Event || The Answer

[melodiesmods]

Characters: All characters who signed-up for the event.
Where: South Continent of Balance (Imperial Territories)
When: April 20th to April 30th.
Summary: The Heroes of Light have lost consciousness and now find themselves in the middle of nowhere, without their Moogles and away from everything they know. They will have to get back home, but what awaits them on the path? For more information, please check the First OOC Post and Second OOC Post.
Warning: Bad things.

Group 01: Team Hijinks House
Group 02: Team Brigands
Group 03: Team Discovery Channel
Group 04: Sephiroth's (In)Sanity Squad
Group 05: Team (Bad) Shipping Advice
Group 06: Team Blue-Haired Lords on Fire
Group 07: Team Mom and Late Sleepers
Group 08: Nothing Bad Will Happen
Group 09: The Hellhounds
Group 10: Loftwings, A Working Title
Group 11: Team Oni
Group 12: Team F.N.T.I²
Group 13: Team Name-In-Progress
Group 14: Team The-Mods-Couldn’t-Brain-A-Name
Group 15: Seraphim Shenanigans

Comments

[thegreatninja]

What is this?

[Yuffie doesn't know anything about Johnny's world or what sort of scene is in store for them now. This is getting tiring.]

[charming_jerk]

Exsilium. Old Exsilium, before it got turned into winter fuckin' wonderland. AKA, where I was before I got to Crystallis. It's a shithole of the highest order.

[He stands in place, refusing to move. He doesn't want to go any further into whatever this might turn out to be. Nope.]

[shinrasfinest]

[Sephiroth's not only tired of this now. As the scene at the Northern Cave melts into something else entirely, he has to forcibly stop himself from glaring at the floor and make a conscious effort in relaxing his clenched fists minutely just to get the sense back into himself to take a slow, controlled look around.

He looks from Yuffie to Johnny as he reveals where they are.]

Certainly seems like it's your turn now. What a backdrop.

[Dry sarcasm, while still simmering and angry, just isn't welcome, Seph.]

[shinra_dog]

[Reno was still pretty angry, but when Johnny stopped dead in his tracks, the Turk stopped too. His concern for the other man won out.]

Wait... seriously? The hell... ?

[He looked around. How did one place just fade into another? How did it suddenly become another world? Reno was beginning to wonder if this wasn't just another vision again, like the one so many had shared a few months earlier.]

Johnny, this place is super bombed out. [He looked at the other man with obvious worry. There was a vague feeling, a lost memory from that vision of the "future," that things in Exilium didn't end very well.] Just how much shit are we in here right now?

[charming_jerk]

That's Exsilium. We were under frequent attack from the United Earth soldiers. Y'know, among nuclear winter and a hundred other problems. It wasn't exactly a fun place.

[Johnny looks to Sephiroth.]

Might ring a bell to you. Remember those memories everyone got to share? When ya showed up in mine? Well, welcome back, I guess.

[answernpcs]

[ To add to the already pretty terrible scenery, the noise of a siren can be heard, the kind of alarm that rings when a terrible event is to happen, such as when an earthquake or attack is on the verge of happening.

It might be related to the "stars" in the sky, that are no stars at all: they're the light emitted by the deadliest weapons created by mean, nuclear missiles growing dangerously close to this already desolated place. ]

[thegreatninja]

If this is another memory then what happens next?!

[Yuffie turns to Johnny, her brows furrowing with worry as her gaze locks on his.]

[shinrasfinest]

[It's easy for Johnny to catch Sephiroth's eye contact, along with the minute nod he delivers, confirming the half-demons statement. There were many things that have happened to them during their time in Crystallis, and not one of them requires more than a subtle hint to have a memory re-surging from where he's buried it.

He shivers, just once, as those words that visage of Hojo had spoken once again tickle along his nerve. He thought he held it together fairly well, in the face of all of that; yet it just brings out something which is becoming more and more obvious - he needs to face those facts in order to be able to really conquer them. That 'shadow' self that Kalki forever touched towards-

The blaring siren snatches all from their thoughts; it doesn't matter what world they're on, such noise can only be for one thing. A glance up, at those pin-pricks of stars getting brighter...]

...Johnny.

[This is his world, if anyone knows where they might find the nearest shelter-]

[charming_jerk]

... Oh my god. [It takes Johnny a moment to register what's going on. When he actually went through this, he was seeing it happens from above, safely flying off to the Initiative's moon base. Leaving the 500,000 residents of Exsilium behind to face the worst fate possible.

He starts to back away, staring wide at the incoming missiles.]

What the hell. Why is this happening? Why are we here for this?!

[He finally looks between the others, breathing fast, panic setting in.]

Those are nukes. Those are fucking nukes and they're headed our way.

[answernpcs]

[ A voice resounds around them, coming from nowhere in particular. ]

It's probably obvious why you're here.

[ The voice shouldn't sound familiar for any of them. ]

You're to save Crystallis, right? So why don't you show us how you saved your previous home?

[charming_jerk]

Fuck off! [Johnny looks around for the source of the disembodied voice. He was shaking slightly from anger and fear.]

However the hell you are, don't think for a second I had one ounce of control over what happened in Exsilium. That was the Initiative, not me! I didn't want to leave them behind!

[thegreatninja]

[Judging from the voice, Yuffie quickly assumes that Johnny hadn't saved his previous home. Johnny's reply only confirms it. She looks over at him, her brows furrowing slightly.]

It's only egging you on and trying to get under your skin.

[This sucks...]

