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

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He honestly wasn't comprehending what had just happened. Her arm changed, clawed and purple and strong. Terra yanked her arm from his grip, leaving much more open than he expected to be because it was Terra. The girl who didn't want to hurt anyone.

Next thing Vaan realized was that he was crashing into a few potted plants and blood had sprayed onto said plants. He was already in shock, eyes wide as he didn't quite register the pain only he did at the same time. He looked down at his left arm, it was still there but only because she hadn't snapped the bone. His shoulder was torn.

"Terra...?" His right hand reached out to where she had been last he remembered. "Help...I..."

His voice cracked and stuttered because he didn't know. Terra attacked him but... that couldn't have been right. Right?

Terra was trembling and she felt more tears fall from her eyes as she watched Vaan stagger backwards. That smell, that sight... it was all her fault. She rose her hand to help only to see the bright scarlet blood dripping from her fingers.

No

There was nothing that she could do to heal a wound like that. There was no spell she knew in Crystallis that would help. Fear gripped her throat and she felt herself fall backwards. She lost control, one of the things that she had feared most of all. She felt herself fall back against the wall and then turn towards the door. There was nothing she could do.

Nothing... nothing... nothing.

Her eyes were clouded with tears now as she staggered towards the exit. She hadn't meant to run but she didn't know what else to do. Tempest would find Vaan quickly, knowing that Terra had been at the flower shop. He'd survive but she couldn't help. She was dangerous.

It was better if she just wasn't there at all.

Vaan had been injured before. On Ivalice and during the Conflict. But never to quite this extent, where a friend had attacked him and then abandoned him. He'd seen the tears in her eyes, the shock on her face that surely matched his own. He couldn't move, his vision swimming as the pain clouded his mind and he shivered against the mess of pots and dirt, his outstretched hand falling as he quickly grew weaker as his blood flowed.

"T-Terra...?" He called in vain, but he heard nothing aside from frantic flutters of...something? His moogle? Her moogle? Vaan didn't know, his eyes fixated on a spot of one of the broken pots next to his face. "Terra-?!"

Pure luck. That was the primary factor that could account for the swiftness with which help came for Vaan. Kidd had been in the area for her own purposes and one of them had been to check on the status of Terra's shop. It wasn't out of her way to check up on it when she was in town and she recalled how the green haired lass had been a help in both patching and solidifying things between herself an Saori.

She'd been spending a bit more time in Aerilon since the visit with the sage but the disaster with the rift had her in Aqures Ixen for as long as it took to make sure such an incident wouldn't happen again. And so it was a search for flowers that lead to her banging on the doorway while a moogle frantically tried to explain what had just happened.

"Hello? Are you alright in there? I'm going to break the door down, stand back!" The door was locked, but it was nothing a little effort and a well placed boot couldn't handle. Three kicks below the doorknob and the door slammed open. The pirate rushed into the room, looking about for anyone in need. Even with her experiences, the sight of Vaan's arm as her eyes settled upon it made her recoil.

Tears had fallen by this point, from still wide and shocked gray eyes when he caught sight of Kidd. "Please... h-help, Terra, she-!"

He didn't know how to say it. That she attacked him? Because he pushed her? The pain was still so overwhelming and his face was growing awfully pale from blood loss. His voice was caught in his throat as he continued to pathetically try and sit up, to move, something-!

He was alive. That was something. And for him to have not passed out in shock said high things about his will. But his words were disconcerting. Did he mean "Please help, Terra" or "Please help Terra"? What had happened here?

It didn't matter. He was losing a lot of blood and trying to talk or move would only make things worse. The pirate took a knee next to Vaan, raising a black gloved hand to channel her magic. "Here now. You need help first. We don't need more Heroes dying on us....STOP" The Time Magic she was slowly getting a handle on wound around Vaan, freezing him in place. It wasn't a perfect remedy, but it would at least buy her time to carry him to safety.

(ooc: feel free to skip ahead or whichever you like)

Vaan didn't remember much once the Time magic hit him, nor when it wore off and he was put to Sleep right away. All he could remember was feeling like he was drifting and a dull throb in his left shoulder. There was no telling how long he was out for. He'd lost a lot of blood and when he did finally open his eyes, the pain had grown worse. Except something was wrong, but he couldn't tell.

His brows furrowed as he struggled to open his eyes, bright light hitting his face and causing him to recoil and groan. "Wh-Wha...?"

At first it seemed like the room was empty when he woke up. It was a stark hospital room. Probably not a sight that raised any particularly fond memories for the Dalmascan. The other Hero who came to his rescue was nowhere in sight.

"Oh! You're awake!" Sitting on the window sill by his bed was a moogle wearing a cloth hood. She looked worried, but relieved now that he was moving again, "How are you feeling, kupo?"

No, it didn't. It made him think of Reks and how he had faded away in a hospital room not unlike this one. But unlike the last time, Van was responsive, if still groggy. He opened his eyes again, squinting in the light and settling on the moogle he'd never met before.

He moved his right arm to try and push himself up, wondering just why he couldn't seem to do the same with his left and it felt like there was a lot of bandages all over his chest. His own moogle suddenly came out of the hallway and saw that Vaan was trying to sit up. "No, you should lay back, kupo! You've been through a lot!"

What? He froze when he suddenly remembered. The blood, the pain, Terra. He looked over at his shoulder where he thought he would see a terrible scar or something while he was correct, there were quite a few bandages around his chest and shoulder, a very important limb was not there anymore.

"What is this?"

Bonnie looked over to Vaan's moogle, frowning and fretting. What had happened to Vaan was a horrifying sight to be sure, but for Bonnie who held the Heroes in such regard it hurt her to see one so vulnerable. Especially after everything else that had happened recently.

