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

'Knowing something doesn't mean understanding it?" Well, that's for damn sure.

[Alice is furious. She marches right up to the sage with fire in her eyes. It's only with incredible willpower that she doesn't slap him across the face.

She's seriously considering though.]

How dare you?!? Putting all these people through that much fear and pain for... for what? To teach us that we need to work together? To show us that we're in a desperate situation? That we still shouldn't give up hope?

[Alice doesn't care so much what she had to go through, but there are children here for God's sake. She pauses for a shaky breath.]

All this to tell us things we already know?

Woah, easy! [And despite this, Twilight's going to come between everyone, starting with Alice.] Look, right now, both sides have a reason to act this way. I'm angry, too, but it's obvious that the Sage did this for a reason!

[Twilight lets out a sigh as she continues.] Whatever he told us, it made us desperate. Desperate enough that we would go against our own morals. That we would sabotage all attempts for another way because we've lost hope.

[She turns to the other Heroes.] We approached the Sage looking for answers. We asked, begged, pleaded, demanded for them. Our powers, a way home, how to stop this thing. And we got it. And look what it did.

And if what the Sage is right about Palitutu and the knowledge, then her, Garland and this Kalki person is too far gone to help. If we're going to do this, we're going to go another way that doesn't use what they know.

[Alice sighs heavily and turns to Twilight. She's not accepting that it was okay for him to put them through all of this for some information that they didn't even really get and have no way of knowing if it's true in the first place. Or if there was any information.]

He still didn't show us anything that we couldn't figure out for ourselves. Garland, Kalki, and Palitutu are insane and can't be trusted? Well, no kidding! All I learned today is that I can't trust him either.

[All he's done is drive wedges between friends, make people doubt themselves, and put everyone through unnecessary trauma. And for what? And then he just sits there looking at them disapprovingly like they're students who failed a test. What gives him the right? It makes her sick to think about it.]

And, setting aside whether his 'information' was true, how do you know he even gave us information in the first place? How do you know he didn't just use some kind of weird mind games to create that vision for us?

[And Twilight goes to face Alice. Boy, she's glad that she's had practice in trying to defuse situations like this.]

Look, I'm angry, too. I don't like the idea of being lead around by my ear myself and I think it's wrong of what he did. But, it's obvious that he knows more than he's letting on.

I mean... what if what he showed us is true? Be angry that he did this, fine, but don't dismiss what he showed as just some sort of thing to hurt us. I've been through that route one too many times to know that sometimes even the littlest things have a purpose.

At this point I couldn't take anything he said or showed us at face value. I think we can only really trust what we learn for ourselves.

[She looks away, just feeling tired now.]

I don't like it either, but once bitten, twice shy. I'm tired of everyone trying to manipulate everyone while they pretend they know better than us.

["Manipulate everyone," Ales echoed silently and smiled to himself. So many times has it happened to him in this world: first with Palitutu and then with Lydia in this vision. He respected them for their cunning; they accomplished more than he did. And now this was only leading to a further division between the Heroes.

Ales turns around from the dark corner where he was waiting to face Alice.]

Real or not, it did reveal something about ourselves. What we could potentially do, whether for better or for worse. How likely that will happen is different for each of us, but what you said it right: we have to trust what we decide to learn.

[Like how he learned he can trust fewer people than he initially thought.]

I think most of us knew we had the potential to make mistakes. To give in to our darker feelings or our despair.

[For him, her tone is gentler. It's hard to face up to the darker parts of yourself.]

But those are choices that we should make ourselves. Without any 'help' from people like Kalki, Palitutu, or him.

[She waves a hand vaguely to indicate the sage.]

For now I'm just going to make sure that, when the time comes, I'm strong enough to make a decision I won't regret. And I think we all have the power to do that.

[Cloud has been quiet up to this point, but it doesn't mean he hasn't been listening. He follows the argument and watches as the others try to calm Alice down. Finally he pushes up from his own spot on the floor and joins in the conversation.]

