melodiesoflife | Hidden Truth [Log]

Hidden Truth [Log]

What: A log for everyone to gain the information in the Hidden Truth video tape.
Where: The Observatory.

There had been a flurry of letters sent out from Jack and Chiaki, first to Zelda to ask to borrow the Observatory, and then to every Hero of Light, alerting them that they had uncovered some intelligence received in the Heran Empire before the Capital had fallen to Crystal, and that everyone needed to see it immediately.

Jack, Chiaki, and a few others brought in a screen connected to a machine that some would recognize as a VCR. "With our peace mission to the Imperial Capital over Christmas, we returned with a recording made on 20th-century Earth technology, the kind that doesn't have an analogue on Crystallis. It took us time to build a machine to be able to play it. This information comes from Kalki, recorded what appears to be years ago. We obtained it from the Imperial Spy, Jenni. As of right now, we still have no reason to believe that Kalki is alive. But this comes from her, and I apologize to everyone who might be upset by seeing her again."

With that, Jack plays the recording. He stands by the screen and repeats the words for everyone to hear, for those who cannot understand English. Since Kalki's first words are to explain why she is recording it this way, it makes sense why he has to do this. He keeps his own emotions in check throughout, until the explanation of the Bard song that everyone gets to hear. That seems to upset Jack.

Once the recording is over, Jack pauses. "We will need some help from any other English speakers to create a written transcript of the recording so that anyone can access this information at any time. The tape and player will remain here for any Heroes to review. We ask that you please be careful with the machine."

Finally, Jack sits down to let the room descend into the inevitable chaos.

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"I would protect the person I care about." She answered without hesitation. "But this isn't connected to our Ib. It's a different soul who looks the same. I know this because of who I saw in the past. The goddess Hylia, she is me, we share the same soul but the woman I saw was outside of my time. I wouldn't be alive if her soul was trapped here." She hoped that he might understand.

"There isn't a way to know until we try. I WON'T let Ib get hurt." She'd do everything and anything to keep her alive and well. Even if it meant her own life, Zelda didn't care.

"Our future is in the hands on our children. Hasn't that always been the case?" Zelda was twenty going on twenty one, she was still a child in some respects but has been forced to grow up. "I just... I won't stop you if you really want to leave but please consider. We don't even know what this is."

Kaji stops, he looks Zelda deep in the eyes, and is trying to hear what she is saying. It was Ib, his heart still hurts when he sees the image of her digging in the dirt, searching for something that she can never find.

"They should be able to grow into the future. I don't want it placed in her hands too early." But some of the fight is gone out of his voice.

Kaji very slowly opens up the tin, and he pulls the still-wrapped crystal out of the tin, holds it in his hand without touching it. "I don't trust...everyone in this room to hold Ib's safety as their highest priority." That's reasonable, at least, right? Wouldn't just hand this thing over to anyone.

"Then wait; tell Ib first or we can hold a smaller meeting. We can do what makes you comfortable Kaji but you shouldn't run." It will only make things worse if he left now and it would make people wonder why.

Not only that Zelda still believed that Ib should be the first to learn of the crystal and where Kaji got it.

Jade was among those who needed the recording translated. He listened in silence, watching Kalki's face closely as he did. He didn't speak up immediately once the tape was done playing.

"At least this confirms what we knew about the creation of the Avatars and the Black Crystals. I suppose that's something." The motivations of their adversaries, too, were good to have laid out in the open. Fewer mysteries to speculate about.

"For someone so concerned we'd become corrupted by the Calamity, she seemed rather confident that her ideal world was the best for everyone."

"I will. I'll. I'll talk to Ib. But I don't just want to turn this over to the Crystal Laboratory. So many people are in and out of there. If there was a way to ensure that the only people to work with it were people who had her best interests in mind..."

Kaji pauses and looks up slowly. Now there's an idea. He vaguely points to Zelda while he is thinking. "I think...no, I know. I can actually make that work."

"But you're right, we have to speak to her first."

Zelda nodded her head and gave Kaji a confident smile. "And we will. Right now it's safe here."

She placed another hand on the box but didn't move to take it. "Let me put it down stairs where it will be safe and out of the way." She had a small vault she could lock it in.

Although Ace found it slightly easier to agree with Cloud's opinion, he wasn't optimistic enough to see much relevance to his last sentiment. "Our meeting was also far too brief to know for certain." With so much on their plate as it already was, it seemed pointless to divert their attention toward the life of one individual, but his friend's observation sparked another idea in Ace's head.

