melodiesoflife | Event || In Your Worst Memory

Event || In Your Worst Memory

Characters: All Heroes of Light. Only those who signed-up can start a memory.
Where: Interdimensional Rift
When: May 27th - May 30th
Summary: The Heroes of Light relive some of their worst memories, with a twist. All characters participating in this will be physically missing from Crystallis for the duration of the event.
Warning: It depends on the memory.

Where you were or what you were doing— It does not really matter. Not any more. Everything around you freezes, nearly as if time itself stopped, as if the world was frozen in time. And before you have a chance to understand what is happening, you can hear a voice right behind you.

"Kali Shashidhwaja."

Should you turn around, you may see a child who seems to be the only one aside from you unaffected by what is happening. And as she stares right at you, it makes no doubt these strange words are aimed at you. But before you can reply to her, the world around you collapses. Reality twists and shatters... Or maybe you are the one who is collapsing and shattering away from reality as you know it. No matter what the answer is, it will only take a few seconds for you to find yourself sinking into a void, Crystallis vanishing into the distance. There is nothing but darkness as far as the eye can see.

And once again you feel different: all the powers from your Jobs are fading. Not only that, but you might find that your Crystal is gone and your clothes back to what they were before you woke up in Crystallis. It is silent, cold and before long it feels as though life itself is slipping out of you... And yet, slowly the world reforms around you. The darkness fades away and a new world appears, yet at the same time this is not a world.

This is a memory. The question is, is it yours or that of someone else?

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This was not the first memory Ramza had witnessed this day, but it was still shocking to see Luffy stretched out, being tortured by the man in the suit.

The blond did not bother trying to stay hidden or approach stealthily. He had failed to rescue Luffy once before; he'd not make the same mistake again, if it he did, it would not be for lack of trying.

He charged forward. "Unhand him!" he roared, hoping that he could be seen by those before him.

The response is met with no reaction. Not an inch is given, nor the slightest flinch or movement outside of what Ramza has already witnessed. Things transpire as they had already done before, repeating as if stuck to some invisible spool where the events are made to replay over and over again. Perhaps this realm was limbo, purgatory, and world in which the pirate would need to atone for the sins he had committed against the heroes. If not against them, perhaps against the people he felt that he had wronged?

The voice with which Ramza calls out with is heard in the deepest pool of Luffy's thoughts, the sort of minor awareness that left like a passing thought or the need to scratch and itch. He pays it no mind, not when his body is being tortured with arrows and laughter. Bit by bit as the memory unfolds, small changes begin to take affect around the appearance of the injured pirate. The words which the Baron uses shift and change, as if by choice the cruel villain has decided to substitute the victims of his maliciousness. Names become more familiar, the sort of utterances that Ramza has heard on a daily basis.

"The girl with the fiery red hair as been eaten. Such magical power is like a delicacy to Lily~ HA HA HA!"

"BLOOM! YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL Y-?! GAHH-!!"

The arrow which is shot explodes on impact, remaining intact but charring the flesh which it connects with. Luffy is pinned again to the rock, brought to a more dangerous state as the wounds become worse as the memory plays on.

The Baron did nothing to hinder Ramza's advance, so he came closer. He found he could not grasp the arrows to free Luffy. Well, then, he would have to try something else. After a day filled with memories such as these, Ramza refused to let their tormentor prevail.

He still had his Ivalice powers, so Ramza leaned over Luffy and cast his healing chant, hoping some of his lifeforce would transfer to the pirate.

"He lies," he growled into Luffy's ear. "Bloom is well. Free yourself and see." If there was anyone Ramza knew who could use his own reckless power to get out of this trap, it was Luffy.

Luffy's ears would sooner hear the distant sound of despair than the chant in which his former comrade gives. The arrows keep him pinned, dangling like a puppet for the amusement of the one man audience standing on the other side of Ramza.

"Your friend, the man who calls your ninja "sister".. He's passed on as well. A loser. What little strength he'll give to Lily.."

The pirate's head reels back, his jaw dropping as he barks out the last his lungs can handle before the memory makes him repeat the events over again.

"YOU CHICKEN SHIT! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT RAMZA?! HE'S A THOUSAND TIMES BETTER THAN THE BEST YOU CAN COME UP WITH!! GIVE HIM BACK!! GIVE ME BACK MY NAKAMA!!"

His voice hangs on threads, the evident sound of vocal chords ripping as his throat is coated with the layer of pain from the strain to his shouts. He writhes, struggles and pulls at his limbs to the point where they stretch like pliable dough. Even in this state, even at the mercy of the Baron, Luffy doesn't bulk or shrug at defending the friends.

"Chicken shit? I'm not the one clinging to a sense of false hope while my friends pass on. You brought them to sea, only to be the reason for why they now serve as Lily's meal. First your ninja, than your Knight, and now your fairy.. How many more must die for your foolish dreams?"

"I am NOT DEAD, you fool! If you're not Hero enough to save your nakama, then I'll do it for you!" Ramza yelled at his friend. He chose the words that would have the greatest chance of breaking though, of getting the most reaction.

He stood, and hurled himself at the Baron. There was little chance he would be able to affect the man, but he could not stand by and let him torture Luffy.

The Baron is nothing more than an illusion, given that when Ramza tries to throw himself against the brute he merely moves through him as if he were nothing but air.

"What shall it be then? Death by solitude, or by my arrow?"

Luffy goes still, his chest barely raising more than an inch as he hangs off the rock like a fresh catch.

".. Foolish dreams."

His head lifts so that the light of the setting Sun barely reaches the height of his nose. The shadow cast by his messy hair covers most of his features, keeping the glow in his eyes as he stares at the Baron with conviction and malice.

