melodiesoflife | Event || The Enemy Within

Entry tags:

Event || The Enemy Within

Characters: All characters who signed-up for the event.
Where: In their heads.
When: January 15th.
Summary: The Heroes of Light have a vision-- They are living through a hypothetical future where the Sage share his knowledge with them, and things went horribly wrong as some Heroes of Light became the villains in this timeline. Maybe they'll revise their thoughts on getting all of that knowledge.
Warning: The apocalypse, deaths, tragedies, overall a lot of very bad things.

Mingle Threads: The Antagonists || The Protagonists || The Others || General
Free Open Threads: The Two Years || Other Events

#01 Attempts at Negotiations || Trano Golsaucia
#02 Tactical Espionage Action || Aqures Ixen
#03 Judgmental Glares || Aerilon
#04 The Fight for the Crystallized Bodies || Aqures Tosf
#05 The Dusk of the Heroes || Mysidia
#06 The Fight for the Moon || Lunar Gate
#07 Conflict Above the Stars || Moon Base
#08 The Birth of a God || Crystal Life Tree
#09 The Death of a World || Moon Base
#10 Where Everything Ends || Pandaemonium

Conclusion || The Sage in Mysidia

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This scene starts at the Protagonists reach the command room from where Crystallis is to be destroyed.

Chrom's breath was loud in his ears as he ran down the hallway. The hard soles of his leather boots clicked and clanked on the metal floors. Ordinarily he would have been awed by the technological wonders of the Ancients: the flashing lights, the dozens of machines, being able to teleport! But when it came to Robin, Chrom had a severe case of tunnel vision. He had to get to her. He wanted to hear her reassure him that she wasn't planning on destroying the world and ending it all. She surely couldn't have fallen so far as to consider something like that!

At long last they reached the command room which, thankfully, had the door open. ~~Otherwise Chrom would have embarrassed himself by pounding on the door and yelling Robin's name until someone quietly pushed the button on the control panel.~~

He burst into the room, his eyes tracking over the others until he finally saw her. "Robin... It's not true, is it?" He shook his head slightly, his expression tightening. "It isn't the sort of thing you would do." She was a tactician, able to think her way out of the most impossible situations. Surely she had a plan for this as well. She just hadn't let Chrom in on it yet, right?

Ichigo wasn't too far behind Chrom, his focus less on the fact with being on the surface of a moon and more on the task at hand. There were weapons on board that could ultimately destroy everything they worked so hard to protect. It wouldn't just destroy their side; it would possibly destroy the entire world itself. Leaving such dangerous weaponry around was asking for trouble and he meant to prevent any additional loss of life whether it was ally or enemy.

He spared a glance behind him at the ones they had run into earlier to make sure they kept up. He wasn't entirely sure their standing with the entire situation but they seemed like honest people and that was enough for him. If they ran into trouble he would help them just as they agreed to help the two of them. He couldn't openly promise he wouldn't attack the enemy that may have been hiding out here but he wouldn't kill them. He refused to kill people above all else as it would make him as bad as them. Deep down Ichigo knew that most people were capable of humanity... even if they had lost it for a while. He would help them find it again.

"So."

Robin heard the door open. She knew that this would come; she knew, too, that there would be those who opposed them. She left the management of the computer to Lydia. She left the translation to K'Pandolu. She could trust them both to do that. For Robin, her task was simple. They had worked their way through her soldiers. As their commander, it fell to her to stand in their way, and insure the only future she could imagine.

Her expression was sad. It was always sad, now. When she smiled, she didn't really smile; her lips may have been curved up at the corners, but the resignation in this woman's eyes took away any sense that this might be her desire.

Robin held a sword in one hand. It glimmered with arcane runes, turned darker; it bled arcane energy. Her robes fluttered out behind her, but she wore armor, too. It looked like her outfit as a Grandmaster, when she still lived on Ylisse, but the golden armor was tarnished a dark blood red. Her cloak was pulled up around her, and motes of black light rose from the floor.

She looked at Ichigo, then at Chrom. "You've come. I thought you might."

Rock had come here for his own reasons. There were advantages to having declared neutrality in all this other than making it a bit easier for him to attempt to negotiate after all. He knew that not all the rogue heroes had the same goals, so he'd been wondering what Robin and her group wanted the moon base for. He'd kind of started to have a bad feeling about it.

So, when he and Bulma had met up with Chrom and Ichigo, he'd been willing to guide them through the base, to the control room, since he'd wanted to head there himself anyway. He hoped it wouldn't come down to a fight, but he knew that chances were good it would be inevitable.

