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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Huh. Can't see or hear us, but can feel us? I can work with that."

Sparks read Sephiroth's cue, and grabbed anything nearby that he could pelt the judge with. Anything would do - decorations, books, whatever the room had. Anything to get the Judge's attention off of Ashelia. If Ramza managed to get the blanket over his head, hopefully that would be enough confusion to let Cloud bum rush him again.

CLoud had just worked on instinct. He couldn't let a friend come to harm, even if he was throwing himself in harm's way. He'd been told before that it was a foolish way to live ~~or die~~ but it didn't matter. It was the right thing to do.

Sparks' observation comes before he can process what the Judge says and it only emboldens the young man. He runs in low this time and grabs hold of the Judge's ankle just as the blanket comes over him. "Sephiroth! Help me!" He shouts and tugs on the armored man's foot while leaning into his leg. If plowing into him would knock him off balance...

He hadn't expected Cloud to be able to even move the man so as the Judge stumbles, Sephiroth's distraction tactic immediately flips into something much more realistic.

Given anything Sparks might throw at him, or Ramza's attempt to get the blanket off the Princess and over his head might well cause the armored man more of a pause; at Cloud's exclamation Sephiroth first opens a quick stance, then twists and delivers a sharp kick to the side of the man- opposite to where Cloud was attempting to trip him up. It felt powerful again to once more have the 'boost' that came along with being Mako-infused.

There wasn't the room currently, for Masamune that was curled along the backside of his left arm - all the way up and passed his head.

Ashe yelps as the blanket is ripped from her hands and thrown over the advancing Judge Magister. "What trickery-!" the Judge exclaims as he throws one hand up. His other hand is busy lashing out with the sword. Ashe gasps and, though the sword is still inches from where she was sitting, dives off the bed, covering her head with her arms. Ramza may want to move as well, unless he fancies being bisected.

The Judge's swipe with the sword doesn't stop the blanket from covering him, and its extended reach doesn't help with disengaging himself from the heavy fabric. Sparks' distraction does its job, the Judge wheeling around to face his unseen assailant - but trips, Cloud's grip on his ankle strong and sure. When the young man leans into his leg, the momentum of his turn, coupled with Sephiroth's kick, causes the Judge's knee to snap as he crumples under the combined assault. He hits the floor hard, gasping for air as the wind is knocked out of him...and then is silent, unconscious for the time being.

Ashe yelps again as she sees the man twist in ways that shouldn't be possible without some kind of precipitating force - she wasn't doing this. "W-what..." she mumbles, her voice trembling.

She gasps again as she realizes that she dove right next to the prone body of her would-be saviour, Ser Aeryn. She crawls backward, one hand over her mouth as she suppresses a sob, the sight of the widening pool of blood too much for her. "Oh gods...Oh, Father above, help me..." She closes her eyes, quietly muttering a prayer.

After a moment or two she rises to her feet shakily, grasping at a cupboard for support. Her head snaps around to look at the door when she hears a faint scream echo in from the stairwell. Her lip quivers - she clearly recognizes that voice. "I have to...I have to get out...I have to find out what happened...oh Father, please be safe..."

Spurred on by her own voice, she begins to move. She roots through a cupboard and withdraws a sheathed dagger. She reaches unceremoniously under her slip to strap it to her upper left thigh, then moving back to Ser Aeryn's corpse. Murmuring another prayer, she takes his sword from his stiffening grip, having to work momentarily at his fingers to free it for her own use.

She swallows down more tears, wiping at her eyes with her free hand as she makes her way back to her bedroom door. She takes one last look at her room; she clearly realizes that this is the last she'll see of it in a very long time, perhaps forever. However, she is spurred into action by a soft moan from the Judge. He stirs!

Ashe steps out into the stairwell, her bare feet completely silent on the cold marble. The palace is truly a marvel - it seems to have been built for people larger than even the Judge.

However, big as it is, it doesn't take Ashe long to run into more trouble. A group of men, revealed by orange light of their torches on the wall, advance up the steep, curving steps of the tower. The princess rushes down to the closest landing and reaches for the ornate knob, attempting to turn it - but it won't budge. "No!" she murmurs, pulling on it with all her might.

