melodiesoflife | Event || Imprisonment

There lies a mess of machina strewn about the lab, a guard lies contorted over the table used for experimentations. He – or she, their face fried beyond recognition, stares through melted eyes. Rikku stands with her back turned away, her posture uncharacteristically upright.

At the sound of the door opening, she turns on her heels, completely familiar and yet completely alien eyes meet the Summoner’s without a hint of recognition. At the sound of Yuna’s voice, Rikku – splattered with blood from the departed that did not make it out of the room in time, slips into battle stance.

A half breath later, and she leaps into the air, enhanced strength swoops her up as though on wings, in the moment a thought passes the creature inhabiting Rikku is aiming down with a fierce punch.

Just when she'd finally taken the crystal back, her staff was thrust towards her as well, but the guard had his back turned to the approaching ninja, and suffered for it. He hadn't backed away in time and as the staff slipped from his grip and onto the floor, he was suddenly falling to the ground with bulging eyes, having taken the brunt of the punch to the back of his head.

Yuna hardly had the time to register what had happened, as Rikku slipped back into her view just as the unlucky guard fell to a heap on the ground. Eyes even wider now with disbelief, the girl was unable to move, her gaze slowly climbing back up to where the Al Bhed landed, just in front of her. "What's... going on?" the sight of her cousin splattered with blood was creepy enough, but as she took a step back, she turned to see the other victim prone, disfigured face staring in her direction.

The girl paused, jerking as if caught in a cosmic glitch. For the briefest of moments, painful clarity filled spiraled eyes. Whatever state the captive was caught it, it was clearly excruciating. Standing rigidly, she begged through gritted teeth, “Fight…Stop me…please.”

As quickly as the guardian’s awareness came, it faded. Rikku’s hand lashed out with inhuman speed, reaching to grab Yuna’s wrist.

"Wha... fight? I --" but as she stood there, wide-eyed, she could almost physically see the change wash over the other girl, the deep chill of fear hollowed her out inside. Before she could even react, the blonde latched onto her wrist, what was she going to do? She couldn't fight Rikku!

Panic started to rise as her eyes darted between her weapon and her attacker, precious little seconds that they were -- as a roar shot out from her fist, Ifrit's maw gaping wide as the beast took shape in between them, intent to push them apart by the sheer force of the summoning.

When her hand finds purchase, Rikku’s grasp tightens with inhuman strength, intent on crushing her prey’s bones. Standing tall and almost regal, cold eyes watch Yuna’s, calculating and unmoved. A sickly green aura rises around the uninvited guest in a haze as it opens Rikku’s spare hand. In those short, yet critical seconds, it attacks with a poison spell – the direct contact acting as a conduit. The better that it may stick.

At the mighty roar, the blood splattered blonde jerks back with unnatural speed, as much a tumble from the entrance of the elemental as it is a reflex. Stranger though she is, the cry that sounds after the rumble of Ifrit quiets is familiar in voice.

Rising slowly from the protective crouch she landed in at the far side of the lab, Rikku surveys the damage to her blackened forearms, used to shield her face from the intense heat and licking flames of the Aeon's Summon. She…it, makes fists to test its hands, the charred skin cracking and bleeding when stretched.

With a pained grunt, it turns its head, spiraled eyes piercing into Ifrit with a newfound intensity. A hand gestures towards the sky in a mage’s summon. The air grows cold, yet instead of tasting crisp and clean as it does with Shiva, it grows foul. Icicles, dark as coal, form in Dark Blizzaga and crash down. Aiming for revenge on the Fire Aeon.

Edited 2015-02-27 03:16 (UTC)

There's a snap, and the summoner can't help but cry out, one of her wrists surely broken with the somehow enhanced grip of her cousin. She winced, pulling away only at the same time that Ifrit comes to her aid, pushing her back with the force at the same time, and landing near her staff.