He was currently using the classes he'd first arrived on Crystallis with, Gunner and Blue Mage, by this point fully maxed out and sporting a good verity of different monster attacks. While he had the ability to become Megaman again, he'd found himself fighting human opponents often enough that he found being human himself to be easier.

He came to a stop behind Ichigo and Chrom, frowning as he took in the scene before him. He didn't really know Robin very well at all, but he really didn't like that look in her eyes. Looking past her, he also saw Lydia, who he also didn't know well, though he'd met her briefly the first time he'd arrived in this world and seen her a few times since, and K'Pandolu, who he was more familiar with as a fellow neutral over the two years since things started falling apart.

His eyes narrowed a bit as he walked forward to stand beside Ichigo, Jazz the Moogle floating in behind him. That bad feeling of his was starting to get worse. He decided to just let Chrom talk, since from the sound of it, he seemed to know something about this.

Edited 2016-01-26 04:54 (UTC)

Lydia was focused on the computer-console, two puppets beside her that were mere skeletons with an odd head standing nearby to guard and aid her and K'Pandolu. For now, Lydia would let Robin do the talking so long as she didn't let their plan on too soon.

A small hand-held computer resting in her hands, as she typed upon it. Then closing that, placing it at her hip in a bag, and moved to the console. Hacking into the Ancient's Computer, beckoning K'Pandolu closer. "Not everyone understands, Ms. K'Pandolu. They don't see that this is for the best." Her voice soft, quiet and full of conviction and sadness that had become common to her over the years. "We've been through so much." There might be a faint ghost of a smile on her face. "You and I arrived here on Crystallis together, after all."

Edited 2016-01-26 04:56 (UTC)

Chrom spared a brief and uneasy glance for Robin's bared sword before his gaze returned to her face. "I did. But not to fight you." She was armed, but he refused to draw a blade on her. Something had to be manipulating her. Was it that accursed job she'd picked up? Or was she just so overwhelmed by grief that she'd lost her way?

He took a step forward, more to put Ichigo and Rock behind him lest they come to any unnecessary harm. If it really came to blows, then it was entirely likely that they would have to be the ones to fight back, because he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not against her. Not even against Lydia.

"Robin, look at me. I know you've lost...so much," he raised his hands, clenching them into fists. "He was my son too. But it's not over. Not as long as we're both alive! We can still give him a future!" he pleaded with her, furrowing his brow. "If anyone can think of a solution to this problem, a brilliant strategy the rest of us hadn't considered, it's you. Please..." He held out his hand to her, gloved fingers outstretched. "Come back to us. To me."

Ichigo wasn't very familiar with those in the room but he was unwilling to start a fight just yet, letting his eyes roam about the control room for a brief moment to get a better idea of how it was set up if things got... complicated. It would be the best scenario if talking could defuse the tension but sometimes situations would go awry and fast.

When Chrom spoke of the child Ichigo's gaze snapped back to look at the man, his grim expression faltering into one of pained pity. They lost their son? So many people had lost those close to them but losing family resonated with him personally. Leaving his blade untouched from the strap across his back Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest, the Warrior armor shifting slightly. It wasn't right for him to speak, not in regards to a terrible loss like that. He honestly hoped Chrom could talk the woman down, try to ease the suffering that her eyes had. It would be no easy task but fighting someone with that much grief could possibly do more harm than good. He instead focused his attention on the two by the computers, wondering where they stood.

Near three years, and Calamity close upon them. All the time, and pain- and the answer to freeing them all of this… It had to be here. The arrival of others was an unwelcome distraction, but she glanced over her shoulder to see who'd come anyway. If it came to a fight…

She looked back at Lydia when the other spoke, expression softening into something softer and pained. It wasn't fair that any of them should have been brought here- but especially not one of Lydia's age. Nor was it right to lose friends and family to this world. With that conviction in mind, she nodded. "Freedom is the best thing we can offer them," she said, and raised her eyes to meet those of the others in the room, daring them to argue.

Edited (extra letter) 2016-01-27 04:52 (UTC)

"Chrom... you know, by now, that isn't how this works."

Robin said it calmly, almost gently, but there was something incredibly firm in her words. She looked at him for a moment, hesitating completely. The thought of Morgan still gave her a shiver; still raised something terrified in her stomach. She looked down and she worried.

"We've found a solution," she said. "It isn't an easy one. But, sometimes... tacticians must choose the hard way. The way that grants life to everyone in the end -- not the way that dooms us all."

"Grants life...?" Chrom wasn't really sure what she meant, but he wanted to believe in her. Some had said that they'd come here to destroy the planet itself from afar, but surely that couldn't be true. It was said that method would destroy all of existence as well. That wasn't the sort of thing Robin would do.