The men will be within sight in just a moment or two. Are they friend, or foe? Can the princess afford to wait and find out?

Ramza does his best to dodge the blade that hurtles past him. He throws himself aside to avoid the sword.

Nodding at the others for a job well done, Ramza follows Ashelia out into the hall. The cries they hear bode ill for what is to come.

When Ashelia turns toward the door, Ramza heads the other way, toward the folk drawing toward them. If they be enemies, he wants to deal with them before they reach the princess.

"Y'know what would be great? Weapons. Our Jobs. Something. Anything."

Sparks followed Ashe and the others out the door, and spots the incoming mob. He can't help but chuckle. He didn't need weapons to deal with these guys. A large group getting tripped down a steep staircase by an invisible person might be enough to slow them down. Especially if they managed to drop their torches.

The marshal sprinted down the stairs towards the group, and as soon as the forward most person approached them, he gave them a sharp shoulder check to the chest. Hopefully that was enough to send them reeling into the others and knocking them down.

"Maybe. But at least they can't see us." Still Sparks has a point. If they can interact with their environment, maybe they can take things with them. It's worth a shot. Spotting the men ahead, Cloud didn't take the time to decide if they were friend or foe.

He was three steps behind Sparks in running them down, but while the Marshal went in to bowl one over, Cloud went for the man's arm, trying to strip the torch from his hands. IF he dropped it, fine. If Cloud could take it with him even better.

"Sephiroth! Ramza! Help her with the door! We got these guys!"

"Hm." Sephiroth has a weapon; he'd arrived to Crystallis with Masamune and in some of the memories he drifted between the fact that its lethal edge rested along the backside of his left arm was something of a comfort. Or of use, in cases such as this one where he found that he could actually intervene within the memories as they were presented. Strange, how some were changeable and others weren't...

Noting Ramza, Sparks and then Cloud rush off to intervene with the army that might well be advancing up the stairwell Sephiroth turns towards the fearful form of Ashelia, frantically trying to open the door to duck herself away from the advancing horde. No matter if the others do manage to stop them from coming, if it were any siege worth it's salt then there would be more coming.

Cloud didn't need to shout but Sephiroth was much too focused on the events surrounding Ashelia to take offense to being barked orders at. He took great care not to touch the Princess directly as he slipped beside her to put more pressure on the door pushing forwards. It could well be a 'pull' door though; Sephiroth looked towards the other side of the door frame for the tell-tales hinges-

The door does indeed open inwards, from the look of the hinges, but it is locked fast. It seems as though direct intervention with the lock or knob is needed to the door to open.

Unfortunately for Sparks and Cloud, it seems that these Imperial soldiers are not like the Judge - they cannot be touched or interacted with at all. The soldiers don't notice their presence at all and instead continue their advance, ever onwards and upwards.

Seeing the failure of Spark's attack, and heading Cloud's orders, Ramza rushed back to the princess. He had no skill with lock-picking, and Sephiroth did not seem to be making any headway, so while he had momentum going, Ramza threw himself bodily at the door, hitting it hard with his shoulder.

Sparks has successfully shoulder checked himself down half a flight of stairs, as he momentarily disappears into the crowd. When he emerges, he runs ahead of them quietly muttering under his breath about how of course that didn't work.

While dusting himself off, he is about to comment on how they can't stop the crowd when he spots Ramza working on the door. Sparks dashes over and gives him some help, using his other shoulder this time.

Cloud doesn't fare much better than Sparks does. Unfortunately his leap at the guard was head on so his tumble wound up being even less graceful than that of the marshal's. He's slower to recover on the stone below, but he was lucky enough that nothing is broken. Maybe it's the nature of this memory place? Who knows, no time to worry.

Scrambling back to their position at the door, the confident look that Cloud had on his face a moment ago is gone for the moment. He looks between the others, hoping they have an idea.

Ashe feels compelled to move aside as the Heroes move in on the door. She doesn't think much of it though; she has other problems. The soldiers continue their march up the steps, and finally come to the landing. It doesn't take long for them to see Ashe.