[shinrasfinest]

[It's not like they could realistically run for shelter but- that Johnny wasn't even going to try. Sephiroth's all-of-two-paces away from the group halted as the voice reverberated from -apparently- all around them. Silver cloak of hair shifting in one direction and then another as he turns; eyes darting from derelict building to building trying to locate-

Then snap-back to Johnny as he reacts to it. Given what he'd seen between him and Reno's little set-ups, he can't really comment, though.

A tight knot starts to form in his gut; but then if those nukes -do- kill them, they'll end up back in Aqures anyway-]

[charming_jerk]

[This only serves to show how quickly Johnny's temper can flare up and boil over, especially if you hit a sore subject like this.]

Fine! Let it! We're all going to get vaporized in a matter of minutes if this continues like it should anyway. We can't get away. Whoever's doing this made their point loud and clear. I couldn't do shit to help Exsilium just like I can't do shit to help Crystallis. Both places brought me in against my will and expect that I'm gonna fix all their problems?

[He tries to address the disembodied voice.]

Do you have any idea what a goddamn disaster my life was before I even got to Exsilium? What about that would make anyone think I could save entire countries? Entire fuckin' planets?!

[deadlyvu]

[Lydia has been quiet, watching everyone and trying to be supportive as she can, but this has been...trying. All of it has been trying, and she's woefully ill-equipped to deal with any of this.

Still, being nuked? Even if they'll come back in Aquares Ixen? NOT something she wants to experience.

Marching over to Johnny, not scared of the temper.]

Johnny, right now, you're the only one who knows where we might be safe.

[Firm voiced, looking up at the taller man and trying to not show her fear.]

We need your help, and I am asking you--please don't let us get nuked!

[charming_jerk]

[He looks around the area, searching the sky, in the opposite direction of the nukes.]

We'd left on spaceships. The Initiative took us all up to a base on the moon when this happened. But if the missiles already launched, that probably means the ships have too, because you could--

[He chokes on his words as the horrible scene plays back in his memory.]

You could see the missiles hit from inside the ship. There were thousands of people swarming the scene when we launched, all trying to get on. I-- I know where it is, but that's it. There's no escaping this otherwise.

[thegreatninja]

So there is no blowing up the missiles while they are still in the air?

[Yuffie isn't sure if it's possible but at this point she doesn't care. She isn't going to keep standing around while this is happening. She'll at least try and do something.]

[shinrasfinest]

It's only an illusion, Johnny.

[There is nothing quite like someone else's misery to use to re-focus on and too easily offer that same cool advise that he couldn't quite follow himself. All of the men here, though, have already been stirred to be somewhat hot-under-the-collar so far and Sephiroth's anger still simmers not far into his deep tones.]

This isn't really Exsilium. Those aren't real nukes. Whomever is behind it this time is either a sadist or has some other agenda in seeing us hurt.

[charming_jerk]

[The whole realistic scenario was playing on Johnny's PSTD over it. He shakes his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts, vainly trying to get his temper in check. But, Sephiroth was right.]

Right, yeah, I just-- Then what are we supposed to do here? Just ride it out? Find someone to talk to like you guys had, and not just some asshole disembodied voice?

[answernpcs]

"Wah wah, woe is me Look at how angry and helpless I am."

[ The voice was still disembodied as it spoke. ]

You gotta give it to Sephiroth, he's got a point-- And he was better at keeping his composure. So was Reno. And dare I say, everyone was!

[ At this point the voice grew normal, and they could locate it on the east side. If they were to look they could find a hooded figure sitting nonchalantly atop of a ruining building and looking down at them. Unfortunately he's out of reach and of course, the nukes are getting closer. ]

Out of sixty, give or take a few, Heroes of Light to go through this you're the first one to lose it. I guess, at the very least, that this inability to control yourself and devolve into a pit of self-pity makes you special amongst the others. That's an achievement, even if it's a pretty sad one.

[thegreatninja]

[Yuffie growls in reply to the voice.]

Show yourself asshat!

[She has been trying not to swear but she's too pissed off to care.]

[charming_jerk]

[Ouch. Right on target. Of course, this only serves to rile Johnny up more.]

Fuck off! Big words from someone who won't even say that shit to my face!

[shinrasfinest]

[Out of reach for sure but as he spots the hooded figure, that doesn't stop Sephiroth immediately churning over just how close he might get before those missiles might inevitably plunge the vision of this World --this Earth?-- into darkness.

Sure, he's great at keeping composed outwardly having had such a lifetime of practice but he knows by how hot his own temper has gotten underneath, that person -Avatar-whatever- is just using that now to continue to prickle at Johnny.]

Sixty? Now that's an achievement.

[Perhaps a small attempt at a compliment -however sarcastic or insincere it is- might stir something useful of response that might at least gain them something out of this whole unpleasant experience.

Sephiroth flicks a glance to Johnny and Yuffie; hoping they get what he's trying to pull, before raising his voice a little louder.]

Could have been more, perhaps, if you were the first.

[deadlyvu]

[Lydia has been listening, and paying attention too. She's also a fan of the cool-down hug. Not that she knows Johnny well, but she'll reach out and place a hand on his arm in support at least. Listening to Sephiroth, she thinks she's getting what he's getting at...

She's going to keep quiet for now, but be ready to move if needed and keep her eye on the hooded figure.]

[charming_jerk]

[Johnny shoots a look between the others, trying to keep himself in check. He can't think very straight with everything going on.]

Like I'm gonna take the opinion about Heroes from some asshole who only shows up in people's dreams or some shit. Like you're a prime example of fuckin' bravery!