"Um...Mary has gone looking for Terra. She's trying to find out what went on, kupo. D-don't worry. We don't blame her...I mean...we won't arrest her...I mean...umm...kupoooo." Bonnie fretted over explanations, but the simple truth of the situation didn't need her to step in and state.

Every day since they had brought him in, Vaan had been the first patient Yuna checked in on. His vitals had stabilized, and all things considered, he had been doing well. Since the amputation, she had all but insisted on being the one to check on his dressings, changing them herself without help whenever she could get away with it.

She had been there the night he had arrived -- grateful that Kidd had already chosen to use the time magic on him, even though he had lost so much blood already. His brachial artery had been shredded, like a monster had somehow gotten a hold of his arm...

Yuna knew nothing more of the story than what his injuries had told her. His room was close to her desk, and the sounds of voices roused her from the paperwork that wasn't getting done -- pulling her to the doorway. As she looked in, her mismatched eyes immediately went to the young man in the bed. "Vaan..." she paused, gaze drifting over to Bonnie, who she knew had been holding vigil at his bedside when she could -- then back to the patient again. "Um. How... are you feeling?"

Someone was after Terra, to maybe arrest her or interrogate and Montblanc was trying calm him down (his breathing had increased) and his arm was gone and Yuna was asking how he was feeling? He didn't answer and continued to try and sit up until he finally managed to do it. He was panting and his hair clung to his face. He reached over to lightly touch at his shoulder, eyes narrowing as the pain flared.

"Tell Mary to come back," Vaan finally replied, fingers drifting to the bandages closer to his neck so he didn't aggravate the wound as he held tightly. "Terra isn't her concern. She's no one's concern, okay? She didn't do anything wrong."

He squeezed his eyes shut. How does someone even comprehend losing a limb? He'd seen them before, the soldiers who managed to return from war. But never had he spoken to them, too worried about his brother. He pulled his knees up and rested his forehead on them. "Why was it taken?" He shuddered as he spoke, trying to hold back.

Bonnie looked a little nervous at Vaan's request but she gave him an obedient little nod. With Yuna in here she didn't plan to go into details either. "D-don't worry, kupo. She just wanted to make sure she was okay too." She knew that Mary could kill someone easily if she wanted to, but she had assured the Moogle that the other Hero wasn't a target. Even so, if what she was told was right, the moogle still worried after her own Hero.

Pulling out some paper she scribbled a quick note to her Adventurer. She then fluttered over to Montblanc to get his signature as well. "This is just to verify he's okay, kupo. And I can use the official channels to find Mary." Mognet allowed the moogles to travel quickly, but she was responsible enough to not abuse it. And with that she was off.

The healer winced. Of course, there would be no way of knowing how he would react, let alone feel, once he finally had woken up. It was a stupid question in light of things, but it had been the only thing that she could think of... a poor icebreaker to gauge his mental state...

She watched intently during the exchange, picking up that Terra was somehow a part of what had happened -- though her mind strayed to the possibility that the girl could have been injured as well, in whatever had happened. Had they been ambushed by fiends while they were together?

Yuna was quiet as Bonnie fluttered off, giving her a sympathetic look while she entered the room, her head bowed. She approached the bed quietly, wondering how close she should even come, wanting to reach out to him, but holding back on her own part as well.

"I'm sorry, Vaan. There was too much damage... We tried everything we could, but with the loss of circulation..." there was a pause. What more could she even say, except -- "I'm so sorry..."

Vaan wanted to tell her that they could have done more, that there had to have been something but he bit his lip and refrained. Even he knew that magicks had their limits and white mages were not miracle workers. But it was hard for him to comprehend right now. He didn't know what he could do now, the only upside was that it wasn't his dominate hand.

"It's not your fault," He murmured, shaking his head against his knees. "It's mine."

He shouldn't have pushed her. Should have backed off when he had the chance.

Before he realized, his shoulders shook and he hiccuped. He was useless now.

After some time the door to the hospital room opened. Bonnie was first through the door, panicking and frantically gesturing. She was worried that they might have missed something serious. Mary managed to look a little less overwrought but she was still concerned for the sake of the young man she'd brought in. However she was a little surprised to see Yuna here as well.

"Ah...is everything okay? I came to check on Mister Vaan's recovery." She was more than willing to leave if that's what they wanted.

Edited 2016-02-11 20:46 (UTC)

"Vaan, no..." If anything, she hadn't wanted to hear him say something like that most of all. She refrained from stepping inside, from placing a hand on his other arm... from hugging him. It was almost a godsend when the door opened, revealing Mary at the threshold.

Bowing her head, sure that there was nothing more of comfort she could say for now, she nodded just slightly in Mary's direction, and backed out of the way, and out of the room.

Perhaps someone else's words would be more comforting than the ones she wasn't able to find.

Vaan didn't answer both Mary and Yuna. How could he? He didn't really know the answer himself. He was hurt, he lost his arm, the girl who did it had run away and was probably hurting just as badly...

He just didn't know what to do right now. How could he move forward from this? They lost so many in the Rift, then this happened, how much more could they take?

Mary didn't catch all of the exchange between Yuna and Vaan, but she caught enough to get an idea of what had been going on. She frowned as Yuna left the room, hoping she could have stayed a bit longer but she wasn't going to force the poor girl.

Moving to the bedside she took a seat, looking over the young man. Truth be told, as bad as his injury was she'd seen far worse in her time. He was lucky to be alive but it didn't mean he had nothing left for him either.

"So...I found her. But I didn't do anything. This wasn't entirely her fault. Was it?" She wasn't accusing him of anything. Rather she suspected the whole matter was an accident based on the clues she'd been able to gather.

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Event || The Enemy Within

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Feel free to go back and forth for a bit and Mary can return after the two talk.

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/bowing out!

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