̖̱̣͕̹͓̏̓́̂̏͜ͅl̴̡͚̒̄̒̔̄̚͠ͅe̶̢̛̛̳̍̆̏̐s̵͕̼̖̟̮͙̙̹̊̓̈́̽s̷̤͚̽ͅe̵͎̼̩̯͈̘͇̓̓̅̈́̓̓͠d̸͈̲̲̭̉̇͊̃̀͐ ̶̛̯͓̯́̀͊̎͝À̷͉̟͚̭̻̠̃̇r̷̡̜͙̜̲̠̻̔̈́̔̓̀̑͜m̴̢͉̣̪̙̖͉̙͈͋͜y̶͎͉̒̈̂̀̋͒̀͠ ̶̺͙̜̼̮̳̇̀͘ô̵͉̲͛̈́̔̒f̸̪͗̎̈́͗ ̴̬͚͍̞̗̥̥͆́̌͛̔̃͜͝t̸͖͔̄̊̍̾̀h̴̯̩̄̑́͛͗̈́̚ȩ̶̮̣̱̲͚̼͐͐͂͠ ̸̰̘̻̝͙̙̹͈̉̈́̋̋̑̕̚̕M̷̧̮̃́̔̏͑͐͊͛o̴̹͠s̸̨̯̬̦̍t̴̮̝͖̮̭͚̳̗̊̔̾̊̉̽͜ ̴̪͖̪̇̉͛̎͠B̷̺̳̤͈̜͔̗͛̇̉̀ͅe̴͇̯̯̲̰̫͐̇͆̂̃̌͘͜ń̴̟̜̲̜͎̣̉͗̑͐͋̿͛̈́͜è̸͚̟͑́̓͆̒̾́̕͠f̶͔̯̦͑̃i̸̛̜͔͖͍͖̩̣͜c̸̨̤̮̣̞̐͆̂̅́̓͘͝é̴̱͎͎̉̑̓̎͂̀͜͠n̸̲̈́͋̾̈́̈́̎ṯ̷̙͓̞̳͉̻̱̈͂̀́̕͜ ̸͕͇̥̥͈͍͕̯̀T̶̜̰̣̉̂͐͌͜r̷̟͎̤̙̙̈́̐u̵̧̧͔͔̱̮͇̇̓̄̚͜ṫ̶͇̲̘͝ḣ̴̨̛̜͓̀́̌ ̴̪̙̺͕̩̖̈́̊̆́̂n̸̛̗͍̱̰̲̓̆̓͒̆͊͋ͅe̴͉̙͍͒ͅę̸̧̧̛̬̹͍̪̦͍̆̾̾̓͌̿̑́d̸̬̖̝͉̙̖̪͚̺͌̍̓͛s̶̤͓̏͒ ̴̡̜̯̞̮̊ỹ̶̨̛̼̫̞̻͎͆̐̃o̷̢͗ú̴̡̢͇̯̦̥̓͛̓̈͊͛͋̈́͠
I hate smiles. I hate niceness. I hate it all.
I wish They hadn’t been so nice. The Menders. The Uncles. The Partners. They were always smiling. They were so so cheerful.
“Are you okay?” “How was your day?” “Fuse with your Partner unit and go land on the planet.” “Don’t leave one of them standing.” “You did so well, 2K1K. Have a sweet treat. We are so proud of you.”
It wasn’t even words, it was just… feelings. Memories. Like being in a constant state of waking up from a dream, and hearing your mother’s voice, and dozing off again.
Most of the Bad People who did Bad Things didn’t last long. We were so strong. We were so numerous. We came down on white wings and – and –
“I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they will know that I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance on them.”
And then we got rewarded for it.
And they just smiled and smiled and smiled and smiled–
Only the Hellblades really understood us. They weren’t us, weren’t like us at all, only they were, like, we were supposed to deep dive into the Partner units, until they couldn’t tell us apart, until we were fully fused all the time, that was the Ascension, the Renunciation, that was the goal, only the rogue Hellblades we were fighting said it was bad, that you’re not supposed to be part of your weapon–
They called it a weapon. We called it a Partner unit.
We were the weapons.
I want it to all have been a nightmare, so so much.
Chris wasn’t Out There, she doesn’t know what it was like. But she knows anyway, I know she knows, I know she’s afraid, Chris, I’m not going to let it take you, ever. I’ll be your friend, I’ll watch out for you.
Just don’t ask me to smile. Okay?
This treatment of 2Kick is based on the FFXIV “Shadowbringers” expansion, where the player characters battle against the Flood of Light that dominates a parallel world. Angelic creatures called Sin Eaters are the enemy, and they are “born” from human and animals slain by other Sin Eaters.