"Nothing they do is foolish.. They know what the risks are.. If they're willing to put their life on the line, then I'm more than willing to do the same for them."

His left hand lurches forward, following along the length of the arrow as he growls in response to the pain. The hole in his palm is a scratch, a temporary set back to a greater cause. The sight disrupts the Baron's position, catches him off guard as he had been so sure that the boy would be nothing more than a broken shell. He readies another arrow, aiming it in haste to try and strike Luffy before he's able to come back from his lowly defeat.

The feathers at the end of the arrow are now painted red, Luffy's hand finally coming free and he clenches it tightly. His other hand is pulled with greater haste, the growing volume of his voice becoming all the more grated as the hurried way he frees himself does little to stop the pain. The Baron sends the arrow flying at Luffy, trying to hit him at his vitals, but alas it is not meant to be. With both hands free, the young pirate hits the ground face first while his arms stretch out to grab at the arrows pinning his feet.

Ramza hooted with delight as Luffy summoned back up his fighting spirit. He picked himself off of the ground, where he had landed after his attempted tackled went awry.

"That's it! Fight back! Show this whore-son coward how a pirate fights!" he cheered.

Reason should dictate that there is little left for the pirate to use. His body is worn and exhausted, barely hanging on to unseen hinges in both his mind and muscles. It is nothing short of a miracle that he is able to stand, let alone be able to move his feet as he slowly begins to walk towards The Baron. His legs had been freed in the same manner as his hands, breaking the arrows with a tight grip and a pull. Behind his footsteps trails the blood which flowed through his veins, the boiled liquid of will and strength that now stains the grey bedrock a deep shade of red.

"What.. What do you think you can do?! You've lost your crew! I've beaten you!!"

There's no response from the pirate, save for the fist he has clenched at his side. He draws it up slowly as more distance is closed between the pair of men. An arrow is readied, aimed at Luffy's chest and fired. It makes its mark, shooting right through Luffy's stomach and coming out the other side to land in the rock behind him.

The pirate falters, for only a moment, the fresh injury letting out a burst of crimson that trickles down his lap and backside. Yet, even with the puncture wound made, he continues to walk. The struggle to remain standing as his eyes out of focus, the beads of his sight becoming all the more intense now that he's growing closer to ending this nightmare. The Baron cannot believe what he sees, the sight of a man who has lost everything, a final gambit on which to try and topple the selfish envy of a man who had no crew to call his own.

"I.. I SAID STAY BACK!"

There's no time for another arrow. It's too late for The Baron, the realization that he underestimated the lanky pirate as nothing more than the usual Captain he'd victimized.

Luffy's fist courses through the air sloppily. There's no grace or art to the way he connects, yet the air around the two men rips as if a sword had sliced the dense atmosphere of dread and sorrow in two. When his fist meets The Baron's features for the first time, it's the sort of impression that leaves more than just a memory. As if the whole world had gone white, the force in which Luffy hits the tyrannical hermit so hard that The Baron looks as if he might implode. With the punch comes the final scream, the last rush of air to be held in Luffy's lungs before expended into a war cry that signals his approach to the afterlife. In reality, the attack lasts but only a few seconds, but in this memory-

With The Baron dispatched, his body now yards away up the side of the mountain, Luffy drops to his knees as the trail of blood following behind him begins to pool at his feet.

With the battle ended, Ramza rushed to Luffy's side and knelt down next to his friend. He placed a hand on his shoulder, though the pirate likely had no notion it rested there.

"Well done, Luffy. That was bravely fought. The stuff of bardsongs and legends," he assured his captain. Ramza tried his chant again, although he had no reason to believe it would help any more than it had the first time. Luffy looked spent, and Ramza did not see how he could have survived this attack the first time around without a white mage's spells to seal his wounds.

"You never stopped fighting for your friends," he said, more quietly. Luffy struggled fiercely and fought as though he had never heard of the concept of surrender. And that same determination was what he expected of his crew. Ramza had failed him in that when he had failed to rescue the captives from the Empire. He could never hope to match that mad, manic love Luffy held for his nakama.

He let his hand drop. It he could not give himself as selflessly and recklessly as Luffy did, then Luffy had been right at the Observatory. He had no right to count himself as crew.

Breathing as if he'd been unearthed from a vacuous tomb, the pirate struggles to keep off of his knees as his entire body begins to give in to the many wounds repeatedly inflicted upon his body. The world around the pair disappears, bringing them back to the empty streets of Aquares Ixen, the signs of his memory all but gone.. save for the blood flowing out of Luffy's body.

He collapses once more, face first into the cobblestone street, a cloud of dust rising up around him as red splatters in every which way.

"Ra.. Ramza.."

His voice is audible, yet the edge that comes with it is too difficult to be ignored. It's evident that every word he speaks draws further pain from his condition, but what must be said was too important to ignore.

"What-.. What do you-.. Fight for?"

The pirates eyes begin to close, slowly lowering as they drop their curtain to the light of the world.

"Y-.. You.. 're.. nakama-.."

Ramza peeled the glove from one hand, revealing the scar that ran down his palm. He held it up to Luffy. The pirate bore the scar's twin on his own palm.

"Do not waste your breath asking questions you know the answer to, you fool," he scolded, but without sting. He was unsurprised Luffy had pulled him from his melancholy thoughts. Even half-dead, the pirate had a knack for inspiring others to rally around him.

"I told you what I fight for the same day I told you to find yourself a mage or chemist for your ship. You did not listen to that, either, I see."

The world was fading around them, and though the conversation would be cut short by the end of the memory, Ramza doubted it was the last he would hear of it from Luffy.

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Event || In Your Worst Memory

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