I agree with Alice. It isn't just this world's future that I'm fighting against by my own as well. If we know something, there's always the chance we can change things. And hopefully the choices that we make will be better ones because of that. But I still find it hard to believe it's what the Sage could tell us alone that tears us apart. It's also all the things that happened to us over those two years.

[He looks at the Sage and frowns, steel behind his eyes more reminiscent of his older selves. Cloud is nice enough to his friends, but he doesn't appreciate being pushed around.]

Even if "knowing something doesn't mean understanding it", all you're doing is showing us visions or pulling us around and then telling us that we can't understand like it's our fault everyone is keeping secrets from us. We're doing our hardest to save this world, and every time it seems like someone can help us they just laugh at us instead. You're no better than Kalki or Palitutu. How can we even know if whatever it was you told us in that vision was true? We want to save this world, but what is it YOU want? Really?

You are raising good points. You knew all of this already. But you didn't accept it. And evidently, you still do not.

[ With that said, he didn't address Alice any further. He adjusted a few things on the shelf and turned to the other. ]

The vision you had wasn't a mere dream. Your minds were linked and it happened in your shared consciousness, all I did was add a parameter to the equation, my knowledge. Aside from this, everything else you saw in it are things that already exist within you.

[ Then to Cloud: ]

You asked for knowledge, I said no. You asked for an explanation, but you didn't accept it. So I showed you. It's as simple as that.

[Deadpool kept his gunblade aimed at the Sage, lowering it as he talked to Cloud, eyes wide.]

So... This is our fault? You gotta be [Censored] me! You mean that because we asked for a hand out, we cause the end of the world? Remind me never to beg for spare change or I could collapse Wall Street!

"If you were actually trying to teach a lesson, then tell us what you do want us to do." It disturbs Jack that the more he tries to focus on what he saw, why he saw it, he can't- seem to remember. Like trying to break through a memory block.

"You wouldn't have bothered with us in the first place if you didn't think we were capable of saving this world. We've done this time and time again, and that vision means no more than what Kalki showed us. We've failed before, we have the potential to fail again. Even without your knowledge, how can we prevent that from happening?"

Knowledge without understanding... was it?

[It's painful to admit it, but Jade understands the difference all too well. Every sin he committed in the past was due to one child possessing too much knowledge and not enough wisdom. Believing he knew everything and yet understanding nothing at all. He's changed since then, but... perhaps not enough.

That's the worst part about their vision. Jade doesn't need the Sage to tell him what he saw already exists within him. He knows without a doubt that it's the truth.]

There is still something we're missing, then. Something beyond just knowledge. [He looks at the Sage.] And I suspect it's something you can't simply hand over to us, even if you wanted to.

Edited 2016-02-05 23:05 (UTC)

[It takes time for K'pandolu to gather herself and shake off the confusion of what feels like suddenly being transferred back. She listens, ears half-back. Understanding… the power to hear people's hearts, the power of the Echo… that never came back, and her mouth twists sourly. The Sage still reminds her of the worst she's heard of Sharlayans- keepers of knowledge who remain apart and isolated.

She takes a breath, reminding herself of the words Hydaelyn gave her. Hear. Feel. Think… Surely those are as important now as they ever were in Eorzea.]

Understanding… and hope, perhaps? For it seemed we lost that, though whether that was due to what we were given or not I cannot say.

[Alice gives Cloud a surprised but grateful smile. Someone gets it. What the sage did today is no different than what Kalki did when she showed them the past.

Worse in some ways. Because this was more traumatic and had the potential to set them back in terms of trust and cooperation and they gained far less from it besides.

But it seems like the sage is too busy looking down on them from his ivory tower to care. And don't think she didn't notice that the sage never answered Cloud's question. What was he after? Yet another reason not to trust him. But for now she'll swallow that frustration and see how the others handle him.]

[Rukia doesn't say anything for a long, long moment. Her memories are still fuzzy, so the pain of loss and the bitterness of her last moments aren't quite so raw. But they're still there. And worst of all, she's not entirely sure she made the right decision to step down from what she'd been trying to do. Did she lack the proper conviction? Was her faith ill-founded? She didn't know.]