"But what you've just said about the Calamity's influence - it does make me wonder..." Letting out a thoughtful hum, he let his gaze fall to the ground. "I think it is safe to assume that, at this point, through its link to the Avatars, Narayana is feeding on the one element it's incapable of obtaining via regular means, and that is their humanity."

A notion not at all unfamiliar. "In my world, it was said to be one of the consequences which befell the l'Cie." His eyes returned to Cloud before any questions could be raised. "The warriors that entered into a pact with their Crystal to carry out their respective Will. In exchange for being granted powers unimaginable for a normal human to possess, one was asked to abandon just that what made them human in the first place."

"Focusing our anger at Kalki is fruitless - we didn't know that woman, and probably never will. What we consider cruelty on her part might as well be the result of her inability to tell right from wrong. She was following a set path, while being competent about it, as well."

"I see," she muttered. While she is no less pleased, it was a lead she would be following up on sooner rather than later. "An old friend would know more of the nature of primals in my realm, and the art of summoning is but a recently recovered relic from ages past from what I recall from Hydaelyn... What exactly would you like to know-?"

She stopped herself, as though realizing something. "Ah, my apologies. In my excitement I do believe I neglected to introduce myself. Alisaie Leveilleur, if you would."

Zack folded his arms as he leaned back in his chair. While the mood was so somber, he wasn't too sure what to say. Other than look over at Tear, and said, "You know... becoming God isn't that bad. I mean, it's a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Just wanted to point out that one of my best friends is God now."

Kamen Rider. Defying logic since 1973. This was the show that punched out the Devil and defeated God previously.

Edited 2016-03-16 20:34 (UTC)

Kaji hesitates. "Let me-" He shakes his head. "Let me show it to Ib first. I do think it's finally time to talk about this."

"Would you- mind being there?"

[Miracle of miracles, Graham Specter his here and manages to keep his mouth shut through the whole showing. Once it's over, though, he fills the immediate silence afterwards with manic laughter.]

The last bastion of the desperate! Appealing to godhood! A lot of things are possible in his improbable world, but do you really think something like that can actually happen? Can simple and pitiful creatures like us rise up to the level of a god and save all of creation a million times over?!

[Sparks watches this whole thing with one mighty frown on his face, one that gets mightier as it goes on. A few muttered comments about the ancient technology gets snuck in there at some point, too, but he keeps anything loud until it's all over.]

So. Uh. Remind me why I trust anything that lady says, again?

How could this punk be so calm with all this shit happening ~~again~~.

"Look, I don't give a shit if Kalki 'has faith in us' or not! She's just toying with us, and I'm not playing her game. There's more than one door we can use to seek a way out." He's sure of it.

Maybe Akane can see the future and manipulate events like a God, but he doesn't trust any of these losers with that kind of power, and they can't even get it, anyways, without killing everyone.

"And it sounds like 'Eidolons' are the way to go."

"There's trust and then there's trust. She certainly believes what she's saying." Jack sighs and leans his head back to roll his whole head around in a show of frustration. "And I'd trust that song works without testing it out. She's the type of person to make a Scorched Earth solution."

Jack leans forwards, letting his chair settle onto all four feet with a thunk. "But that Temple. Even she's admitting she doesn't know what's in there."

Jack looks startled, and sticks out his hand. "Oh! Geez, where did my manners go? Uh, Captain Jack Harkness. Nobody worries about the rank here, though." Blame Jack's personality, that he can just walk up and strike up a conversation with anyone. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Alisaie."

But what would he like to know? Jack's eyes light up a little. "Leviathan. Anything you know about him?" There's a sudden energy about Jack, reminiscent of a child trying to explain something to an adult. "I saw him, he was trapped and stuck in a different form. It was a ghost pirate ship! We had to fight our way through to the bottom levels, and when we did? We freed Leviathan! I've never seen anything that incredible!"

"So I've got to know more."

[Kidd glances sideways at Sparks, but there's sympathy behind her eyes. Not just for the woman on the screen but for Sparks having to deal with all of this. Also a bit of agreement with the muttered comments about ancient races.]

I don't think she's lying here. She knew she wasn't long for this world and had nothing to gain from it. Still, I'm not sure she's in control of all she's saying. If she's an avatar of the Calamity it may have been using her as a puppet without her realizing.

[She said as much in the video. She didn't know what aspect of the Calamity she represented.]

"She might not have known that though." Lydia pointed out, although she kind of agreed with Ales. Not just about hating being kept in the dark. She had fast come to learn to HATE how everyone seemed to expect them to be Heroes, but no one gave them ideas how, and everyone gave conflicting information, and there were conflicting expectations that no one told you about until it was too late.