"Is that the princess?" asks one of the Imperial soldiers.

"G-get away!" She brandished her sword, though shakily. "Leave now or I'll show n-no mercy!" The soldiers laugh, but still approach her with caution.

With three Heroes bashing against it - the sound of which distracts the soldiers momentarily - the door bursts open inwards, the wood around the lock splintering. The soldiers curse and throw their hands up in surprise, but the princess sees her opportunity and takes it. She dashes past them, through the door, and slams it behind her. However, with the door jamb completely broken, it won't hold off the soldiers without something pressing against it.

Ashe leans against the door for a moment, taking stock of the hallway. It isn't as big as one might expect of the tower, but there are three doors on either side. From the small size, they're likely just storage rooms, mostly meant for servants to use. "Of course!" Ashe exclaims. She dashes towards one of the doors at the far end of the hallway - thankfully, this one is unlocked.

The room is dark and full of unused furniture and various other baubles. "Where is the door?" Ashe mumbles to herself. "Quickly now, quickly..."

Being the one on the outside edge of the door when it burst inwards Sephiroth stumbled quite a few steps forward into the next hallway, catching his overpowered momentum just short of his balance tipping forwards. By the time he's able to turn back the princess is already through and leaning back against the door. He figures it's not going to hold them back though, but he does take that moment to silently head count and make sure they all got through.

Since apparently they can't stop these soldiers, Sephiroth kept his attention mostly on Ashe- he needed to move when she did, especially with the haste she went for the next door. He wasn't sure if she'd even make it, it depended on what the troops on the other side of the broken door were doing.

"Move-" He uttered in urgency to the others as he entered the dark storage room, blinking as his eyes adjusted. Another door - right? Immediately the SOLDIER started to scan with his eyes along one wall, quickly proceeding in that direction when it got to a point where he couldn't see anymore.

The longer they could hold off the soldiers, the more time Ashelia would have to find the door she searched for and escape. Without a key to lock the door of their little storage room, their best bet was a barricade.

Ramza grabbed the heaviest-looking piece of furniture he found close at hand, a wooden chair with an embroidered cushion seat, and hastily moved it in front of the door they'd entered through. He tried to wedge it under the door knob.

"See if you can find a light source," he called to his companions.

Sparks was already ahead of Ramza. Once through the door, he immediately looked for something to give them light, even if it was just a matter of opening a window. Sparks didn't know much about the world Ashe was from, but he was pretty sure it wasn't the kind of world that had light switches. He'd mutter something about all these worlds with their lack of electricity as he looked for lamps, candles, or anything they could use.

Cloud might not have meant nothing by it when he barked an order at Sephiroth before, but hearing that one word from the senior officer lit a fire under his rear. He was on the move quickly, rushing through the door after Ashe to make sure she'd be safe and tucking to the side once he entered to get out of the way of the others.

Once everyone was inside he focused on helping Ramza block the doorway while the others helped Ashe.

(ooc: officially going on hiatus but you guys can feel free to move Cloud around as need be if you want to keep him in the group)

Through sheer luck, no one catches on or bumps into anything in the darkness (this round).

Cloud and Ramza will find a multitude of large wardrobes and cupboards handily available to push in front of the storage room door. Nearby, piled on a high-backed chair, are several rolled up carpets.

Sparks' search for windows will prove fruitful, but he will have to wade through a multitude of stored furniture and trinkets in the dark to get to the outer wall of the tower.

Ashe feels her way along slowly, trying to quiet her breathing as much as possible. She is obviously still very upset, but is managing to keep focused for now. "I think she said...in a corner, the servant stairwell..." she mumbles to herself.

Back in the hallway, there is the dim sound of the Imperial soldiers shouting at each other as they make their way through the ruined door. It seems they didn't see which room Ashe ducked into, but are splitting up to go through the other doors in search of her. It is only a matter of time until the make their way to the end of the hall...