[And she's not sure if it would have really worked. Would that she could ask the sage, but in front of everyone else? Probably not a wise idea, since she knows more than a few of them might take matters into their own hands and stab her on the spot. This will take a great deal of careful consideration and study, if the sage isn't willing to give her an answer.]

[There's so much she wants to ask, and so much dread and confusion in her mind, she couldn't possibly give voice to any of it. So she waits. Perhaps when the others have left, she'll linger behind for just a moment, to ask the one thing that could decide the rest of her actions while on this world: Would her future plan have really worked, and saved everyone's lives? She desperately needs to know this answer.]

[Be prepared for disappointment, Rukia.]

There is maybe something you are missing. I can't tell, I don't know everything in spite of what you'd like to believe. but there is also something you can lost. That you did lose in the future I showed you.

[ He shook his head one last time. ]

And what you have right is more important than all the knowledge I could give you.

[ And with that said, he went silent. ]

Edited 2016-02-09 22:34 (UTC)

[Rukia hesitates. She looks at the stairs for a moment, wondering if she should leave it at that. She's surprised to find out that he doesn't know, for he was correct in stating that she'd believed he did. Her hand lingers on the door for a moment as she debates quietly. In the end, Yuri had convinced her to keep her faith, even with only a handful of days left to them. Rather than allow the Calamity to complete its absorption of her being, she'd allowed her friend to crush her Crystal and kill her, hoping he was right, and that the answer was still out there. She'd been at peace with that.]

[But now... What if she was wrong? What if her plan had been the right one after all? She hadn't been around to see the outcome that resulted from her decision.]

[She should go, and think it over, but... Her breath leaves in a quiet sigh as she returns, settling on her knees, and bows her head.]

I do not know what it takes to be a Hero of this world, nor do I know how to slow or stop the Calamity. And after what we saw...I feel as if we've let you down somehow. I am sorry.

[Rukia bows a little further forward.]

I want to keep the people of Crystallis safe. If there is a way to do this...even if just to buy us more time for the others to find the answer they believed in...please tell me.

[...and he's still there, pointedly setting himself further towards the back as more and more Heroes finally come around. Just observing the reactions and not reacting all that much himself.

It's exactly as he suspected when he'd stormed from this same room the first time. Games within games within games. It's clearer than ever, to Sephiroth at least, that any Avatar of the Calamity cannot therefore be also aligned into a position to help the Heroes come to an end where they would inevitably defeat it.

He hates to be the one with his arms folded and thinking 'I told you...' but he's still there all the same...

Still watching the Sage with narrowed eyes. He'll be the last one to leave if it means he can glean as much as possible in the meantime.]

[When the Sage goes silent, Jade quietly turns and leaves without looking back. They could be there all day, begging for answers -- what did they do wrong, what were they supposed to do -- but at this point it's not going to get them anywhere. Whether the Sage is disappointed or not, Jade's not planning on putting his remorse on display to garner pity from the man.

He'll have to face Tear and Anise, eventually... But right now, all Jade has the energy to care about is getting a drink. More importantly, he needs someplace quiet to think.]

[Jaeha's feelings are potent, but neutral. He doesn't blame the Heroes, but he doesn't blame the Sage either. He listens to the others, those who still need to know more and those who openly express their outrage, but in the end, their situation is unchanged. He sheds the serious look from his face as he rises to his feet, looking nonchalantly annoyed.]

Well we know what not to do. But the fact remains that we got ripped out of our worlds without a plan or a direction. We still don't know what we should be doing. Until we do, we shouldn't be bothering this nice old man. Think I'll go relax and have a drink.

[He smiles, placing his hands casually in his pockets.]

If any of you ladies care to keep me company, I'll see you downstairs.

[And off he goes. He doesn't actually expect anyone's going to follow, but if they do, he might exercise a little generosity and pay for that drink.]

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