What had they done to her?! Wincing, still on the ground, she reached for her staff with her left hand, since the right refused to work and pulsated with each beat of her heart... She came back to the battle just in time to see dark crystals encase the aeon. The mighty beast cried out as the attack connected... but survived the impact. Huffing, beating the ground, Ifrit readied for another attack, as he dug his claws into the ground below, pulling upwards...

"No, stop!" Yuna cried, finally rising and clasping her right arm close, feeling heavy as she tried to draw in air... had the fall knocked the wind out of her? A dull ache started in her head, which she ignored, attributing it to the impact as well. "You can't, she's not... she's not the enemy!"

The aeon looked back over a furry shoulder, as though to make sure that the summoner was really stopping him. When Yuna met the aeon's eyes, she stood firm, a small nod confirming her decision... With that, Ifrit turned back towards Rikku's form once more, roaring again in warning... and slapping the ground with a great force, propelling himself up and away.

"Rikku..." there was a pleading in her tone, one that crept into her eyes as she cast Cura on herself, hopefully to shake off those residual feelings. "You're still in there, aren't you? Whatever they've done to you... you can fight it!"

A hand raises in the air.

Fight.

Rikku never went down without a fight. Nor had she this time. The girl had spent every bit of her will fighting - spirit, mind and body after she was strapped onto the table and the dark crystal forced to her hand. All day and into the night. As the creature ripped into her.

She'd fought back.

The air grows charged, hairs rising in a flash of static as pitch black Thundaga arcs towards the Summoner. The girl's supposed astraphobia giving her no pause as the spell unleashes in a mighty flash and tumbling roars.

Rikku had lost.

There was no reaching her. Yuna's fears were coming to a fruition, but still, she didn't want to believe it. Just before the lightning readied to hit it's mark, shell encased Yuna protectively as she braced herself for impact, huddling close into herself, one arm still supporting the other. She tried her best not to cry out this time, her eyes squeezed shut, the electricity surging through her, and she dropped to a knee.

Cura, again. The white magic washed over her, but still for some reason, her vision blurred. Shaking her head to try and clear it, she took an offensive stance, awkwardly holding out her staff with her left hand, as she used it to prop herself back up again, brows tilting downwards. She began to gather magic around her, the great spell of Holy beginning to charge -- but as the pure white light gathered -- Yuna's expression softened again, and the energy dissipated.

"I-- I can't..."

Rikku slips into a defensive stance when the bright light shines, preparing to leap away - but when it dissipates, her head cockes to the side inquisitively.

At the proclamation, the former Guardian makes her way towards the prone Summoner in unhurried steps, stopping a pace away.

Lazily, perhaps mockingly, Rikku reaches a charred hand towards Yuna's throat.

Edited 2015-02-27 05:26 (UTC)

Breath catching in her throat, Yuna was didn't want to breathe in when the hand reached for her, but the scent of burnt flesh reached her all the same. She coughed, choking on it, staggering backwards as the grip clasped around her. The pain in her right arm started to subside, as her body hungered for oxygen instead as the flow of air cut off.

She squeezed her eyes shut, reaching up with her staff, pulling at the blackened hand. Come on, Rikku. You're in there somewhere! I won't give up, I can't...!

With a great woosh, her eyes opened wide again, the air around them turning cold, as Shiva appeared behind the summoner. The aeon swept an arm elegantly to protect Yuna in an icy embrace, a painful cold emanating outwards defensively.

Rikku’s hand loosened around Yuna’s throat at the banishment from the elemental. Rather than fall back from the aura of deadly cold, the girl froze. Pleading, lucid eyes met her cousin’s, a few tears slipping out the corners only to crystalize instantaneously. Rikku had managed to claw her way to the surface, just barley, yet all she could do was freeze. So she’d use that for all it was worth, by taking on as much damage as possible.

Please.

