melodiesoflife | 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

As Ramza pushed through the crowd, the distance between him and the judge began to lengthen, two steps for every one he took. The stretching of space was vertigo inducing, but everything faded to black as he kept on forcing his way.

Soon it was just himself and Mary falling through the darkness. The pirate woman's eyes were closed, her eyelids fluttering as if she were caught in a dream she couldn't awaken from.

"Kidd!" Ramza called out through the darkness. "Wake up! I will not let them take you or your child, but you must awaken and fight!"

He had failed too many people in his lifetime. He would not allow an infant be counted amongst them. But he could not do it on his own. This was Kidd's world, and Ramza could do little to affect it, if what he had seen of these memories held true.

Mary shifted as she finally heard the voice shouting out to her. Was this changing? An image flickered in the darkness of a woman being carried out of a dungeon by a rough looking man with blonde hair.

"Edward?"

She turned to face Ramza and the image faded behind her like a ghost.

"Ramza....you misunderstand....there's nothing to fight for. It's too late."

Ramza saw the two figures come and go, though he did not understand in precisely what contact. The woman was Kidd, he felt sure, and from her words, the man was the 'Edward' she often spoke of. She did not look well in his arms.

"You misunderstand. These visions we see, they are twisted, false. You have everything to fight for, so stand and fight!"

"I spent my whole life standing and fighting. That...that trial was my final moments out in the sun. The birth...did not go well. I don't know what happened to my babe, but the sickness was already upon me."

Her eyes shimmered, red like she had been crying but all the tears were dried up. Reality was crashing in on her. "I'm dead Ramza. Edward and Ah Tabai came to break us out but the sickness already had me. The last thing I remember before I wound up in Crystallis was my own life leaving me."

"Then Crystallis is your new chance!" Ramza did not know how Kidd could not see that. "The moment of your death, you were spirited away to a new world. That was not an ending. 'Twas a new beginning for you."

He tried to step forward through the darkness, to reach her. "You saw what happened to the dopplegangers. Will it not be the same for us? After our mission, we will not go home. We will have new lives here." It pained him to say it, thinking of his sister back in Ivalice, but he hoped Kidd would see the situation more hopefully.

The doppelgangers? To have an existence that is simply a replacement? Would their memories of their homes be cast out just as they were for those folk? Would they be convinced that they've always lived in this world or worse...would they die and be replaced by people who just looked like them?

"Perhaps..." This world was one she could live in, yes. But it wasn't her world. Was this meant to be the afterlife, if even just for her? Was this cheating Death? Would he come to take his claim later?

"Maybe...I can try."

"Try? There is no 'trying' that can change it. You do it, or you may as well stay here in darkness!"

Ramza did not know why, precisely, he was angry at Kidd. Perhaps having to admit he was never going home, or the fact that she had hidden so much from him when he had thought he had earned the pirate's trust. Whatever the cause or causes, Ramza turned from her.

"Do what you want. I'll not wait quietly for this world to fall to Calamity. It is my world now, and I aim to protect it."

The words hit her hard. She was never one to be indecisive back home, but in the past few months she had been having trouble finding her footing. Her place wasn't where she expected it to be, and while she was trying to carve out something like it she still didn't quite feel as she did before.

She glanced over her shoulder at the young knight, taking him in. She didn't want to fight him or to argue against him. He was driving himself with a noble goal and she wasn't about to stop him. But he was far more used to working in the light of day than she was. And in that light she felt blinded.

She didn't have anything to say as her mind chewed over his words. The platitudes she could muster weren't enough. She had to find her own answer.

Ramza took a few paces before turning back to see if Kidd followed.

"I expected a stronger resolve from the one who took up my father's sword. If you no longer want the responsibility, I will take it back." He turned his head away from her and frowned into the darkness before him.

It was wrong to be so harsh to a grieving mother. She had lost her life and her child. Such things were not so easily put aside. His voice softened.

"There are dopplegangers with the spirits of those familiar to you. You could start a new life with them. You need not fight; there are Heroes enough to oppose the Calamity." Even if there were not, Ramza would resolve to fight twice as hard to make up for her absence. "But you cannot remain here. There is nothing here for you but guilt and regret. Your Edward wanted to see you free of your imprisonment. What would he think of all this?"

Ramza's words finally began to break through. She smirked, looking at him directly now. A hand went to her hip where that sword would sit. "Are you saying you're finally ready to take it back from me? I told you I was only ever holding onto it for you."

Sighing, she looked away, off into nothingness. It was as good a guess as any for where reality now lay. "I will not lay down my blade. Not while there are people who need protection. I swore that oath long ago. It's not simply obligation or some sort of noble goal. I can't abide people being put under another's heel."

Her fingers found the bridge of her nose and began to rub, "I just...need some time to think. To find something new to fight for." The basic things were still there, but having specifics always helped to put things in perspective. Her fellow heroes were of course clear partners, but she'd been holding the rest of this realm at arm's length.

The blond shrugged. "Perhaps. What happened in the past does not negate my duty in the present. Best to be properly armed."

He spoke more casually than he felt, but maybe it really was time. The memory he had seen was a reminder to him that the right path was not an easy one, and that he would have to fight to more forward down it. His father would not want him ill-prepared.

He nodded at Mary. "Very well. Do not tarry long. This place has a fell air about it. You will find your reason to fight among the living, not in the darkness here."

Now that she had shaken of the doubt and grief that had crippled her, Ramza had faith she could find her way on her own.

Event || In Your Worst Memory

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