So why was she looking at them like that, with that empty void filling the eyes that were once so full of life and laughter? Chrom was torn.

"Grant life how?" he asked, his eyes searching her face for some glimmer of hope.

Part of Bulma had come along with the small band of would-be heroes for the fact that among there numbers was a walking, talking robot; a miracle of science and invention. Another part of her had been done in by the visual beauty that was the swordsman known as Chrom. Very soon into her trip with them, however, and her intentions had gone from shallow to serious. For a long time she'd been ignorant, on purpose, of the situation occurring in Crystallis. Curiosity, answers, and truth had kept her standing beside the approaching party.. even if it meant she stood a few feet behind them out of fear.

Clearing her throat, she waved a hand over her head while the other held tight to a small container no bigger than a pocket mirror. Her intentional cry for attention was a meager effort, of which she did not expect much success, but at the very least it was worth a shot.

"Look. I hate to break up this reunion since it's obvious you two have some sort of history? Romantic history, maybe? Chrom..? Yeah? -Any way. How about some one point me in the direction of the main console to this station and the rest of you all can just catch up on lost time?"

Lydia offered a small smile, sad but at peace with herself too. "It's occupied already. Sorry." Polite, still so polite, even if the zest she'd once had no longer manifested itself. With her two puppets, and K'Pandolu helping translate, Lydia felt secure enough.

"Miss Robin, if you want to try and explain to him, Miss K'Pandolu and I will continue to work. We'll be safe enough." Still so peaceful, and insistent. If need be she'd cast virtual shield, and it would buy time.

Something that granted life. As one who fought with and against the dead that sounded too ominous to ignore. Ichigo's eyes roamed from Robin to the others by the terminal. They all seemed calm enough to talk to, at least for the moment, but he spared Bulma a bit of a surprised glance at her sudden bold remark. She'd been fairly quiet and distracted up until then. Maybe she was just as nervous as everyone else.

He returned his attention to Robin. There was no way the Moon Base held something that granted life--there were weapons and they were extremely dangerous. Were they planning on using them?

"I don't think anything in this place will be able to grant life. It doesn't work that way."

He hoped she wasn't trying to justify using any of the weapons with the memory of her dead son. Surely she must have heard some wrong information.

[ooc: Lemme know if I got any details massively wrong here; I can definitely edit to fix the tag if so!]

"Very well, Lydia."

Robin looked at them in turn -- at Ichigo, first, with a frown, and then at Chrom. She frowned a little more sharply at that.

"We have to think in a larger picture. The Calamity must be stopped. Until it is, we are caught in a cycle of death and rebirth -- and not as ourselves," Robin answered. "But... there is a way to be reborn. A way, I believe, that we would be reborn in the world we meant to. For that..."

She looked down, then. "...We must create an ending to an endless cycle."

[ooc: Iiii think everything looks all right? heading along anyhow.]

Satisfied for the moment that the others were not about to strike out at them, K'pandolu took a step back, towards the console again. Still- Robin's mention of rebirth struck a chord in her, that memory of seeing one of her closest friends fail to recognise her in any way, and she held out a hand, imploring. "We'll be free of all this," she promised. They'd understand that, wouldn't they? They had to.

"An ending...?" Then what they'd said, the things about destroying the world...! He shook his head in disbelief, his chest feeling tight all of a sudden. Dimly he heard the words of the others around him (poor Bulma, he was so completely oblivious to her admiring stares), but all of his attention was completely fixed on Robin.

"No... You can't mean that!" He reached out to seize her shoulders, searching her face desperately for some sign to prove him wrong. "As long as there's a cycle, we have a chance to fix things, to do it right! We have to keep trying, no matter how long it takes! Even if we fall...even if the people we love are lost to us...we can't give up. I won't let you lose hope, Robin! We need you... I need you. If it all ends, then we truly will have nothing left!"

Lydia stayed close to K'Pandolu, her puppets guarding them both. Half of her attention on their former friends, ready to cast a barrier if needed. The other half with Ms. K'Pandolu, as she translated and Lydia worked to hack into the ancient device.

"It's funny. We only started learning about it, back home, before I was brought here. In World Religions class. There's are a few Eastern beliefs that deal with reincarnation, cycles of death and rebirth. I think the one though, Buddhism? The goal, was to step outside of that cycle. To attain Nirvana, as a state of ultimate peace. Away from that cycle."

Her voice is deadpan, and there's a faint laugh as Lydia starts to speak--but it's not mirth, but a joyless laugh. Of all the things for her to remember now. "We're trying to achieve that." Ultimate peace...

By ending pain, suffering...ending everything.