Hmm--almost like the social structure at her school, and High School in general. Even if Lydia went to a small private school, some things never changed maybe. It was small comfort maybe.

"Besides, look at how much we're all arguing now. It might be worse if she were here in person to answer questions."

"Stupid it may be, but that never stopped people before." Don't mind the dry sarcasm there, Vincent agrees it's stupid. But that hasn't stopped people from doing dumb and stupid things before--this is just one of the more destructive types of stupid.

Cloud watched Yuffie's face for a moment before nodding and looking back to where the video was played. "No...I don't think think she is either. At least I believe she thinks she's telling the truth."

His face wrenched a bit as he tried to work his way through his thoughts, trying to put a finger on them. "If she wanted to help us then why did she have to do...everything the way she did? And why does everything she said in that video sound like last chance options?"

If she's been studying the Calamity for so long he can't believe that these are their only options. He didn't want to see everyone laying down their lives to try to stop Garland. Not like this. Especially not if they didn't know if it would even work.

Ales watched the Heroes debate the merits of her plan of godhood yet again and agreed. In his opinion, gods were no different from people, and becoming one would make no difference. What they needed was actual change.

"Let them talk about this plan until they get tired. There's a lot more we have to be worried about." He pointed to a certain paragraph on the transcript. "Like the Avatars. We might be able to learn more through them, or through the Cult of Narayana on the Lost Continent. I'm sure there's something they know that we don't."

Rift. Ancients. Cycles. There were many things Duster still had to learn about this world, but Tazendra's words and Kalki's speech made it easy to understand. If this Calamity was going to come back no matter what, they had to destroy it in order to stop the cycle.

There was one problem.

"Do we even know how to get into the Rift? Is that even a place where humans can go?" If it were anything like Porky's Time Distorter, only the most advanced of machines could reach it. "I'm all for fighting it, really. My world's destroyed, and I'm alright with going down fighting."

He gripped the ocarina in his hand, knowing about the ultimate power he now wielded in his fingertips. "I won't let this world disappear, too."

Ramza shook his head. "I did not see their attempts. Only their shadows, in the garden. I am sorry." He knew Kaji cared for Ib. Seeing her like that, even separated by thousands of years, would have been painful.

He tried to think of how best to voice his thoughts. "We have an an ally, or at least an envoy, in the girl. Maybe she could help us understand what the Calamity needs to survive. What precisely it feeds on. Because...it is fighting to survive just as we are, and so it will fight just as fiercely as we do. But if there is a way it can sustain itself without destroying everything, perhaps it can change its course."

~~The punk~~ Ace sighed inwardly. The more he watched Santa, the clearer it became why the other would be so reliant on whoever his planning... partner had been.

And if he was expecting a simple yes, then he would be in for a small disappointment. "She's clear about her own needs, and no, we're not going to hand it to her like that," Ace frowned. Not if he would have a say in the matter, though most of them did seem to be more or less on the same page.

"They... definitely could be." The blond fell silent for a moment. Though he hesitated to fully agree once more, it was hardly out of spite. "I've seen Eidolons capable of tipping the scales of war on their own, and it's possible that ones of comparable might exist also in Crystallis."

"Assuming we do find them, it's not going to be as easy as simply asking them to join us, though."

Ramza shrugged at Cloud. He did not think the other would judge him for not having a fully formulated plan yet.

"The sage has been...overly selective...when it comes to explanations, but if we can ask the right questions, he may help. Some of the others might know more as well. The Calamity has given us a means of communicating, and that means we can negotiate. The Avatars would not be here if the Calamity did not wish to hear what we have to say."

Or the Avatars were spies so the Calamity would not be caught off guard when the Heroes attacked. But they could not hope to save this world if they saw the worst in everyone.

Rukia's furrowed brow eased slightly at the sound of her name being spoken, and she glanced up to see Cloud's concerned face. "I'm fine," she exhaled, as the crease in her brow deepened again. "I don't enjoy realizing I was considering something foolish is all. Trying to complete ten jobs seems like our best option now."

She wasn't sure how much he knew about the role she'd played in the futuristic vision, and it was something she didn't like to share easily, nervous that others wouldn't take too kindly to her attempt to merge with the Calamity as she had.

Or that she'd still considered it a viable option (albeit a last resort) after they'd returned to their homes.

"You've been here longer than I have. Surely you must be close to finishing many of your jobs."

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Page 5 of 10

Hidden Truth [Log]

Kaji and the "Black Crystal"

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Kaji and the "Black Crystal"

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