Ashe makes her way through the room, making for one of the corners along the outer wall of the tower. However, it is mostly blocked by a large wardrobe, on top of which is an end table with a small chandelier and a set of wine glasses placed on it - though this is all mostly shrouded in darkness.

It's good that the others so quickly took the initiative while he was looking for the mentioned door. With a quick glance back Sephiroth spots Ramza and Cloud prepare to barricade the door, and Sparks seems to be going in a opposite direction from him - with any luck one of them would either find this door, or something else of use.

A light source would be beneficial but Sephiroth didn't suffer so much blindness in darkness on account of his heightened senses- though it was hardly perfect. If they opened a window though, perhaps the guards pursuing them might think the Princess slipped outside rather than through another door. Seemed right but surely Sparks could handle a window himself.

He kept one careful eye on Ashelia as Sephiroth continued his search along other side of the perimeter of the room. Unless something comes of it, he'll end up in the same vicinity as where Ashe is headed; inspecting the haphazard furniture that's in the way. Should Sparks get the window open, it'd help immensely to see how they might go about moving it without having it all crash down on their heads.

When the barricade was as strong as he and Cloud could make it under such rushed circumstances, Ramza stepped back and turned to see how the others were progressing. He had to get very near to see what was happening in the darkness.

"Have you found a door yet?" he murmured to Sephiroth. Though it seemed the people of this Ivalice could not hear them, he wanted to take no chances.

He'll offer what help he can moving furniture, though his night vision is that of a normal human. He will defer to Sephiroth's lead if the darkness persists.

The window Sparks opens helps somewhat, the light reflecting handily off an old, dusty chandelier, but it's far from the direct light needed to completely illuminate the space they have to work in.

As if in answer to Ramza's question, the young princess exhales audibly, nodding to herself. "Here it is..." She looks back to the door, pausing for just a moment when she sees the barricade, but then turns back to the large wardrobe in between her and the door to the servants' stairwell. She leans back, fingertips white as she tries to find any kind of solid grip on the seemingly obstinate wardrobe, and begins to pull.

With the help of the Heroes, the wardrobe moves easily enough, but it scrapes audibly against the stone floor. "Did you hear that?" A rough voice drifts through the barricade in front of the door leading out into the hallway.

Ashe's breath catches in her throat and she stops pulling. She looks around the side of the wardrobe, though, and sees that it has moved enough for her to squeeze by. She rushes through, sliding the door shut behind her, just as the soldiers start to pound on the storeroom door.

The stairwell she finds herself in is narrow and steep. After taking a second or two to catch her breath, she begins her descent. She shivers slightly in the cold breeze of the desert at night and clutches the hilt of her sword with both hands, bringing the pommel close to her chest with the blade pointing down. She shakes her head . "Should have put something on..."

Ashe slows down when she hears voices through on the of many doors to various rooms she passes. The door in question is slightly open. She peers through the crack and looks down to see what it is that's blocking it from closing - and just barely manages to stop herself from screaming. A hand, palm up, is wedged between the sliding door and the jamb. Following the arm up from the wrist, Ashe stumbles backward, one hand over her mouth. She recognizes that face; one of the younger servant boys. His eyes are still open...

She closes her eyes, trying to focus more on the goings on in the room. She needs information. She holds her breath, keeping herself out of the sliver of light that made its way into the servants' staircase as much as possible, and moves in to hear what the soldiers inside are discussing.

"Heard back from upstairs yet?" one of them asks. He sits on one of the beds - the room looks to be full of single bunks - and wipes his sword with a cloth. It comes out red. There's slight movement on the bed behind him...is someone still alive?

"Nay," comes an older, more cultured voice from the doorway. "We're to stay here. There is still resistance on the ground floor."

"But the princess is up there, isn't she? She's supposed to be beautiful, I wanna - "

"You will not!" comes the stern reply. "She has suffered enough. The last thing she needs is to look upon a nasty cur like you."

The younger man shrugs. "Suffered enough? She sits atop her tower on a bed plush with feathers while we massacre her household. Suffered enough..."