Ichigo's gaze shifted between the three of them. What they were saying was insane. Larger picture? Rebirth and cycles? They were that determined in their belief that they had to help bring things to an end. Chrom was trying his damnedest but his words seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"Are you listening to yourselves?! You're talking about killing people! Murder! We're all supposed to be fighting together, not against each other!"

But he knew. He damned well knew they wouldn't see sense from words alone and he hated it. So many lives had been lost already and there were still people out there that depended on them all to keep them safe. He wasn't sure if Rock and Bulma were willing to fight but even if they weren't he wouldn't hold it against them. But that promise they asked both Chrom and him to keep... there was a good chance he'd have to break it.

"Don't do this."

This time, when Chrom approached, Robin batted his hands away from her shoulders. Her gaze hardened, ever so slightly, at his words. Then, she glanced at Lydia.

She nodded.

"We'll have everything, Chrom," she said. "Once we end it. We cannot keep going in this cycle. You--" She pointed at Ichigo. "--call it murder. I can't think of it that way. This is a chance to save everyone. A chance to break this cycle."

She lifted her head, her eyes reflecting the light and shining. "A chance to free everyone. We will take it."

K'pandolu tore her gaze away from the others, hand dropping, her tail beginning to twitch. The word Nirvana- she'd heard that before, but she abandoned all thought of trying to chase it down in favour of the concern that brought out in her. "Lydia…?" She reached out for Lydia's shoulder, eyebrows drawing together. "Come on. We're almost there…"

But- her ears twitched back at Ichigo's words, and she picked at the front of her coat, worrying out a thread. There'd been so much death already- was that what she'd wanted? Was that the duty she was called to?

She took a breath, hands tightening. "After that… everyone will be able to live their own lives, won't they?" A future full of life… That was what Erik had said, back in Mor Dhona.

"At what cost? All of those people, Robin..." His expression was pained, and yet, it was only a fraction of the agony he felt at hearing those words come from the woman he'd loved for so long. His gaze fell, then moved to Ichigo. The line on his brow almost seemed pleading before he closed his eyes.

"...Ichigo is right. This is murder...genocide. It won't save anybody, you know this.."

There was no talking it through, was there? He was still for a moment, his heart pounding in his chest. Then in a quick, fluid motion he drew Falchion and turned toward the console. He refused to harm a single living person in this room, but he could drive the blade into the machine that could prove to be the means of causing so much death. He wouldn't let it happen, and he certainly wouldn't let Robin soil her hands with that much blood.

"Initiating Virtual Shield." Annoying, and Lydia's voice was almost a monotone as she called on the spell from her Programmer job. A barrier coming to surround the console, along with Lydia and K'Pandolu. It would buy them time, and prevent Chrom from attacking the machine. Her two puppet-robots with the odd-skeletal heads standing nearby, away from the shell.

"So long as the cycle exists, we are not in control of our own lives, Ms. K'Pandolu." Another smile, tinged with sadness but not reaching her eyes. Too much had happened for Lydia to really find joy in much anymore.

It really looked like Chrom didn't want to fight. He couldn't blame the man one bit. The entire situation was wrong with people believing they could sacrifice the lives of others for the 'greater good'. They were making a mistake. When Chrom drew his blade Ichigo reached up to his shoulder and grasped the hilt of Zangetsu strapped to his back. There was no choice.

"If you won't listen to reason then we'll kick your asses until you realize what you're doing!"

He eyed the console Chrom was looking at before focusing his attention back on Robin. If they both went for it she would more than likely stop them before they could get close to the others. But the two at the console could pose a problem too.

"You gonna be okay with handling that computer, Chrom?"

"When we're freed of this cycle, K'pandolu... then, we will have new lives. That is what I believe. That is the only hope left to us!" Robin said, some heat entering her voice at the end.

She saw Chrom draw Falchion. In her nightmares, her hand moved beyond her control; some power forced her to, as red energy veined and pulsed in her vision, and seized her mind. Now, there wasn't any nightmarish power controlling her. She raised a hand, open palm, and pointed it towards Chrom in a quick motion. A massive gout of flame exploded off her hand, hurtling towards the blue-haired sword wielder.

Her eyes snapped towards Ichigo, then, and narrowed.

Around her, tendrils of black light began to curl and warp, as if hungry.

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unyieldingspirit - 2016-02-24 14:50 (UTC) - Expand

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shepherd_prince - 2016-02-27 16:07 (UTC) - Expand

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Event || The Enemy Within

#09 The Death of a World || Moon Base

Re: #09 The Death of a World || Moon Base

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oops sorry!

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sorry for the delay! I, uh, had some pretty serious food poisoning.

no fear!

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