Event || The Enemy Within

[melodiesmods]

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

Comments

[grandsummon]

She wasn't sure that she'd heard that right, in fact, it took her a little longer than usual to piece together just what he was saying to her. With the spoon placed back in the bowl, she stopped, her mixed gaze locked on him.

"Vaan?" That couldn't be. All this time...

The bowl met the table with as soft a noise it probably could have made as she placed it down carefully. She shifted on the bed again, this time her legs coming forward to hang off the ledge, her eyes searching for the grey of Vaan's all the while.

"Is -- that true?" He didn't lie, he didn't lie to her especially, and there was no way he would lie about this. "The one that..." she didn't want to say it out loud, didn't want to dredge up those memories for him, " -- it was Terra?"

[idleskypirate]

He winced at her voice slightly, keeping his eyes downcast until she saw her shift and he looked up. He reached out to stop her, she needed to rest and keep warm, not move around. But it was no use at this point and his hands went back to his lap, clasped together in a mix of flesh and metal.

"Yes," He answered truthfully, unable to avoid her eyes now that she thought them out. His eyes were wet, as it still brought back the memories. The pain, the astonishment, disbelief... "She was grieving and I... I was just trying to help, y'know? I-I lost my brother to war, I know what it's like and what i-it can do to you. She wasn't ready to move on and I should've... I should've seen it."

Now that he was talking, it was like a damn had burst. "She changed s-suddenly. She had claws and purple fur on her arm. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground and there was all this blood and she just looked so scared. She ran and I never found her since."

[grandsummon]

How terrible. It was downright awful. Remembering back to the time of the Gods' War -- Yuna knew that Vaan had gone out of his way to help Terra, free her even from the enemy's grasp. He had put so much on the line for her back then. Even though Terra didn't remember that time... it didn't mean that it hadn't happened for Vaan.

It was too much. To think that in trying to comfort her Terra had lost control over her own powers... how many more trials were they going to have to suffer through? She wished she could have felt anger, but seeing Vaan sitting there, when he had always seemed so confident to her -- stumbling over his words...

Yuna slid just a little further off the bed, enough for her feet to touch the floor, as she moved over to where he was. It wasn't pity in her eyes, but sadness... maybe in a way, she was like Terra, too... hurting people that she cared about when it was the last thing she had meant to do...

Reaching out, she touched the edges of Vaan's shoulder, where metal met skin. Her fingers moved slowly, carefully, over where wire met with flesh, the very edges of the machina her cousin had fashioned. "You didn't want to tell anyone what happened back then... it was to protect her, wasn't it."

[idleskypirate]

Vaan swallowed as he nodded, brows furrowing when she touched his shoulder, running her fingers over the wiring that connected to his nerves. It was truly remarkable what Rikku had fashioned for him. But he still felt so broken regardless. He had lost something of himself that day.

"She didn't... deserve what the authorities would've done," He said softly, reaching for Yuna's hand on his shoulder. For support, for comfort. "They didn't see the look in her eyes. She was so horrified, Yuna. Terra knows what she's capable of and she's tried so hard to not fight. And then I pushed her. It's my fault this happened."

He hadn't even realized tears were rolling down his cheeks until he felt them on his lap. This was his burden but in finally telling someone, it felt as though some of the weight was lifted.

[grandsummon]

While he spoke, Yuna shifted more. Slowly, she knelt down, and as she did, her hand continued to trace the length of his artificial arm. Gently she moved down across the mechanisms of the bicep, carefully around the intricacies of the elbow joint, lightly down what was now his forearm, until her thin fingers rested over the cool metal of his own.

"It's not your fault, Vaan," she moved to squeeze those mechanical fingers between her own, as though to somehow show him that it was a part of him, and one that she had long accepted. "Please, don't ever think that," she rested on her knees now, looking up at him from the ground. Before she even had a chance to stop herself, her other hand was reaching up, brushing away one of those tears before it could fall any further.

She hadn't seen Terra much at all since Sephiroth had died, and this... actually explained a lot of the whys. "Even during the war of the Gods... you've only ever tried to help her." Emotions had probably been running at breakneck speed, she doubted that he had meant to push her, but had to wonder... how easily it probably had been to do just that.

[idleskypirate]

Vaan closed his eyes. He couldn't feel her hand on his arm, not like he normally could anyway. It felt like an odd pressure, telling him her hand was there and that was it. But he appreciated the comfort it brought, even as her hand brushed away his tears. Her metal fingers curled over her own and he rested his normal hand on top.

"I'm sorry I never told you," He replied with a sniffle, eyes opening to look into hers. "I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt her. I was just-..."

Afraid. Alone. It had taken him awhile to process what he lost and how it had happened and once he was able to, there was just no way for him to tell. He couldn't bring himself to, no matter who asked. He shook his head and patted her arm. "You should be resting."

[grandsummon]

There was a shake of her head, at both things really. He had no obligation to tell her what had happened that day, and she had no right to ask. Especially not with all the things she was keeping from him... from everyone. And rest -- well, that was out of the question seeing him in such a state. There would be no rest until she could somehow make him feel better. He'd been keeping this secret for so long... almost two years, wasn't it?

Grasping tighter to that metal hand, she lifted it up, moving to spread both of their intertwined finger out, then bringing what was his new palm to her cheek, cupping her face with it, as she looked up at him.

"It's okay," Yuna's voice was softer than ever, "that day... I was just glad you were alive. I -- don't know what I would have done, if..." her eyes closed, and she tilted her head just slightly, managing to somehow find warmth in that cold steel -- if only because it belonged to him.

[idleskypirate]

Vaan and Yuna's relationship was complicated, to say the least. Friends first, lovers occasionally, and always comrades in arms. He was grateful for her presence, even if most may frown upon what they did when he visited. But here and now, as she held his hand as though it wasn't made of metal, it was almost like things were normal. That there was no war between the Heroes, that Terra had never reacted like she did and he would have never lost his arm.

"Well, I had you, didn't I?" He replied just as softly. "And Mary, too. I would have died if she hadn't come into the flower shop that day...c'mon."

Gently pulling from her grasp, Vaan held her shoulders to move her back to the bed. And he made it plain that he would join her once his boots were off. She needed to rest and stay warm, the least he could do right now was provide what he could. Just like he always did.

fade to black on your next tag, y/n??

[grandsummon]

"Always." So many things would stay left unsaid between them, but despite that, there was the smallest of smiles at what he had said. One that threatened to crest tears in her eyes, that she held them back for both of their sakes. She offered no resistance as he rose, directing her back to the bed, hoping that somehow revealing the truth had eased some of his fears. As he went to remove his boots, she slipped under the covers again, and shifted underneath them carefully before he would return.

By the time her movements had quieted, she had pushed her back up against the wall of the cabin, making room for him in the bed. With her head resting comfortably on the pillow, the covers revealed her bare neck and shoulders -- while she looked up and him, and waited.

Just for one more night, they could forget about what loomed outside of this room.

Just one more night...

Of course <3

[idleskypirate]

Vaan pushed his boots to the side, knowing what Yuna was doing as she moved about beneath the sheets. He joined her in the same fashion, pulling the blanket back up shortly after once settled and he had her in his arms.

He brushed his thumb beneath her eyes, wiping any remnants of her own sadness for their lives. Tonight wouldn't be about that. They needed to forget what was said tonight, to take comfort and warmth where they could and not worry about the outside one more time.