The older man waves away the other soldier's words. "She's a long, hard road ahead of her, more difficult even than what she's endured so far. You know what happened in Nabradia, and at Nalbina. The prince's homeland completely destroyed in seconds, and himself following scant weeks later. And now her father, at the treaty signing that was to save them all."

Ashe fumbles with the sword in her hand, but manages not to drop it. "Father...no..." she whispers, shaking her head. The tears fall silently down her face.

The younger soldier snorts in laughter. "And at the hand of their own Captain! Protecting Dalmascan sovereignty, my arse."

"Yes, well. We've all got our own ideals when it comes to such things." The older soldier sounded completely done with the younger man. "Besides, it's all a little to convenient for me."

"Convenient?" The younger man sounds incredulous. "One of their own witnessed the whole thing, no? He's the one that pointed the finger, so I hear."

"Apparently so," comes the answer.

They continue talking, but Ashe doesn't seem to hear them. She stumbles backwards, all the way to the outer wall of the staircase, and sinks to the floor. She sets the sword across her lap and draws her knees up, encircling her head with her arms as she gives herself over to grief. It's almost impressive how silent she manages to be, even with her body shaking with sobs.

The noise of the wardrobe scraping across the floor seemed a lot louder than it was, probably due to the fact it was the one thing they didn't need. Already Sephiroth's pulse was drumming high up in the back of his own throat as he helped to move the heavy furniture aside. The silence in the seconds after the noise, was almost thick enough to choke on. If only the soldiers hadn't been exactly on the other side of the barricaded door right then. Sephiroth bit back a curse and swallowed it down, making to -tightly- follow Ashelia through the passageway; his intention to at least pull the door to behind them somehow once all the Heroes were through.

Coming to a stop only when Ashelia did, he listened well and watched her composure disintegrate as the conversation within the servants area continued. In the shadows, his own expression fell into the careful mask he kept when faced with something he didn't like. A large part of him wanted to burst right in there and exact vengeance, for the Princess, for her family, and it would serve all those traitors right. Though he knew that it wasn't his place.

After a few moments, trying not to eye Ashelia directly as she silently cried her world into the top of her knees, he turned to the others and commented lowly. Perhaps too coldly; ever the soldier himself.

"We need to move. It's not safe for her to stay here..."

Ramza nodded in agreement with Sephiroth's cold assessment. There was not much they could do to help Ashelia, but at least it was something; the rest of the castle had fallen and was beyond their aid now.

The blond had eyed the dead boy as they passed, ready to strip his corpse of anything he thought might be useful to the young princess. Alas, his feet were the wrong side for his sandals to fit Ashelia's delicate soles, and these desert folks wore little to protect themselves from the cold when they thought themselves safe inside walls. The boy could be of no help to Ashelia, except to block their pursuers with his body.

He knelt beside the grieving princess and whispered words he hoped would steel her. "Princess, you must away. Your Father's hopes and your people's future rest upon you now. Stay your tears and remember your duty."

He knew not if she would hear her words, and if she did, if they would make her brave or just remind her what she had lost.

Ramza stood. "I'll scout ahead, see if I can find us a path out," he told the others, as if he had not just scolded a brokenhearted girl for her justified tears.

Edited (coding is hard) 2015-06-23 00:38 (UTC)

Sparks is never good with such displays of emotion, even when as restrained as Ashe's. What he does know is that he doesn't take kindly to anyone doing such horrible things to someone he considers a friend, and he responds by drawing his pistols. He looks to his cohorts.

"I can just go shoot those guys. I think. I can try, right?"

He grumbles about not being able to just fire lasers at all the things causing problems in these dreams, and follows after Ramza as cover fire, just in case.

The tale that was weaved took Cloud by surprise as well. He thought highly of the Queen but he never knew how painful her own journey had been. She had done such a good job of either hiding it or moving beyond it that the woman he saw her almost seemed like a different person entirely.

The blonde soldier gave Sparks a nod. If it came to it he'd help him take down the soldiers. "Maybe we can distract them though? I could run down the hall that way and knock some things over." He glanced back at Ramza and Sephiroth. It was all about getting her to move though. Sephiroth was right, they wouldn't have much time and it wasn't safe to stay.

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