Trembling as her nose, ears and cheeks quickly turned from red to black under the supernatural cold, her breath fogged from cracking lips. “Yu…”

Her awareness faded before she could complete the word, yet the creature did not leap back immediately. Noting how its enemy cared for the body it inhabited, it stared Yuna down as it allowed a few more precious moments to destroy its vessel while she watched. A slight grin spread on ruined lips as it called down dark firaga in secret, the show of ruining Rikku's body further a diversion from the casting, the stranger lept away at the last moment as a black wall of fire rained down from overhead.

The summoner's eyes widened in fear as she saw the change wash over the blonde. She reached outward, as though somehow she could have have pulled them both out of this living nightmare... But Shiva waved another arm, more divine ice coming down, the drop in temperature making all the changes over the Al Bhed's body happen all the quicker -- and more harsh.

Yuna fell to her knees at the gruesome sight, embracing herself with her injured and good arms, squeezing into her own flesh. There was something else at work here too, a dizzying fever, a cold sweat... had she been poisoned without realizing? "D-... don't come out!" she screamed, rocking forward as the tears fell freely from her eyes, her mouth agape in an ugly cry. She couldn't do it, she couldn't kill Rikku even if it wasn't Rikku! Hadn't Bahamut died because of her only days ago? And now here she was, killing the little family she had left?!

Shiva looked down towards the girl giving the commands, and if you looked close enough -- something akin to pity shone in the aeon's eyes, as she too disappeared.

It was just too cruel. Yuna's head bowed low as her shoulders shook with the sobs. As the fire lit all around her, the blackened flames licked at her legs, but she didn't move. She could barely even breathe. The summoner leaned her head back, eyes to the sky, her good arm reaching to touch the crystal that had been returned to her. "I'm sorry..." her voice strained, even though the words they spoke were all to familiar. I'm sorry, Rikku. I just couldn't do it. Not to you...

The fire swallowed her up, her robes burning, the embers racing up, devouring the white and turning it black and burnt, until the girl's form finally fell over. But out from her, the flames began to change. Red and orange began to shine through brightening the room, the black subsiding and burning brightly to life again, Yuna's Last Breath activating.

Spinning from the centre of it all, Ifrit returned to the battlefield with a deafening roar. He'd warned you foul creature, hadn't he? But now was beyond the time of warnings. His summoner lay dead, and revenge was the only way to satiate the beast it had awoken. The flames burned hotter than ever, a white hot rage building up and exploding around the two of them as Ifrit leapt forward with his claws, Hellfire blazing all around them.

Edited 2015-03-01 03:26 (UTC)

The creature found its stubborn little vessel quite tiresome. Had she tricked it? It had taken over when there was no pain, and yet, as it tried to make its way to the door - the sweet freedom it craved all along... It seemed the damage done was far more than it had realized. Pathetic fragile thing.

The stranger fell to Rikku’s knees and ruined hands, her body not wanting to respond to commands. Still… to escape. It tried to shuffle towards the exit as best it could - more a crawl than anything else. Clicking noises echoed as bones that had broken through the dead skin of her hands at the impact attempted to claw along the floor of the metal lab.

When Ifrit appeared, even if the girl still had the ability to dodge, the lab acted as a deathtrap as the Aeon's powerful attack engulfed everything but a small area surrounding his fallen Summoner.

Ripped up into the inferno of Hellfire, Rikku convulses in the flames as flesh and muscle melt away, in mere moments she falls still, the intensity of the heat shutting down her system completely, any further movement the result of her body being thrashed around by the will of the fire. Her remains char and disappear in the red blaze, completely incinerated well before the spells completion.

The clumps of flooring the elemental throws in a fury into the blaze simply crash through without finding purchase, slamming against the far wall in a molten pile. When the roar of the spell stops, the lab is a twisted, warped warzone, walls aglow like embers. A haze of ash slowly settles over it in a fine layer --- what little is left of the girl.

Event || Imprisonment

FEB 9 | DAY XXIII ( closed )

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